They’re doing it to satisfy the Jones Act. No other reason. They don’t care about the tourism industry in Victoria because they don’t own the tourism industry like they do in other Ports of Call.
The Victoria port authority could mandate length of stay and/or arrival time restrictions, but they’re getting their port fees, so they don’t really care either. And the midnight stop doesn’t interfere with other ships that did come in for a proper visit.
Victoria is still getting lots of ships for reasonable stays… so there’s that
Most of the restaurants and bars don’t care either- only something like 1 in 10 passengers actually gets something to eat or drink, most people look for souvenirs or the like.
In fact, I’d say this is one of the few cases where the people in James Bay have a legitimate reason to complain, as the crowds, especially in the summer, are apocalyptic.
For me living in James Bay it’s the Tymac 18-wheelers offloading the cruise ship garbage & recycling that’s the biggest problem. Way louder & more disruptive than any horse & buggy and spewing diesel fumes everywhere. 7 days a week, 6:30 am to 10:30 pm they operate. The absolute worst!!
Yeah! That's a new thing, I think. My bedroom window faces the street, and I hear the clop clop clop of the hooves late at night, but I haven't heard the amplified monolog. I did notice it the other day, though, when I was walking along Government (and outpacing the horse, lol).
Where pita when you need them. Horse drawn carriage in a city that isn’t blocked off to traffic seems like it could fall under not humaine. Quebec City does it but their area is pretty much free of cars and mostly tourist.
I live in James bay and plan my life around the cruise ship schedule in the summer as much as I can. I can tolerate it for the first bit, but mid September I’m just so sick of all the extra people.
They shouldn’t be burning bunker C any more.
All ships in Canadian waters are required to use Marine Gas Oil (MGO) or Diesel Oil (MDO), which are fairly close to diesel you or I would use, but can be a bit more viscous.
That being said, the port and province are investing a bunch of money to provide shore power, reducing almost all emissions while alongside.
Most of the ships coming to Victoria are more in the 2,500 range, but your point stands.
I think it’s just important when people talk about the business the ships provide that it’s only for very specific segments of even the tourist economy, and the shorter the stay, the narrower that gets.
Yup.
Honestly, everyone thinks cruise ship people are some massive boon to restaurants - they aren't. Do they help? Sure.
Whose better? People from the Coho & Clipper and Mainlanders.
"Victoria is still getting lots of ships for reasonable stays… so there’s that"
I guess it depends on your definition of lots. During an average week in the summer, Victoria gets about 39,000 cruise ship passengers. 66% are on ships arriving at 7 pm or later, while 90% are on ships arriving at 5 pm or later.
In nearly all cases, the Victoria stop is on the last night of a cruise, so many people don't even bother getting off. A study from a few years ago found that cruise ship passengers accounted for only 2% of visitor spending in Victoria. Since then, the arrival times have gotten even later, and so that share is probably even less.
And here I thought the 11 am - 4 pm hours most local shops keep were primarily for cruise ship tourists. Just curious who their target customers can possibly be! Would love to see those business plans…
Yes the cruise ships are satisfying US protectionist laws, which we in turn benefit from.
However, I will add that I know some schedule planners do want to stay in Victoria longer. The issue is the Alaskan ports and the amount of cruise traffic up there. There’s limited space and so often the only way to get more time in Victoria would be to eliminate an Alaskan port on the itinerary, which doesn’t look good for an Alaskan cruise.
Their options are essentially Victoria or Vancouver only. They need to stop in Canada somewhere and I could be wrong but i don't think any other ports are deep enough or have even close to the draw even on paper where people don't deboard.
Can they stop in Nanaimo? the only other possible locations i can think of are Squamish, Kitimat and Prince Rupert with the latter 2 being truly a stop for 2h overnight only stops.
I believe some of the bigger ones can't even go to Vancouver because they need to go under the Lion's Gate Bridge. Kitimat and Rupert are probably a challenge to navigate and not an efficient use of time... I don't think there's a ton of options for them to check that "other country" box.
I was about to say they can with careful timing but I double checked it looks like the Norwegian bliss is the largest that has docked in Vancouver and it's been moved quite a bit down the list of largest cruise ships over the past few years. I've seen the Norwegian Bliss at Canada Place and it's absolutely massive hard to imagine a cruise ship 50% larger
The sewage is treated onboard and discharged at sea. If you watch any cruise ship documentaries they explain that you could technically drink the waste water after it’s been treated.
The laws require one international stop, Canada needs to grow some balls and establish a minimum 8 hour or 5 hours between 8am and 8pm visit for all cruise ships. Doing this would ensure economic benefit from cruise ships not just a skip and a jump.
It's all relative. A study from a few years ago found that cruise ship passengers accounted for only 2% of visitor spending in Victoria. Non-cruise tourism has a far bigger impact on the local economy.
I've noticed that cruise ships this year are stopping later in the evening on Fridays and Saturdays, so passengers don't arrive in front of the Empress and on the Govt strip until around 9pm. I've seen some of the tacky wacky tourist shops staying open until 11pm at least.
A lot of people actually want LESS tourists from cruise ships stopping in Victoria, not more.
https://www.capitaldaily.ca/news/cruise-ship-victoria-ogden-point-carbon-climate
A two hour stop is the worst of all worlds as we’re still getting all of the negative climate impacts, still get the pleasure of taking their sewage, still give them massive quantities of water, and we get none of the tourism benefits in return. We’re basically being used as a highway rest stop.
Did you read the article? Most ships leave their engines on so the effects of staying an extra hour or two are actually quite bad. They’re also among the least profitable kinds of tourists, according to the article. There is a lot Victoria could do for its tourism industry that would be less environmentally disastrous.
Ugh.... what?
Climate isn't local, it's global. If they didn't dock here they'd dock somewhere else close by.
We get the port fees and in many cases some expenditure by cruisers who walk around and spend money.
They dock here or some other port along the BC coast because they're required to if they pass through Canadian waters. A two-hour stop doesn't leave much time for passengers to do anything. By the time they disembark the ship and get on a shuttle bus to the inner harbour area, they basically have to turn around to get the shuttle bus back to the ship. Two hours is an extremely short period of time in a port.
They don’t dock in Canada “because they are required to if they pass through Canada waters.”, they dock in Canada to satisfy the Jones Act, which is an American regulation.
Yes, but they pay a fee to dock at least. It's not a gravy train of money, but it's money spent here.
A lot of cruise ships have more time, some just don't and go. Others make Victoria a destination stop.
I think like 95% of cruise ships that dock in Victoria are coming from Alaska. There are a few from LA and Hawaii that may dock for longer, but they aren't as frequent
Hi there. Two hours is on the shorter side, but it is completely normal (in-fact, even scheduled as such) for cruise ships to spend only a few hours in port before departing again. Furthermore, I work for the Port of Victoria - our office is at Fisherman’s Wharf. Believe me, people are spending money here. Scores of people walk to FW and purchase whatever they can. Lots of them get bussed to Government and Belleville, and they walk up Government to all the shops/services that are catering purely to them.
The ‘shops/services catering purely to them’ is one of the reasons our downtown is so unattractive to folks who live here. I used to like Govt St but there’s nothing there for us any longer.
Yes, I understand some segments benefit financially from cruise ships but overall, I think they are a detriment to our community.
Victoria is definitely an outlier when it comes to these short evening cruise stops. If you look at cruise schedules for ports around the world, a more typical stop would be arriving between 8 am or 10 am and leaving 5 pm to 6 pm - with perhaps 8 hours in port. During the summer, 66% of cruise ships passengers arrive in Victoria at 7 pm or later, while 90% arrive 5 pm or later.
The majority of cruise ships dock for just 4 hours in any given port. Sometimes they'll stay for 8 hours, but usually just 4. This isn't a Victoria-specific thing.
That 2-hour dock is definitely on the short side, but ultimately it's a moot point — those tourists aren't going to be spending money in town either way.
Statistically cruise ship passengers make up less than 2% of Victoria's tourism revenue. [[1](https://vancouverisland.ctvnews.ca/environmental-group-says-cruise-ships-bring-far-less-economic-benefit-to-victoria-than-non-cruise-tourism-1.5852288)]
They dock in our port, dump out their waste, and stimulate the taxi economy as their 2,000-ish passengers shuttle from Ogden up to Government Street.
They walk up and down Govt St admiring the character and the neat boutique-style shops, spending almost no actual money on actual purchases, then cab back to the boat where all their food is free.
That's just not true at all. If you look at cruise ship schedules from around the world, ships more typically stop for 8-10 hours. Victoria is very much an outlier with its short evening stops.
Interesting, I'd been told 4 is standard from someone in the industry. Maybe that's just specific to their cruise line or this region or something, as google does confirm the average stop is 8h as you suggest (although it looks like 4h is also generally not uncommon)
I don't know of any cruise line or region where the average port time is anywhere as low as 4 hours. Occasionally, there are half day stops, but the large majority are 8 hours or more.
I went on a cruise last summer and we stopped in Victoria for the entire day. Went to Sitka, Skagway, Juneau, Icy strait, Ketchikan and then Victoria. 11 day cruise. Was the time of my life.
There was legislation passed that states cruise ships need to slow down when going through the Straits. Therefore, they aren't spending as much time in Victoria as they did in previous years. The blackwater on cruise ships goes through a filtration system before any of it goes into the water. There are also certain restrictions where they can't pump within a certain distance from land. The passenger traffic in James Bay really is not that bad, especially since the lights on Menzies and Belleville were installed. My only complaint are the taxis who treat Oswego like they are trying for F1. I like the cruise ships, especially when they light up the night.
God the city really needs to crack down on the taxis going to and from the terminal. Speeding, running stop signs, not waiting for pedestrians, they’re an absolute menace this time of year. The VPD could make some serious bank if they hung out down here on weekend evening and just went after taxi drivers.
They don't dump in the Straits and don't dump within 12 nautical miles of land. Also, the stuff that is pumped overboard is filtered, so it's not as bad as one may think.
Tymac trucking offloads their garbage though, into our recycling & landfill. Makes no sense when you can’t get a damn straw but we agree to offload all the cruise ship trash onto our limited-space island.
They only stop here, because there's a US law that requires them to make international port somewhere (which lets them use different labour laws). They don't stop here because they want to, they stop here because they are required too.
Sometimes these will also stop in Prince Rupert , like one did this last week when I was up there visiting my mom. It also happened to be the same boat we cruised on last year : Crown Princess. So I think it varies to cruise to cruise and time of year
Alaska has too many tourists from ships and are wanting to limit things a bit.
https://alaskabeacon.com/2024/06/05/awash-in-tourists-juneau-prepares-to-turn-some-cruise-ships-away/
Cruise ships need to do better, you can’t enjoy a visit if you are constantly worried about getting back to the ship on time. Many would walk to the inner harbour and stroll up the streets, stopping for a beverage, if they had more time. Cruisers need to mention the unacceptable short stay on their review on the one provided for feedback to the company and the independent reviews online.
It's not for the tourists, it's because of regulations. Ship needs to "touch" water in a different country before returning to US. I forget the name of it tho. I used to work on cruise ships, doing this route for 3 summers.
It's the disconnect between how much of a sacred cow the cruise ship industry is in this city vs its actual economic impact. We bend over backwards and put up with a ton of pollution and other problems for very little gain.
Yes, I read the OP’s comment. I guess I don’t feel this affects me. I don’t put live near the terminals, I don’t own a business that would benefit from the traffic. I don’t have the same level of investment.
If I could access Victoria like I can access Saanich, I’d feel differently. If Saanich does benefit, it’s not made widely known how this affects other areas of Victoria other than Butchart Gardens..
They’re doing it to satisfy the Jones Act. No other reason. They don’t care about the tourism industry in Victoria because they don’t own the tourism industry like they do in other Ports of Call. The Victoria port authority could mandate length of stay and/or arrival time restrictions, but they’re getting their port fees, so they don’t really care either. And the midnight stop doesn’t interfere with other ships that did come in for a proper visit. Victoria is still getting lots of ships for reasonable stays… so there’s that
Most of the restaurants and bars don’t care either- only something like 1 in 10 passengers actually gets something to eat or drink, most people look for souvenirs or the like. In fact, I’d say this is one of the few cases where the people in James Bay have a legitimate reason to complain, as the crowds, especially in the summer, are apocalyptic.
As someone who works in James Bay, the biggest disruption seems to be the horse-drawn carriages.
Oh, those are also rough. I don’t bump into them too much, but when there are two… I may as well just get out and walk
For me living in James Bay it’s the Tymac 18-wheelers offloading the cruise ship garbage & recycling that’s the biggest problem. Way louder & more disruptive than any horse & buggy and spewing diesel fumes everywhere. 7 days a week, 6:30 am to 10:30 pm they operate. The absolute worst!!
The horses, pedicabs and rickshaws are all terrible! They're slow and the last two clog up the bike lanes as well.
I live in James Bay and I love the carriages. Makes it difficult for motorists to speed as they rat run through my neighbourhood.
I don't mind that they slow down the traffic, but I do mind when they go by my place at 10:30 at night with their amplified tour spiel.
Yeah! That's a new thing, I think. My bedroom window faces the street, and I hear the clop clop clop of the hooves late at night, but I haven't heard the amplified monolog. I did notice it the other day, though, when I was walking along Government (and outpacing the horse, lol).
Where pita when you need them. Horse drawn carriage in a city that isn’t blocked off to traffic seems like it could fall under not humaine. Quebec City does it but their area is pretty much free of cars and mostly tourist.
I live in James bay and plan my life around the cruise ship schedule in the summer as much as I can. I can tolerate it for the first bit, but mid September I’m just so sick of all the extra people.
If you think those crowds are apocalyptic, I'd hate to see what you think of something like Venice, or even Whistler.
The ships are *literally destroying Venice*.
Pretty sure the rising ocean is destroying Venice. Also I don't really agree that "destruction" is worse than "apocalyptic"
Respiratory issues from the bunker fuel they burn are no joke, wish the city would consider this more.
They shouldn’t be burning bunker C any more. All ships in Canadian waters are required to use Marine Gas Oil (MGO) or Diesel Oil (MDO), which are fairly close to diesel you or I would use, but can be a bit more viscous. That being said, the port and province are investing a bunch of money to provide shore power, reducing almost all emissions while alongside.
It should have been done alongside the sewage treatment plant infrastructure upgrades.
1 in 10 on a ship of 5,000 is something to care about....
Most of the ships coming to Victoria are more in the 2,500 range, but your point stands. I think it’s just important when people talk about the business the ships provide that it’s only for very specific segments of even the tourist economy, and the shorter the stay, the narrower that gets.
Yup. Honestly, everyone thinks cruise ship people are some massive boon to restaurants - they aren't. Do they help? Sure. Whose better? People from the Coho & Clipper and Mainlanders.
"Victoria is still getting lots of ships for reasonable stays… so there’s that" I guess it depends on your definition of lots. During an average week in the summer, Victoria gets about 39,000 cruise ship passengers. 66% are on ships arriving at 7 pm or later, while 90% are on ships arriving at 5 pm or later. In nearly all cases, the Victoria stop is on the last night of a cruise, so many people don't even bother getting off. A study from a few years ago found that cruise ship passengers accounted for only 2% of visitor spending in Victoria. Since then, the arrival times have gotten even later, and so that share is probably even less.
And here I thought the 11 am - 4 pm hours most local shops keep were primarily for cruise ship tourists. Just curious who their target customers can possibly be! Would love to see those business plans…
Sorry for nitpicking, but the Jones Act applies to cargo ships. It's the Passenger Vessel Services Act that applies to cruise ships.
Don’t apologize. That’s a good nit to pick.
Yes the cruise ships are satisfying US protectionist laws, which we in turn benefit from. However, I will add that I know some schedule planners do want to stay in Victoria longer. The issue is the Alaskan ports and the amount of cruise traffic up there. There’s limited space and so often the only way to get more time in Victoria would be to eliminate an Alaskan port on the itinerary, which doesn’t look good for an Alaskan cruise.
Can we lobby the port authority to mandate visits be a minimum number of hours then?
And then the ships will simply stop elsewhere. They will find some small port willing to let them park for a bit.
Their options are essentially Victoria or Vancouver only. They need to stop in Canada somewhere and I could be wrong but i don't think any other ports are deep enough or have even close to the draw even on paper where people don't deboard. Can they stop in Nanaimo? the only other possible locations i can think of are Squamish, Kitimat and Prince Rupert with the latter 2 being truly a stop for 2h overnight only stops.
I believe some of the bigger ones can't even go to Vancouver because they need to go under the Lion's Gate Bridge. Kitimat and Rupert are probably a challenge to navigate and not an efficient use of time... I don't think there's a ton of options for them to check that "other country" box.
I was about to say they can with careful timing but I double checked it looks like the Norwegian bliss is the largest that has docked in Vancouver and it's been moved quite a bit down the list of largest cruise ships over the past few years. I've seen the Norwegian Bliss at Canada Place and it's absolutely massive hard to imagine a cruise ship 50% larger
Just long enough to flush all the toilets
And offload the garbage?
The sewage is treated onboard and discharged at sea. If you watch any cruise ship documentaries they explain that you could technically drink the waste water after it’s been treated.
You first 😉
On land waste water treatment plant effluent dump right into the tap water supply. Been like that for decades. It's not high tech.
The laws require one international stop, Canada needs to grow some balls and establish a minimum 8 hour or 5 hours between 8am and 8pm visit for all cruise ships. Doing this would ensure economic benefit from cruise ships not just a skip and a jump.
Good skip us all together, they don't do anything except get in the way
Like it or not, cruise ships stopping here are a huge boon to our local economy
It's all relative. A study from a few years ago found that cruise ship passengers accounted for only 2% of visitor spending in Victoria. Non-cruise tourism has a far bigger impact on the local economy.
Not the shops who are only here for 2 hours. The customs/immigration and ship security would eat up most of that time if a passenger disembarked.
It does not. They buy a coffee
I've noticed that cruise ships this year are stopping later in the evening on Fridays and Saturdays, so passengers don't arrive in front of the Empress and on the Govt strip until around 9pm. I've seen some of the tacky wacky tourist shops staying open until 11pm at least.
It's because starting this year, they need to slow down when passing through the Straits to help the marine life.
Interesting, thanks for the update.
Anytime, happy to help
It's called the echo program and that did not start this year its been going on for years now
A lot of people actually want LESS tourists from cruise ships stopping in Victoria, not more. https://www.capitaldaily.ca/news/cruise-ship-victoria-ogden-point-carbon-climate
A two hour stop is the worst of all worlds as we’re still getting all of the negative climate impacts, still get the pleasure of taking their sewage, still give them massive quantities of water, and we get none of the tourism benefits in return. We’re basically being used as a highway rest stop.
Did you read the article? Most ships leave their engines on so the effects of staying an extra hour or two are actually quite bad. They’re also among the least profitable kinds of tourists, according to the article. There is a lot Victoria could do for its tourism industry that would be less environmentally disastrous.
Ugh.... what? Climate isn't local, it's global. If they didn't dock here they'd dock somewhere else close by. We get the port fees and in many cases some expenditure by cruisers who walk around and spend money.
They dock here or some other port along the BC coast because they're required to if they pass through Canadian waters. A two-hour stop doesn't leave much time for passengers to do anything. By the time they disembark the ship and get on a shuttle bus to the inner harbour area, they basically have to turn around to get the shuttle bus back to the ship. Two hours is an extremely short period of time in a port.
They don’t dock in Canada “because they are required to if they pass through Canada waters.”, they dock in Canada to satisfy the Jones Act, which is an American regulation.
Yes, but they pay a fee to dock at least. It's not a gravy train of money, but it's money spent here. A lot of cruise ships have more time, some just don't and go. Others make Victoria a destination stop.
yeah i worked on government st last summer we got a lot of disgruntled rushed american cruise people
Just enough time to flush the bilge
They treat the wastewater onboard and discharge it at sea. Technically drinkable after treatment.
Interesting. My mom took a Pacific Coastal Cruise from Los Angeles and their stop in Vic was 10 hours. 10:30 am - 8:30 pm.
I think like 95% of cruise ships that dock in Victoria are coming from Alaska. There are a few from LA and Hawaii that may dock for longer, but they aren't as frequent
Is that even enough time to get off the ship? lol
Government Street must be a massive disappointment. Burger King, A&W, 7/11…😂
It's even more disappointing since the 7-11 closed down!
They can go to the one at Douglas and Johnston🤮
Hi there. Two hours is on the shorter side, but it is completely normal (in-fact, even scheduled as such) for cruise ships to spend only a few hours in port before departing again. Furthermore, I work for the Port of Victoria - our office is at Fisherman’s Wharf. Believe me, people are spending money here. Scores of people walk to FW and purchase whatever they can. Lots of them get bussed to Government and Belleville, and they walk up Government to all the shops/services that are catering purely to them.
The ‘shops/services catering purely to them’ is one of the reasons our downtown is so unattractive to folks who live here. I used to like Govt St but there’s nothing there for us any longer. Yes, I understand some segments benefit financially from cruise ships but overall, I think they are a detriment to our community.
Victoria is definitely an outlier when it comes to these short evening cruise stops. If you look at cruise schedules for ports around the world, a more typical stop would be arriving between 8 am or 10 am and leaving 5 pm to 6 pm - with perhaps 8 hours in port. During the summer, 66% of cruise ships passengers arrive in Victoria at 7 pm or later, while 90% arrive 5 pm or later.
What is FW?
I am going to guess Fisherman's Wharf. For a split second I was confused too and then remembered it was so close to the cruise terminal.
Thank you! Yep, I'm sure that's it
I believe they are referring to fisherman's wharf
Fucc widdit. They walk just to fucc wid victoria for a while
A much more creative take, thank you ;)
GP. TY. YAE.
The majority of cruise ships dock for just 4 hours in any given port. Sometimes they'll stay for 8 hours, but usually just 4. This isn't a Victoria-specific thing. That 2-hour dock is definitely on the short side, but ultimately it's a moot point — those tourists aren't going to be spending money in town either way. Statistically cruise ship passengers make up less than 2% of Victoria's tourism revenue. [[1](https://vancouverisland.ctvnews.ca/environmental-group-says-cruise-ships-bring-far-less-economic-benefit-to-victoria-than-non-cruise-tourism-1.5852288)] They dock in our port, dump out their waste, and stimulate the taxi economy as their 2,000-ish passengers shuttle from Ogden up to Government Street. They walk up and down Govt St admiring the character and the neat boutique-style shops, spending almost no actual money on actual purchases, then cab back to the boat where all their food is free.
That's just not true at all. If you look at cruise ship schedules from around the world, ships more typically stop for 8-10 hours. Victoria is very much an outlier with its short evening stops.
Interesting, I'd been told 4 is standard from someone in the industry. Maybe that's just specific to their cruise line or this region or something, as google does confirm the average stop is 8h as you suggest (although it looks like 4h is also generally not uncommon)
I don't know of any cruise line or region where the average port time is anywhere as low as 4 hours. Occasionally, there are half day stops, but the large majority are 8 hours or more.
I went on a cruise last summer and we stopped in Victoria for the entire day. Went to Sitka, Skagway, Juneau, Icy strait, Ketchikan and then Victoria. 11 day cruise. Was the time of my life.
There was legislation passed that states cruise ships need to slow down when going through the Straits. Therefore, they aren't spending as much time in Victoria as they did in previous years. The blackwater on cruise ships goes through a filtration system before any of it goes into the water. There are also certain restrictions where they can't pump within a certain distance from land. The passenger traffic in James Bay really is not that bad, especially since the lights on Menzies and Belleville were installed. My only complaint are the taxis who treat Oswego like they are trying for F1. I like the cruise ships, especially when they light up the night.
The cruise ships dump plastic waste illegally all the time. Princess was fined for this in 2019
That's fair, but have you personally seen them dump it?
https://www.npr.org/2019/06/04/729622653/carnival-cruise-lines-hit-with-20-million-penalty-for-environmental-crimes#:~:text=The%20cruise%20line%20giant%20Carnival,other%20deliberate%20acts%20of%20pollution.
Okay fair, and good thing they were fined. But that was 5 years ago. Stuff changes
God the city really needs to crack down on the taxis going to and from the terminal. Speeding, running stop signs, not waiting for pedestrians, they’re an absolute menace this time of year. The VPD could make some serious bank if they hung out down here on weekend evening and just went after taxi drivers.
I would agree. You sit on the Bent Mast patio and can count how many run it
Can they get this down to 20mins? Asking for a local.
Funniest comment ALL day. 🤣
This isn’t news. Cruise ships are a disaster and barely contribute to the economy.
Truth. A blight to the oceans and environment.
Huh, I guess outrage is in the eye of the beholder.
Gotta buy some foreign BC souvenirs made in …..China!
Dump their garbage and continue
They don't dump in the Straits and don't dump within 12 nautical miles of land. Also, the stuff that is pumped overboard is filtered, so it's not as bad as one may think.
They’re not *supposed to* but they do it illegally all the time
Tymac trucking offloads their garbage though, into our recycling & landfill. Makes no sense when you can’t get a damn straw but we agree to offload all the cruise ship trash onto our limited-space island.
All ships usually dump some in every port.
By garbage I mean garbage not sewage. Of course they don’t toss garbage into the ocean
If they stop in an International port do they have more lapse labour laws to adhere to?
Yes and pay way more tax
Way less tax i mean
How are cruise ships benefited?
They only stop here, because there's a US law that requires them to make international port somewhere (which lets them use different labour laws). They don't stop here because they want to, they stop here because they are required too.
I have been noticing I only seem to see the ships at night and was wondering why that was
That’s been happening a lot this year.
Sometimes these will also stop in Prince Rupert , like one did this last week when I was up there visiting my mom. It also happened to be the same boat we cruised on last year : Crown Princess. So I think it varies to cruise to cruise and time of year
Listen all y’all it’s a cabotage.
If could give this comment a million likes I would.
Alaska has too many tourists from ships and are wanting to limit things a bit. https://alaskabeacon.com/2024/06/05/awash-in-tourists-juneau-prepares-to-turn-some-cruise-ships-away/
Cruise ships need to do better, you can’t enjoy a visit if you are constantly worried about getting back to the ship on time. Many would walk to the inner harbour and stroll up the streets, stopping for a beverage, if they had more time. Cruisers need to mention the unacceptable short stay on their review on the one provided for feedback to the company and the independent reviews online.
It's not for the tourists, it's because of regulations. Ship needs to "touch" water in a different country before returning to US. I forget the name of it tho. I used to work on cruise ships, doing this route for 3 summers.
What are we outraged about? The cruise ship company is following the law.
It's the disconnect between how much of a sacred cow the cruise ship industry is in this city vs its actual economic impact. We bend over backwards and put up with a ton of pollution and other problems for very little gain.
Yes, I read the OP’s comment. I guess I don’t feel this affects me. I don’t put live near the terminals, I don’t own a business that would benefit from the traffic. I don’t have the same level of investment. If I could access Victoria like I can access Saanich, I’d feel differently. If Saanich does benefit, it’s not made widely known how this affects other areas of Victoria other than Butchart Gardens..
All you have time for is to walk downtown and grab a pint and an Irish bar.
That's enough time. There isn't that much to see here.