COASTAL RENAISSANCE - Photos & Discussion

[Koastal Karl]

How did you get on the sun deck??? We were told it was closed off!

[Kahloke]

It wasn't closed off when I went through. In fact, the way they staged the tour route had you going up to the Sun Deck before touring Deck 6.

[Quatchi]

I heard someone say they closed it off to cut down the length of the tour because there was a tonne of people waiting to get in.

[queenofcowichan]

She should be in service in about a month, we can take all the pictures of her outer decks then!

The Funny thing is I never heard her once last night on the scanner untill she checked out at Tsawwassen. This is wierd because I did hear all the other southern vessles.

[DENelson83]

Were you listening on a VTS frequency or 155.91?

[Curtis]

Excellent Photos Everyone, Very Nice. I Like the ones of the Solarium.

[BreannaF]

orcasnative said:

Here's some of my photos from the open house today. I'm not posting very many since this ship has been photographed to death already, so I doubt that I have any unique pictures.

Sure, we have a lot of pictures of the CR now. But let me tell you and everyone who has posted here something:

As a ferry fan who cannot get away from his desk at work this time of year for a few minutes, let alone a trip to Vancouver or Victoria, you don't know just how much I appreciate being able to see these new ships through the eyes of others.

One advantage of having a lot of pictures from a lot of points of view is that we get to "see" the boats through many different eyes. If all I were interested in is seeing was an exterior picture of the ship, gee, I can get that in the newspaper. But you all understand that we ferry fans like to stare at pictures of stairwells and solariums and cafeteria lines and washroom doors and so forth. Not to mention things we can only see at an open house like a bridge or an engine room. I almost feel like I have been able to take the tour, even though I won't be able to get there until early-May or so.

So, thank you to all who have contributed. All of those pictures are truly appreciated.

[queenofcowichan]

Victoria Traffic ch 11, 156.550

[Nick]

Well, I finally got a chance to upload some photos. I didn't take a lot, since everything has been photographed to death already, but here's a few.



I can hardly wait for a rough winter crossing, and sit here sipping a hot coffee.


more here

[Nickfro]

Fantastic photos, everyone! It sure would have been nice for one of the two open houses on the Island to have occurred on a sunny day, but we can only dare to dream for such a day here on the Wet Coast. I'm really looking forward to riding the Coastal Renaissance once it gets put in service on Route 2.

[Nick]

I finally got the group photo that we had taken on Saturday.

From left to right: Mirrlees, Karl, Cadmunkey, Captain (#%@#hawk) Salty , me.


It was a lot of fun, and I am really looking forward to seeing her in service.

[Mirrlees]

We may not have had Deb Marshall pose with us; but at least we got "The Captain"... ;D ;D

[Mill Bay]

orcasnative said:

It wasn't closed off when I went through. In fact, the way they staged the tour route had you going up to the Sun Deck before touring Deck 6.

That just annoys me... I was kinda annoyed that both the sundeck solariums and the outside promenade decks weren't included in the Nanaimo.

I noticed that the door leading up to the sundeck from beside the cafeteria was open, though and I was so tempted to sneak up there.

A second tour might have been nice. Too bad I didn't know Cadmunkey was going... we need to get in sync here.

[Hardy]

re: Wind-breakers - should I guess that the 12 retro-fit pieces for CR and CI are going to be "sea-freighted" out via "Redwise TransGlobal Logistics Inc" aboard it's newest double-ended Trans-Atlantic Super-Bulk Cargo/Ro-Ro Ferry?? (aka CC)??

I am assuming that the lively discussion here as well as the lovely diagram provided assisted those at FSG with coming up with a simple and elegant solution for this problem? 8)

Markus: remember that when you come over here on vacation, to pack an extra suitcase just full of FSG baseball caps and other 'swag' for all of us forum-nuts! hehehe

[Hardy]

Regarding the vibration: Has this been duplicated with CI, or is it unique to CR, or are we still too early on into the CI timeline to validate whether this is a class-fault or a ship specific happening?

I would also be interested to know, assuming that we don't have a definitive answer to my above question, why swapping CI and CR on Rtes 2 & 30 would make any difference to the vibration issue itself. That having been said, assuming (once again) that the vibration issue is unique to CR and is not a class-wide "feature", then are we to assume that Rte-30 is less valuable to BCFS than Rte-2? I can sing this refrain from the rooftops on my own "there are many more tourists on Rte-2 than on Rte-30, and Rte-30 is used mainly by truckers, and there is no reason whatsoever in any case why dirty smelly truckers should get a new ferry in the first place, they can suffer with one that rattles, or we could give them back the Esq" .... yeah yeah yeah, heard it all before already once or twice ... but is this really the case?

I suppose only time and some confirmations from BCFS will tell ....

[Political Incorrectness]

I got an idea, keep the new vessel on the major route, move the older vessel to Duke Point.

[Canucks]

A question about the shaking. Is there a chance that it will cause structural damage over time and reduce the life span of CR or is it just a nuisance. Also, is this shaking in a specific area like the lower decks or is it widespread thgroughout the whole ship.

[Nick]

You've felt how much the Vs vibrate. I don't know how much the CR vibrates in comparison, but the vibrations haven't had any adverse effects on the older ships (ie Vs, Bs, etc). Even the Spirits do have some nasty vibrations backing out of Tsawwassen.

[WettCoast]

It is a bit early to start speculating about this 'vibration problem' on the CR. On the one trip that I was on aboard her, there seemed to me to be a just noticeable low frequency, rather pleasant vibration, not unlike something you pay to get in fancy chairs aboard other ferries. But this was in the open strait. Scott says that the issue is when in mode 2 while coming into dock.

One thing I did notice both while on board, and while watching it (from up on the BCR right-of-way) come into HSB to dock, was that it comes in at an almost painfully slow speed. I had assumed that this was due to the newness of the vessel and crews still getting used to handling her. Perhaps, however, this vibration issue may explain, at least in part, this slow approach?

[Scott]

Would there be less time running in Mode 2 on Route 30 since it's fairly straight in-and-out on both sides compared to the bays on Route 2 that might require more maneuvering?

Does this have anything to do with the almost "helicopter" sounding noise that I've heard several times both on board and on shore (specifically Whytecliff Park when she was leaving Horseshoe Bay)??


late note: They do have postcards of the CR in the gift shop now. It's actually a shot of her entering Vancouver Harbour on the day she arrived in BC... still has the wave breaker on. I thought they could have done better than that for a postcard - no offense to the photographer... it's a decent shot.. just a bit dated and "grey" (it was a wet coast day;).

[Hardy]

Apr 11, 2008 20:53:22 GMT -8 Canucks said:

A question about the shaking. Is there a chance that it will cause structural damage over time and reduce the life span of CR or is it just a nuisance. Also, is this shaking in a specific area like the lower decks or is it widespread thgroughout the whole ship.

I don't think that it would have too much of an affect on the ship's structure itself -- over time, the vibrations would have more of an affect on things that are on the ship or mounted to the ship -- IE, the vending machine bolted to the floor and wall may, over time, come unbolted or rattle loose some of the internal components that drive the worm gears that dispense the candy bars -- that sort of thing. The overall structure of the ship should have been built to specifications that should have allowed a tolerance for this type of vibration. This is also why you build them out of steel which is not HARD (read brittle) to allow it to have some 'flex' and 'give' so that minor vibrations do not cause premature stress fractures/cracks.

Again, I am a non-expert just asserting my two-point-two-five cents worth....

[Dane]

Apr 11, 2008 21:11:16 GMT -8 WettCoast said:

It is a bit early to start speculating about this 'vibration problem' on the CR.

I strongly concur for two reasons: nearly every single one of us lacks the technical knowledge, and we lack any meaningful information and the exact issue, we only have a broad statement to work with.

I am not trying to come off as wanting to limit discussion, but in conversations such as this we can come uncomfortably close to creating "ferry urban legends" a la C Class in Active Pass.

[Balfour]

I was on the Coastal Renaissance today and the vibrations on the lower car deck are worse than a C class in mode 2, but nowhere near as bad as what is on a V, B or the Queen of Tsawwassen. Just my observation, nothing more. I'm in no position to speculate.

Another thing I was really glad to see was this:



At least someone was thinking about us cyclists...

[Casey]

Took the Renaissance last month from Nanaimo to Horseshoe Bay with great anticipation but was underwhelmed. Some strange design decisions I noticed:
-Good use of space at bow/stern and sides with windows to provide views. Only thing is, there is almost nothing to see on this route, so who cares!
-Small floor area at top of stairs on deck 5, congested with people trying to figure out where to go (they are confronted with a wall in front of them.
-Strange cafeteria layout. There is unclear separation between general seating area and dining area. I foresee in busy times the seats filling up with non-cafeteria patrons, while those buying food have no seats when they get through the line. Also, the cafeteria layout sucks big time; between where you order and pick up the food, and the line where you get drinks and pay, there is not enough space to accommodate large number of people. Mega confusion.
-The access to Deck 7, discussed above. It was closed on the inside, had to access from the outside. And yes, I did find the stairs disconcerting.
-Peeked in to the Seawest Lounge; sure did not like the layout compared to the Spirits. I wouldn't want to pay $10 to be in the third row of seats facing out the side of the boat.

Fortunately, I normally travel on the Tsawassen-Swartz Bay run, so can continue to enjoy travelling on the Spirits.

[Scott (Former Account)]

Apr 13, 2008 22:23:45 GMT -8 @Casey said:

Small floor area at top of stairs on deck 5, congested with people trying to figure out where to go (they are confronted with a wall in front of them.

This is a similar stairwell layout to the Spirit vessels. Once people start to get more familiar with these ships I would assume a lot of the congestion resulting from being lost will decrease.

Apr 13, 2008 22:23:45 GMT -8 @Casey said:

I foresee in busy times the seats filling up with non-cafeteria patrons, while those buying food have no seats when they get through the line.

And this isn't common on other vessels..?

Apr 13, 2008 22:23:45 GMT -8 @Casey said:

Also, the cafeteria layout sucks big time; between where you order and pick up the food, and the line where you get drinks and pay, there is not enough space to accommodate large number of people. Mega confusion.

This layout is similar to all current MLU'd C-Class (minus Alberni). This design has worked out rather well for route 2. Providing that both cashiers are open during the first part of the sailing the line should move rather quickly.

The majority of comments regarding that end of deck 6 are coming from the crew; the galley is too small...