Victoria’s largest cruise ship on record docks at Ogden Point
You can’t help but be startled by the size of the new Norwegian Bliss cruise ship, which docked at Ogden Point on June 1, even though the port is a regular stop for these giant vessels.
The ship, listed at 1,094 feet long by its owner, is the largest cruise ship to ever dock at Ogden Point. It pulled in for a day-long visit on its inaugural cruise, carrying Norwegian Cruise Lines officials, travel agents and media. It has room for about 4,000 passengers and 1,716 crew.
Greater Victoria’s hospitality sector was particularly pumped about the visiting travel agents, who will be able to talk to their clients about their experiences in the capital region.
After the 20-deck ship was launched in Germany in April, it headed through the Panama Canal up to B.C.’s west coast.
“This is a critical destination for us,” Andrew Stuart, president and chief executive officer of Norwegian Cruise Line said on board the vessel.
“We can’t make this whole thing work without Victoria.”
The ship was built specifically for the growing Alaska cruise market. Its home port is Seattle.
American regulations require these vessels to stop in a foreign port, thus fueling cruise ship stops in Victoria.
For the rest of the summer, Norwegian Bliss will stop in every Friday.
When B.C. Deputy Premier and Finance Minister Carole James was walking on the waterfront in the morning, she came across locals who were cheering the Norwegian Bliss as it arrived.
“I was joined by a few hundred Victorians this morning. … There were people with flags, there were people waving.”
James, who visited the ship while it was in port, made note of the importance of cruise ships to the local economy.
Acting Victoria Mayor Margaret Lucas, who also serves as a board member on the Greater Victoria Harbour Authority, said at a welcoming ceremony at Ogden Point that cruise-ship visits inject $130 million into the local economy annually and are responsible for 880 direct and indirect jobs.
About 245 cruise-ship visits are scheduled for this year. The vessels will carry 600,000 passengers.
New bollards were installed at Pier A to allow it to handle docking of larger cruise ships.