Vancouver - Canada Place - Busy weekend coming up!

[westcoasttech]

Just a heads up warning for anyone heading to Vancouver and Canada Place this weekend (Saturday May 19). There are four ships in on Saturday - 3 at Canada Place (Diamond Princess, Sapphire Princess and Zuiderdam) and one at Ballentyne Pier (NCL Jewel)!

 

I presume downtown will be super busy with passengers, both disembarking and embarking, so be sure to make allowances with any travel plans.

 

Happy travels!

[3rdGenCunarder]

Yikes! The taxis are going to be backed up for blocks trying to get into Canada Place!

 

I think there were only two ships at Canada Place when we were there and the taxis were backed up at the entrance to the drop-off area.

[Langley Cruisers]

Not to mention it is a holiday weekend here (Victoria Day, Monday May 21) so the "busyness" of everything will be magnified. Long waits are expected at the border crossings, if anyone is driving or using a shuttle.

[westcoasttech]

There are also 3 ships in Canada Place on Sunday (20th) too - Disney Wonder (which appears to be scheduled to be there overnight until Monday), Century and Statendam.

 

So figure an extra 8k to 10k passengers getting off the ships, and the same getting on, on both days! Yikes!

[scottbee]

Before anyone gets too scared. Remember 100,000 people live in the downtown core and probably an extra 100,000 come downtown everyday to work. An extra 8000, is less than 10% of the population, and less than 5% of the daytime population, it wont be too bad.

 

Taxis will be backed up, but Skytrain will still be running, and probably at increased service levels.

[Captain Canuck]

Canucks made an early exit out of the playoffs so no rioting

 

as an Oiler fan just had to get that shot in

[3rdGenCunarder]

Canucks made an early exit out of the playoffs so no rioting

 

as an Oiler fan just had to get that shot in

 

Was that a slap shot??? :D

 

I'm a longtime Ranger fan, but I'm a Jersey girl, and they're playing the Devils...

[Putterdude]

Every year this weekend is problematic at Canada Place, the good news this weekend is that there have been some two dozen ships come and go since the middle of April...so hopefully staff has now had their training. However with some 20,000 people arriving and departing over the weekend, stand-by for lines and for the complaints which will probably fill these boards for about 2 weeks.

[Tweedy]

There are also 3 ships in Canada Place on Sunday (20th) too - Disney Wonder (which appears to be scheduled to be there overnight until Monday), Century and Statendam.

 

So figure an extra 8k to 10k passengers getting off the ships, and the same getting on, on both days! Yikes!

 

Yeah, can't figure out that Disney Wonder one. From what I can find, it's on a 7-day from LA but no where can I find that it is docked over night. On the port schedule it says Monday the 21st under it. I'll find out on Sunday when I go to check in I guess.

[Tweedy]

Every year this weekend is problematic at Canada Place, the good news this weekend is that there have been some two dozen ships come and go since the middle of April...so hopefully staff has now had their training. However with some 20,000 people arriving and departing over the weekend, stand-by for lines and for the complaints which will probably fill these boards for about 2 weeks.

 

 

I was at the port on the 11th when there were supposed to be 3 ships in but 1 ended up being delayed. It was crazy with just the two ships at checkin. When I was leaving at 3pm, the line to get through security was amazingly long. I'm guessing everyone that was supposed to embark on the delayed ship, showed up at the same time and the ship didn't arrive until about 4:30.

[Putterdude]

We were in the middle of it last year but missed most of it as we just moved over from the Golden to the Sapphire, went to the head of the line and were the 2nd or 3rd party to board....but others stood in line for hours with some not getting aboard until after 1700. The lack of training and a shortage of luggage scanners was clearly the root of the problem.

However the situation was not much better in Seattle at Pier 91 with some 4,000+ people lined up for transportation in teaming rain with little to no protection from the elements....at least at Canada Place they were dry.

[Urban trekker]

It is noted on the Port Metro Vancouver cruise ship schedule that the Westerdam wasn't going to start embarkation until 5:30PM but in typical cruising fashion and I am guilty of this as well I am sure that most of those embarking decided to arrive many hours early to be the first on the ship, the first to get their favorite seat by the pool, the first to make speciality restaurants bookings and then complain about the long waits that could be avoided if they did as the cruise line requests and arrrive at the time requested.

 

If I wasn't having major dental surgery tomorrow and likely to be under the weather for the weekend I would probably saunter on down to Canada Place and watch the action.

 

Cheers

 

Dennis

[Putterdude]

I may be missing something but I think the Westerdam was last week...I think.

Hey, a long weekend and the Queen of New West is down for 4 sailings....the world is unfolding as it should.

[cruiseryyc]

I

Hey, a long weekend and the Queen of New West is down for 4 sailings....the world is unfolding as it should.

 

All you need now is for a ferry captain to miss docking properly, thereby knocking out a terminal and it's a perfect long weekend!

[Urban trekker]

It was last week - just responding to Tweedy's post about a ship that was late and didn't start boarding until later in the day and making reference to the habit that people have of showing up way early and making it more congested for others.

 

Cheers

 

Dennis

[Putterdude]

It was last week - just responding to Tweedy's post about a ship that was late and didn't start boarding until later in the day and making reference to the habit that people have of showing up way early and making it more congested for others.

 

Cheers

 

Dennis

 

I see the Port has removed the outdated & confusing bit of information from their advisory.

The Queen of NW has missed 3 more sailings today...mecanical but not the same mechanical problem as yesterday. Lets see long weekend...we really don't want a grounding, or a dock striking....but what else could go wrong for them this weekend.

[westcoasttech]

I didn't head downtown yesterday, so can't comment on what it was like, and haven't checked the other boards. But can report that all four ships appeared to leave later than on the Port Schedule. Zuiderdam left at about 5:45. I attach a photo of the Jewel sailing out (from Ballentyne) at around 6 pm, and if you look carefully you can see the Sapphire and Diamond still at Canada Place. Guess they had to stagger leaving anyway to avoid "sea-lock" (is that the cruise equivalent of "gridlock"?) going under the bridge!

 

(On a side note, I took the one-day cruise on Westerdam last year, when they didn't advise people to arrive late and were scheduled to leave at a "normal" time (can't remember exactly). I arrived at Canada Place around 1pm and got on the ship around 5pm!! Hundreds of people sitting in side rooms (no water, food or information given) at Canada Place for about 3 hours - which when you're only going to be on the ship for less than 24 hours anyway, led to a lot of unhappy people! Part of the problem was with check in, which seemed to be really s-l-o-w, and that fact that people were still getting off the ship when I had arrived at 1 p.m.!!)

[Putterdude]

I don't know whether it was the Diamond or the Sapphire but it was well after dark and she was all lit up by the time it came by here.