Cruise: Baltimore, Seattle, Vancouver

Crystal Cruises will offer its first-ever scheduled embarkation sailing from the Port of Baltimore on November 8, 2014. Carnival Miracle’s April 28 arrival at Canada Place marked the start of Port Metro Vancouver’s 2014 Alaska cruise season. The 2014 cruise season opened May 3 at the Port of Seattle with the dockings of Holland America Line’s Westerdam and Princess Cruises’ Golden Princess at Smith Cove Cruise Terminal.

Crystal Cruise Line to Offer One-Time Cruise From Baltimore in November

Crystal Cruises will offer its first ever scheduled embarkation sailing from the Port of Baltimore on November 8, 2014. Crystal Serenity will board passengers November 5 in New York for the 11-day cruise will board passengers before arriving at Baltimore’s Cruise Maryland Terminal at approximately 8 a.m. November 8. The ship will welcome new passengers from Baltimore during the day and sail that evening. Continuing its voyage, the ship will sail down the East Coast, stopping in Norfolk and Charleston, before heading for the Caribbean and concluding the voyage in Miami.


Crystal Serenity
Photo/Crystal Cruises

"We developed this voyage in response to travelers’ and agents’ increasing demand for mid-Atlantic embarkations," said Paul Girouard, Crystal’s director of sales for the eastern United States. "Baltimore has been so welcoming to us each time we’ve visited. We’re excited to expand our offerings there for those who want to minimize air travel and start their Crystal experiences as quickly as possible."

Five hundred jobs are generated by cruise activity in Maryland, including 220 direct jobs at the Port of Baltimore. Additionally, Maryland benefits from $90 million in economic activity generated by cruise activities. The economic value to Maryland takes into consideration such factors as local spending, hotels, dining and entertainment.

Last year, more than 212,000 passengers sailed on 90 cruises from the Port of Baltimore. Since beginning a year-round cruise schedule in 2009, nearly every cruise that has sailed from the Port of Baltimore has left at full passenger capacity.

Metro Vancouver Opens 2014 Cruise Season

Port Metro Vancouver’s 2014 Alaska cruise season began April 28 with the docking of the Carnival Miracle at Canada Place. The port is expecting a repeat of last year’s strong performance with about 812,000 passengers on 243 calls by 29 cruise ships.

In 2013, Port Metro Vancouver welcomed 812,398 passengers on 235 calls by 29 cruise ships, a 22 percent increase in passengers from 2012.

According to the port, each cruise ship call generates more than C$2.0 million in economic activity. The cruise business also generates approximately 283,000 room nights in Vancouver pre- and post-cruise and more than 440,000 room nights in British Columbia overall, generating some 6,000 direct and indirect jobs, and $220 million in wages and tax revenues for municipal, provincial and federal governments.


Canada Place cruise terminal.
Photo/Port Metro Vancouver

Port Metro Vancouver also expects increased use of shore power at Canada Place terminal this season. Last year, 82 ships connected to shore power versus 60 in 2012, a 37 percent increase. According to the port authority, the Canada Place shore power installation has reduced greenhouse gas emissions by more than 8,400 metric tons since its inception in 2009,

This year, Port Metro Vancouver will be home port for the Crown Princess, which at 3,080 passengers is the largest Princess ship to sail to Alaska, and the Pacific Princess, which will be the first Princess ship in more than 10 years to sail round-trip Alaska cruises from Vancouver. Another newcomer this year will be the 2,850-passenger Celebrity Solstice, on May 8 and September 23.

In 2014 and 2015, changes to Canada Place passenger flows are planned to improve efficiency and optimize passenger experience. Beginning in 2015, the port will consolidate its cruise business at Canada Place and retire Ballantyne Pier as a cruise terminal. Ballantyne currently receives fewer than 4 percent of the port’scruise ship visits and lacks modern capabilities, including shore power.

Click here to view Port Metro Vancouver’s 2014 cruise schedule.

Seattle Welcomes its First Cruise Ships of 2014

The 2014 cruise season at the Port of Seattle opened May 3 with the arrival at Smith Cove Cruise Terminal of the Holland America Line’s Westerdam and Princess Cruises’ Golden Princess. This season has 178 cruise ship calls scheduled, bringing an estimated 805,000 revenue passengers.

Smith Cove Cruise Terminal and the port’s second cruise terminal, Bell Street Pier, provide panoramic views of the city’s skyline, Mt. Rainier and the Olympic Mountains. Both terminals feature concierge services, luggage storage, on-board airline check-in, rental cars and secure parking facilities.

Seattle’s cruise business, which will top 800,000 passengers for the seventh year in a row, is responsible for nearly 4,000 jobs, $372 million in annual business revenue, and $16.6 million annually in state and local tax revenues. Each cruise ship call pumps $2.2 million into the local economy.

All cruise ships that homeport in Seattle use either low-sulfur fuel or plug into shore side electrical power while docked. Smith Cove Cruise Terminal can provide shore power for two ships at once, eliminating the need to run engines while at berth. A Memorandum of Understanding between the port, the Washington Department of Ecology and the Northwest and Canada Cruiseship Association sets strong standards exceeding federal requirements for the treatment of waste discharges from cruise ships operating in Washington waters.

Homeport Cruise Lines Seattle – 2014

 

 


Smith Cove Cruise Terminal with Star Princess and Westerdam.
Photo/Don Wilson, Port of Seattle