Don’t miss out on the Irish Jig…………

Having taken a short mini cruise over to Ireland in December for our works Christmas conference I was sad to see that Dublin has taken the decision to reduce the amount of ship calling into Dublin from 2021 due to major construction taking place.

Don’t get me wrong crossing the Irish sea in December was certainly not one of the highlights of my year and I certainly will not be repeating it again in the near future, however Dublin and Ireland in general, is such a fantastic Port to visit so it’s a shame as I’m sure it will be sorely missed and certainly effect the tourist trade in Dublin as a whole.

Major construction works will be taking place to build a 400-metre quay wall to accommodate the site’s booming cargo business post-Brexit, if it ever happens ha ha!!!!! The investment for the project is set to cost over one billion Euro and will enable a significant increase in cargo business into the Port.

Dublin Port will cut the number of cruise calls in half and stop turnaround cruises altogether from 2021. Normally 160 ships make a stop into Dublin every year, this will reduce by 25% leaving only 40 ships making the stop.

CLIA stated that the changes will effectively limit the number of cruise ship calls per week, to:

-2 large cruise ships in the summer season

-1 per week in the winter

-Zero turnarounds (a stop where passengers first join or finally leave the ship)

Cruise authorities are working closely with Dublin to try not to reduce the stops to this level, maybe they may bring in a Port charge like Amsterdam, we’ll have to wait and see.

Dublin will not be increasing calls again until 2024 so if you’ve never been to Ireland and don’t want to fly be sure to be sure make sure you put a Dublin mini cruise on your Bucket in the next 2 years.