The two millionth cruise ship visitor has been welcomed to Belfast Harbour, underlining the success of an initiative which begun more a quarter of century ago.

As the Irish News reported, cruise visitor Lea Goodsell, yesterday emerged down the gangplank of the 2,340 passenger capacity Norwegian Dawn as that milestone passenger.

The 294m cruiseship operated by Norwegian Cruise Line (NCL) will make a total of 13 calls this season and the occasion of the cruiseship visitor marked a major moment for Cruise Belfast.

In 2019 Cruise Belfast opened the first dedicated cruise terminal on the island of Ireland. It is a partnership between Belfast Harbour and Visit Belfast which markets the port city as a leading cruise ship destination.

Among the callers attracted to Belfast, Afloat adds is today's (10 May) visit of Le Bellot with 250 passengers and where the Ponant Cruises ship made a maiden voyage to the city when it docked in Pollock Dock.

While the Norwegian Dawn overnight made the short passage across the North Channel and into the Firth of Clyde to berth this morning at the Greenock Ocean Cruise terminal.

More on the story and about Cruise Belfast which was formed in 1996, preceding the signing of the Good Friday Agreement.

At that stage cruise ships came nowhere near the port city on the river Lagan, which was still emerging from more than two decades of turmoil.