#CancelledCruiseCall - Royal Princess had to cancel a call to Dublin Port as it is understood that strong winds today would have had impacted on the safe navigation while attempting to enter the port astern i.e in 'reverse', writes Jehan Ashmore.
The decision to cancel avoided the difficult berthing procedure of the giant ship which is 330m long and coupled by the 142,000 tonnes vessel that towers 19 decks high. Instead, Royal Princess sailed across the Irish Sea to Liverpool where she berthed within the last hour.
Operated by Princess Cruises the vessel with a 3,600 passenger capacity and a crew of more than 1,300 entered the Mersey and under escort of the Smit Waterloo. The tug was joined by Smit Donau for the final berthing operations alongside Liverpool Cruise Terminal.
It is almost a fortnight ago that Royal Princess had called to Dublin Port as part of record breaking total of four cruiseships to visit on the same day, bringing a total of 13,000 passengers visitors to the capital along with the all the ships crew.
Afloat adds that is should be noted that the cruiseship record in Dublin Port was only achieved as two of the larger quartet of cruiseships had cancelled 'anchorage calls' off Dun Laoghaire Harbour and scheduled for that same day.
The cruiseships that cancelled these offshore calls off Dun Laoghaire Harbour involved Royal Princess and the 122,000 tonnes Celebrity Silhouette (319m long). The pair formed part of the original line-up of a record 23 cruise calls as scheduled at the beginning of the season for the Dun Laoghaire Harbour Company.
Royal Princess was scheduled to make a total of 9 calls off Dun Laoghaire Harbour, however she only made her maiden once off call earlier this season. Further calls were cancelled as her operators favoured the convenience of direct docking in Dublin Port rather than tendering passengers ashore. In fact another double anchorage off Dun Laoghaire by these same cruiseships were scheduled for next week on 16 August.
A call by the Celebrity Cruises 3,145 passenger capacity vessel, saw 'Silhouette' also make a once off anchorage visit off Dun Laoghaire Harbour.
She called in June and in the previous month the cruise season was opened by the aforementioned Royal Princess. The launch of the season was intended to be made by MSC Cruises which abandoned Dun Laoghaire Harbour for Dublin Port again on foot of the anchorage issue.
The MSC Splendida capable of carrying as many as 3,900 passengers is however eventually to make an appearance offshore of Dun Laoghaire Harbour on 29 August.
