Cork, Ireland

[lesliet]

In my research, I have discovered that the port for Cork, Ireland is 15 miles from Cork. Does anyone know if there are taxis at the port for transport and about how much they charge to go to Cork? Or do most ships sell shuttle tickets to transport passengers to Cork? We will be on NCL in July and I have already called NCL and she couldn't give me an answer for anything.
She said the itinerary was too new. Thanks.

[Hank]

You will dock in the small fishing town of Cobh. Most of the cruise lines work with the local bus company to provide shuttle service to Cork for about $5. There is also a train station right in front of the dock with trains that run to Cork, but the buses are more frequent. There is also a wonderful museum right on the Cobh dock that tells about the Titanic (Cobh was its last port) and the Lusitania (it was torpedoed within site of Cobh).

Hank

[lesliet]

Hank, thank you for all this very useful and helpful information!

[chrishumph]

We went to Cork (Cobh) on a cruise a couple of years ago and I arranged to rent a car for the day. We were met at the port gate at an agreed time (by a guy who said his name was Paddy......) and taken to a nearby car rental place. This gave us the option to go into Cork, but also do some other exploring.
First thing we drove to Kinsale and took a guided walk around that delightful town from the Tourist office, then we set off and explored the countryside and a few beauty spots before going into Cork, parking and having a wander around. Back to the car rental place where they took us straight back to the ship in time for sailing.
I can't remember the name of the car rental place, but suggest doing a Google search on Cobh / car rental.

[Hank]

Regarding the rental cars at Cobh, we had a chat with a local volunteer leader who assists with welcoming all the cruise ships. He told us that there has been some heated local discussions (in Cobh) about the failure of the rental car companies to provide better services at the port. They have some good long range plans for Cobh including the construction of a large pier that will be able to accomodate any size cruise ship. The current tendering situation can be awful, since its a pretty long tender ride and it gets very complicated in rough seas. Last year when we docked in Cobh (Jewel of the Seas in late April) the ship was 2 hours late leaving Cobh because of huge delays in tendering. At one point there were cruise passengers lined-up for more than 90 minutes waiting on the pier for their tender back to the ship.

Hank