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Displaying items by tag: Disney Cruise Line

#cruiseliners - Earlier in the year Disney Cruise Line announced the Port of Cork on their list of first time visits in 2018.

Following successful port visits and further dialogue, today Disney Cruise Line have doubled the Magic coming to Cork with two visits of the ‘Disney Magic’ confirmed for Cork in 2018.

But the excitement doesn’t stop there. The Port of Cork can also reveal that they have hit 100 cruise liner calls for 2018, showing a staggering 30% increase in the cruise business to Cork.

Commercial Manager, Captain Michael McCarthy Port of Cork said: ‘Our cruise bookings have been hovering around 97 and 98 calls in the last month, and to finally hit the 100 mark is truly fantastic for the port and the region. Not only expecting 100 cruise lines next year, but confirmation of two calls by Disney Cruise Line is really big news for Cork.’

He continued: ‘It goes without saying that over the last two years the Port of Cork has worked incredibly hard to secure these cruise bookings and we are confident this growth can continue.’

The 2017 cruise season is shortly coming to an end with only two cruise liners left to call. In total 68 cruise liners called this year with 140,000 passengers and crew on board. This year also saw Cobh once again being ranked second favourite cruise destination in the British Isles and Western Europe in the 2017 Cruise Critic Cruisers’ Choice Destination Awards.

Cruise Critic is the world's leading cruise review site and online cruise community and the awards name the best cruise destinations of the year – across 15 regions around the world – based entirely on reviews posted by cruise passengers to the Cruise Critic website.

Capt McCarthy said: ‘As always this is a genuine collaborative team effort and it could not be done without an extremely dedicated group of people who believe in our destination. Once the liner arrives, together with Cork City Council we offer tourism ambassadors on every liner, local entertainment and then as their visit ends, we have the Cobh Brass band on the quayside as the liner departs. This all helps in making a visit to a port memorable and positive.’

‘We are very fortunate in Cork City and County that there is an abundance of tourist attractions for cruise passengers to visit which are all easily accessible from the port. It is these experiences that have ensured Cobh remains in the top five cruise destinations in Western Europe.’

Published in Cruise Liners

Disney Cruise Line has revealed its summer 2018 itinerary includes the Port of Cork on their list of first time visits.

2017 is already being described as one of the busiest cruise seasons in Cork with 69 cruise liners calling to the port.

The ‘Disney Magic’ will travel to Cork Harbour for the first time as part of Disney Cruise Line’s new seven-night British Isles cruise, departing in September 2018.

Announcing the first time call, Disney Cruise Line described Cork as ‘home to a vibrant culinary scene and a plethora of pubs, shops and cafes. It invites visitors to connect with Ireland’s ancient past, with historic sites like Blarney Castle, where visitors can kiss the famed Blarney Stone.’

Captain Michael McCarthy, Commercial Manager Port of Cork said: ‘After years of marketing the region and port capabilities, we are delighted to say the hard work has paid off and we are very excited to welcome Disney Cruise Line to our port in 2018. I have no doubt this call will be one of many into the future as we grow our relationship with Disney Cruise Line.’

Capable of holding over 3,700 passengers and crew, ‘Disney Magic’ is designed with primarily the family in mind. According to Disney Cruise Line the Disney Magic combines classic nostalgia and modern amenities with Disney’s signature service. From bow to stern, set sail for unforgettable storytelling that only Disney could bring to life.

Captain McCarthy continued: ‘this is a wonderful opportunity for the region particularly family attractions that are set to benefit from such cruise visits.’

Published in Port of Cork

#DisneyDublin - Disney Magic is to be one of the highlights of Dublin Port's cruise season and as the first Irish port to welcome Disney Cruise Line, a subsidiary of the famous Walt Disney Company, writes Jehan Ashmore.

As previously reported on Afloat.ie, the call next Thursday of the 300m long Disney Magic, only 33 short of the port's record holder MSC Splendida, will have 3,650 people on board visiting the capital. The 84,000 tonnes cruiseship has a 2,700 passenger capacity and they are accommodated in 875 staterooms. In total there are 11 public decks and a crew of 950.

The call by Disney will represent further confidence by the sector in choosing to make Dublin Port a destination in a season scheduled to bring 180,000 visitors from 113 calls. Of those calls four are turnaround cruises, where cruise-goers travel to the capital to begin their cruise.

The cruiseship was built in 1998 by the Italian yard of Fincantieri and the then newbuild was homeported in Port Canaveral, Florida until transferred to Europe almost a decade ago in 2007.

This led Disney Magic to make a repositioning voyage across the Atlantic Ocean and beyond when based out of Barcelona to embark inaugural cruises in the Mediterranean.

Disney Magic has an appearance that clearly echoes to the era of the trans-Atlanctic liners.

The design of having two funnels and painted in red and topped in black pays homage to liners like Normandie, France (see, large containership/longsest cruiseship). This iconic liner latter became converted into a cruiseship as the Norway, that anchored off Dun Laoghaire in the mid-1990’s.

Published in Cruise Liners

Dun Laoghaire Harbour Information

Dun Laoghaire Harbour is the second port for Dublin and is located on the south shore of Dublin Bay. Marine uses for this 200-year-old man-made harbour have changed over its lifetime. Originally built as a port of refuge for sailing ships entering the narrow channel at Dublin Port, the harbour has had a continuous ferry link with Wales, and this was the principal activity of the harbour until the service stopped in 2015. In all this time, however, one thing has remained constant, and that is the popularity of sailing and boating from the port, making it Ireland's marine leisure capital with a harbour fleet of between 1,200 -1,600 pleasure craft based at the country's largest marina (800 berths) and its four waterfront yacht clubs.

Dun Laoghaire Harbour Bye-Laws

Download the bye-laws on this link here

FAQs

A live stream Dublin Bay webcam showing Dun Laoghaire Harbour entrance and East Pier is here

Dun Laoghaire is a Dublin suburb situated on the south side of Dublin Bay, approximately, 15km from Dublin city centre.

The east and west piers of the harbour are each of 1 kilometre (0.62 miles) long.

The harbour entrance is 232 metres (761 ft) across from East to West Pier.

  • Public Boatyard
  • Public slipway
  • Public Marina

23 clubs, 14 activity providers and eight state-related organisations operate from Dun Laoghaire Harbour that facilitates a full range of sports - Sailing, Rowing, Diving, Windsurfing, Angling, Canoeing, Swimming, Triathlon, Powerboating, Kayaking and Paddleboarding. Participants include members of the public, club members, tourists, disabled, disadvantaged, event competitors, schools, youth groups and college students.

  • Commissioners of Irish Lights
  • Dun Laoghaire Marina
  • MGM Boats & Boatyard
  • Coastguard
  • Naval Service Reserve
  • Royal National Lifeboat Institution
  • Marine Activity Centre
  • Rowing clubs
  • Yachting and Sailing Clubs
  • Sailing Schools
  • Irish Olympic Sailing Team
  • Chandlery & Boat Supply Stores

The east and west granite-built piers of Dun Laoghaire harbour are each of one kilometre (0.62 mi) long and enclose an area of 250 acres (1.0 km2) with the harbour entrance being 232 metres (761 ft) in width.

In 2018, the ownership of the great granite was transferred in its entirety to Dun Laoghaire Rathdown County Council who now operate and manage the harbour. Prior to that, the harbour was operated by The Dun Laoghaire Harbour Company, a state company, dissolved in 2018 under the Ports Act.

  • 1817 - Construction of the East Pier to a design by John Rennie began in 1817 with Earl Whitworth Lord Lieutenant of Ireland laying the first stone.
  • 1820 - Rennie had concerns a single pier would be subject to silting, and by 1820 gained support for the construction of the West pier to begin shortly afterwards. When King George IV left Ireland from the harbour in 1820, Dunleary was renamed Kingstown, a name that was to remain in use for nearly 100 years. The harbour was named the Royal Harbour of George the Fourth which seems not to have remained for so long.
  • 1824 - saw over 3,000 boats shelter in the partially completed harbour, but it also saw the beginning of operations off the North Wall which alleviated many of the issues ships were having accessing Dublin Port.
  • 1826 - Kingstown harbour gained the important mail packet service which at the time was under the stewardship of the Admiralty with a wharf completed on the East Pier in the following year. The service was transferred from Howth whose harbour had suffered from silting and the need for frequent dredging.
  • 1831 - Royal Irish Yacht Club founded
  • 1837 - saw the creation of Victoria Wharf, since renamed St. Michael's Wharf with the D&KR extended and a new terminus created convenient to the wharf.[8] The extended line had cut a chord across the old harbour with the landward pool so created later filled in.
  • 1838 - Royal St George Yacht Club founded
  • 1842 - By this time the largest man-made harbour in Western Europe had been completed with the construction of the East Pier lighthouse.
  • 1855 - The harbour was further enhanced by the completion of Traders Wharf in 1855 and Carlisle Pier in 1856. The mid-1850s also saw the completion of the West Pier lighthouse. The railway was connected to Bray in 1856
  • 1871 - National Yacht Club founded
  • 1884 - Dublin Bay Sailing Club founded
  • 1918 - The Mailboat, “The RMS Leinster” sailed out of Dún Laoghaire with 685 people on board. 22 were post office workers sorting the mail; 70 were crew and the vast majority of the passengers were soldiers returning to the battlefields of World War I. The ship was torpedoed by a German U-boat near the Kish lighthouse killing many of those onboard.
  • 1920 - Kingstown reverted to the name Dún Laoghaire in 1920 and in 1924 the harbour was officially renamed "Dun Laoghaire Harbour"
  • 1944 - a diaphone fog signal was installed at the East Pier
  • 1965 - Dun Laoghaire Motor Yacht Club founded
  • 1968 - The East Pier lighthouse station switched from vapourised paraffin to electricity, and became unmanned. The new candle-power was 226,000
  • 1977- A flying boat landed in Dun Laoghaire Harbour, one of the most unusual visitors
  • 1978 - Irish National Sailing School founded
  • 1934 - saw the Dublin and Kingstown Railway begin operations from their terminus at Westland Row to a terminus at the West Pier which began at the old harbour
  • 2001 - Dun Laoghaire Marina opens with 500 berths
  • 2015 - Ferry services cease bringing to an end a 200-year continuous link with Wales.
  • 2017- Bicentenary celebrations and time capsule laid.
  • 2018 - Dun Laoghaire Harbour Company dissolved, the harbour is transferred into the hands of Dun Laoghaire Rathdown County Council

From East pier to West Pier the waterfront clubs are:

  • National Yacht Club. Read latest NYC news here
  • Royal St. George Yacht Club. Read latest RSTGYC news here
  • Royal Irish Yacht Club. Read latest RIYC news here
  • Dun Laoghaire Motor Yacht Club. Read latest DMYC news here

 

The umbrella organisation that organises weekly racing in summer and winter on Dublin Bay for all the yacht clubs is Dublin Bay Sailing Club. It has no clubhouse of its own but operates through the clubs with two x Committee vessels and a starters hut on the West Pier. Read the latest DBSC news here.

The sailing community is a key stakeholder in Dún Laoghaire. The clubs attract many visitors from home and abroad and attract major international sailing events to the harbour.

 

Dun Laoghaire Regatta

Dun Laoghaire's biennial town regatta was started in 2005 as a joint cooperation by the town's major yacht clubs. It was an immediate success and is now in its eighth edition and has become Ireland's biggest sailing event. The combined club's regatta is held in the first week of July.

  • Attracts 500 boats and more from overseas and around the country
  • Four-day championship involving 2,500 sailors with supporting family and friends
  • Economic study carried out by the Irish Marine Federation estimated the economic value of the 2009 Regatta at €2.5 million

The dates for the 2021 edition of Ireland's biggest sailing event on Dublin Bay is: 8-11 July 2021. More details here

Dun Laoghaire-Dingle Offshore Race

The biennial Dun Laoghaire to Dingle race is a 320-miles race down the East coast of Ireland, across the south coast and into Dingle harbour in County Kerry. The latest news on the Dun Laoghaire to Dingle Race can be found by clicking on the link here. The race is organised by the National Yacht Club.

The 2021 Race will start from the National Yacht Club on Wednesday 9th, June 2021.

Round Ireland Yacht Race

This is a Wicklow Sailing Club race but in 2013 the Garden County Club made an arrangement that sees see entries berthed at the RIYC in Dun Laoghaire Harbour for scrutineering prior to the biennial 704–mile race start off Wicklow harbour. Larger boats have been unable to berth in the confines of Wicklow harbour, a factor WSC believes has restricted the growth of the Round Ireland fleet. 'It means we can now encourage larger boats that have shown an interest in competing but we have been unable to cater for in Wicklow' harbour, WSC Commodore Peter Shearer told Afloat.ie here. The race also holds a pre-ace launch party at the Royal Irish Yacht Club.

Laser Masters World Championship 2018

  • 301 boats from 25 nations

Laser Radial World Championship 2016

  • 436 competitors from 48 nations

ISAF Youth Worlds 2012

  • The Youth Olympics of Sailing run on behalf of World Sailing in 2012.
  • Two-week event attracting 61 nations, 255 boats, 450 volunteers.
  • Generated 9,000 bed nights and valued at €9 million to the local economy.

The Harbour Police are authorised by the company to police the harbour and to enforce and implement bye-laws within the harbour, and all regulations made by the company in relation to the harbour.

There are four ship/ferry berths in Dun Laoghaire:

  • No 1 berth (East Pier)
  • No 2 berth (east side of Carlisle Pier)
  • No 3 berth (west side of Carlisle Pier)
  • No 4 berth  (St, Michaels Wharf)

Berthing facilities for smaller craft exist in the town's 800-berth marina and on swinging moorings.

© Afloat 2020