A major cruise line is basing a ship in Ireland for the first time.
The 'Celebrity Eclipse' will operate out of Dublin Port until the end of June.
The ship arrives in the city today ahead of the summer season.
To date Dublin was considered a stop over on existing routes.
Now some passengers will be flown to Dublin to start their journey.
And she has docked! Join us in celebrating #CelebrityEclipse arrival in Dublin. Will you be joining her this season? #EclipseInDublin pic.twitter.com/8keu3TyJ71
— Celebrity Cruises Ireland (@CelebrityIre) April 29, 2018
Pat Ward, Cruise Business Manager at Dublin Port says it is a significant development,
"A lot of hard work involved in getting these cruise ships into Dublin. The discussions in this instance started around 3 years ago where we visited the cruise companies and we point out to them and make them aware of the fantastic air connectivity that goes into Dublin, in the first instance, directly from the US and then the ease of access from the Dublin Port to the Sea Port is fifteen minutes through the tunnel.
And then of course we are in the heart of the city so that represents an unusual set of circumstances."
Over 14 thousand passengers on Celebrity Eclipse will start their journey out of Dublin this year.
It's going to have a base in the capital until the end of June.
Vice President of Celebrity Cruises to the UK and Ireland Jo Rzymowska describes how big the ship is,
"This is a beautiful big ship, we have over 2,800 guest on board.
She's actually twice as long as Croke Park which gives you some indication as to how large she is and she has over 1,200 crew members on board.
It's really important to us that every single one of our guest receives really wonderful service so we're nearly a two to one ratio in our guests to our crew."
And here she is #eclipseindublin @celebrityire @CelebrityCruise @LisaLutoffPerlo pic.twitter.com/nTmr6HBwu1
— Jo Rzymowska (@JoRzyCruise) April 29, 2018
