Cruise Ship Photos

[Koastal Karl]

I won't be up that early when we arrive on the Jewel tomorrow! Might do some ship watch from the ship tomorrow and see the Alberni Quinsam and the Inspiration!

[markkarj]

Sept 30, 2012 17:04:43 GMT -8 @cheese12345678 said:

Sept 29, 2012 22:37:16 GMT -8 @lmtengs said:

That ugly brick of a ship and her sister must be the most photographed things on the forum this month! Look at this thread, this entire last page of photos is the same looking ship, over and over again! Maybe they deserve their own thread in the cruise ship board, since they're obviously frequent visitors to our local area?

PS: Your photos aren't ugly though, just the ship. My post could have been read wrong before... ;D no, Flug, all your photos absolutely suck.

She kinda looks cool to me and weird at same time.

My wife and I did our honeymoon on the Celebrity Century during an Alaskan cruise in 2011. I didn't mind it, aside from the very short running track on the mast deck. We'll do another cruise in February out of Miami, and try one of Celebrity's newer ships. 

[Low Light Mike]

Video of Zuiderdam and Diamond Princess doing their regular summer Saturday night thing near Campbell River.
- this is July 20, 2013, at Oyster Bay, south of Campbell River, BC.

[grk]

You will usually find Zuiderdam ahead of Diamond or Sapphire (depending on the week) as the Princess ships slow down off Port Hardy at Pine Island to drop their pilot.  By being out front, Zuiderdam can keep her speed up rather than slowing and staying astern of the Princess vessels.  Zuiderdam drops her pilot off Prince Rupert at Triple Island.

[Low Light Mike]

HAL's Amsterdam, seen by me southbound at Kelsey Bay and Seymour Narrows, and then northbound the next night at Oyster Bay (south of Campbell River).
- July 18-19, 2013.

A lovely mid-sized cruise ship. Wet Coast has been on the Volendam, which I presume is a sister ship to the Amsterdam.
- He'll let us know if that's correct or not.

[Low Light Mike]

Celebrity Millennium, seen by me at my usual Johnstone Strait locations of Kelsey Bay and Seymour Narrows.
- July 18, 2013 on her southbound voyage from Alaska.

Someone here will know if she normally ends her summer voyagers in Vancouver, if she goes to Victoria or somewhere further south.

[grk]

Volendam is indeed a sister to Amsterdam. There are a few minor differences, not unlike the differences within the Queen class of BC Ferries, the funnel arrangement being the most notable. There are 2 others in this series, Rotterdam and Zaandam. These 4 are a larger version of the first of the series; Statendam, Rydam, Maasdam, and Veendam. Holland has another quartet, 3 of which are in the Alaska market this summer. They are the directions of the compass-Westerdam, Oosterdam (east), Zuiderdam (south) and Noordam (north) which is in the Med.

Millennium sails on Sep 13, visiting Victoria, Nanaimo, Seattle and ends up in San Diego. She heads to Australia from there.

[Low Light Mike]

HAL's Zuiderdam, northbound off of Oyster Bay BC (south of Campbell River). July 20, 2013

She's getting hit by the last few rays of the evening sun



I like how this one turned out.









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In the summer Alaska cruise season, this ship is southbound in Johnstone & Georgia Straits every Friday evening, and northbound on Saturday evenings. She is usually followed closely by Diamond or Sapphire Princess.

[Low Light Mike]

Celebrity Millennium seen by me at Kelsey Bay, BC.
- Thursday evening, July 18, 2013.

The classic Kelsey Bay southbound appearance shot:




And my other regular Kelsey Bay shot; with Mt. George in the background.





(these backgrounds could even make the Northern Adventure look good - maybe)

[Low Light Mike]

HAL's Amsterdam, seen by me in July:

July 18, 2013, southbound in Johnstone Strait:

Seen from Kelsey Bay wharf:









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Seen as she makes her turn at Seymour Narrows:
- I was curious what a cruise ship would look like from the obstructed-view highway viewpoint, and so here it is:



And on July 19, 2013, she is northbound in Georgia Strait, seen from Oyster Bay (south of Campbell River)

[Low Light Mike]

Celebrity Millennium, in working condition.
- seen by me at Seymour Narrows (north of Campbell River BC), evening of July 18, 2013.

I'm at the top of the log-sort property, located approx. 1km north of the overgrown highway viewpoint.

======================

It is always a thrill when a big ship comes into view.




Making the turn.
- there's a fish boat off of her bow




Showing a bit of my vantaqe point.

[Low Light Mike]

Dustin Diamond Princess, screeching its way north in Georgia Strait.
- July 20, 2013. Seen from Oyster Bay (south of Campbell River).

I'm sad that I won't see this ship sailing these waters in the Summer of 2014.




With Zuiderdam in Discovery Passage

[Neil]

Aug 31, 2013 18:26:55 GMT -8 Low Light Mike said:

Dustin Diamond Princess, screeching its way north in Georgia Strait.

Mr Horn, that's one of the most objectionable pop culture references that you've ever made... and you've made a few. Shame on you. You don't even get a smiley.

[Low Light Mike]

Aug 31, 2013 18:55:19 GMT -8 Neil said:

Aug 31, 2013 18:26:55 GMT -8 Low Light Mike said:

Dustin Diamond Princess, screeching its way north in Georgia Strait.

Mr Horn, that's one of the most objectionable pop culture references that you've ever made... and you've made a few. Shame on you. You don't even get a smiley.

I tried to work in a nautical comment about small-craft being alerted to the large ship's presence (ie. to be saved) by the cruise ship's bell.
- But I thought that might be going too far.

[Low Light Mike]

My video of the Norwegian Sun arriving at Nanaimo at sunrise, and then leaving in the evening.
- from September 17, 2013.

[Neil]

Couple of weeks ago, I spotted this fine looking classic vessel steaming into Tribune Bay. She is the 97' long Sea Wolf, operated by Sea Wolf Adventures. Built in 1941, she is a converted minesweeper, and now does rather expensive cruises in Alaska, as well as charters and some tours around the Salish Sea area.



www.seawolfadventures.net/index.html

[Low Light Mike]

Norwegian Sun seen by me in the morning of September 17, 2013.
- from the beach at Pipers Lagoon park in Nanaimo, BC.

A sunrise and a cruise ship are 2 great reasons to get up in the morning and get outside with my camera.











With Queen of Alberni

[Low Light Mike]

Grand Princess visited Nanaimo on May 16, 2014. She had a 10:00am arrival (from Astoria the day before) and her departure was at 11:30pm (headed for Vancouver on a slow night sail across the strait).

- with Seaspan's Carrier Princess



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Grand Princess will spend her summer cruising from Seattle, up the outside of Vancouver Island to Alaska, and back on the outside (stopping at Victoria).

[Low Light Mike]

4 shots of Grand Princess in Nanaimo, at different times of the evening.
- shot from Cameron Island visiting-vessel float

9:11pm



9:21pm



9:32pm



10:21pm
- the pink colour reflection midships is from the giant video screen on the top deck

[Low Light Mike]

Grand Princess is the star of this video that I shot on May 16 2014 in Nanaimo.
- cameo appearances by Quinsam (3 times) and the departing Carrier Princess

[Low Light Mike]

3 more of Grand Princess in Nanaimo, on May 16, 2014.

- seen from the visiting vessel float at Cameron Island, Nanaimo harbour.


With Carrier Princess




With Mr. Heron




With the Beacon tower

[Scott]

This morning I headed down with a couple of the kids to look at the cruise ships, walk around Canada Place, and take a round trip on the Sea Bus.   I particularly wanted to take a look at the PACIFIC PRINCESS.  For a while we had considered taking the PACIFIC PRINCESS on her 10 day "repositioning cruise" from Hawaii to Vancouver last month. For various reasons, I'm kind of glad we didn't, but I was interested to see the little cruise ship up close.

Compared to the WESTERDAM, the regular balconies seemed much smaller and less furnished on the PACIFIC PRINCESS.  Not that any balcony would have been in my price range for that 10 day trip!  The Princess ship doesn't really have any promenade deck going around the whole ship, although you could probably do it by going up stairs and around obstacles on the upper decks.

The other ship at Canada Place was the REGATTA operated by Oceania Cruises.  We actually walked by the REGATTA first and noticed she was also a small ship.  Once I checked out the PACIFIC PRINCESS I started noticing a lot of similarities.  It wasn't until we sailed by on the Seabus that I noticed they were almost identical!  A bit of research once I got home turned up that they are indeed sister-ships, originally built for and operated by the now defunct Renaissance Cruises.  They are "R class ships", originally holding the beautiful names of "R TWO" (REGATTA) and "R THREE" (PACIFIC PRINCESS).  Both were built a year apart in Saint-Nazaire, France. 

It was neat to see them together at Canada Place.  They'll both be back on August 19th.  The PACIFIC PRINCESS visits Vancouver every Tuesday until mid-September; the REGATTA is kind of all over the place.  Oceanic Cruises seems like a more luxury-oriented cruise line.  A 10 day Alaska cruise for two would run around $10,000 dollars for a basic verandah suite.  I think Princess would be somewhat cheaper.  Same ship... I wonder how the experience varies. 

Here's a photo:

PS. I also picked up a copy of the "On Board" magazine at the BC Ferries Vacations office across the street from the convention center.  Its probably a good location to target all the tourists coming into town by cruise ships in the summer.



- John H

[Koastal Karl]

The Regatta was in Victoria last night as I seen her at Ogden Point when we were checking out our ship we will be on in September as the Carnival Miracle made her first visit to Victoria this season after missing the first two earlier stops. Did you know John they have world cruises on some of these small ships?? They can last up to 109 days I have seen them for. Imagine being on a small ship for that long. I think a small ship would be neat to try but I like the bigger ships although I think ships like the Oasis of the Seas might be too big for me lol!

[grk]

Today you can buy a 7 day cruise on Pacific Princess leaving next week, June 3, for $455 Canadian per person! One complaint that is often heard of these ships, is that there is nowhere to look forward without trying to see through 10 foot high plate glass wind screens-not very good for picture taking,unless you have one of the suites that face forward. The prom deck is very very short, with galley aft and show room forward. Small dining room so not any time dining. Very small pool and limited surrounding deck space. All 8 of these (2 at Azamara, 3 at Oceana, 1 at P & O and 2 with Princess) is that they have legendary poor sea keeping qualities in a following sea. Next time you see the stern, check for the added "skegs" which are to help the stern from falling off large rollers. A much better ride on the Miracle!

[Koastal Karl]

ooh nice! I have no hesitation about hopping on the Pacific Princess and doing an Alaska Cruise. Sure it's a smaller ship but I would probably try it once if the price was good. It would be interesting trying the small ship cruise experience. Did I hear it right that they dont have evening shows on those small ships??