Celebrity Infinity – 1st Cruise Ship of 2012 Season

The Celebrity Infinity arrived at Pier 66 this morning. She is the first cruise ship of the season to tie up at the Bell Street Pier Cruise Terminal. See the schedule published by the Port of Seattle for the complete 2012 cruise ship sailing calendar.

It’s awe-inspiring to see how the pilots guide these huge ships and lay them up against the dock in perfect position without any assistance from tugs. This morning, the Infinity pilot positioned the ship perpendicular to the dock, bow-in and perhaps only 100 feet out, and then gently used his stern thrusters to push the stern around to starboard until the ship was parallel to the dock – all while maintaining slight overall momentum toward the dock. The ship reached, and became parallel to, the dock at precisely the same time. It was beautiful to watch. And all in extremely slow motion. The pilots who guide these ships are true professionals in every sense of that word.