Youghal, in East Cork, hosted the biggest maritime event in the town since the filming of the Hollywood classic Moby Dick in 1954 this week.
The harbour town on the Munster coast had another whale of a time after it celebrated the arrival of the very first cruise ship, which anchored offshore, where Afloat highlights departed today with the next port of call being Kinsale Harbour.
Lining the town quays were hundreds of locals to greet passengers from the French-owned Le Bellot, from out in the bay, where they disembarked onto tenders to transfer them ashore.
The visit of the high-end luxury cruise ship with just 184 passengers led to a carnival atmosphere as passengers from France, Spain, Britain, and America came ashore. Each of them was gifted a small ‘lucky’ old Irish ‘hen penny,' which was sponsored by the Youghal Chamber of Tourism and Development and the Perks family entertainment center.
The sleek profile of the 131 m yacht-like cruise ship of under 10,000 tons is operated by Ponant with just 92 staterooms and suites and forms part of their ‘explorer’ class of vessels equipped with a fleet of guest zodiacs. It operates in some of the world's most remote and isolated regions.
Its maiden call to Youghal is to be followed by a second caller, according to chamber president Kay Curtin. “There’s been a great turnout in the town for this. We badly need more tourism, and hopefully cruise liner visits will add to it. We've got our second liner coming in on August 28."
The Irish Examiner has more on the small harbour town’s new cruise business, which already has a booking for one next year in May.
