The best cruise port in the world: New York beats Venice to the top spot

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British cruisers have voted New York their favourite port destination - knocking Venice off its two-year reign at the top.

Nearly one-fifth of Britons polled to mark the start of National Cruise Week voted the Big Apple as their top cruise port, with Venice receiving 13 per cent, dropping to second place.

Barcelona, Rome and Singapore shared third position glory with 7 per cent of cruisers saying they were their favourite stop-offs.

Ahoy there: New York's port is British passengers' favourite cruise destination

The YouGov survey, commissioned by the Passenger Shipping Association (PSA), showed that a whopping 1.7 million Britons will go on a cruise holiday this year.

The cruise sector has been growing in recent years, bucking the downward trend experienced by the rest of the travel market.

In 2010, cruising accounted for 4.5 per cent of the foreign travel market for Britain and 11.5 per cent of the package holiday market.

So what is it that makes Brits want to set sail? Over half of us relish the chance of sightseeing in so many different places in one holiday, while 36 per cent are attracted by the all-inclusive deals.

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Director of the PSA Bill Gibbons called the everything-included nature of cruises great value.

He added: The survey highlights why more cruise holidays are being taken by Brits than ever before its an effortlessly way to visit many great destinations across the world while only unpacking once.

And when asked which celebrities theyd most like to travel the high seas with, Johnny Depp, Angelina Jolie and Jennifer Aniston were our perfect cruise companions, while Katie Price and Jedward were the favourite to walk the plank.