So I took a ride on the Island Sky today.
For those who are morally opposed to long posts then here is my one liner:
"The Island Sky is okay."
Before I post this short tour, and a complete review of the vessel I should comment on a few general things. To me, the most important thing a ferry needs to be able to do is provide safety. If TC is happy, then I am happy. Secondly, the vessel needs to be functional to the route - as in not allowing frequent delays or overloads. Third, I expect a certain level of comfort given the relatively high fares we pay to BCFS. Lastly, it's a bonus is everything looks nice too
So I left this morning on the 720am Rte 3 sailing from Horseshoe Bay to Langdale. It was with the Queen of Coquitlam and was uneventful, although I was very surprised how busy it was, probably 90% and we left some over heights behind.
Right on the money at 8 we arrived and I headed to Earls Cove. I have a temperature reader in my car and I noticed it was getting colder and colder the further I went. It was about -5C when I arrived at the terminal. I wasn't dressed for the weather. Luckily I had some sweaters and a toque in the car.
At the terminal itself there was nothing to tell of the new vessel, other than a picture I am fairly sure has been there for months of the Island Sky under construction in North Vancouver.
Having arrived about an hour early I got some studying done for a midterm I have in 9 hours and 18 minutes.
A few minutes early the Island Sky rounded the bend towardsa Earls Cove and was looking pretty good - she's certainly not the sharpest vessel in the fleet but she seemed to fit her new surroundings. It was odd to see a new sight there, though!
Much like we have seen with the Coastal Class vessels there is definitely a learning curve going on right now, and the approach to the terminal was very cautious. Sh had made up about 7 minutes from her on time departure, but lost nearly all of it while docking.
I hurried along when it was time for the footies to get on. The ferry when arriving had a fair load of vehicles and a few foot passengers. In total I think 5 of us got on. People had certainly noticed it was a new vessel. I wasn't sure they would - although it is radically different than the Chilliwack it is also a pile of boxes so I thought it may lead some astray.
I took a quick spin around the vessel to get a feel for it, and headed outside to watch the boarding procedure and to hear the ship's whistle. It sounds identical to the Capilano class. There was a post somewhere else expressing a concern loading may be difficult - there appeared to be no problem today. We left with a fare laod, although did not need the gallery decks.
The mini-pickle forks are all open for viewing. There is one elongated pickle fork which is not open to the public. Too bad, it would offer some great views for photography!
Now, for a quick tour of the vessel. Sorry some of them are blurry
The builder's plaques look nice and new - although seem slightly misleading. I almost thought they might have been remade, but I don't really know how they define "built."
The photograph of the Queen is also near the pay telephones, but in the open so not as shameful as what has been done on the Coastal vessels.
Smart design rules this vessel, no surprise. The deck layout has been done very well, I was quite impressed. The license is for 450 passengers, and there are 420 seats on the lounge deck (4). That's one of the best ratios in the entire fleet.
In my opinion, the best part of the shop is the Coastal Cafe Express/Gift Shop. I don't believe many of us knew it would look like this - and the vessel layout was somewhat misleading when it came out. The large space is actually half gift shop, and Cafe as I said - but the layout is really well thought out. In the "funny things they forgot to put in" file is newspapers. They're hoping to get them next week!
The Coastal Cafe Express features a full line of beverages that would be found on a major vessel, soup of the day, Chilli, Hot Dogs, BC Ferries sandwiches (looks better than Bread Garden), salads, cheese, and a few other random bits.
What is new is the self preparing meals. I was wondering why there were microwaves all over the ship
Here are the new meals:
And the hot food item thingy:
For the good of humanity I tried one of the new meal selections; for $6 I got Mac and Cheese and after 3 minutes and 15 seconds my delightful lunch was ready and I dug in. Overall flavour is okay, certainly a decrease from the previous hot food service, but for the quantity the price was alright. This is on my list of try every item once, and then never again.
When moving around the vessels the isles are very wide, and you feel like there is a lot of space (because there is). Stairwells are also well sized and will allow for fast traffic flow, a big improvement over the Capilano class.
Decorative glass is used for the stairwell the is midship in the forward lounge. It looks quite sharp.
Lounges provide nice spacing between seating, and are seperated in a logical manner. I don't think, even with large groups, the sound in the vessel, from humans at least, should be overwhelming.
Forward views are okay - the windows are sort of small.
Bike racks are provided on the car deck, as is a supervisor from BC Ferries for the dogs.
Arriving at the Powell River end of things the Island Sky meets her new fleetmate, the Queen of Chilliwack.
Somewhere I wouldn't put myself.... We are docking, and the Queen of Chilliwack is fired up and ready to go (but isn't actually going anywhere, but they'd have no way of knowing that!)
THE BEST PART OF THE TRIP??? The scenery. Route 7 is the best in the Southern system for scenery, in my opinion.
Vessel ReviewThe Island Sky, as I said already, is okay. There are a few major issues with the vessel, but there are also some major successes.
The Good:
- Seating arrangement is well laid out, with lots of seats and lots of space. It's a very comfortable vessel insofar as that is concerned.
- The small size makes all the amenities close to one another, but they are spaced so that none interfere with anything else (eg bathrooms away from seating, phone away from gift shop).
- Generally the size seems to be right for the routes' average traffic.
- She is slightly faster than the two vessels being replaced. Crew members seemed optimistic that once docking is down pat there will be few delays. Loading was also very easy for the main car deck. More about the Gallery decks in "The Bad."
- The outside deck space is super - great photo locations and you can really take in the amazing view.
- The food service concept is probably very appropriate for this route. Time will tell. My lazy side wishes someone was making the food for me, but the IS also runs with a smaller crew than either of the previous primary vessels (same crew as the Cap @ 12).
- Gift shop is well done and has all the items that seem appropriate for this type of route, other than Newspapers. They should get those ASAP.
- The windows are the ends of the vessel are tinted. This won't be great with cloudy days perhaps, but was nice for today's blaring sun. Windows on the sides are not tinted.
The Bad:
- Fit and finish is not to the standard we have recently received from FSG. There is areas of material overlap, small bubbling in the carpet, and worst of all the ceiling tiles rattle non-stop throughout the voyage. Several people commented on it. It is irritating, and really bad in the food service seating area. I left immediately after eating my mac and cheese to avoid it. I;m not even saying this is an oversensitive ferry fan.
Some other fit and finish issues: Some deck signage is not properly secured (#2 end), bike rack plate doesn't fully contact the deck, sandpaper like material on the gallery decks is already coming off quickly, and the doors on the elevator are being scraped and polished as they're slightly ill fit.
- There is a fair amount of vibration throughout the vessel as well. Although people on this forum who have never, or once, ridden the Coastal class criticized their non-existant vibration it really is noticeable on the IS - about the same as the Coqu or Cow in Mode 2.
- At the number 2, when it's the stern, and running full ahead there is a LOUD jack hammer sound. LOUD.
Except for the noise issue on the passenger deck none of these issues are really that big a deal, unless you're trying to sleep in your car at the number 2 end when headed for Powell River.
Driving up the Gallery Decks also seems like something which will take a fair amount of skill for some, the lane gets quite narrow.
As for the "first day" itself there was nothing special. Only two "suits" and only one was wearing a suit. None of the big shots were there. No signage, balloons, happiness, or anything else that may be expected. Tucked in the corner of the Coastal Cafe Express is a brochure with some actually quite technical data on the ship. It's the same basic format as the one used for the Coastals, but with such a smaller deck areas I guess they needed to fill space.
None of the crew seemed overly excited, but they weren't unhappy either. Keep in mind I don't know them, this is just an outside observation. Just seemed like another day, nothing like the Coastals first few days in service. Three members made comments about the vessel going to Bowen pretty quick.
All in all though the Island Sky should do fine on Route 7, and is a reasonably good vessel.
;D Should we start a Put on the Bowen Island Route Date Pool?
