The Titanic Memorial Cruise finally made it into Cobh on Monday to be greeted by hundreds of well-wishers on the quayside.

The MS Balmoral is retracing the fateful steps of the Titanic on its one and only voyage a hundred years ago.

Poor weather conditions delayed the ship’s arrival on Monday into Cobh, Titanic’s final port of call before calamity struck in 1912.

The Titanic Memorial Cruise is scheduled for 12 nights and originated in Southampton.

The anniversary cruise has attracted more than 1,300 passengers from 22 countries to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the sinking of the White Star liner.

The Irish Times reports that the captain and crew of the MS Balmoral were welcomed to Cork by Cobh’s mayor and a number of local dignitaries.

Mayor Quinlan, who works as a history teacher, told the paper that seven passengers disembarked at Cobh, then Queenstown, while over a hundred boarded the boat there, all bar six of them on third class tickets.

“The vast majority were third-class passengers embarking in Cobh,” said Mayor Quinlan.

“Significantly the last mail was also taken off at Cobh. It anchored in the harbour for approximately an hour and a half at that time.”

Cobh’s former lord mayor and local councillor John Mulvihill welcomed the cruise and the buzz it brought to his town.

“It is an amazing atmosphere today. I have never seen so many people in the town, but I think the environment and atmosphere is correct for what we are commemorating,” Mulvihill told the Irish Times.

“The whole community has come together on this. We have a lot of ships coming in every year but there is something very special about this week.”

A series of concerts will also be held in Cobh this week, on the site where passengers embarked, to commemorate the Titanic’s connections with Ireland.

Here's a BBC report on the cruise:

Here's another BBC report on the cruise: