Luxury rigger sails into Larne Harbour

The visitors were forced to make an unscheduled stop locally due to strong winds and sea swells pounding the north coast.

“Seacloud II”, a luxury rigger ship, had been en route to Portrush as part of a golfing cruise. However, the ship was unable to anchor as a result of the weather conditions, and was diverted to the Port of Larne where four coaches waited to transport passengers to the Causeway coast and Royal Portrush.

“Seacloud II”, a three-masted square rigger ship, had sailed from Invergordon, on Saturday evening, with its passengers and 60 crew members from the United States and Canada.

It remained at Larne Harbour until Monday evening.

The three-masted square rigger ship made a grand entrance to Larne Harbour where it remained until 9.00 pm on Monday evening.

Previously, it had made a visit to Northern Ireland last July when it docked in Belfast.

Passengers are able to enjoy “timeless elegance” combined with the “highest standards of luxury and safety”.

The ship is operated by Sea Cloud Cruises, in Hamburg, Germany, but sails under a Maltese flag. It is a five-star cruise ship which sails mainly in the Mediterranean in summer and Caribbean in winter with Atlantic crossings between the two marketed as cruises.