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  #61  
Old Posted Apr 13, 2018, 6:14 AM
casper casper is offline
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Originally Posted by craneSpotter View Post
I don't really see the appeal of cruises either - although have never gone. We have friends & family that go regularly (Caribbean/Alaska). They have been trying to convince us to join them at least once for the experience. They liken them to a big AI resort at sea - but you get to stop at several different places during your stay. The last cruise our friends went on was on the largest ship in the world - The Oasis of the Seas - the pictures they had almost made us book!

Our neighbours actually bought a 'barge' cruiser in France - that's where they spend their summers. I have heard the European river cruises are nice. Again - not for me I think.
It depends on the cruise line and what your looking for. I have done NCL (Norwegian) a few times. They are informal, free-style type cruise line and targeting a younger demographic. Princess and Holland American are more geared to retired folks. Cannard is British formal and stuffy. NCL matches my vacation style.

For a European cruise, you basically get on the ship at the home port, each morning you arrive in a new port in the early morning, you have the day to get off and explore. Early evening the ship leaves for the next destination. No unpacking, much cheaper than equivalent hotels, in the evening there is a show, music venues, casino, night club on the ship. For kids there is a special kids club that keeps them doing fun things.

That big ship coming into Victoria has go-carts on the top deck as well as the pools and hot-tubs. High end spa facilities, around a dozen restaurants and an equal number of bars, and 4-5 live shows or live music venues each night at a price point that is hard to match on land.
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  #62  
Old Posted Nov 2, 2018, 6:06 PM
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640,000 passengers for record Victoria cruise season

Victoria Times-Colonist Oct 10, 2018
https://www.timescolonist.com/busine...son-1.23457903

Two key points:

Quote:
Through the first port of call in April until this weekend, Victoria will have welcomed nearly 640,000 passengers and 260,000 crew on 250 ship visits with an estimated $130 million in economic impact for the region.
Quote:
Many cruise passengers are introduced to Greater Victoria for the first time on a cruise and then return for a longer land-based vacation. The passengers that disembark at Ogden Point also support our restaurants and attractions, as well as bring a life and vitality to the downtown core.
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  #63  
Old Posted Apr 7, 2019, 3:14 PM
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Will be another record year for cruise visits in Victoria with nearly 1 million visitors, including crew. I was surprised to learn that 30% of cruise passengers walk to the Downtown area from Ogden point - which is great!

Greater Victoria Harbour Authority Set to Launch 2019 Season

CruiseIndustryNews - Apr 3, 2019
https://www.cruiseindustrynews.com/c...19-season.html

Quote:
The Greater Victoria Harbour Authority (GVHA) has announced the launch of its 2019 cruise season starting Tuesday, April 16 with the arrival of the Celebrity Eclipse, the first of more than 260 ship calls scheduled to visit Victoria, BC, this year.

The season includes a series of highlights and inaugural calls for the city, including the arrival of the Ovation of the Seas, the Queen Elizabeth, the Azamara Quest, and the Norwegian Joy, sister ship of the Norwegian Bliss..

...The GVHA said it is set to welcome some 700,000 passengers and close to 300,000 crew to during the seven-month season. The final ship to call to Victoria will be the Grand Princess on Friday, Oct. 25, 2019.
The Ovation of the Seas will be something to see...

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  #64  
Old Posted Apr 7, 2019, 6:26 PM
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Nanaimo Port Authority says letter sabotaged this year’s cruise season
Posted By: Kendall Hansonon: April 05, 2019

Quote:
WATCH: While Vancouver and Victoria are set to have a record number of cruise ship visits this year it’s a much different story in Nanaimo. Just three ships will dock three this year and the Nanaimo Port Authority says a malicious letter likely had a negative impact on its cruise ship business this year. Kendall Hanson reports.

video report: https://www.cheknews.ca/nanaimo-port...season-549812/
Nanaimo’s cruise ship terminal has hardly been used since it opened in 2011.

Attracting cruise ships to the city has been a challenge with just three visiting this year.

“We’d obviously like to see more but it’s disappointing when the efforts you put in are not rewarded,” said Ian Marr, Nanaimo Port Authority’s CEO.

And the Port Authority blames the low numbers on what it says was a malicious letter that was sent to cruise lines 16 months ago.

While no one with the Port Authority has actually seen the letter, they say they received three calls from the industry about it.

It’s alleged to have outlined safety concerns about Nanaimo’s cruise ship dock.

“We did get some people wondering about that, that are in the business, and we had to assure them that it wasn’t [a concern] but people believe negative before they believe positive,” said Marr. “So that could’ve really significantly impacted the business.”

A cruise ship insider says there were concerns about corrosion to the pilings that support the cruise ship dock.

The port authority says it did undertake corrosion protection to the dock’s pilings in 2018.

It cost $318,000.

“At some point in time, you have to put additional layering of protection onto that and we’ve done that with this facility,” said Marr. “It was the time for that and that’s all there is to it. It was not repairs. It’s just normal stuff.”

The port authority says at no point was the facility unsafe to use.

...

https://www.cheknews.ca/nanaimo-port...season-549812/
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  #65  
Old Posted Apr 9, 2019, 6:34 PM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by craneSpotter View Post
Will be another record year for cruise visits in Victoria with nearly 1 million visitors, including crew. I was surprised to learn that 30% of cruise passengers walk to the Downtown area from Ogden point - which is great!

Greater Victoria Harbour Authority Set to Launch 2019 Season

CruiseIndustryNews - Apr 3, 2019
https://www.cruiseindustrynews.com/c...19-season.html



The Ovation of the Seas will be something to see...

I was under the assumption Victoria was actively discouraging cruise ships this year due to GHG emissions?
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  #66  
Old Posted Apr 9, 2019, 7:01 PM
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I was under the assumption Victoria was actively discouraging cruise ships this year due to GHG emissions?
Just had coffee come out my nose. 1 Less tanker 2 more cruise ships.
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  #67  
Old Posted Apr 10, 2019, 5:43 AM
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Originally Posted by lubicon View Post
I was under the assumption Victoria was actively discouraging cruise ships this year due to GHG emissions?
No so much. I think they figured that the best thing to do to reduce global GHG emissions from Canada is do whatever they can to halt any more expansion of Alberta's dirty oilsands production. Hopefully they are successful I guess. It would be nice to see all ships convert to LNG, at least.
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  #68  
Old Posted Apr 11, 2019, 6:15 PM
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More news:

Quote:
Greater Victoria Harbour Authority hails 12-year deal with Norwegian Cruise Lines
Times-Colonist
April 11, 2019

...the head of the Greater Victoria Harbour Authority said a new long-term deal with Norwegian Cruise Lines is a sign the city has evolved into a key player in the industry.

...the 12-year deal guarantees Norwegian a Pier A South berth at Ogden Point's Victoria Cruise Terminal through 2030...

Victoria is Canada’s busiest cruise-ship port, and expects 264 ship arrivals and more than 700,000 cruise passengers to arrive in Victoria through Ogden Point between April and October.

...we still have quite a bit of capacity at Ogden Point,” he said, noting there are no ships scheduled on Tuesdays and Wednesdays and there are still daytime slots on Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays...
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  #69  
Old Posted Apr 14, 2019, 7:01 PM
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Originally Posted by craneSpotter View Post
Will be another record year for cruise visits in Victoria with nearly 1 million visitors, including crew. I was surprised to learn that 30% of cruise passengers walk to the Downtown area from Ogden point - which is great!
How is that "great", especially to all the cabbies, bus drivers and pedicabs that depend on cruise ships for their livelihoods?
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  #70  
Old Posted Apr 14, 2019, 11:00 PM
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The walk from Ogden Point to the legislature (which would be the starting point of any tourist's explorations) is about the same distance as the walk from Canada Place to False Creek. If large numbers of cruise ship visitors really are walking then that probably explains why many of them don't get very much further. They've already been walking for 30+ minutes by the time they reach the starting line (considering the sloth-like pace at which most people walk nowadays, 30 minutes might be an optimistic estimate).
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  #71  
Old Posted Apr 15, 2019, 7:05 PM
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Originally Posted by Phil McAvity View Post
How is that "great", especially to all the cabbies, bus drivers and pedicabs that depend on cruise ships for their livelihoods?
How do cruise passengers that are already walking into town affect the current (or historical) business level of 'cabbies' and bus drivers? I would in fact encourage more passengers to walk - active transportation is what Victoria city hall is promoting! Passengers that walk do get quite far - into DT - they are here for hours and hours. As for buses - the fewer the better - as the cruise ship terminal gets busier - the residents would not be thrilled with even more buses, which would create pushback.

benefits of some passengers walking:

1. Fisherman's wharf & area businesses get more foot traffic
2. Less fuel burned / vehicle traffic
3. Potential business development along walking routes
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  #72  
Old Posted Apr 15, 2019, 8:06 PM
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It would be great to encourage more foot traffic but with the amount of busses I see there all the time I expect it to just increase with more passengers.

People that cruse are less likely to walk than take a bus on an excursion. Bouchard gardens are extremely popular with the boating crowd.

I had the unfortunate experience to be in Skagway when 3 ships were in, again lots of busses, there was even a bus to take people from the ship to the White Pass railway station.

One reason we only make our annual trip to Victoria during the off season.
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  #73  
Old Posted Oct 31, 2019, 6:08 AM
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Victoria saw more than 1M cruise ship passengers and crew in 2019

CTV Victoria Oct 29, 2019

https://vancouverisland.ctvnews.ca/v...2019-1.4661532

Quote:
B.C.'s capital welcomed more than one million cruise ship passengers and crew members in the 2019 season, according to the Greater Victoria Harbour Authority (GVHA).

In total, 709,042 passengers and 294,956 crew disembarked on Victoria's shores from 257 different cruise ship calls.

While the GVHA was expecting 264 ship calls this season, seven were cancelled due to adverse weather and last-minute itinerary changes. However, despite having fewer stops than expected, Victoria still saw more cruise visitors than the 700,000 passengers that the GVHA predicted before the start of the season...

...Meanwhile, the GVHA says that it is preparing for the upcoming 2020 cruise season, which is scheduled to begin on Apr. 3, 2020 and finish on Oct. 21, 2020. Next year, Victoria is expected to welcome 284 ship calls and roughly 770,000 cruise ship passengers.

While cruise ship passenger numbers continues to rise, earlier this month Victoria city council passed a controversial motion that could limit the number of vessels that dock in Victoria each year due to environmental concerns.
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  #74  
Old Posted Dec 5, 2019, 8:34 PM
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Originally Posted by Phil McAvity View Post
How is that "great", especially to all the cabbies, bus drivers and pedicabs that depend on cruise ships for their livelihoods?
I was always amazed at how many tourists we would get at Mayfair Mall! Like someone mentioned before that it's already a 30 or so min walk from Ogden Point!
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  #75  
Old Posted Jan 4, 2020, 10:04 PM
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Originally Posted by Phil McAvity View Post
How is that "great", especially to all the cabbies, bus drivers and pedicabs that depend on cruise ships for their livelihoods?
I took that to mean 30% of passengers actually going downtown, rather than just staying on the ship or wandering around whatever market might be at the port (all ports seem to have some type of flea market setup right off the ship). Not that they are walking over taking buses or cabs, but rather that they are going at all, no matter the method of transportation. I would say the majority of the cruises stopping in Victoria are the 7 day round trip Alaska cruises out of Seattle. Those cruises have to stop at a foreign port to satisfy US law and Victoria is the easiest. Many of the stops are in the late afternoon or evening for 4 hours or so, so not a lot of time to go explore and also during the dinner and show times on the ship (and also the last night of the cruise). So a lot of people don't venture far if at all.
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  #76  
Old Posted Jan 6, 2020, 2:58 AM
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Not posted here yet - Vancouver also had a record cruise year. The POV claims that each cruise ship brings about $3 million in economic activity:

Port of Vancouver claims record year for cruise passengers

BIV - Oct 29, 2019
https://www.vancourier.com/news/port...ers-1.23994193

Quote:
The Port of Vancouver is calling the 2019 cruise season the largest ever for cruise passengers despite earlier this year projecting that the year would be the second largest in the 33 years since cruise ships started docking in Vancouver...

...The port authority did not reveal an exact number of passengers that it expects to have been on cruise ships during the season, which ends on Nov. 1. Instead it said that this year is expected to have 22 per cent more passengers than last year, when 895,000 passengers went on cruises out of Vancouver
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Last edited by craneSpotter; Jan 6, 2020 at 3:21 AM.
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  #77  
Old Posted Jan 6, 2020, 3:19 AM
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The Breakwater District at Ogden Point

Victoria's Ogden point has been (slightly, after some controversy) rebranded. It is now being called The Breakwater District at Ogden Point.

It will be interesting to see what they actually do over the next 5 years or so. The area has always seemed ripe for development to me, however, I also suspect that the Victoria DBA would probably like to see very limited development at Ogden point due to the huge tourist business generated DT from the cruise industry. I suspect they have been working in the background for years to stall things from actually happening...

https://gvha.ca/the-breakwater-district/

The VHA intends to develop a long term plan for the area based on the following assessment:

Quote:
The Breakwater District at Ogden Point is the last waterfront property of its size and potential left in Victoria, a critical piece of the city’s working-harbour infrastructure with spectacular views across the Salish Sea to the Olympic Range.

The Ogden Point Breakwater has existed for more than a century and is one of the most loved and well used places in the city; in 2018, an estimated 400,000 people walked or ran along the Breakwater, and the Victoria Cruise Ship Terminal welcomed more than 700,000 cruise visitors and 330,000 crew members. Combined with the Friday Nights on the Breakwater Barge, community events such as the Island Equipment Operators Association Truck Light Convoy, and many privately-booked events mean that the facility welcomes more than 1.5 million visitors each year.

Our vision for The Breakwater District is a vibrant and accessible multi-use hub, a welcoming gateway for travellers, sustainably integrating the working harbour and the community through contemporary planning, placemaking, design, and landscaping.
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  #78  
Old Posted Jan 6, 2020, 3:38 AM
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Mid-week calls (off peak) will help spread the visitors out more evenly throughout the week (better for businesses) - also there will be an increase in daytime calls, which have even longer stays.

Think of 3 large ships docking - in a relatively small city like Victoria - on Friday & Saturday afternoons dumping off ~6,000 to 8,000 people in the downtown area for the evening.

Victoria 2020 cruise season to see an increase in mid-week calls

Victoria Cruise Industry Alliance - Aug 2019
http://www.viccruise.com/2020-cruise...id-week-calls/

Quote:
With the increase in both ship calls and visitors, terminal operations are already preparing for next season (2020). The increase in passengers during off-peak times will allow for greater business stability and sustainable growth in operations for all partners in the cruise industry.
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Last edited by craneSpotter; Jan 6, 2020 at 4:01 AM.
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  #79  
Old Posted Jan 6, 2020, 3:58 AM
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This is going to happen I'm sure - BC Hydro says it can supply the power no problem. However, Victoria city does not have jurisdiction here I think - likely the feds.

We need it to reduce ship fuel burn and associated emissions while in port. The VHA released released a report last year that showed emissions at Ogden Point were 12,000 tonnes — or the equivalent of 3,241 vehicles on the road per year. It is not clear to me whether that total includes the Heliport though.

Report expected by summer on feasibility of shore power to cut cruise-ship emissions

Times-Colonist - Dec 5, 2019
https://www.timescolonist.com/news/l...ons-1.24029350

Quote:
“I think it serves both our planet and our local tourism industry very well to do everything we can, as quickly as possible, to lower our carbon emissions and cut our waste,” he said. “So I’m very happy to be having this conversation and hope we can make progress very quickly.”

Victoria city council has made it clear that it wants to see swift action to cut cruise-ship emissions and reduce waste.
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  #80  
Old Posted Jan 6, 2020, 5:51 PM
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Think of 3 large ships docking - in a relatively small city like Victoria - on Friday & Saturday afternoons dumping off ~6,000 to 8,000 people in the downtown area for the evening.
I'm not sure "relatively small" is the right phrase here, compared to places like Ketchikan, Juneau, Skagway, etc. In those place the ships are bigger than the cities/towns themselves.
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