Possible Purchases to Replace the Q. of the North

[WettCoast]

prqueenkid16 said:

She's Kind of Big Don't you think. She needs Upgrades Badly to look at least Half as Nice as the North Did

No kidding!

So we now have one other thread connecting this ship to BC Ferries as a QotN replacement.

[Neil]

So, we have nothing connecting this boat to BC Ferries other than another ferry chat site? Okay. Whatever.
It certainly has a case of the European Uglies, at least on the outside, although if you've checked any of their ferries out, you'll know that some of their homeliest looking specimens can be pretty deluxe on the inside, at least by our spartan standards.

[NMcKay]

www.faktaomfartyg.com/lisco_optima_1999_b_5.htm how about that. it was a chartered boat. and with a few modifications. would be fine for the BC Coast.

[Retrovision]

har har

[Ferryman]

hornbyguy said:

So, we have nothing connecting this boat to BC Ferries other than another ferry chat site? Okay. Whatever.

I'm not 100% sure, but I seem to recall seeing posts on that forum, claiming that the Administer on that forum works for BC Ferries. If that's true, then he would be a good source, and not just some random guy spreading rumours.

Can anyone who's been around the yahoo forum longer than I have, confirm that ftwicks is part of BCF?

[NMcKay]

ftwicks is the senior captain on the quinsam

[Neil]

Large corporations being the rumor mills that they are, my experience has taught me to be a bit reserved about believing stories before they happen, simply because employees are not always privy to the goings on in head office.

[jca Christian]

The Nanaimo Daily news had a write up on the mv Quinsam and Fred about a month ago, I have it in my photo album. He also works on the Queen of Cowichan and Queen of Alberni or any of the Nanaimo based ships.

[Neil]

Cascade: Not quite sure where you're going with all this warm water/ cold water stuff. It's quite common in Europe for ferries that started out in northern waters to end up in the south as they get older, and ships all over the world are inter changeable in different latitudes. If you're saying that there would be some costs involved in conversion from wherever to here, well, I guess that's pretty obvious.
By the way, our cruise ship season isn't a 'few short months'- it's late April to early October.

[Deleted]

I saw David Hahn on the "Voice of BC" this week.---It's a Shaw program on the Shaw Channel. I did not see the entire show. just the tail end of it, so I do not know the name of the Boat that they are looking at purchasing. There is a board meeting for BC Ferries on June 6 and the board could meet on a later date if required, to discuss this. It seems that they have found a used boat to replace the QON, and if that is the case we can expect an announcement after mid-July about the building of 2 new boats for the Northern Route.

[Koastal Karl]

Some of the European ferries arent as nice looking as BC Ferries as we have been spoiled by our good looking ferries. We wont ever find another ship that was as good looking as the Queen of the North and also the Rupert!

[Neil]

cascade said:

.
We also have a large melting pot of different cultures - where as on the West Coast you have very similar views. So anything out of the normal would seem very strange to you.

That is a really ignorant, patronizing remark.
Only someone either uneducated or totally unfamiliar with British Columbia's cultural diversity could make such a nonsensical comment.

[Neil]

On a more pleasant note: shipdaughterwife, welcome to the forum. Hopefully, when the new ship is announced, it will be one of the more deluxe European ones, which might draw people for the ride on the ship itself, much as the Princess Marguerite used to do. Be nice to have a real 'cruise ferry' on the coast.

[Mike C]

hornbyguy said:

...Hopefully, when the new ship is announced, it will be one of the more deluxe European ones, which might draw people for the ride on the ship itself...

...like cascade...

(kidding )

[Neil]

I'm not 'implying' anything- I'm stating flat out that you apparently have no familiarity with the demographics of British Columbia, and that your dismissive attitude is irritating.
Richmond is fifty percent Chinese. Surrey/North Delta is over twenty percent south Asian. North Vancouver has a large Iranian population. There are Greek, Italian, Chinese and East Indian neighbourhoods in Vancouver, among others. Virtually every major European, Asian, and Latin American country is represented by a sizable community, with their own cultural centers and speaking their languages on a daily basis. Our schools cope with exploding ESL enrollments, and the challenges of integrating and preserving different cultural traits. Every cuisine on earth is found in our restaurants, whether it be French, Nepalese, Somali, or Peruvian. You would be hard pressed to find a more diverse cultural mix anywhere on the planet, and despite some tensions, we manage to get along without any local version of your hate-mongering British National Party. British Columbians have had to get in the habit of being exposed to different cultures, different ideas, different ways of doing things, and we've probably become a more open, dynamic society because of that.
If your comments had pertained to a certain myopic mindset on the kind of vessels we want here on the coast, that would have been fair game. You broadened the context, however, in making a general comment on culture that I felt was gratuitous and condescending.

[WettCoast]

Discussion on this topic continues on the following threead. It does indeed look as if the Sonia will be coming to an Inside Passage near you soon.

ferriesbc.proboards20.com/index.cgi?board=bcferriesnews&action=display&thread=1149886115

I think they will have to spend a lot of money on it to make it more suitable for the Inside Passage. They might start by making it possible to see out from the ship so that passengers can see the view. This vessel seems to have only a few little round windows on its forward end. It is also not clear to me that it is currently capable of bow loading.

[Alex]

cascade said:

Hornbyguy - Europe is made up of a lot of very different cultures and languages. How many different mass cultures on there on the West Coast of BC - currently.... and how many languages are spoken on a daily bases - Vancouver and Victoria - again on a daily bases?

I think you'd be hard pressed to find a group of people that are NOT represented in the Lower Mainland. Its pretty much tons of people from all parts of the world.

[Mike C]

Yeah, we've got a fairly rich culture, and look, the second-largest Chinatown in North America!

[Alex]

cascade said:

London - Thames Valley inside the M25 ring road - has 7m people - when my nieces came over they could not believe all the different languages and dress codes - while walking down a small local village high street - they had never seen or heard so many languages in one place. (They come from Ladner)

LOL! Well, that would be why! Ladner isn't exactly a multicultural place! Even within the Lower Mainland there are areas with large groups of certain peoples. I know from experience that the demographic in North Delta is significantly different than that of UBC. You can actually see the different races as you go along the skytrain from Surrey into Vancouver

[Mike C]

If you're looking for multiculturalism in the Lower Mainland, try Richmond or Surrey. Ladner isn't exactly the best place to look.

Even if you just ride the Seabus, you can easily spot the different races onboard. Even just on this forum.

Don't ever say that Vancouver is not multicultural.

[Low Light Mike]

I saw on the TV news tonight, a brief clip about the possible purchase of a new ferry by BCF.

The ferry shown on TV was clearly the "Sonia", as it's name was written on the bow.

I can't remember which channel I was watching, as I surf too much.

So, for those keeping count:
1) Inside info rumour from Shane that it's the Sonia
2) News clip that shows the Sonia.

Still no confirmation from the actual BC Ferries' company (as far as I know anyways.....maybe Deborah's been too busy hanging out with J.W. at Indian Arm, so she hasn't had time to call a press conference?)

Until then, I guess it's still speculation.

[Balfour]

she hasn't been at Indian Arm lately, or at Parkgate Safeway where I work and I've been at my place at the bottom of Grouse lately. I'm surprised she hasn't been around you lately, Mr. Horn. I guess your wife doesn't like you being around her. She's a bad influence for you or you're a bad influence opn her.

[WettCoast]

wetcoastkidjst said:

Does anyone know anything about this ferry [MV Sonia]? Is BCFS looking at this as a possible replacement for QotN?

www.balearia.net/admin/mostrafoto2.php3?foto=foto_grande&tabla=noticias_balearia&id=235

A friend of a friend of a northern crew member told me that BC Ferries is looking at this vessel. It is brand new, about the right size, and not particularly pretty.

It might be the sort of ship that they have in mind for building rather than buying. It seems unlikely that this ship is available as it just entered service a little more than one month ago. It operates in Spanish waters between Barcelona and Ibiza.

BCF was apparently informing northern crew members that they were looking at the Sonia back in the middle of May. That is where my information came from in the original posts shown above. Information since then has shown that it is almost new, and has in fact been in charter service over the last two years, first in Trinidad & Tobago, and now in the Spanish Mediterranean.