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Displaying items by tag: World Travel Awards

The Titanic Hotel in Belfast has been awarded the title of 'Northern Ireland's Leading Hotel 2019' at the World Travel Awards. 

The hotel writes The Belfast Telegraph was given the award at a ceremony in Madeira, Portugal on Sunday evening.

The awards honour excellence within the hotel industry and the standard of service the hotel has demonstrated to visitors throughout the year.

Titanic Hotel’s General Manager Adrian McNally said his team were "thrilled" with the win.

"There are so many great hotels in Northern Ireland now, the standard here is very high, so to win this award means a lot to the staff and team at Titanic Hotel Belfast," he said.

For more on this prestigious travel award click here. 

The above photograph Afloat adds are the Titanic Drawing Offices the oldest part of the former shipyard building that dates from the Victorian era. 

Published in Belfast Lough

#ferrynews - Danish shipping transport giant, DFDS has been named Europe’s Leading Ferry Operator for the sixth year in a row at the World Travel Awards Europe Gala Ceremony.

Breaking Travel News writes that DFDS beat four rival ferry operators to the award, which recognises excellence in the travel and tourism industry.The ferry operator won the title with thousands of votes from the public and travel industry professionals from 57 European countries.

Pete Akerman, DFDS marketing director, said: “We’re delighted to have once again won the approval of our guests and travel industry partners to claim the titles as Europe’s Leading Ferry Operator for a record sixth consecutive time.

Afloat adds that DFDS which celebrated its 150th anniversary, operates up between Dover and France on its Dover-Dunkirk and Dover-Calais routes. The operator also has a North Seas service between Newcastle and Amsterdam. As also reported on Afloat, it was in the UK that the nearby port of Blyth was host to the Tall Ships Races last year.

In addition a passenger and freight service between Newhaven to Dieppe, operated by Transmanche Ferries.

The DFDS Group through its extensive network includes lo-lo container operations through subsidiary, DFDS Logistics. Among the container services are those between the island of Ireland (see Port of Waterford) and northern mainland Europe.  

Published in Ferry

Marine Wildlife Around Ireland One of the greatest memories of any day spent boating around the Irish coast is an encounter with marine wildlife.  It's a thrill for young and old to witness seabirds, seals, dolphins and whales right there in their own habitat. As boaters fortunate enough to have experienced it will testify even spotting a distant dorsal fin can be the highlight of any day afloat.  Was that a porpoise? Was it a whale? No matter how brief the glimpse it's a privilege to share the seas with Irish marine wildlife.

Thanks to the location of our beautiful little island, perched in the North Atlantic Ocean there appears to be no shortage of marine life to observe.

From whales to dolphins, seals, sharks and other ocean animals this page documents the most interesting accounts of marine wildlife around our shores. We're keen to receive your observations, your photos, links and youtube clips.

Boaters have a unique perspective and all those who go afloat, from inshore kayaking to offshore yacht racing that what they encounter can be of real value to specialist organisations such as the Irish Whale and Dolphin Group (IWDG) who compile a list of sightings and strandings. The IWDG knowledge base has increased over the past 21 years thanks in part at least to the observations of sailors, anglers, kayakers and boaters.

Thanks to the IWDG work we now know we share the seas with dozens of species who also call Ireland home. Here's the current list: Atlantic white-sided dolphin, beluga whale, blue whale, bottlenose dolphin, common dolphin, Cuvier's beaked whale, false killer whale, fin whale, Gervais' beaked whale, harbour porpoise, humpback whale, killer whale, minke whale, northern bottlenose whale, northern right whale, pilot whale, pygmy sperm whale, Risso's dolphin, sei whale, Sowerby's beaked whale, sperm whale, striped dolphin, True's beaked whale and white-beaked dolphin.

But as impressive as the species list is the IWDG believe there are still gaps in our knowledge. Next time you are out on the ocean waves keep a sharp look out!