GREENOCK welcomed a multi-million pound French visitor this week who made waves as she made her first trip to Inverclyde.

Mega yacht L’Austral – valued at over £100m – turned heads as she docked at Greenock’s Ocean Terminal on Wednesday to pick up passengers before making her way to Oban and across the Irish Sea towards Scandinavia.

To mark the luxury boat’s maiden call to Greenock, the Tele enjoyed a VIP tour around the vessel, operated by French cruise ship company Ponant.

After a warm welcome from the Inverclyde Tourist Group quayside, we made our way on to the floating palace.

With two luxurious lounges, multiple bars, a fine dining restaurant, grill, pool, sun deck, terrace, theatre, library with internet facilities, salon, gym and spa, the L’Austral is the epitome of stylish sailing.

Stephen Winter, international sales director for Ponant, showed us around the beautiful boat, which has 132 cabins and can carry over 250 passengers.

Stephen said: “I’m very happy to have the Greenock Telegraph on board. We are here in Greenock Ocean Terminal because we do a series of cruises every year in and around the British Isles.

“The cruise prior to this came from London then went to Dublin before coming to Greenock, and it will go from Greenock to Copenhagen to start the Baltic season.

“The concept that we have here is to try and recreate the ambience and feel of a private yacht.”

L’Austral has four sister ships which offer cruises around the world to various destinations, including Antarctica.

Her owners have also signed a letter of intent for the order of four ships in a project to expand the company’s fleet.

After our tour, staff welcomed us to the Gastronomic restaurant where a delicious four course lunch was served  to guests, featuring an array of delights such as monkfish medallions, pan fried strip loin steaks and tagliatelle pasta with creamy truffle and parmesan sauce, topped with a range of sweet treats.

Back on dry land, we watched and waved as L’Austral set off on her next voyage.

Before he bid farewell, sales chief Stephen told the Tele that cruises from Greenock are more popular than ever – and said there is room for further growth.

He said: “2015 was our best ever for cruising from the UK and Scotland.
“It’s still a small percentage of what it could be.”