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NCL Bliss in Vancouver


FrankieSue
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Just found out that NCL Bliss will be departing the port of Vancouver on Sept. 30... with 4,000 passengers boarding the ship (if sailing at full capacity), how do you think this will affect boarding process for all ships in port that morning?

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Sounds like a busy day with 3 ships in on the Sat and again on the Sunday. The NB has a very early morning arrival on Sat and leaves very early Sun morning. No doubt that this is all to make use of low tide and keeping enough room to fit under the Lions Gate bridge.

Sandra

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I was just on the Bliss for a preview sailing. The President of NCL reminded us that 4000 is for lower berths only (2 people per room). With the ship being far more family oriented than a HAL, I would expect that the real number could be closer to 5000 when kids are counted.

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We boarded in Vancouver with five ships in port on Canada Day last year, it was a zoo. Arrive early or better still late & have lots of patience.

According to the official timetable from last year, there were 3 ships at Canada Place July 1st - Golden and Star Princesses plus Nieuw Amsterdam. This year they've upped it to four on a very few dates - there are no small enough vessels making simultaneous calls here that would allow a combo of 5, there's just not enough space at the pier; even four is seriously stretching it (two are docked nose to tail along the longest side).

 

When Ballantyne was open there were a few 5 ship days, but 3 were at Canada Place and 2 at Ballantyne - this is the first year I've ever seen 4 ship days (well, there were days when 4 ships were docked but not at the same time - one left before another arrived - and an occasional small naval vessel has been moored at the same time as multiple cruise ships) since I moved here.

 

It might still suck, but not as much as it could - with Bliss having such odd hours (leaving at 4am next day IIRC), their embarkation times could easily be moved later than the others to spread the passenger load over a longer time. If they actually do this, it will be BETTER than the normal 3 ship days - effectively it would become like 2 separate 2 ship days even if Bliss is heavily loaded with extra beds in use (but with schools all back in session by 30 Sep, I doubt there will be many kids at all myself).

 

A 3 ship day that includes Bliss is still likely better than the 4 ships days that do not - total pax load will be slightly lower even if they do stick to the normal 11am-ish to 4pm-ish embarkation times for all, and at least it's at the end of the season when all staff as as experienced as they ever get. It's the first couple of May 3+ shippers that are pure hell - too many newbie staff, sometimes new procedures so even the experienced folks are learning.

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We'll be boarding the Westerdam on that day, the Noordam will also be boarding so the total combined passenger flow through the terminal for boarding will be about 8,000 for all three ships, Canada Place will be like a zoo on steroids.

 

Not looking forward to it. This is where priority boarding will likely not really make a big difference, we'll just arrive at the next bottleneck a little bit quicker, lots of hurry up and wait. It would be nice if NCL and HAL arranged staggered boarding times but I'm not holding my breath on it. One positive is that it looks as though the Bliss will be arriving empty from Seattle, the prior cruise is shown as ending in Seattle on the 29th.

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