Celebrating St Patrick's Day

Updated March 2018

The 17th March brings us the festival of St Patrick’s Day, a celebration of everything Irish; anything green and gold goes along with shamrocks, luck, Guinness, Trad music, and Irish food. The whole world celebrates with parades, song, and dance.

Welcome to the only day of the year when you won’t look out of place in a giant leprechaun hat.

Why do we celebrate?

Saint Patrick, the patron saint of Ireland, is best known for driving all the snakes away from the island; and it is true that you will find no snakes there, but there probably never has been since it was separated from the rest of the continent at the end of the Ice Age.

Saint Patrick is also supposed to have brought Christianity to the island of Ireland and had used the shamrock, which has now become the national emblem, to explain the holy trinity.

Go Green

National monuments across the world go green in celebration. In Chicago, the city lights up green along with the Chicago River which is dyed a fluorescent green for the occasion.

Other monuments that go green include the London Eye, the Leaning Tower of Pisa, Niagara Falls, the Burj al Arab in Dubai, South Africa’s Table Mountain and the Sydney Opera House.

Celebrating on a cruise

If you are on a cruise during the St Paddy’s festivities, you’re in luck; cruise line celebrations vary but most give a nod to the patron saint of Ireland. Here are our top picks of some of the best St Patrick’s Day parties at sea:

Norwegian Cruise Line: Norwegian will be throwing a St Patrick’s Day Party across the fleet where guests are able to celebrate with Irish themed music, entertainment, decorations, food and drink…including green beer!

Royal Caribbean: The Royal Caribbean fleets will see parties and onboard parades along with Irish themed music, karaoke and more.

Whether you are on a cruise that makes a special effort for the occasion or not, you can be certain that there will be guests celebrating onboard. Normally many guests dress in green on the day and continue the festivities late into the night - wherever you are in the world, you can guarantee St Patrick’s Day celebrations will follow you!

Cruising to Ireland

You can still experience the true spirit of the Irish on any other day of the year with a cruise to Ireland. Many British customers overlook the possibility of a cruise around Ireland and the British Isles - yet it is one of the most convenient ways to do so!

Several cruise lines are offer overnights in Dublin including Celebrity Eclipse, which is homeporting out of Dublin for summer 2018.

See all of our cruises to Ireland.