Bon Voyage for Black Prince
Belfast bon-voyage for Black Prince on
farewell cruise
As the music filled the sea air at the Port of
Belfast, Belfast’s Lord Mayor, Cllr Naomi Long, MLA, combined a
warm welcome and sincere bon-voyage to Captain Hansen and the
cruise ship ‘Black Prince’ as she travels on her farewell UK tour
of the British Isles.
Belfast is the first port of call for the 420
passengers and 200 crew onboard the Black Prince final cruise ‘From
John O’Groats to Lands End’, which also includes visits to
Liverpool, Scrabster, Guernsey and Dublin. The day alongside
will enable passengers to see the best of Belfast and beyond with
excursions to the Giant’s Causeway, Mount Stewart, the Ards
Peninsula as well as the city itself.
Welcoming passengers ashore,
the Lord Mayor presented passengers with souvenirs:
“It’s great to welcome back the Black
Prince to Belfastand poignant that this is in
fact her final visit to the city. However, what’s really
great is seeing the hundreds of passengers and crew eager to
disembark in order to see and experience all that Belfast and
Northern Ireland can offer.”
Black Prince’s farewell cruise marks the end
of a monumental 43 year service with the Fred Olsen Cruise company,
becoming one of the company’s favourite vessels having carried
thousands of holidaymakers around the British Isles, Europe and
beyond.
This final visit to Belfast also marks the
14th that the ship has made to the city since she first
docked in 2005. Black Prince’s visit today is the
33rd cruise ship visit to the Port of Belfast this year
alone and highlights how Belfast is now an established port of call
for the World’s cruise liners, thanks to the determined efforts of
the Cruise Belfast marketing initiative.
“Belfast’s inclusion in
the Black Prince’s final cruise itinerary brings me great pride as
it again demonstrates how much Belfasthas
developed. The Cruise market has become an important and
lucrative element of Belfast’s tourism
offering. Since the first cruise liner docked in 1999, 198
liners from across the World have visited Belfast enabling nearly
290,000 passengers and crew to experience a true Belfast
welcome.” the Mayor concluded.
The Cruise Belfast partnership between the
Port of Belfast and Belfast Visitor & Convention Bureau (BVCB)
and supported by NITB has gone from strength to strength since it
was set up in 1999. As Gerry Lennon, BVCB’s Chief Executive
explained:
“As a compact city that’s easily explored,
it not surprising to see Belfasthas proved to be
popular port of call for cruise ships on their European or
British Isles’ itineraries. The Bureau and Port
of Belfast along with NITB have worked hard to promote the city as
an ideal cruise stop and we have no doubt that today’s visitors
will leave with an equally good impression as those in the past,
and will then consider Belfast and Northern Ireland as a future
short break destination.”
The Cruise Belfast Initiative is a partnership
between the Belfast Visitor & Convention Bureau and the Port
Belfast with support from the Northern Ireland Tourist Board.