Queen of Alberni What to do about it

[Ian]

I must say if i had my way the alberni would be on the comox- powell river and the burnaby would be lifted to match the new west on the duke-tswassen run.

[Curtis]

That might not be a bad idea.But since the Nanny is the sister to the Newwest why don't they lift her like her sister and put the Burnaby on Tsawwassen-SGI.

[kylefossett]

the burnaby, like i have posted before here, has an a liciense of approx 750 people. the nanny quite often in the winter has in excess of this number. because of the chutes that are on the burnaby her capacity is reduced. this will not change as long as the chutes are the choice of rescue on her

[Curtis]

Well either get rid of the chutes or get some minor ferries to do Tsawwassen-SGI and put the Burnaby somewhere else.

[kylefossett]

build a purpose built ferry for sgi-tsw. one that can handle multi port sailings. keep the bowen on for route 9a summertime

[Curtis]

SGI thought's. What if they had a lifted version of the Queen Of Tsawwassen (only a double ender) for SGI-Tsawwassen and lift the Cumbie and lengthen her passenger area and get a small double ender for doing small terminals.

[Koastal Karl]

Nevermind a double ended version of the Tsawwassen build more bigger versions of the Cumberland class. They would be the best ships to build. Enhance passenger services.

Cumbie Rules!! Beats ze ol Mayne Queen!

[NMcKay]

the only problem with the Capalino and the cumbie is it burns twice the amount of fuel to carry something like 10 more cars than the Mayne Queen.

[Koastal Karl]

Actually 85 vehicles the Capilano can carry which is 15 more than the Mayne Queen which can carry 70 vehicles. But the Cumberland can carry the most, 125 vehicles with the platform decks. So yeah, a bigger version of the Cumberland sort of like the Alberni but I dont know if they would need a second car deck. Just a thought.

[Ferryman]

That would be weird if they made the Cumbie bigger but it would be better for the gulf island routes and they can move the Skeena Queen to like the Bowen Island route or something ;D

[NMcKay]

i would like to see the skeena be rebuilt, using proven technology used on the Kulleet and the kaholke

[Koastal Karl]

Well it might be weird if they stretched her like they did the V Class. But instead of doing that build a new ferry exactly the same as the Cumby but bigger, that can carry more passengers a vehicles. Although I dont see the point in doing that for the Swartz Bay to Gulf Island route as there is no need to replace the Cumberland, maybe for Tsawwassen to Gulf Islands. But why not just build a bigger ferry than the Nanaimo but double ended, sort of like the Tacoma or Wenatchee of the WSF fleet. They could move the Skeena Queen to Bowen Island, then keep Cumby on the run, bring down the Capilano to replace the Mayne Queen and then have a new ship for the Fulford run.

[Balfour]

There is also the possibility of stretching the Capilano and the Queen of Cucumberland. That would make more capacity for both passengers and vehicles, as well as more customer services, like maybe a cafeteria and an arcade, depending how long they want to make the boats, but Karl's idea is also good, if SW BC's population is to grow in the next decade or so.

[Ian]

no offense to your ideas but what they did to the alberni was terrible, it's been cut, sliced, diced and all put back together, she is the worst ship to go on, the idea of having a double open deck ship is neat but the alberni is just a mess. Leave the cumbie and the cap alone and once the super c's get here put the saanich on the tsw-sgi, double ramp long harbour and mayne. In the summers the gulf island route is really busy.

[Doug]

You think the Alberni is a mess Maybe she will look better after the refurbishment.

[Doug]

I quite like her actually.

[Koastal Karl]

I actually dont think the Alberni is all that bad really. The only thing I wish was different about the Alberni was her passenger deck should of been larger. She can get pretty crowded on busy sailings. I took a sailing on her out of Horseshoe Bay earlier this year when she was on the run and she was pretty crowded. You want the less busy sailings take the two early morning sailings or the two late night sailings I bet wouldent be that busy. The only time I went on the New West was out of Duke Point on the 10:45pm sailing back in the summer of 97 and she wasent even half full.

Just because she was a single car deck ferry with a smaller passemger decl, they added a second car deck which would be more passengers and vehicles they could carry so it would of been a good idea to extend the passenger deck, u think would of been what they would of done but, nope. Add a second vehicle deck which allows more passengers, but keep the passenger deck the same and which makes it more crowded and unpleasent. Other than that she is an interesting ship to ride on.

[Ferryman]

I wonder how they're gonna do her cafeteria when shes refurbished whether or not they make the passenger deck bigger because her cafeteria is smaller and can only be accessed on one side of the ship making line ups look way longer than they look like on the Cow and Coq even though they get huge even when both sides are open but also too I wonder if they're gonna make it so you can access it on both sides

[Balfour]

I think this might have been suggested in this forum but perhaps the solariums could be enclosed to make a lounge on the upper deck, and then stick some outdoor seating above the lounge, and around the funnel.

[Curtis]

That would be my suggestion. Only thing is they need a way to do it will it be to much weight will it be a success what would happen

[Koastal Karl]

That is another option they could do is enclose the outdoor salariums and use them as lounges. But personally I would rather see the passenger deck extended like the Cow and Coq. Does anyone actually know how much shorter her passenger deck is compared to the Cowichan and Coquitlam?

[Balfour]

If they were to enclose the Outdoor Solariums, The Cafeteria could be moved into there in order make more room on the main passenger deck.

[Curtis]

It just might work

[NMcKay]

i think the passeger deck is only about 30 ft shorter.

[Ian]

Some thing that would better my liking of alberni, bow and stern lower car deck doors that are flush with the rest of the ship. The electronic gates on the upper car deck. A refurbished inside. Some benches on the outside deck under the bridge.
I just wanted to write this because now there are 100 replies for this post.