The world's largest liner is due to anchor off Dunmore East tomorrow morning when the Queen Mary II makes her inaugural visit to Irish waters.
At nearly 150,000 tonnes, the giant cruise liner from Southampton will arrive off the Co Waterford fishing port on a nine-day cruise of Britain, Ireland and the Baltic states.
Built in 2003 at a cost of £540 million, the Cunard Line-owned ship is the most expensive passenger ship ever.
The Queen Mary II is the only true "liner" operating in the world today, operating a regular scheduled transatlantic service between Southampton and New York in addition to worldwide cruising.
Her predecessor, the Queen Elizabeth II or "QE2", continues sailing but only in a "cruise ship" role.
The Queen Mary II's construction cost is reflected in the size of the vessel - she is 148,528 tonnes compared to the QE2 at 70,327 tonnes.
The liner can carry 2,620 passengers and a crew of over 1,200. It is the longest, tallest and widest passenger liner ever built.
The luxury liner offers nearly 80 per cent of cabins with private balconies.
There is over £3.5 million in art on board, the first floating planetarium, the largest library at sea with 8,000 hardbacks and the largest ballroom on a ship.
The visit of the Queen Mary II to Ireland will be somewhat poignant as the Harland & Wolff shipyard in Belfast was short-listed to build the Cunard liner.
The contract, however, went to Chantiers d'Atlantique of St Nazaire on the west coast of France.
Cunard Line is part of the Miami-based Carnival Corporation which owns other prestigious cruise brand names, including Princess Cruises.
This company signed a deal with the Dublin Port Company to make 11 cruise calls to the city this summer. The largest of these cruise ships to visit Dublin, the Star Princess, is due to dock this summer.