Grand Princess Belfast visit

The highlight of the Belfast Cruise calendar took place this morning as the stunning Princess Cruises liner, the Grand Princess, made her way into the Port of Belfast.

Measuring 290 metres, the Grand Princess is longer than three football pitches and around five storeys taller than the Europa Hotel.  The 109,000 tonne liner features an array of innovative amenities for fun on board including a nine hole putting course, nine whirlpool spas and even a wedding chapel, should any of the passengers be overwhelmed by the romance of cruise living and wish to tie the knot onboard!

The magnificent vessel is one of 31 cruise ships coming into Belfast this summer as a result of the promotional efforts of the Cruise Belfast Initiative, a partnership between the Belfast Visitor & Convention Bureau and the Port of Belfast.

2007 marks the tenth anniversary of the first cruise visit to Belfast and this year’s busy season will see around 45,000 passengers and crew come into the city, injecting an estimated £10.5 million into the local economy.

Around 3,700 passengers and crew disembarked from the ship and the Lord Mayor of Belfast, Councillor Jim Rogers was on hand to welcome them to Belfast saying;

“It is wonderful to see such a beautiful ship sailing down Belfast Lough and very exciting to see so many passengers streaming off to spend a day exploring the sights and sounds of Belfast and Northern Ireland.  The city has so much to offer to visitors and with 31 cruise ships stopping here this summer; we will have an excellent opportunity to showcase the greater Belfast region to a wide audience.  We can feel confident that those who visit us will be impressed, will tell friends and family how much they enjoyed their time here and will hopefully come back again to see us in the future.”

Belfast Visitor & Convention Bureau has worked hard organising tour buses and transport to ensure that all those stepping off the Grand Princess have an opportunity to make the most of their time in Belfast. 

Susie McCullough, Director of Marketing at BVCB knows the importance of ensuring that everything runs smoothly.

“With so many passengers stepping off the Grand Princess and wanting to explore the city and its environs, it is vital that we ensure that they are well catered for,” she says.  “There is such a variety of options open to visitors now and we have so many products to offer them, from hard hat tours to cultural tours and from shopping trips to pub tours, that visitors are spoilt for choice. 

“Many will want to visit the peace wall and see the murals to get a sense of the city’s history but more than ever, we are welcoming people who simply want to get out and meet the locals, view some of our fabulous architecture, eat in many of the wonderful restaurants that we have and spend money in the shops and bars here. 

“As the Lonely Planet attests, we are a ‘city on the rise’ and the visitors we will be bringing in today will have their opportunity to experience the vibrancy and buzz of Belfast,” adds Susie.

Roy Adair, Chief Executive of the Port of Belfast adds;

“It is a testament to the standing that Belfast now enjoys in terms of the European cruise calendar that Princess Cruises are returning to the Port of Belfast for the fourth year in a row.  The fact that the Grand Princess alone is making four trips to the city this season says a great deal about how many people now want to stop off and see what Belfast and Northern Ireland has to offer.  We have come such a long way from the first cruise season in 1997 when we had just two cruise ships coming into the port to the stage we are now at with 31 vessels stopping here this summer.”

A further 22 cruise ships are expected to dock in Belfast before the close of the cruise season at the end of September.

BVCB is a public/private partnership funded by Belfast City Council, NITB, and the private sector and is sponsored by Diageo NI.