#RoyalPrincess – Following the maiden call of Royal Princess to Belfast, Royal Princess also made a first time visit to Cork Harbour today with the Princess Cruises giant of 141,000 tonnes berthing alongside in Cobh, writes Jehan Ashmore.
She is the third cruise ship making a maiden call this season to Cobh.
At 19 decks high, Royal Princess can carry 3,500 passengers and 1,500 crew. The Italian built vessel launched last year is 330m in length and is over 3 times the length of Thomond Park.
This is the size and style of ship that the Port of Cork Company intend to continue attracting to Cobh's deepwater cruise berth.
Of Cobh's cruiseship customers, the newcomer despite her impressive size is not the largest as Independence of the Seas is some 154,000 tonnes and handles even more cruise-goers totalling 4,300.
The Royal Caribbean International (RCI) 'Freedom' class ship has been a regular caller in recent years.
Around 108,000 passengers on board 54 cruiseships and some 30,000 crew are to generate this season an economic windfall of around €15m to the local economy.
Cobh has been visited by increasingly larger and efficient vessels. Already scheduled for the 2015 season are 15 vessels of a similar size to Royal Princess.
Another trend is the developing demand for turn-around calls and overnight stays. Combine these factors and this has led to the port to commit plans to invest with an upgrading of the current facilities.
