Vancouver’s Cruise Season Draws to a Close

Being based in Vancouver, Canada is a wonderful thing, but it’s around this time every year that a feeling of absolute dread sets in.  It’s not the rapidly cooling weather or the increasing hours of darkness that have me on edge, but the knowledge that my beloved cruise ships are just weeks away from sailing their last voyages from the iconic white sails of Canada Place.

P&O's adults-only Arcadia calls on Vancouver for the first time May 23, 2011. Photo © 2011 Aaron Saunders

Yes, the end of September can be a gloomy time here, despite the nice weather (September is often one of Vancouver’s sunnier months.)  This year, the season will draw to a close on October 4, when one of my absolute favorite ships, Holland America Line’s Oosterdam, will call here for the day before repositioning down to San Diego for the winter.

Afterwards, the berths at Canada Place will sit empty for six months.  No ships will pass under the Lions Gate Bridge in the early morning and evening hours; the clattering and mechanical whirrs made by the tide-sensitive gangways will have disappeared, and the wonderfully comforting deep-bass sound of the ship’s horns won’t be there to echo through the downtown core promptly at 5pm.  It’s bad enough we’ve already lost the cheery “When You Wish upon a Star” tune that Disney Wonder played every Tuesday evening as it backed into Burrard Inlet.

Crystal Symphony docked at Canada Place in Vancouver earlier this year. Photo © 2011 Aaron Saunders

People in ports like Le Havre and Amsterdam can no doubt relate, as ships plying the Northern European markets typically head south to the warmth of the Mediterranean or Caribbean for the winter.  Still, there are a few bright spots on the horizon for those ports, like Fred.Olsen’s fantastic Christmas Markets voyage we told you about a few weeks back.  I wish we had something like that here, though I fully understand that only I would be foolish enough to want to sail the Pacific Ocean in the dead of winter.

But it’s usually this time of year that I begin to realize how inexorably my soul is tied to the sea and the beautiful ships that we are so fortunate to cruise on today, be they big or small, quiet or active, mainstream or luxury.

Some people bemoan the state of cruising as it exists today, claiming that “it’s not like it used to be.”  And they’re right – partially.  Modern cruising isn’t like it used to be.

It’s better than ever.

Photo © Aaron Saunders

From the Deck Chair will return tomorrow.