Arcadia sails after extended stay -[ see update]

The P+O Cruises Arcadia sailed late this afternoon after an extended stay in Halifax. The ship arrived Friday morning September 22 and was due to sail that afternoon. However the departure was put off until this morning then extended to early this afternoon and finally to late this afternoon.

There was lots of activity on deck yesterday afternoon when the ship was originally scheduled to sail.
 

Finally sailing this afternoon in summer-like conditions.

Ordered in 2003 by Holland America line as a Vista class, it was allocated to Cunard and was to be "Queen Victoria". Shortly before launch, June 26, 2004, it was transferred to P+O Cruises and completed by Fincantieri Marghera as Arcadia.  (All these lines are part of Carnival) The 84,342 grt ship has a capacity of 2358 max passengers and 976 crew and is propelled by electric azipod drives.

Fleet mate Aurora, which was here September 3 had a fire in the engine room September 20 while en route from Bermuda to the Azores and was drifting without power for about an hour.

The 76,152 grt ships, built in 2000 by Jos. L. Meyer, Papenburg, has a capacity for 1878 passengers and 850 crew. The ship apparently reached the Azores safely.

Both ships cater to British cruisers and have subdued graphics compared to some of the exuberant floating bill boards we see, such as another ship that was in port today, AIDAdiva (see September 14) or its fleet mate AIDAluna on September 4.

.

I prefer the plain vanilla ships such as another of today's visitors- Silver Whisper.

Built in 2000 by Mariotti, Genoa it has the understated elegance that is appropriate to an exclusive yacht-like ships. At 28,258 grt it carries only 382 passengers. When I checked two years ago it had the most space per passenger of any cruise ship with 74 gross tons per passenger and with 295 crew it also had the highest passenger to crew ratio of 1.3 to 1.


Update: Arcadia's long stay was due to rope entanglements in its prop(s). These were finally cleared, but not until the ship had missed three port calls. So it is not only whales that are suffering from phantom / abandoned fishing gear.

.

Two out one in - cruise ships on the hop

With tropical storm Leslie messing up cruise schedules, there was a rare situation today in Halifax - two cruise ships sailing and one arriving.

Eurodam sailed after overnighting in Halifax. Her planned visit to St. John's was scrubbed so that she could avoid the storm. She therefore arrived in Halifax yesterday morning and remained tied up over night, sailing late this afternoon.

Celebrity Summit sailed soon after, on her regular schedule.

And as these ships were leaving, AidaLuna arrived to tie up over night. She had also planned a call in St.John's but had cancelled due to the storm.

Adios AIDAluna

AIDAluna with her unusual paint scheme, sails this afternoon on her fifth and final call of the season. [see the September 11 posting for more info on the ship]

The cruise season is surely winding down with only a handful of ships yet to call. Thursday October 21 will be a four ship day. After that there will only be three calls remaining: Crystal Symphony October 27, Jewel of the Seas October 28 and Queen Mary 2 on October 30 to end it for the year.

.

Why do they do that?

It would be called graffiti just about anywhere else, and makes the purists cringe, but "super graphics" on cruise ships are here to stay.

The most egregious to call in Halifax this year is surely AIDAluna. Built in Germany and completed in 2009 the Italian registered ship carries 2,100 passengers in 1,025 staterooms. It can travel at up to 22 knots and entertains its occupants with a variety of novel diversions.

Last year she worked close to home in the Med, Baltic and Canary Islands. This winter she will work in the Caribbean, after a series of east coast cruises out of New York.

An added bonus for passengers yesterday when she called in Halifax was rehearsals for the Halifax International Air Show. Canada's Snowbirds are seen in tight formation over the ship as she sails outbound.