Sapphire Anniversary

On October 1, 2002, welders working on a cruise ship at the Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Shipyard in Nagasaki, Japan accidentally ignited combustible furniture in the cabin above where they were working. The fire took 19 hours to extinguish and destroyed an estimated 70% of the nearly completed ship. One of two identical ships under construction in the shipyard, it was to be called Diamond Princess. In order to reduce the impact on the Princess Cruises schedule the two ships exchanged names, and the fire ravaged vessel was renamed Sapphire Princess.

With four cruise ships in port today, pier space was at a premium, and Sapphire Princess had to tie up at the embarrassingly inadequate pier 31. Passengers had to to be bused in and out of the area for their own safety.

The ship was in Halifax today on the anniversary of the fire. There were no lives lost and more than a thousand workers evacuated safely, but a major rebuild was needed. The entire superstructure from the bridge to the engine casing was removed and replaced, and the interior fittings were redone. replaced.

The ship measuring 115,875 gt was one of the largest cruise ships in the world when completed, with a capacity of 2,670 passengers and 1,100 crew.

Also in Halifax today was the Norwegian Gem at pier 20-21, exhibiting the previously mentioned "hull art". Its head lines were lead out to the bollard on the Tall Ship Quay because the rest of the sea wall, piers 21-22 was occupied by Anthem of the Seas. Pier 23 was to be occupied (see below) the fourth ship, Star Pride ,was relegated to the even worse pier 34-35. (If the Port's master plan to fill in the cambers comes to fruition, those berths will no longer be available and no alternatives have been suggested for cruise ships.)

On arrival this morning Anthem of the Seas's glass enclosed pod, called the North Star appeared to be near its maximum altitude of 300 ft above sea level. As the ship drew closer however the device was lowered, well out of harm's way from curious military helicopters in the neighbourhood.

Early this afternoon the naval auxiliary oiler replenishment ship Asterix moved with civilian tug assistance from HMC Dockyard to pier 23 where it will be in place for the DEFSEC Atlantic military showcase. In past years it has been Canada's naval memorial Sackville alongside the annual event.

I missed the first arrival September 16 of Tropic Lissette the second new ship on Tropical Shipping's service. It returned today, taking up the slot formerly occupied by Bomar Rebecca and complimenting sister ship Tropic Hope which arrived here for the first time in January.

The 15,215 gt, 20,313 dwt ship has a capacity of 1100 TEU, including 200 reefers and carries a pair of 45 tonne cranes. It was built in China by Guangzhou Wenchong.

.

Gem

Norwegian Gem is the latest cruise ship to put in an appearance in Halifax. A regular since it was built at Meyer Werft, Papenburg in 2007, it can carry 2,384 passengers with a crew of 1154. It measures 93,530 grt.

The ship features "decoration" on its hull - a feature which seems to have taken hold for certain types of "free style" cruise ships.

t is also one of many cruise ships with a live bridge cam: http://www.cruisin.me/cruise-ship-webcams/norwegian-cruise-line/norwegian-gem.php

.

Cruise News - updated

It is the height of cruise season with some days seeing three or even four ships. It is also the time of year when weather may interfere with schedules but it is not often that mechanical repairs mess up cruise plans.
News is in that Veendam has now cancelled the October 11 cruise, in addition to the September 27 and October 4 cruises out of Quebec City due to propeller problems. The ship will be drydocked in Philadelphia. The ship is passing Halifax southbound as this is being written.  Its October 16 date in Halifax is still shown on the Cruise Halifax website.

Veendam's September 22 tug assisted arrival.

Meanwhile Pearl Mist spent Saturday night in Halifax. It had been intended to sail Saturday morning. Instead it left on Sunday morning.

Morning arrivals are now difficult to photograph due to sun angles and evening departures due to dark. This morning's attempt at Norwegian Gem bore mixed results.

 The tug in the background is returning from pier 31 where it stood by Arcadia for its tight turn into the berth. Legend of the Seas is also arriving this morning.

Update:

Arcadia, one of my favourites, made a splendid late afternoon departure.

Arcadia with Chebucto Pilot alongside. Does the ship have a slight squat to the stern?

Ordered originally by Holland America as a Vista class ship, it was transferred to Cunard during construction, and hence has a Cunard QE2 type mast and Cunard funnel (less the cowling at the base) and the clean appealing lines of a Cunarder. Shortly before launch parent Carnival transferred it to P+O and it took to the water at Fincantieri's Porto Marghera yard June 26, 2004 as Arcadia.

An adult only ship of 83,781 grt, with 11 decks, it carries 1952 passengers in normal configuration, but can max out at 2388, with 950 crew. It is propelled with diesel electric azipods, which makes me wonder why it had a tug in attendance this morning.

It was also closely accompanied by the pilot boat on departure. The ship had to signal for several inattentive sail boats to clear the channel (with 3 very longs and 1 short, double barrel blasts), so perhaps the pilot boat was there to ward them off. It soon shifted to the ship's port side and went out ahead.

For the record, the other ship in today, Legend of the Sea tied up at pier 20.

 Mackerel fishermen on the Tall Ship Quay were paying no attention to Legend of the Seas before it sailed.

.



Surf's up - cruisers down - UPDATED

High winds and driving rain swept over Halifax last night and early this morning, resulting in power outages on land, and high seas in the harbour approaches.

 

It was great for early morning surfers, but it meant that three cruise ships that were due at the pilot station for 0730, 0745 and 0830 loitered offshore until after 1000. By that time conditions had calmed down considerably, but it meant that two of the ships were not alongside until nearly noon. This would certainly cut into the passengers shore time.

Regatta creeping along past the deepwater piers to make its turn into pier 23.

Veendam came west and northabout George's Island. Interestingly it took the tug Atlantic Oak to assist with the turn. It is rare for cruise ships to take a tug, and in this case it wasn't due to weather since the wind had died down. Perhaps it has a faulty thruster or the small space left for it to squeeze into pier 20 astern of Norwegian Gem which was the first to tie up.

Update:
The scheduled 1630 departure of Norwegian Gem was put back to 1830. There was still a light salty spume in the otherwise cloudless air and surf pounding in on Point Pleasant as she made her way outbound. Thank goodness for stabilizers, because I think there would be quite a swell farther out.

Veendam pushed its departure out to 1730, then opted to stay in port overnight and Regatta also remained in port. Both are due to sail at 0600 tomorrow.

.

Crystal Symphony and company

1. Crystal Symphony sails for Bar Harbour.

Today's objective was to see Crystal Symphony as I had not taken a photo of her yet this year. She called in September and has two more visits after today.
Built in 1997, the ship carries 960 passengers and measures 50,202 gross tons. The only difference in the ship since the first photo I took of her in 1997 is the addition of a second satellite dome - the somewhat larger and lower one on the port side.
Today was supposed to be a two cruise ship day, with Norwegian Gem as the second ship, however rough weather forced Maasdam and Regatta to skip Charlottetown yesterday, so they arrived here today, a day early. Maasdam tied up at pier 27-28 and took bunkers. She will move to pier 22 this evening and sail tomorrow on schedule. Regatta sailed today for Saint John.

2. Norwegian Gem heads for Quebec City.

3. Regatta is off to Saint John.

Cruise Parade

It is the height of the cruise season, with up to five ships in port on a given day. The late afternoon parade of ships is a great sight.
Sunday, September 30 -the weather was not too pleasant, and Eurodam was the only ship in port.

When it sailed in the late afternoon, the fog and rain did not bode well for a pleasant trip on to Boston.

Yesterday, October 1 -there were five ships in port:

left to right:
Maasdam, pier 20; Caribbean Princess pier 22; Quest for Adventure pier 23;  Emerald Princess pier 31, Regatta pier 34. Unfortunately weather did not co-operate for departure time photos.

Today was a different case however and there were four ships in :

left to right:
Norwegian Gem pier 31; Quest for Adventure pier 23, Norwegian Dawn pier 22, Arcadia pier 20.

The weather certainly did co-operate at departure time and the ships left in the following order:

Did you notice Wilhelmsen's Topeka? The autocarrier certainly stands out in crowd!

Cruisers bid good bye to Halifax

I dislike taking "stern shots" of ships, but it seemed appropriate today for a couple of reasons [see also following post].
It was a miserably wet day for the passengers of three cruise ships that happened to call here. Despite the inclemency many passengers made their way by bus and on foot -clad in disposable ponchos and other rain gear- to "soak up" the Halifax ambiance. I don't imagine too many of them were sorry to say good bye to Halifax at the end of the day.

1. First to leave was Caribbean Princess with her "shopping cart push bar" sky lounge. She is bound for Saint John, NB.

2. The sleek Carnival Glory followed a bit later. Next port is also Saint John, NB. 

3. Norwegian Gem was last to go - some of her passengers were held up in traffic, delaying the departure by about 30 minutes. The ship is heading for Quebec City, and so will be passing through the heaviest rain sometime tonight off Cape Breton.