By
Rebecca Gibson |
Ireland’s Port of Cork finished its busiest ever cruise season with a call from Phoenix Reisen’s Albatros on 7 October.
Home to Ireland’s only dedicated cruise berth, Cork handled 62 cruise ships and a record 123,000 passengers and crew members over the eight-month season. Eight vessels also made maiden visits to the port in 2013.
“This has been an excellent year for Cork and we have seen a huge jump in passenger numbers this year, which is down to the dedicated cruise berth and the number of calls of large cruise ships,” said John Mullins, chairman of the Port of Cork. “For example Princess Cruise’s ship Caribbean Princess called seven times this year, each time bringing more than 4,000 passengers and crew to Cork.”
Visiting passengers are offered a range of half-day and full-day shore excursions, while Irish Rail also works with the port to provide additional train services when larger cruise ships call, enabling passengers to travel between the ship and the city easily. According to the train operator, more than a quarter of cruise passengers took the train from Cobh to Cork City this year.
“There are lots of activities and attractions on offer in Cork and the region for cruise passengers, and we remain fully committed to increasing our calls from 62 this year to 80 in the next five years,” said Mullins. “To do this, we need the continued support of Irish Rail to offer more trains with added incentives and the tour operators need to design and offer new shore excursions at competitive prices. We also need the continued support from both city and county councils to encourage the promotion of the region, so that everything Cork has to offer is utilised to its full potential.”
In future, Cork intends to enhance its Cobh cruise facilities to enable it to handle larger liners and allow it to cater for two liners simultaneously.