A new French cruise operator, Compagnie Française de Croisières, made its first presence in Irish waters when their Renaissance arrived to anchor off Dun Laoghaire Harbour, writes Jehan Ashmore.

The Marseilles based CFC Croisières has just a single cruise ship, however Renaissance represents the first large vessel dedicated to the French market in several years. Afloat consulted CFC's website where the 1,100 passenger (originally, 1,400 capacity when as Maasdam of Holland America Line) cruiseship has a crew to passenger ratio of 1 for every 9 guests. 

Renaissance which had sailed from the UK arrived into Dublin Bay on Wednesday morning and where Afloat observed tenders from the 55,575 tonnes cruise ship operate back and forth to Dun Laoghaire Harbour throughout the day. On this cruise, 530 passengers were guests of the 520 crew working on the Bermuda flagged vessel which operates a year round cruise programme.

To mark the new operator’s maiden visit in Irish waters, Cllr Denis O'Callaghan, Cathaoirleach of Dun Laoghaire-Rathdown County Council, joined Harbour Master Harry Duggan aboard Renaissance for a plaque exchange with the captain.

The visit by Renaissance to Dun Laoghaire Harbour is one of a record breaking 90 plus callers this season and following the new operator, the 100,000th cruise visitor from Norwegian Dawn, on Thursday, was welcomed in a ceremony held by the port. In total 164,000 visitors are scheduled this year along with 71,000 crew and generating €10-15m per year to local economies such as Dún Laoghaire. 

In the evening, Renaissance was again observed but setting off for an overnight passage to Cobh, Cork Harbour. Further anchorage calls where tracked by Afloat to St. Mary’s, Isles of Scilly and today, St. Peter Port, Guernsey.

The 219m cruise ship as alluded was originally the Maasdam built in 1993 for Holland America Line until acquired during the pandemic by Seajets of Greece as their Aegean Myth, however the vessel was sold again to CFC in August, 2022.

Under CFC ownership, the cruise ship went to Damen Shipyard, in Brest, Brittany where a €30 million refit took place on the 9 passenger decks in which six are where 629 cabins are located.

On completion of refit, Renaissance headed to Le Havre where the cruise ship on 28 June was renamed by French actress Anne Parillaud. On the next day, an inaugural cruise voyage took place from the port in Normandy.

In addition to CFC offering the domestic market with cruises from the English Channel (La Manche), embarkation for passengers is available from Bordeaux on the Atlantic and Marseilles in the Mediterranean.