Up to 500,000 people are expected to attend the Tall Ships festival in Belfast, which began today.
Visitors will be in the city for a glimpse of the huge wooden boats during the four-day festival.
Belfast is the last port of call on the vessels' epic voyage across the Atlantic and back, which is staged every eight to ten years.
They left Halifax, Nova Scotia, last month as part of a loop which began in Vigo in Spain and took in Tenerife, Bermuda, Charleston and Boston in the US.
Belfast beat off competition from a number of other European cities to win the right to welcome the fleet after its final leg.
Chair of Belfast's Tall Ships board Dr Gerard O'Hare said the city was in for a real treat.
'What people can look forward to is the biggest show in the country, the biggest event ever to be held in Ireland in maritime terms,' he said.
The last Tall Ships Atlantic Challenge race was nine years ago and the only other occasion the ships visited Belfast was in 1991.
Around a dozen of the ships completed the race across the Atlantic with the rest joining up with the fleet for the final port of call.
They will be open to the public to visit today and over the weekend before sailing out of the docks in a convoy parade on Sunday.
