Quote:
Originally Posted by jollyburger
Well just by looking at their route map it seems like it would be more utilitarian which might explain why it's bare bones versus BC's system. If they had longer haul routes they probably would include more amenities on board.
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Look at the Alaska Marine Highway Ferry.
http://www.dot.state.ak.us/amhs/fleet/columbia.shtml
Those are the long-haul ferries. They are 1/4th the size of ours in capacity. The Long haul ferries have a food court and a Movie lounge. The Columbia is the one that serves Bellingham.
http://www.dot.state.ak.us/amhs/fleet/aurora.shtml
The day-ferries have a movie lounge and a cafeteria.
Interesting thing to note is that Alaska's inside-passage ferries aren't ocean certified, so they have to go through BC to go between Bellingham and Alaska.
Alaska's ferries are also all around 50+ years old except for one.
Prince Rupert is the connection between Bellingham(WA), Port Hardy(BC) to Alaska.
Versus Washington State's ferries:
http://www.evergreenfleet.com/mark2.html , These ones are larger than our C (Our C class has more car capacity, less passenger capacity) and Coastal class ferries, but smaller than the Spirit class.
The largest ferries serve the Seattle-Bainsbridge route which is a 30-35 minute trip, unlike BC Ferries Mainland to Island trip of about 90 minutes.
BC Ferries has the second largest ferry system in the world, Washington State has the fourth. (Istanbul, Turkey has the largest ferry fleet. Norway has the literal largest Ferry
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MS_Color_Magic )
So I don't know why people think BC Ferries is some kind of Luxury Cruise when it's services are pretty much identical to Washington and Alaska.
So to say that BC Ferries is trying to be a cruise line is misleading as that is also what the both the Washington State and Alaska Ferries have, and their ferries have the same purpose as ours, with much longer routes in Alaska, and shorter routes in Washington. Having a cafeteria does not make it a Luxury Cruise liner. On an actual Cruise ship, the entertainment, food and staterooms are included in the ticket, and the ticket is often hundreds if not thousands of dollars.
Here, case in point:
http://www.princess.com/learn/cruise...uver/index.jsp
From Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada to Seattle, Washington
Interior Stateroom starting from:
$1,078.65* CAD
per person
Taxes, Fees & Port Expenses additional: $283.51*
That is Vancouver to Skagway Alaska, and then back to Seattle via Victoria.
Now compare both Alaska and BC Ferries state room costs:
BC Ferries: $90.00 (Inboard Cabin,Northern Expedition) up to $250 (Luxury Cabins, Northern Adventure) on top of $121-206 for the fare. If you are taking a vehicle, that's an additional $263 to $469
(Note this is the Port Hardy to Prince Rupert Route)
Alaska: (Bellingham to Prince Rupert) $360.00 without a vehicle, $1,215.00 with a 14' vehicle. Add $283.00 for the small stateroom, $507.00 for the large one.
Of course people like
Jordan Bateman (CTF) would rather we outsource to Washington State Ferries. This entirely naive view would remove a source of competition, and thus fares would double.
Probably the only positive thing that could ever happen from working with Washington and Alaska is standardizing on one Ferry design, thus all the Ferry Terminals could be standardized, and instead of everyone keeping a old ships as spares, if a ship is out of commission, a standardized ship could be swapped out without canceling any schedules, thus reducing the costs of downtime.
But I digress, the problem is that people in favor of running BC Ferries like Washington or Alaska, overlook that the Mainland to Island route is not the route losing money, and is cheaper than the American ferries. It's all the routes that serve the small islands that are losing money. Outsourcing those to Washington would serve no purpose and would probably cause sovereignty issues over the Islands.
WSDOT fares are $8.20 for a passenger alone. $11.50 for a Driver and a small vehicle and $14.60 for a Driver and vehicle over 14' for their 30-minute routes. It is 19.45$ for a passenger and 53.65($67 peak) for a vehicle for the Anacortes to Sidney route.
You can't look at the Seattle - Bainsbridge route and go "Oh yeah, it's cheaper" because it's only 1/3rd the trip time, and WSDOT's ferries carry half the cars BC Ferries do.