A new £26m Mersey Ferry called Royal Daffodil will set sail in summer 2026 and a new virtual reality tour offers a glimpse of what people can expect. Tony McDonough reports

A new “super-realistic” virtual reality tour of the £26m Mersey Ferry currently under construction has gone live.

Currently being built at Cammell Laird shipyard in Birkenhead, the new Royal Daffodil will be the first Mersey Ferry built in more than 60 years. It will set sail on the river for the first time in summer 2026.

Now Liverpool City Region Combined Authority, which is funding the new vessel, has released the VR to give people a glimpse of what they can expect when it comes into service.

Complete with sound effects, the immersive 360-degree tour leads viewers through Gerry Marsden Ferry Terminal at the Pier Head and onto the landing stage as the new Royal Daffodil arrives in its traditional colours of black, white and red.

Click here to experience the virtual tour of the new ferry

Once across the drawbridge, viewers enter the fully accessible interior bustling with passengers and people enjoying a 30th birthday party in the ferry’s event space against a backdrop of a cruise ship and Liverpool’s iconic waterfront.

It leads viewers through the Royal Daffodil’s upper and lower decks – including close ups of artworks – and the ferry’s outside seating area.

A special ‘keel laying’ ceremony took place at Cammell Laird in January when the name of the vessel was revealed.

Royal Daffodil has been designed to harness ‘green’ technology, with a Azipod propeller system for reduced fuel usage, along with a diesel-electric hybrid-ready engine. It has potential for future conversion to full electric propulsion as technology develops.

This new ferry will see one of the existing ferries, Royal Iris or Snowdrop, taken out of service. The Combined Authority has yet to reveal which one it will be.

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Councillor Steve Foulkes, chair of the Transport Committee, said: “The world-famous Mersey Ferries attract visitors from around the world and they’ve connected communities on both sides of the River Mersey for hundreds of years.

“They are an instantly recognisable symbol of our city region, around the globe. This newest virtual reality walkthrough offers prospective passengers the chance to get excited, along with us, about the future of the Mersey Ferries.”

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