Norwegian Cruise Lines pulling out of Prince Rupert in 2012

General Forums General Chat
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While Norwegian cruiselines pulling out of Prince Rupert does not surprise me, after reading and hearing about the complaints that passengers have had, I can’t help but wonder how they marketed our community to their customers. Rupert isn’t a shopping destination for the local area let alone for a couple of thousand touristy americans a week. We know that shopping definitely isn’t one of our strengths so why is it that visitors are disappointed by the lack of it? What were they expecting to get up here anyways? It seems to me that some more emphasis on our actual strengths may have not left so many people with a bad taste in their mouths. We are surrounded by natural beauty with mountains, lakes, rivers, ocean, wildlife and perhaps if there was more demand for excursions rather than shopping more potential operators may have been encouraged to open up shop. To be fair, I suppose that there has to be something for everyone, including shopping, so perhaps we’re better deisgned to handle smaller ships that revolve around eco-tourism that could make the most of what we have to offer. Perhaps this would allow for there to be some more positive fedback about our community as I’ve seen more than a few online reviews about visiting our community that were less than favourable. Just a thought.

Another question that I have is why threre has not been more done to captialize on the American history in Prince Rupert? Americans are very patriotic and I’m sure that if there was an opportunity to travel to some of the historic sites such as Barrett Point, the thousand stairs and Roosevelt Park, and learn more about their nations activiy in WWII, while fueling their patriotism, could only be good. Of course there would have to be investment and a commitment by the city, the port authority, etc. to clean up some of these sites but it could be done. We can’t expect to just have the ship drop off their passengers and have them empty their wallets here. For anything to succeed it takes an investment in our community…a reason for them to be excited about being here. I can’t say with any certainty that Victoria, Nanaimo or Campbell River don’t have an American WWII history to draw from but I know that we do.

22

Well we knew this day would come, after next year we will not be a stop for Norwegian Cruise Lines. They are picking Victoria over us…Surprise, surprise. Wonder what the City and the Chamber of Commerce will have to say about this.

" OOPS didn’t realize this topic was already on here. "

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Cookie, there were some people I knew who put their names forward, but council decided on the Tourism Committee to reinstate those on from the previous years. Again, they make their decisions are made from the recommendations they receive from management. Let’s not forget those councilors who have been there for a number of terms, they must be aware of the situation. Do they not receive reports from their own General Manager? Has anyone really seen a full report?

I am not surprised as we look how PRT has branded our community. With all the negative comments over the past years, one would think they would wake up and smell the coffee and do something to change it. 3 million dollars went towards that dock from the community. Our council has renewed Gord Howie’s contract so really people, are you surprised? I am not.

As for next year’s elections, what else will increase for the taxpayers before the election? ie 5% increase for the landfill for the next 3 yrs.

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the problem is we were only a stop to bypass american regulations, by having one foreign stop they don’t have to meet american rules, plain and simple, second when you go on a trip and your last stop before Rupert is Vancouver and have around 4 hours to wait, do you go out and see the city or just linger at the airport and wait for the plane?, and wasn’t it this summer where the cruise ship lines were saying the same thing about Victoria, nothing to do shops close up early etc etc etc., if you can’t find anything to do there then there is something wrong.

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Well, for starters, if I have 4 hours to wait for a plane in Vancouver, I would be terribly tempted to grab the shuttle or a cab and go speed shopping or just take in the sites but I would undoubtedly miss my flight! Even though we were only a regulation stop for the cruise ships, we could have put more of an effort into showing them off the sites of the area, or at least at welcoming them in general. Cow Bay was condemned by some downtown merchants as the only place they would stay to shop and eat etc., well, they gave them a little of what they wanted and on a beautiful day, I stay down there also. They took them on bus tours around town, I live on 11th.E, and saw the buses slowly “touring” down my street! I think they have seen homes before ! But you are right, If you can’t find anything to do, there is something wrong and there is, it is called a lax tourism board and a don’t give a damn city council!

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[quote=“codybear933”]

Well, for starters, if I have 4 hours to wait for a plane in Vancouver, I would be terribly tempted to grab the shuttle or a cab and go speed shopping or just take in the sites but I would undoubtedly miss my flight! Even though we were only a regulation stop for the cruise ships, we could have put more of an effort into showing them off the sites of the area, or at least at welcoming them in general. Cow Bay was condemned by some downtown merchants as the only place they would stay to shop and eat etc., well, they gave them a little of what they wanted and on a beautiful day, I stay down there also. They took them on bus tours around town, I live on 11th.E, and saw the buses slowly “touring” down my street! I think they have seen homes before ! But you are right, If you can’t find anything to do, there is something wrong and there is, it is called a lax tourism board and a don’t give a damn city council![/quote]

Good points, esp the one about the bus tour… I knew the whole cruise ship thing would become a white elepant and it has…
The nature of tourism is to have things that are interesting and changing… Rupert was just a required stop, I mean we even had at least one ship come in weekly and the passengers never left the ship… Bruce Wiehart in many ways is not affective in his role of tourism head, but even he can only do so much… I could never see building a large infastructure for use by the cruise ship passengers, it is too seasonal, how would things survive outside the season? Even as it is I personally don’t think that passengers spend much while they are here, I could be wrong but I just don’t see it. Alaskan ports do well, but it is an Alaskan Cruise after all and they some days get several ships at once so there is volume. Most of the Alaskan infastructure is owned by the cruise lines, their employees go work in southern areas during the winter, we dont have that here, owners could not survive the winters here. Cowbay survives year round, but if were to get any larger I dont think it could on a year round basis, although I know its the locals that keep it going and not seasonal tourism. They benefit from the fact there is nothing down town… We are not a shopping place, so don’t market us as such. cowbay has some good offerings, but down town there is nothing for us much less for tourists. I have spoken to passengers who did like their stop here as it got away from comericalism and they enjoyed the beauty of our town. However overall it’s clear we just did not offer them enough and they have moved on, Victoria is also very close to Seattle, so from a scheduling aspect it may work better for the lines as well. I will let city council off the hook for this one, they have had more urgent matters to deal with than worrying about the dam cruise ships…

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[quote=“ThePodunkian”]

With Herb Pond’s features no doubt… the one who also gave us CityWest…
Despite his quotes in the Northern View today, I can’t say that the current mayor has the same understanding of the tourism sector as the past one did.
?[/quote]

Fair enough, But saying Pond was a better mayor than Jacko is damning him with faint praise.

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I would agree with you on this aspect if it were the responsibility of Tourism Prince Rupert, however; the Port Authority holds this sole repsonsibility in conjunction with the City. My $0.02

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[quote=“Roomer”]

I would agree with you on this aspect if it were the responsibility of Tourism Prince Rupert, however; the Port Authority holds this sole repsonsibility in conjunction with the City. My $0.02[/quote]

Well, an amazing amount of conjecture on this subject of cruise in 2012. However, I have to completely disagree with the port having sole responsibility. Globally, cruise destinations are partnerships between local government, tourism boards and the services needed to bring in the ships (BIA’s, port authorities, port agencies, stevedoring, pilotage, etc). To think the port should take sole responsibility is the exact problem we have been dealing with from the start; ownership of the business, accountability for its success and failure, as a result of partnership between stakeholders in the community.

Stakeholders you ask? The port, the city, TPR, local retailers, port agents, stevedores, government services. First Nations, the port and locals alike through tour operations and local attractions such as North Pacific and the Museum have had to take on the daunting task of marketing not only themselves but the entire community, with increasing tour volumes and new programs in an effort to fill gaps left a lack of independent guest activities, for the majority of guests electing not to go on tour when they come to port.

Tourism Prince Rupert is a destination marketing organization, so questions around what they have done to market to cruise guests to visit Prince Rupert are their domain; it is a lot to ask a DMO to not only take care of marketing but also manage operations on the ground in a destination, let them use their resources to ensure the brand of Prince Rupert is unique and competitive in the Alaska and BC cruise theaters, and that we can deliver on our brand.

The port has repeatedly communicated they are communicating with cruiselines to try and get them to bring ships to Prince Rupert, but what message has been given to them in terms of branding for Prince Rupert, it’s appeal as a destination, beautification in the region of the cruise dock, activities to engage guests and tell the story of Prince Rupert’s past history and current activity? And before anyone quips that it’s in the self-interest of the port to support and market its own operations, you would be woefully uninformed in terms of what costs are involved and who benefits when a cruiseship pulls in every week.

On the flip side, I was on Holland America’s website last week and found they are calling to Prince Rupert in 2012. Didn’t take me long to find it, and wonder how the CBC’s research team missed that gem when they stated “not a single guest will be walking off a ship in Prince Rueprt in 2012”…

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went to their website and couldn’t find any port of call for Rupert only seen the one for Victoria maybe you can post the link showing it?

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Not feeling too optimistic that anything will change. Mr Wisharts responce to things that could be done was basically along the lines of,I’m not sure what to do about it. Not sure how long he been in that position, seems like a little late to be now asking for the publics assistance.
Prince Rupert has natural beauty, former fishing industry, and Native history. As far as Im concerned we should clean up the waterfront near the old Canadian Fishing dock and make it a place to have firepits and have some kind of different rocks put in so people can possible have a picnic type setting.
As for the native aspect I am not sure what could be done, possibly having an area where you almost make like a mini reserve on the waterfront, somewhere that natives could go to have proper facilities and access to smoke fish, can fish, dry fish, or have an open fire to cook fish. Possibly a place to carve or do artwork on the same site, so people can have a glimpse into native culture in 1 location.

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We must not forget that CN owns the majority of the waterfront… The old red warehouse area is soon be used for container storage.
Cannot see much change ever happening in the area of things for tourists in that area… People should of seen this one coming…
We have the beauty but people see that all through the cruise… Victoria has much more to offer, so it’s not rocket science why the last ship to remain here made the change to match other lines and other runs by the same company… The change was based at least in part by passenger surveys… Rupert put too many eggs in one basket, and now we will have a white elephant on the water front…

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cruises-2012.com/alaskacruises2012.htm

Not sure how frequent the stops will be but some of these Alaska- Orient Cruises plan to stop here…

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[quote=“chookie”]Not feeling too optimistic that anything will change. Mr Wisharts responce to things that could be done was basically along the lines of,I’m not sure what to do about it. Not sure how long he been in that position, seems like a little late to be now asking for the publics assistance.
Prince Rupert has natural beauty, former fishing industry, and Native history. As far as Im concerned we should clean up the waterfront near the old Canadian Fishing dock and make it a place to have firepits and have some kind of different rocks put in so people can possible have a picnic type setting.
As for the native aspect I am not sure what could be done, possibly having an area where you almost make like a mini reserve on the waterfront, somewhere that natives could go to have proper facilities and access to smoke fish, can fish, dry fish, or have an open fire to cook fish. Possibly a place to carve or do artwork on the same site, so people can have a glimpse into native culture in 1 location.[/quote]

When the cruise ship season started, the first year, there was quite a bit happening for the tourists. The loghouse was open and the carvers were giving hands on shows as well as selling their work, the Native Dancers would give a performance at the Courthouse, the RCMP were in full regalia for photo ops, Mariners Park had festivities all day, the old train went a ways down the Skeena and stopped at the cannery and former Mayor Pond seemed to always be available for a “meet and greet”. Now there is nothing and I don’t know why, other than the train as the Port expanded since then, why any of these other activities are still not made available. Mariners Park had two events, nice, but what about the rest of the season, the RCMP were no shows and so were the dancers, I believe. There is no excuse for this slack attitude as even we on here have put forth some very good ideas. Maybe someone with the “power” should take note! Too late now though but at least we can give them a good send off season, the last one. Just add this to a LONG list of “used to be’s” in Rupert !

35

[quote=“codybear933”]

[quote=“chookie”]Not feeling too optimistic that anything will change. Mr Wisharts responce to things that could be done was basically along the lines of,I’m not sure what to do about it. Not sure how long he been in that position, seems like a little late to be now asking for the publics assistance.
Prince Rupert has natural beauty, former fishing industry, and Native history. As far as Im concerned we should clean up the waterfront near the old Canadian Fishing dock and make it a place to have firepits and have some kind of different rocks put in so people can possible have a picnic type setting.
As for the native aspect I am not sure what could be done, possibly having an area where you almost make like a mini reserve on the waterfront, somewhere that natives could go to have proper facilities and access to smoke fish, can fish, dry fish, or have an open fire to cook fish. Possibly a place to carve or do artwork on the same site, so people can have a glimpse into native culture in 1 location.[/quote]

When the cruise ship season started, the first year, there was quite a bit happening for the tourists. The loghouse was open and the carvers were giving hands on shows as well as selling their work, the Native Dancers would give a performance at the Courthouse, the RCMP were in full regalia for photo ops, Mariners Park had festivities all day, the old train went a ways down the Skeena and stopped at the cannery and former Mayor Pond seemed to always be available for a “meet and greet”. Now there is nothing and I don’t know why, other than the train as the Port expanded since then, why any of these other activities are still not made available. Mariners Park had two events, nice, but what about the rest of the season, the RCMP were no shows and so were the dancers, I believe. There is no excuse for this slack attitude as even we on here have put forth some very good ideas. Maybe someone with the “power” should take note! Too late now though but at least we can give them a good send off season, the last one. Just add this to a LONG list of “used to be’s” in Rupert ![/quote]

Well like many things Rupert goes big for the start, and then lets things slip and takes things for granted… Jo Scott in the later years of cruise ships did a lot of good work getting the Market going, which thank goodness moved to the court house lawn this year… Many others in the community have tried. That first year it seemed like almost every Thursday was sunny as well. Once the traffic dropped to one ship per week, it was tough to sustain something worthwhile given only a few hours of passengers and this past summer many people who left the ship took a short walk and went right back on… Peter Loy did a lot of work setting up canoe trips as well… I feel for the people who invested a lot of time and money into this and it has sank, but again people should of this coming…

36

[quote=“codybear933”]

[quote=“chookie”]Not feeling too optimistic that anything will change. Mr Wisharts responce to things that could be done was basically along the lines of,I’m not sure what to do about it. Not sure how long he been in that position, seems like a little late to be now asking for the publics assistance.
Prince Rupert has natural beauty, former fishing industry, and Native history. As far as Im concerned we should clean up the waterfront near the old Canadian Fishing dock and make it a place to have firepits and have some kind of different rocks put in so people can possible have a picnic type setting.
As for the native aspect I am not sure what could be done, possibly having an area where you almost make like a mini reserve on the waterfront, somewhere that natives could go to have proper facilities and access to smoke fish, can fish, dry fish, or have an open fire to cook fish. Possibly a place to carve or do artwork on the same site, so people can have a glimpse into native culture in 1 location.[/quote]

When the cruise ship season started, the first year, there was quite a bit happening for the tourists. The loghouse was open and the carvers were giving hands on shows as well as selling their work, the Native Dancers would give a performance at the Courthouse, the RCMP were in full regalia for photo ops, Mariners Park had festivities all day, the old train went a ways down the Skeena and stopped at the cannery and former Mayor Pond seemed to always be available for a “meet and greet”. Now there is nothing and I don’t know why, other than the train as the Port expanded since then, why any of these other activities are still not made available. Mariners Park had two events, nice, but what about the rest of the season, the RCMP were no shows and so were the dancers, I believe. There is no excuse for this slack attitude as even we on here have put forth some very good ideas. Maybe someone with the “power” should take note! Too late now though but at least we can give them a good send off season, the last one. Just add this to a LONG list of “used to be’s” in Rupert ![/quote]

Well like many things Rupert goes big for the start, and then lets things slip and takes things for granted… Jo Scott in the later years of cruise ships did a lot of good work getting the Market going, which thank goodness moved to the court house lawn this year… Many others in the community have tried. That first year it seemed like almost every Thursday was sunny as well. Once the traffic dropped to one ship per week, it was tough to sustain something worthwhile given only a few hours of passengers and this past summer many people who left the ship took a short walk and went right back on… Peter Loy did a lot of work setting up canoe trips as well… I feel for the people who invested a lot of time and money into this and it has sank, but again people should of saw this coming…The one big tour company esp. invested heavy into this thing… and again we have a red herring or things we ‘used’ to have…

37

thanks for the link but those are long cruises and only 2 visits, none of the weekly cruises come here,

as for the native dancers that greeted the ships the first year there was a big bruhaha over it, for the dancers where not from the Tshimshan community, i think they were nishga dancers not sure, so the tshimshan complained that it was their territory and hence the dancers never returned, but then they didn’t bring their dancers to greet the visitors,not sure why though so nothing to do with tourist bureau of Rupert, even though I think they are not doing a good enough job either

People have to remember one other thing if the Cruise lines can not make money in the town they show up in they don’t visit again, they normally get great deals from the local tourist attractions and resell them at higher prices then you would normally get them for, look at ketchikan where they own most of the shops in the downtown core, and then close them up after the cruise season is over

38

[quote=“codybear933”]

[quote=“chookie”]Not feeling too optimistic that anything will change. Mr Wisharts responce to things that could be done was basically along the lines of,I’m not sure what to do about it. Not sure how long he been in that position, seems like a little late to be now asking for the publics assistance.
Prince Rupert has natural beauty, former fishing industry, and Native history. As far as Im concerned we should clean up the waterfront near the old Canadian Fishing dock and make it a place to have firepits and have some kind of different rocks put in so people can possible have a picnic type setting.
As for the native aspect I am not sure what could be done, possibly having an area where you almost make like a mini reserve on the waterfront, somewhere that natives could go to have proper facilities and access to smoke fish, can fish, dry fish, or have an open fire to cook fish. Possibly a place to carve or do artwork on the same site, so people can have a glimpse into native culture in 1 location.[/quote]

When the cruise ship season started, the first year, there was quite a bit happening for the tourists. The loghouse was open and the carvers were giving hands on shows as well as selling their work, the Native Dancers would give a performance at the Courthouse, the RCMP were in full regalia for photo ops, Mariners Park had festivities all day, the old train went a ways down the Skeena and stopped at the cannery and former Mayor Pond seemed to always be available for a “meet and greet”. Now there is nothing and I don’t know why, other than the train as the Port expanded since then, why any of these other activities are still not made available. Mariners Park had two events, nice, but what about the rest of the season, the RCMP were no shows and so were the dancers, I believe. There is no excuse for this slack attitude as even we on here have put forth some very good ideas. Maybe someone with the “power” should take note! Too late now though but at least we can give them a good send off season, the last one. Just add this to a LONG list of “used to be’s” in Rupert ![/quote]

Actually while much of what you say is valid, the RCMP volunteers were down there a fair bit. So a tip o the hat to the RCMP as they did their part

39

I saw a piece in the Muskeg News showing that while cruise ship passengers made up almost 50 percent of the visitors to Rupert they only made up 9 percent of the spending. I think those numbers were from 2007 though.

40

In the story linked in the very first post in the thread:

“When the Prince Rupert Visitor Study was completed in 2007 we had two weekly ships visiting Prince Rupert. At that time cruise ship passengers and crew made up just over 63 per cent of the number of people visiting Prince Rupert during peak season, and between the two groups they spent just over 12 per cent of our summer tourism revenue.”

bclocalnews.com/bc_north/the … 55884.html