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Vancouver Island |
Victoria | News
Cruise ships coming in record numbers
April 16 -2004
Victoria's
record-breaking cruise ship season starts Tuesday when the first of an
expected 260,000 passengers arrive on our shores.
A total of 144 ship visits, carrying between 388 and 2,600 passengers,
is slated for Ogden Point. Holland America Line's 1,380-passenger
Amsterdam is the first to arrive, docking about 8 a.m. on Tuesday.
"This year, we've got two ships every Friday night and three ships
every Saturday, once the schedule gets going," says Greg McAllister,
one of the owners of King Bros. Ltd. shipping agents. More ships will
arrive on weekend nights than in the past.
Ships carrying
passengers to and from Alaska will arrive in Victoria until Oct. 2.
Last year saw 118 ship visits, a slight increase from 110 in 2002.
Bigger and faster ships are allowing cruise lines to complete trips in
a week instead of the 10 to 14 days of the past, McAllister said
Thursday. That allows cruise ships to make more trips and thus
increase visits. "They are turning around a lot quicker now."
Most of the ships arriving regularly in Victoria are coming from
Seattle. Under U.S. regulations, they are required to stop in a
foreign port, so they stop in Victoria, a favourite city with
passengers.
The Oosterdam, also owned by Holland America, will be a first-time
visitor, McAllister said. Also new to Victoria are the Diamond
Princess and the Sapphire Princess, each able to carry 2,600
passengers.
Talks are already underway for the 2005 season and McAllister
estimates numbers will likely be close to this year's.
Local businesses love cruise ship passengers and the dollars they
spend. A 2003 survey estimated passengers spent about $10 million in
the city. The survey found they spent about $88 each and handed over
another $25 for every extra hour in the city.
Gerry Lutz, general manager of Westcan Terminals at Ogden Point, said
an estimated 260,000 passengers will arrive via cruise ships this
season, up from 186,000 in 2003. That is "a lot of tourist dollars,"
he said.
Westcan provides a wide variety of provisions and services for the
ships. Talks are underway about the possibility of supplying all
provisions for one vessel, Lutz said.
Every year, the massive white ships draw admirers to Ogden Point. A
spring dredging project at Ogden Point developed capacity this year
for two mega-ships, carrying more than 2,000 passengers each, plus
another large ship.
Local cruise ship supporters visited a Miami convention in March to
promote Victoria as a destination and the growth in ship numbers
indicates the message is getting across, McAllister said.
The Victoria A.M. Society is seeking volunteers to greet passengers
coming off ships. Greeters in Victorian costume hand out a pin showing
the city's trademark hanging baskets.
A welcoming ceremony is also set for 9:30 a.m. Tuesday in a tent near
Pier B at Ogden Point to mark the start of the season, said society
vice-president Janna Ginsberg. The society plans to work with downtown
merchants to encourage them to keep their doors open when the ships
arrive, so that passengers can shop, she said.
The Vancouver Island Public Interest Research Group is raising
concerns about cruise ships and urging the city of Victoria to take
the lead to tackle issues such as emissions from vessels once they are
tied up. Spokesman Bruce Wallace is calling for comprehensive federal
monitoring of cruise ships while in Canadian waters to check if any
dumping of materials such as waste water and sewage occurs.
Wallace, who lives near Ogden Point, is concerned about emissions from
docked cruise ships and from buses and other vehicles transporting
passengers around the community. Traffic congestion occurs when ships
arrive.
He advocates promoting a best-practices program to encourage
environmentally friendly ships, such as those with higher levels of
water treatment and more efficient fuel systems. "It's not just saying
'no' to cruise ships."
Michael Cormier, Greater Victoria Harbour Authority manager, said his
organization is looking into concerns, including whether it would be
possible and environmentally beneficial for ships to plug into the
local power grid. Traffic calming and consultation with the local
community has also been carried out.
Changes at Ogden Point include a new lounge for crew members who work
on ships, and asphalt in the lot has been repaired, he said. The
operation has gone through a Transport Canada review to meet new
international security standards and workers are being issued new
security cards that tie in with a system already in place in southern
B.C. ports.
© Copyright 2004 Times
Colonist (Victoria)
reprinted
with permission
Story Credit: Carla Wilson
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Cruise ship season gets underway
Times Colonist & CH TV
Tuesday, April 20, 2004
The first ship of the cruise season arrived in Victoria Tuesday.
The Victoria cruise ship season officially began Tuesday when
the Amsterdam docked. It is the first of 144 ships that will
come to Victoria, making it a record year.
The Amsterdam, left New York 42 days ago, went to South America
and then up the Pacific coast.
Victoria businesses hope it will be a good year for tourists
coming off the ships.
The tugboat strike is not expected to affect the cruise ships as
they are able to dock without help. But tugs do provide supply
services to the ships so the potential is there for an impact.
---------------------------
Monday, April 19, 2004
Cruise ship captains will feel like
downtown Victoria drivers this summer: Parking spaces will be
hard to come by.
When Holland America's Amsterdam arrives on Tuesday, it will
usher in the busiest cruise season Victoria has ever seen. Two
of the huge vessels will tie up every Friday night and three
will arrive every Saturday.
The $10 million their passengers will spend will be welcomed by
city merchants, but will the passengers get the kind of welcome
that will bring them back?
The ships only stop here because the U.S. Jones Act prohibits
foreign vessels from traveling directly between American points
like Seattle and Alaska. If campaigns to change or repeal the
Jones Act are successful, Victoria will no longer have
guaranteed cruise business.
People like the Victoria A.M. Society, whose volunteers greet
arriving passengers, have been saying for years that we have to
make the most of the four hours or so that the visitors spend
ashore.
But keeping stores open longer on the evenings when ships are
here will only help with those short-term visitors. Victoria
needs to focus, as it has begun to do, on making the city a
destination.
Tourists from all over the world come here by plane, bus and car
to experience the city and the Island. They find more than four
hours worth of fun. Cruise passengers can do the same.
Your complete vacation, accommodation, business
and community information guide to
Victoria, British Columbia in series of Travel Guides including,
Sooke,
East Sooke,
and
on southern Vancouver Island, British Columbia.
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