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Cruise Ship Update April 25
The time is fast approaching for the arrival
of the first Cruise ship arrivals. Regent Seven Seas Cruises has announced Campbell River as a port of call for their vessel “ Seven Seas Mariner”.
The dates of the four stops are June 5th, June 19th, July 3rd and July 17th. The
arrival time for the June stops will be 4pm and departure at 11pm. The July stops will arrive at 3pm & depart also
at 11pm.
This ship carries approximately 700 passengers
which is smaller than the largest ships which carry some 2,000 passengers however the clientele is probably at the higher
end of the market. In addition the ship carries a crew of approximately 400. The vessel will be visiting Campbell
River at the end of a seven day cruise from Alaska &
will be departing to Vancouver that
night for arrival the next morning.
Regent Cruises have chosen 18 shore excursion
packages to offer their passengers with a wide array of interests from flightseeing, fishing, nature viewing to historical
and cultural tours.
Preparations have been under way for a
long time for the arrival of the first ship to the new facility and the Chamber has been active in this process with representation
on the Port of Call Committee. We have been meeting with a group of representative local business people to determine what
needs to be done to maximize the opportunities presented by this new Tourism opportunity and also to deal with some of the
challenges. These include transportation and the routes the passenger shuttle buses should take, extended store hours, incentives
to passengers and crew and initiatives to make the stopover in Campbell River
as pleasant and memorable as possible. While the visit itself presents extensive benefits to the business community the major
advantage of the cruise stop is to make the passenger want to return to Campbell River
as a vacation destination and much of this will depend on way we present ourselves in the relatively short cruise visit. Are
we open for business, are we welcoming, friendly, cooperative and informative? We basically only get one chance to impress
this potential future vacationer.
To give some scope to the size of this
industry in BC we note that in 2005 Victoria, Nanaimo
and Prince Rupert hosted a total of 250 visits carrying 405,206 passengers. Nanaimo
and Prince Rupert alone hosted 108 ships for a total of 110,610 passengers.
The next initiative the Chamber is undertaking
is a workshop dealing with preparedness for the arrival of the ships including an overview of the industry, and the challenges
and opportunities presented by it. This will be held on May 8th from 6pm
to 9pm and will be conducted by Mary Klugherz . This is open to the business community
& we encourage attendance however pre-registration is requested.
Martin Brooks
Executive Director
Campbell River Chamber of Commerce
