Queen of Burnaby as Princess Marguerite III

[Northern Exploration]

Quoting www.historylink.org/essays/output.cfm?file_id=7478

"But that was not the end of the Princess Marguerite story. On March 25, 1997, Clipper Navigation Inc., a Seattle-based company, announced that it had acquired the 426-foot M/V Queen of Burnaby, a 650-passenger, 192-vehicle ferryboat built in 1965, from the provincial government’s B.C. Ferries fleet for $120,000 per year in a lease-purchase agreement. The operation was managed by Victoria Ferry Ltd., a newly formed Canadian subsidiary of Clipper Navigation. After making some interior improvements and repainting the vessel red, white, and blue, the ship was renamed the M/V Princess Marguerite III."

Does anyone know what those "improvements" were. Does she differ much from the Nanaimo? Perhaps it was just cosmetic. There was something different behind the wheelhouse as well. Looked like an additional sunroom. On the fleet page on the BC Ferries site you can see it too. www.bcferries.com/about/fleet/profile-queen_of_burnaby.html

I quite liked the colour scheme actually.

[Koastal Karl]

I took the Princess Margurite 3 on summer from Victoria to Seattle. It was about 4.5 hours down to Seattle. The area behind the bridge was a Beer Garden I think. Not sure as I never went up there. The Salarium was closed in on the upper deck and was turned into a Duty Free Shop. Not sure what was in upper aft lounge. Maybe just another lounge. Main deck was the forward lounge. Maggies Cafe, not sure if that was a little seperate Cafe or if that was the actual Cafeteria. It seemed crowded when I was on it. The outside passenger decks were a green color just like on the Nor Ad. That is all I remember of her. The Queen of Burnaby is not much different than the Nanaimo! The layout of the Cafeteria is a bit different as there is a small little newsstand in the back of the Cafe. Mid ship is just a lounge and a forward lounge. That is about it. The upper deck where they enclosed the salarium for the Seattle run is now empty nothing in there now I think even the upper deck is closed off to passengers on the Powell River run.

[Northern Exploration]

Ok thanks Karl.

[hergfest]

They took the solarium out in the last years refit.

[Airchime]

The "Burnaby" ran for two years as the "Royal Victorian" before
being "sold" to Clipper Navigation in 1997. The Victoria Line did the intial interior work during 1993-94.



Tied up along the dock at Vancouver Shipyards, the new "Royal Victorian" shows off her fresh paint. The roof has been added to the solarium on the starboard side and still needs to be painted. The primer is visible just below the funnel.




Workers busy on refitting the interior of the "Royal Victorian".



The front cover of the 1996 schedule for the "Royal Victorian". The Sun Lounge was added during her 1995 refit.

The 1996 season would be the last for the Victoria Line. The company restarted car and passenger service from Victoria to Seattle in 1994 and by 1996, due to low patronage, they were done! Clipper Navigation then took over the ship and the route. While the fast passenger-only ferries continued to do a good business, the same couldn't be said for the slower cruise-ferry. The 1999 season was the last for the Princess Marguerite 3.

I finally got a chance to go for a ride on her in August, 1999.



The outside deck, with the green paint that Karl mentioned in his earlier post.



The Admiralty Dining Room was located in the area occupied by the old cafeteria on the "Queen of Burnaby".



Maggie's Cafe was just simply called the Cappuccino Bar on the "Royal Victorian". (Sorry about the pillar! The lense I had wasn't wide enough to get everything in!!)



Above the Dining Room was the fully-licensed Lighthouse Lounge.



The only interior improvements I recall Clipper Navigation doing was covering up the Sun Lounge and making it into a Beer Garden.



The front of the funnel as seen from the back of the Beer Garden.

[WettCoast]

Thanks for this Allan. Muchly appreciated bit of history on the Q of Burnaby.

[kylefossett]

my cousin has some of those deck chairs at his place. some how they fell into the back of his truck when the burnaby was being refitted to be returned to bc ferries at deas. they had some nice looking furnishings onboard that had to be downgraded to fit in with the bc ferries of the time

[Northern Exploration]

Thanks Alan that was great to see. I always wanted to take the trip to Seattle but everytime I was out there something conspired to take up my time. I admit though it was further down the priority list from Long Beach and the Inside Passage.

[Retrovision]

The Queen of Burnaby has gone through many changes over the years, especially compared to the Queen of Nanaimo, though mainly to the passenger decks.

Here she is soon after having the solarium removed during her refit before last summer.

www.ferrypicsbygraham.fotopic.net/p28761463.html


www.ferrypicsbygraham.fotopic.net/p28761457.html
Queen of Oak Bay behind


www.ferrypicsbygraham.fotopic.net/p28761470.html
Note the exposed, presumably original 'dogwood blue', paint on the bow door


Now the real question is how she looks compared to the 'Nanaimo after going through a similarly major refit. Can anyone bring us up to date now that the Queen of Burnaby is back in service?

[Curtis]

The Burnaby looks more like the Nanaimo in many ways now, New Floors, New Seats, New Paint, Everything is New New New! Some things have stayed the same though. I'll post some photos later.

[Ferryman]

Alan,

How the *____* were you able to get onboard the Queen of Burnaby, during the changeover to the Royal Victorian? Talk about sweet talking the right people!

I love how Alan has a secret photo album, that he has locked up in a vault at his home. Once someone brings up a historical moment from a few years ago, Alan comes out of his hiatus on the forum, and posts all of these amazing photos.

Speaking of the photo vault, the Queen of Victoria subject was brought up once again in one of the threads.

COUGH-->(Perhaps you have something from when you were a "potential buyer" of the Victoria at one point..........)<---COUGH

[Curtis]

Click Here for a Tour of the New interior of the Queen of Burnaby

[queenofcowichan]

I remember watching the mv Royal Victorian been lowered back into the water at the Burrard Dry Dock while I was on top of the Lookout Tower. It was neat.

[Mirrlees]

Does anyone know if the Bass horn has been reconnected after her refit?

[Mirrlees]

mirrlees60 said:

Does anyone know if the Bass horn has been reconnected after her refit?

Any takers for the question above?

[Curtis]

mirrlees60 said:

mirrlees60 said:

Does anyone know if the Bass horn has been reconnected after her refit?

Any takers for the question above?

If you mean recently...I'm not quite sure if it has or not...Though her whistle has been more quiet then what I expect lately...Oh BTW on a positive note the elevator was put back together sometime about 3 weeks ago

[Hardy]

prqueenkid16 said:

Oh BTW on a positive note the elevator was put back together sometime about 3 weeks ago

... but was it put back together PROPERLY and in a WORKING fashion, or did they just use whatever parts they had in the galley? "Oh just wind on this manual egg-beater/mixer, and that will drive the pizza cutter and spatula to lift the cookie sheets we welded together...."

[Mirrlees]

Oh sure Hardy, give them some ideas on how to fix the elevator on the NorAd. ;D

[Hardy]

mirrlees60 said:

Oh sure Hardy, give them some ideas on how to fix the elevator on the NorAd. ;D

51' 7 5/8" of yellow 1/2" polypro rope, 2 5 1/2" pullys, metal 12" diameter gerbil exercise wheel, 2 fit adult female gerbils, 4-1 low-friction reduction gear, and about 10' high-heat duct tape.

That should about do it. These imperial measure items SHOULD work, even though the NorAd is a European spec (IE metric) vessel. I can find the metric equivalents, or converter units if required.

Please advise me which terminal I will need to send this to.