Cobh cruise calls

28th August 2013

Cruiseship Trio Head for Cork Harbour

#CorkCruiseCalls – The Port of Cork will be busy tomorrow as three cruiseships capable of carrying a combined total of 4,200 passengers are to visit the natural harbour, writes Jehan Ashmore.

First to make an entrance will be Celebrity Infinity followed by AIDAcara, a recent caller to Dublin Port and making up the trio, Club Med 2, which too called to the capital port today.

AIDAcara is to berth alongside Cobh Cruise Terminal while the other pair are due to dock at the Ringaskiddy Deep Water Berth.

As previously reported, the cruiseship sector is worth more than €40 million annually to the Cork economy.

August is the busiest month for the Port of Cork cruise season and by the end of this month the port will have welcomed 21 cruiseships alone and carrying up to 30,000 passengers.

By the end of the season, more than 60 cruiseships will have visited.

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Dublin Port Turn-Around Offers Direct Cruises to the Sun

Portuguese-flagged Ocean Countess (1976/17,593grt) returned to Dublin Port from Vigo, this morning after completing a 10-night Iberian and Morocco cruise. She embarks on another direct cruise from the capital today, writes Jehan Ashmore.

Operated by UK-based Cruise & Maritime Voyages (CMV), Ocean Countess picked up a pilot in Dublin Bay close to the South Burford Buoy around 09.00. An hour later she berthed in the port at Ocean Pier from where passengers of the 800-passenger capacity vessel disembarked.

With a short-turn around in port, more cruise-goers will be boarding for a mid-afternoon departure, marking the start of a 13-night Canary Islands & Madeira cruise. When she heads out of the port, the first port of call is Falmouth then it's off to Leixoes (Portugal), Agadir (Morocco), Arrecife (Lanzarote), Las Palmas (Gran Canaria), Funchal (Madeira), Lisbon (Portugal) and Vigo (Spain) before returning to Dublin.

The vessels final end-of season cruise from Dublin is on 25 October, with a 10-night cruise to Nice (returning by air). The interim ports of call are to Falmouth, Leixoes, Lisbon, Cartagena (Spain) Palma and Mahon (Menorca). To read more about this cruise click HERE.

In addition to Dublin calls the former Cunard Countess, also called this season to Cork Harbour. It was during a call last month to Ringaskiddy that another 'Cunarder' the flagship, Queen Mary 2 was also in port on a call to Cobh. To read more of that visit click HERE.

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Queen’s Namesake to Retrace Royal Visit

Following the historic visit of Queen Elizabeth to Ireland in May, Cunard Line's newest cruiseship Queen Elizabeth is to make her maiden 'Irish' voyage next month, writes Jehan Ashmore.

In a ceremony held in her home port of Southampton the 2,038 guest capacity /1,100 crew cruiseship was named by Queen Elizabeth in October last year. To watch the naming ceremony click the video.

The 90,901 gross registered tonnes cruise ship is to depart her Hampshire homeport, where she is to similarly follow the monarch in that she is scheduled to make a port of call to Dublin first on 9 September and make a call to Cork afterwards.

With a length of 295m / 965-feet the vessel will dock in the centre of the capital port before she sails overnight to make a morning arrival at Cobh, the dedicated cruise terminal for the Port of Cork. She is scheduled to stay at the Cork Harbour town formerly named Queenstown until a 17.00 hour departure.

Her visit coincides with Cork Harbour Open Day, where visitors can view the impressive vessel from the quayside, for more details visit www.corkharbour.ie

Incidentally her near-sister Queen Victoria also called to Dublin in May and the remaining vessel of the Cunard fleet, the 'flagship' liner Queen Mary 2 is also to dock in Cobh three days later after Queen Elisabeth's visit.

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