In The Harbour: M/V Balmoral
Today the M/V Balmoral was in St. John’s, kicking off the 2016 cruise ship season! While the weather was grey and dreary (and threatened snow more than once), any passengers I saw around seemed to be thoroughly enjoying their time here. Balmoral arrived around 8:00am, and sailed back out through the Narrows shortly after 2:00pm.
Nationality: Bahamas
Length: 217.9m
Beam: 32.3m
Weight: 43,537 tonnes
Draught: 7.2m
Decks: 10
Capacity: 1,350
Crew: 471
Speed: 22 knots
Year: 1988
Having sailed from Southampton, UK on April 16th, she was in the news a couple of times last week as she made her way up the Canadian East Coast, with over 200 of her passengers having contracted Norovirus. CBC reported she had around 919 passengers on board of her 1,350 standard capacity. According to the sign at the gate, she also has 510 crew on board.
The Balmoral was originally constructed in 1988, and was reconstructed in 2007. The project added 30m to her amidships and a number of extra passenger and crew cabins. Currently, she is both the newest, and largest, ship operating under Fred. Olsen Cruise Lines. Hopefully, next year’s visit will be under better circumstances.
M/V Balmoral will be sailing from here to Ringaskiddy, Ireland. She will end her trip back in Southampton on May 20th.