#CaribbeanCall - Caribbean Princess of 112,894 tonnes sailed overnight from Cobh, Cork Harbour and made a very early arrival call of 03.30 to Dublin Port this morning, writes Jehan Ashmore.
The Princess Cruises call follows that of another giant MSC Splendida of 137,936 tonnes that made a recent return to the port following a debut to Dublin last season. This year is a record breaking season with 113 calls scheduled and bringing around 180,000 visitors.
At 289m Caribbean Princess may not be the longest ever cruiseship to dock in Dublin Port as demonstrated by the 333m MSC Splendida with up to 4,600 passengers. Today's call of the impressive 'Caribbean' that towers 19 decks alongside Ocean Pier, is one more deck higher than the 'Fantasia' class MSC Splendida.
The 3,142 capacity Caribbean Princess is one of the most frequent class of cruiseships to visit Dublin Port over the last decade. In 2004 the ‘Grand’ class leadship, Grand Princess made an inaugural call which then broke the port record as the first cruiseship to exceed 100,000 gross tonnes.
Princess Cruises is operated by the world’s largest cruise company, the US based Carnival Corporation which among its other subsidiaries includes P&O Cruises. Last year their 700 passenger Adonia called to Cobh last year.
Under a new brand ‘fathom’ the Adonia, made a historic call to Havana, Cuba this month, the first US cruise ship to visit the country in almost four decades.
