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Displaying items by tag: Caribbean Princess

#Inquiry - An investigation has been initiated by Bermuda, writes Irish Times, into how a “mega-class” cruise ship with almost 4,500 people on board spent nine hours drifting without power in the Irish Sea

As reported on Afloat earlier this month, the 290-metre Caribbean Princess was forced to abandon a scheduled visit to Dublin Port after the serious incident occurred 25 miles southeast of the capital off the Wicklow coast on August 3rd.

The 17-deck ship eventually regained power that evening and made its way to Belfast port, where it berthed in the early hours of August 4th.

Bermuda, the British overseas territory which is the port of registry for the ship, said it had continuously monitored the vessel’s situation “from the time of its propulsion failure until the full propulsion power was restored and its voyage to Belfast completed”.

The Bermuda Administration said it had been in “constant communication” with the British Maritime and Coastguard Agency on the incident. Holyhead Coast Guard despatched a tug and helicopter to the ship, which had 3,306 passengers and 1,158 crew on board when it lost power on its route up the Irish Sea. The ship had been en route from Cobh to Dublin as part of a 12-day cruise from Southampton.

For more on the incident, the newspaper has more here. Afloat adds the cruiseship is today docked in Dublin Port, having called to Cobh, Cork Harbour.

 

 

Published in Cruise Liners

#CruiseLiners - A power failure on board a large cruise liner rendered the vessel adrift in the Irish Sea for nine hours earlier this week, as The Irish Times reports.

The "technical glitch" on the Caribbean Princess cut power to the engines when the 290m liner was close to the shore off Wicklow on Wednesday (3 August).

The Grand Class cruise ship was en route to Dublin Port from Cobh where it made a stopover the previous day.

Once power was restored, the vessel proceeded to the Port of Belfast, skipping its scheduled stop in Dublin – which it last visited in May, as previously reported on Afloat.ie.

The Irish Times has more on the story HERE.

Published in Cruise Liners

#ATLANTIC REPOSITIONING CRUISE – Another massive cruiseship the Caribbean Princess (2004/112,894grt), is to dock in Dublin Port around lunchtime today, having crossed the Atlantic, from Halifax, Nova Scotia in Canada, writes Jehan Ashmore.

The 3,600 passenger capacity 'Grand' class ship operated by Princess Cruises is on a repositioning cruise voyage from North America to Europe. She is to spend the season running cruises based out of Southampton.

Caribbean Princess retains her 'Skywalkers' Nightclub mounted 15 decks at the stern, unlike her sister which called to Dublin Port last month. The structure was removed primarily on grounds of weight so to increase fuel efficiency.

The Bermuda flagged vessel is to berth at Ocean Pier in the centre of the docks which this season is to welcome a total of 90 cruiseships bringing 100,000 passengers contributing €35- €50m to the Dublin economy in 2012. It is estimated that the cruise sector has contributed over €350 million to the capital in the last decade.

Vessels such as the Caribbean Princess and larger-sized ships could be a familar sight closer to the city-centre should proposals to build a €30m dedicated cruise terminal take-off at a site adjacent to the East-Link Bridge, as part of the Dublin Port Company's Masterplan 2012-2040.

Published in Cruise Liners

Galway Port & Harbour

Galway Bay is a large bay on the west coast of Ireland, between County Galway in the province of Connacht to the north and the Burren in County Clare in the province of Munster to the south. Galway city and port is located on the northeast side of the bay. The bay is about 50 kilometres (31 miles) long and from 10 kilometres (6.2 miles) to 30 kilometres (19 miles) in breadth.

The Aran Islands are to the west across the entrance and there are numerous small islands within the bay.

Galway Port FAQs

Galway was founded in the 13th century by the de Burgo family, and became an important seaport with sailing ships bearing wine imports and exports of fish, hides and wool.

Not as old as previously thought. Galway bay was once a series of lagoons, known as Loch Lurgan, plied by people in log canoes. Ancient tree stumps exposed by storms in 2010 have been dated back about 7,500 years.

It is about 660,000 tonnes as it is a tidal port.

Capt Brian Sheridan, who succeeded his late father, Capt Frank Sheridan

The dock gates open approximately two hours before high water and close at high water subject to ship movements on each tide.

The typical ship sizes are in the region of 4,000 to 6,000 tonnes

Turbines for about 14 wind projects have been imported in recent years, but the tonnage of these cargoes is light. A European industry report calculates that each turbine generates €10 million in locally generated revenue during construction and logistics/transport.

Yes, Iceland has selected Galway as European landing location for international telecommunications cables. Farice, a company wholly owned by the Icelandic Government, currently owns and operates two submarine cables linking Iceland to Northern Europe.

It is "very much a live project", Harbourmaster Capt Sheridan says, and the Port of Galway board is "awaiting the outcome of a Bord Pleanála determination", he says.

90% of the scrap steel is exported to Spain with the balance being shipped to Portugal. Since the pandemic, scrap steel is shipped to the Liverpool where it is either transhipped to larger ships bound for China.

It might look like silage, but in fact, its bales domestic and municipal waste, exported to Denmark where the waste is incinerated, and the heat is used in district heating of homes and schools. It is called RDF or Refuse Derived Fuel and has been exported out of Galway since 2013.

The new ferry is arriving at Galway Bay onboard the cargo ship SVENJA. The vessel is currently on passage to Belem, Brazil before making her way across the Atlantic to Galway.

Two Volvo round world races have selected Galway for the prestigious yacht race route. Some 10,000 people welcomed the boats in during its first stopover in 2009, when a festival was marked by stunning weather. It was also selected for the race finish in 2012. The Volvo has changed its name and is now known as the "Ocean Race". Capt Sheridan says that once port expansion and the re-urbanisation of the docklands is complete, the port will welcome the "ocean race, Clipper race, Tall Ships race, Small Ships Regatta and maybe the America's Cup right into the city centre...".

The pandemic was the reason why Seafest did not go ahead in Cork in 2020. Galway will welcome Seafest back after it calls to Waterford and Limerick, thus having been to all the Port cities.

© Afloat 2020