The Port of Vancouver is projecting a slight increase in cruise traffic this year to 833,000 up from 830,000 passengers and 228 calls last year, which in turn was a 3 percent increase over 2015.
Carmen Ortega, manager of cruise services and Canada Place operations, said there will be a few more calls this year, while last year the port also saw the return of Crystal Cruises with the Serenity, which homeported in Vancouver for the first time in 10 years, sailing eight cruises.
New this year will be the Seabourn Sojourn calling seven times in Vancouver on a variety of itineraries.
“We are also seeing more overnights,” she added. “The Golden Princess will overnight here on Canada Day, taking part in the celebrations of our 150th anniversary.
“And we will have the Europa overnight.”
In addition to Alaska, in April and September there are sailings to Hawaii and Pacific coastal cruises.
Canada Place
“We continue to work with our industry and tourism partners to improve the guest experience. We undertook a big traffic study with the City of Vancouver last year and are looking at short-, medium- and long-term recommendations for improving the traffic and pedestrian flow around Canada Place,” Ortega said.
“We are always looking at how we can improve our facility from an infrastructure perspective, so we are doing a lot of work around signage and way finding. We are going to install some dynamic signs in the terminal this season as we use the same space for the disembarking and embarking passengers. So everything has to turn around after 10:30 – 11:00 a.m. We are looking at how we can make it more flexible,” she continued.
“Last year was the first full season where we used the convention center hall every day for embarkation, which is above the terminal. The year before, we installed an elevator and two escalators to do the vertical connection. We needed the space and it has worked out well.”
Star Princess
The season starts on April 11 this year with the Star Princess and concludes on Nov. 1 with the Star Princess also making the last call.
Accommodating three ships at a time, the port will see several days at full capacity – even with four ships, as the fourth ship will arrive in the evening after another ship has left. That can mean approximately 8,000 to 9,000 passengers disembarking and embarking in one day.
“We are comfortable handling just short of 18,000 passengers altogether,” Ortega said.
Also at Canada Place there is cold ironing at the East and West Berths with Princess, Holland America and Disney ships connecting to shorepower while alongside.
The port is also in the final stages of reviewing LNG-demand studies, regulatory gaps and financial analysis for different models of bunkering services within its jurisdiction, according to Ortega.
She said that according to preliminary results, Vancouver may see LNG-powered vessels in the 2020 to 2025 time frame, and if any of those are a cruise ship, a bunkering barge will most likely be the option.
Changing Demographics
Periodic surveys show that passengers on the average spend two-and-a-half nights in local hotels, according to Ortega. “Typically they also travel throughout the province,” she said. “Especially those from overseas will do the most spending and do extensive land trips.”
She said that Canadians cruising from Vancouver spend an average of $144 per person ashore, Americans spend $212, and overseas visitors, $740.
Since 2006, the demographics have been changing. Then, close to 80 percent of the passengers were from the U.S., about 15 percent were Canadians and the rest were from overseas. But according to a 2015 survey, she said, the U.S. contingent had dropped to a little more than 60 percent, while overseas passengers have grown to more than 23 percent. The largest source countries are the UK and Australia. In addition, there is extensive airlift capacity to Asia.
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