Cruising from Larne aboard Athena 11/7/06

The cruise ship Athena paid her first ever visit to the Port of Larne on the 11/7/06 to embark passengers and whisk them away to the sunnier climes on a 10 day cruise of the Western Mediterranean. The ship had earlier embarked Scottish passengers at Greenock that morning before proceeding to Larne to take on more.

With an ETA of 1400 at Larne Athena had almost a 2hr window within which she could arrive without disrupting the regular ferry movements at Larne but she lost time on passage and was chased into Larne by the European Highlander, which was operating the 1330 sailing from Cairnryan to Larne. Prior to arrival, pilot boat Noleen McLoughlin had went out and boarded the local pilot aboard Athena outside the port limits while Belfast based Svitzer Marine tug Norton Cross had hooked on a tow line to the after end of the cruise ship to provide assistance in manoeuvring the 160m long cruise ship alongside Larne's Curran Quay berth. Earlier that morning European Mariner had shifted to anchor to allow the Athena free access to the freight ferry's usual berth.

	Athena assisted by Norton Cross enters Larne Harbour with European Highlander approaching the port from Cairnryan in the background. Photo: Larne Ferry Web (click to enlarge)
	Athena and Norton Cross enter Larne Harbour. Photo: Larne Ferry Web (click to enlarge)
	Close up view of Norton Cross assisting Athena as the cruise ship sails in past Ferris Point lighthouse. Photo: Larne Ferry Web (click to enlarge)
	Noleen McLoughlin returns to Larne after transporting the pilot out to Athena. Noleen also transported the passenger's boarding passes from ship to shore. Photo: Larne Ferry Web (click to enlarge)
	Norton Cross assisting Athena alongside Curran Quay. Photo: Larne Ferry Web (click to enlarge)

Athena was all secure alongside Curran Quay by around 1545 and the operation to load the 670 passengers joining the ship at Larne and their baggage commenced in earnest. This was completed shortly after 1800 and the ship set sail at 1830 with the next port of call being Lisbon, Portugal. The cruise itinerary was scheduled to include stops in Spain and Morocco as well as the call at Lisbon before the Athena was due to return her passengers to Larne on the 21/7/06.


	Three different angles of Athena sailing out from Larne at 1830 on 11/7/06. Photo: Larne Ferry Web (click to enlarge)
	Pilot boat Noleen McLoughlin returns to Larne harbour after picking the pilot off Athena after she was safely clear of the buoyed channel leading out from the harbour. Photo: Larne Ferry Web (click to enlarge)

Athena herself has had a long and interesting career. Built in 1948, the ship was originally the Swedish owned transatlantic passenger ship Stockholm, serving the Gothenburg to New York service for Swedish-America Line. Not a particularly large vessel in the transatlantic trade the vessel had her superstructure enlarged in 1953 increasing her passenger capacity from 395 to 548. Whilst on a sailing from New York she collided with and sank the Italian liner Andrea Doria off Nantucket on the 25/7/56 with loss of life aboard both vessels. The Stockholm lost practically her whole bow section in the collision and underwent extensive repairs at New York over the following few months prior to returning to service.

Stockholm's time on the transatlantic liner trade didn't last much longer mainly due to her small size. When Swedish-America Line built newer and larger ships she was sold off in 1960 to East German interests and spent 25 years in service there. It was during this time that she occasionally was chartered to the Swedish company Stena Line for cruises out of Gothenburg.

She had some difficult times in the following years spending many of the intervening years laid up in various parts of the world until she passed to Italian interests. She was refitted and had her superstructure rebuilt in Genoa before becoming involved in cruising under the name Italia Prima from 1994. She became Athena in 2005 and is now cruising for Classic International Cruise of Maderia.

IMO number: 5383304
Call Sign: CQRV
Gross tonnage: 16144
Year of build: 1948
Flag: Portugal
Registered owner: CIC CLASSIC INTL CRUISES SA, MADEIRA
Ship manager: ARCALIA SHIPPING, 126-128, Avenida 24 de Julho, Lisbon PORTUGAL