After a windy night, which quite nicely kept the fog away, we arrived at Halifax with the pilot ordered for 7 am. There is not much use to be any earlier, as we can only have the first line ashore at 8 am. due to the tripling docking costs if you are there before 8 am. So we adjusted the arrival time accordingly, and so did the other ships. First one to go in was the Maasdam, followed by the Carnival Victory, who was followed by us. The Maasdam had to go to the furthest dock, hence she went in first. While we had a windy day in Bar Harbor, they had an even worse day in Sydney Nova Scotia. Here it blew so hard that the Maasdam had to cancel calling at Sydney and spent the day at sea.

But today was going to be a great day. The sun was shining and with just a gentle breeze it was perfect for sightseeing in Halifax. This port has two cruise terminals and with three ships in, we were relegated to a cargo pier, as we are making the least number of calls to Halifax. The cargo pier was however quite close to the cruise terminal piers and the port authority had laid on a large number of shuttle buses, so there was no inconvenience for the guests. It was just a bit tight to get the ship in as at the opposite pier there was a tanker docked. While going into port, the tugboat Theodore II was sailing around the ship. This is a converted tugboat, which now sports a face with a big nose and a baseball cap on top of the funnel and it just looks as if it has come directly out of a children’s cartoon. This tugboat is part of a public relations drive by the port,
welcoming the ships into port. Tourism is becoming an important part of the local economy and Halifax is working very hard to make it even better than it already is.

Good weather meant we had time to do outside maintenance and training with the crew. The lifesaving officer has just started a CPSC course for new crew. CPSC stands for Course of Proficiency in Survival Craft. In normal language it means certified lifeboat/raft handler. This is a six week course that we give on board and about 45 crew members were enrolled this time. They are trained in lowering lifeboats and maneuvering the lifeboats with wind and current. Also part of it is the handling of life rafts and techniques for survival at sea. The course is concluded with an oral and a practical exam and when passed a CPSC certificate is issued by the Dutch Government. The trainer is allowed to do the exams with the chief officer or me sitting in to ensure a professional standard. For that we have done a training course ourselves in the past. There are companies who do this training via shore side schools but Holland America prefers to do it on board. This makes it more lifelike, more specialized in the company’s way of doing things and there is the peer support from the other crew when learning. The latter is something that is really appreciated by the Indonesians and Philipinno’s.

So the whole morning, lifeboats were going up and down the ships side and little sightseeing trips were made into the harbor. It was quite funny to see a small philipinna front desk attendant standing behind the wheel of the lifeboat and shouting out orders to some big cooks, so that the boat came correctly back under the falls.

Just before 5 pm. The ship pulled off the dock and we sailed out of Halifax harbor on our way to the next port of call, Sydney Nova Scotia. Hopefully we will have less wind there than the Maasdam.