Anthem of the Sea - unscheduled arrival

It was wall to wall cruise ships today as five ships visited Halifax at the same time. The fourth arrival, AIDAdiva tied up at pier 33-34, displacing the bunkering tanker Algoma Dartmouth from its usual roost at pier 34. It went off and bunkered Norwegian Dawn at pier 20 and on completion returned to pier 27 instead. Norwegian Jade used pier 31 and Seabourn Quest fitted in nicely at pier 23.
The final arrival (in more ways than one) was the very big Anthem of the Seas. It initially tied up at pier 22 after an 0945 hrs arrival at the pilot station.

Anthem of the Seas then sailed at 1930, but not long after clearing the pilot station it turned and headed back in. AIDAviva was astern and continued outbound - with the unusual situation of two cruise ships meeting. After boarding a new pilot at about 22330 hrs, Anthem of the Seas proceeded inbound and tied up at pier 22 for just long enough to disembark a guest. It called for clearance at 2355, and headed for Saint John, NB with no change in its ETA.

Normally a cruise ship would return to port only in the case of a medical emergency.

 Anthem of the Seas was delivered in 2015 by Meyerwerft, Papenburg, and at 168,666 grt, it is the largest ship ever to cruise Canadian waters. Its quoted passenger capacity is 4180, based on double occupancy.

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