Irish cruiseship calls

28th August 2012

Plantours Cruises Hamburg Makes Maiden 'Irish' Call

#CAPITAL CRUISE CALLS – Tonight two cruiseships are due to depart Dublin Port, they are Plantours Cruises Hamburg (2007/15,067grt), which made its maiden 'Irish' debut call to the capital, followed by Compagnie du Ponant's Le Diamant, writes Jehan Ashmore.

Plantours is a German based operator and is one of several new entrants providing cruises to Irish ports, as previously reported on Afloat.ie. Among the newcomers are MSC Cruises, whose MSC Lirica finally made her first call to Cobh at the weekend, as an earlier scheduled call this month, was cancelled due to bad weather.

Both the visiting vessels to Dublin Port today, had by coincidence arrived from Penzance, Cornwall and the Hamburg, is no stranger to the capital, having previously operated as Hapag-Lloyd's C. Columbus.

Whereas the French operated Le Diamant (1974/8,282grt) has been in Irish waters throughout this month, with a call to Galway on 17th August. On the same day Voyages of Discovery, which is part of the All Leisure Group, saw their Discovery also make an anchorage call of the mid-western port.

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Queen’s Namesake to Retrace Royal Visit

Following the historic visit of Queen Elizabeth to Ireland in May, Cunard Line's newest cruiseship Queen Elizabeth is to make her maiden 'Irish' voyage next month, writes Jehan Ashmore.

In a ceremony held in her home port of Southampton the 2,038 guest capacity /1,100 crew cruiseship was named by Queen Elizabeth in October last year. To watch the naming ceremony click the video.

The 90,901 gross registered tonnes cruise ship is to depart her Hampshire homeport, where she is to similarly follow the monarch in that she is scheduled to make a port of call to Dublin first on 9 September and make a call to Cork afterwards.

With a length of 295m / 965-feet the vessel will dock in the centre of the capital port before she sails overnight to make a morning arrival at Cobh, the dedicated cruise terminal for the Port of Cork. She is scheduled to stay at the Cork Harbour town formerly named Queenstown until a 17.00 hour departure.

Her visit coincides with Cork Harbour Open Day, where visitors can view the impressive vessel from the quayside, for more details visit www.corkharbour.ie

Incidentally her near-sister Queen Victoria also called to Dublin in May and the remaining vessel of the Cunard fleet, the 'flagship' liner Queen Mary 2 is also to dock in Cobh three days later after Queen Elisabeth's visit.

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Small Luxury Cruiseship Visits Killybegs

Ireland's leading fishing port of Killybegs, Co. Donegal, this morning received the 226 passenger yacht-like cruiseship Le Diamant, writes Jehan Ashmore.

The 8,282 tonnes Le Diamant had sailed overnight from anchorage in Galway Bay and prior to visiting the 'City of the Tribes' the vessel also called to Foynes port in the Shannon Estuary as reported previously in Afloat.

In 2004 Killybegs received a significant boost in the completion of a €50m outer harbour with berthing quays totalling 350-metres long so to accommodate the north-west fleet and to include the 'supertrawlers'.

Despite the major port infrastructural investment, Killybegs has seen declining fortunes in the fish industry though in recent year's new business from the offshore exploration and cruise ship industries has assisted in generating new revenue.

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