Day 3 Tuesday 21st June 2016 Belfast
Azura came into Belfast early in the morning at at 5 am and did a turnaround by the famous Harland and Wolfe cranes to begin her almost one mile reverse to dock at Stormont Quay.
After breakfast we skipped the queue for the city transfer bus and caught a taxi direct to the Titanic Experience.
The exhibition was fascinating with many different galleries describing Belfast’s history, the White Line rivalry with Cunard, the design and building of Titanic and her sister ships at H&W, her launch and setting off on her first and last voyage.
The exhibition is built at the head of the slipway where the Olympic class ships were built.
In the interactive exhibits we were able to track the possible paths of 1st class and 3rd class passengers and finally a stoke. There was also an immersive theatre where you were treated to a computer generated look at the engine room, the 3rd class quarters, first class, the grand staircase and the bridge.
The last part of the exhibition was by far the most poignant with the morse code messages sent by the ship and the responses from other ships, the testimony of survivors and the resulting enquiries both in the Uk and the USA and their recommendations still effect ships today.
Then in a theatre there was a film of the two halves of the ship and the debris field shot by an underwater vehicle with a commentary explains what parts of the ship was now being filmed. In the front of the screen at a lower level through a glass floor we could stand an look down on another film of the wreck and the debris field. Being able to see images of bottles, shoes and other possessions scattered along the sea bottom was simply amazing.
We had a drink of tea in one of the cafes and went outside in the rain to see first hand the slipway and see Azura moored further down the docks.
Another taxi ride took us back to the Stormont Quay for lunch back on-board.
As the ship sailed away from the quay the views of the H&W cranes, the slip way and the city airport were on the starboard side.
This evening was another with Brodie’s casino closed due to ‘regulations’. For interest we noted that the concierge postal rate from Belfast was £1.85, perhaps the postcards are sent more quickly?
Dinner of steak was followed by Ben Makasi in the Playhouse and then a 70’s bop with Accent in the Malabar. We have seen Accent on our earlier cruises on Azura and their lead singer explained that she had had just 2 weeks back in St Lucia since we had last seen them perform in March.
We subsequently learned that this was the maiden call of Azura to Belfast. After leaving Belfast this is a view of the coast as we sailed North.
