The 2019 cruise season in Vancouver officially starts tomorrow with the arrival of the Emerald Princess to the Canada Place cruise terminal at the Port of Vancouver.

More than one million cruise passengers on 290 ship visits are expected in Vancouver this year, according to a statement, which is a 21 percent increase in passenger numbers compared to 2018 and will mark an all-time record for cruise passengers through Canada Place at the Port of Vancouver.

“We always look forward to the start of cruise season, but this year is especially exciting as we expect to welcome a record-number of passengers through the Canada Place cruise terminal at the Port of Vancouver,” said Carmen Ortega, manager, trade development of the Vancouver Fraser Port Authority.

In preparation for more passengers, the port authority has invested in a number of upgrades to Canada Place to improve the passenger experience.

“Our focus continues to be on providing the best passenger experience we can by optimizing our world-class cruise ship facility at Canada Place,” said Carmen Ortega, manager, trade development of the Vancouver Fraser Port Authority. “We’ve re-designed the ground transportation area to improve passenger flow, reconfigured the terminal to expand passenger processing areas, and made a number of upgrades to all three ship berths.”

This year, 41 different ships from 24 cruise lines will be visiting Canada Place cruise terminal at the Port of Vancouver, ranging from luxury, expedition-style ships to some of the largest ships in the Alaska cruise market.

New callers include Cunard with the Queen Elizabeth, Viking Ocean Cruises with the Viking Orion, Azamara Cruises with the Azamara Quest, and Hurtigruten with the Roald Amundsen.

New ships to Vancouver in 2019 include the Royal Princess, Windstar Legend, Eclipse, Norwegian Joy, Royal Caribbean’s Ovation of the Seas, Silversea’s Silver Muse, which will replace the Silver Shadow, and Compagnie du Ponant’s L’Austral.