Odyssey, the delayed residential luxury cruise ship that was encountering rudder and gearbox problems in Belfast Harbour, carried out sea trials yesterday before returning to the port's shipyard today, writes Jehan Ashmore.
The trails entailed the Villa Vie Residence vessel to circle off Whitehead on the north shore of Belfast Lough and further beyond into the North Channel before the former Fred Olsen Cruise Line ship anchored overnight off Groomsport, east of Bangor Harbour.
On completion of a series of trials, Odyssey returned to Harland & Wolff this afternoon, though stranded assengers can only visit the ship during the day, so instead they have to stay in Belfast and wait until the cruise ship is ready to finally embark on its inaugural continuous world cruise. This will involve visiting 425 destinations in 147 countries based over three and a half years.
Since originally dry-docking at H&W, the former Braemar has been undergoing works including a major refurbishment and due to ongoing delays the first world cruise from Southampton was changed to Belfast with a date set for the end of May.
However, during its overnight anchorage in Belfast Lough, among the ships passing was Amadea, a cruise ship that was bound for Dun Laoghaire Harbour from where offshore it arrived this morning for an anchorage call.
The harbour is under the control of Dun Laoghaire-Rathdown County Council; however, visitors were prevented from taking tenders ashore as within hours of arriving, the unfavourable weather dictated a cancellation. This forced the German clientele-focused cruise ship to head for Waterford.
At the time of writing, the cruise ship operated by Phoenix Reisen is off the Wexford coast, having passed Hook Head to enter the Waterford estuary, where it is to berth at the port's main terminal at Belview this evening.
