Friday 17 October 2014

AIDAbella in St Johns

A couple of days after the Amadea left port, the AIDAbella was due to arrive in St Johns. This cruise ship is a lot bigger, and can carry 2,500 passengers and 646 crew. She flies the Italian flag, but the crew and passengers are mostly German.
I was told that she was due into port, so we went up Signal Hill to see if we could spot her out at sea.

When a large ship is heading into port, the pilot boat goes out to meet her. All large seagoing ships must be guided into the harbour by the pilot.

The pilot has been taken on board and AIDAbella is heading towards The Narrows.

AIDAbella looks happy, doesn't she? I don't think I've ever seen a cruise ship with a happy smile before.

The entrance to the sheltered harbour of St Johns is very narrow, only 91 metres wide, and a depth of only 11.8 metres at low tide, so the guidance of an experienced pilot to get a cruise ship of this size safely to it's berth is vital. AIDAbella has a beam of 32 metres, that leaves approximately 30 metres room either side.... a tight fit!

I spoke to some of the passengers when they were exploring the hilly streets of St Johns. They were mostly German speaking, and even though my German is very limited, they told me that they loved the ship and were having a great time.

AIDAbella was only in port for the day, and left around 6:00pm, next stop is Halifax, Nova Scotia.
Stay tuned for more memories of my trip to Newfoundland and Labrador.

9 comments:

  1. Wow the graffiti artists really got to that one! :-)

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  2. She is a happy ship, that's for sure! Love the passengers who were waving the Canadian Flag.

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  3. Hard not to be happy when you're cruising on a ship with a smiling face. Great pics once again!

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  4. Different from the look of the cruise ship docked at the harbor, the same ship in the sea is so small. My son and his wife joined Caribbean cruise on their honeymoon. They said the whole ship was like a small town including all the kind of facilities. AIDAbella has charming eyes and yes, looks happy. Regarding smiles, I’ll be seasick sometimes and it’d be hard to keep smiling.

    Yoko

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  5. Those cruise ships really are HUGE, aren't they?

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  6. Shammickite, We're thinking about a vacation in Newfoundland this coming summer so these postings are very interesting to us. We've visited most of the Canadian Provinces...but not Newfoundland. Love big ships too! Take Care, Big Daddy Dave

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  7. She is a very Beautiful Ship! And I love how you kept getting in closer and closer----it was so wonderful to see her from far away to begin with---and then move in the way you did.....!

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  8. I imagine how huge those cruise ships are!!
    Really enviable trip!!I can not swim and I was nearly drown as I was a child. I am still suffer that trauma...but cruising is my dream.

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  9. Sounds a wonderful trip!
    What a beautiful and huge cruise ship!
    I would love to be there, I never did a cruising yet.

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