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Post by Blue Bus Fan on Aug 14, 2023 22:00:00 GMT -8
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Post by paulvanb on Aug 15, 2023 6:57:25 GMT -8
Now starting tomorrow (Wednesday) with a newly revised schedule.
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Post by Dane on Aug 15, 2023 8:49:35 GMT -8
From Hullo:
Due to the power outages experienced late Sunday night that caused a loss of power to the berth and to the vessels, in addition to the strong wind conditions, our crew has made the decision to cancel all sailings for the remainder of the day. All sailings scheduled for Tuesday, August 15th are also suspended with a plan to resume sailings on Wednesday, August 16th with a revised temporary launch schedule in place until August 30th. This schedule includes sailings departing Nanaimo daily at 10:00am, and 4:30pm, and departing Vancouver 12:00pm and 6:30pm. Guests currently scheduled on the first and last sailings will be contacted by customer service to facilitate rescheduling and travel support.
Something is up - I am so curious what is going on here. First two days scrubbed, and then the service is cut in half and only bookable through to September 30th.
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Post by Low Light Mike on Aug 15, 2023 9:37:15 GMT -8
I wonder if the word "Hullo" translates to "Coastal Link Ferries" in some languages.
(that's all I've got for this thread)
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QoNW Fan
Voyager
Queen of New Westminster fan!
Posts: 263
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Post by QoNW Fan on Aug 15, 2023 9:37:40 GMT -8
Rocky start for this new service. Day two, the company's cancellation rate remains at 100%.
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Post by WettCoast on Aug 15, 2023 10:11:14 GMT -8
From Hullo: Due to the power outages experienced late Sunday night that caused a loss of power to the berth and to the vessels, in addition to the strong wind conditions, our crew has made the decision to cancel all sailings for the remainder of the day. All sailings scheduled for Tuesday, August 15th are also suspended with a plan to resume sailings on Wednesday, August 16th with a revised temporary launch schedule in place until August 30th. This schedule includes sailings departing Nanaimo daily at 10:00am, and 4:30pm, and departing Vancouver 12:00pm and 6:30pm. Guests currently scheduled on the first and last sailings will be contacted by customer service to facilitate rescheduling and travel support.Something is up - I am so curious what is going on here. First two days scrubbed, and then the service is cut in half and only bookable through to September 30th. I think you may be on to something, Dane. I would not be surprised to see the start of service pushed back to next spring as they have almost missed their window for establishing themselves during the high demand summer season of 2023.
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grk2
Deckhand
Posts: 91
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Post by grk2 on Aug 15, 2023 10:43:29 GMT -8
These two vessels might soon present a great opportunity for BC Ferries. Should they become available, and I am sure they will very soon, to quickly start up a foot passenger service from Swartz to Tsaw. Demand is there; often 200+ walk ons. Through ticket/seamless dock side transfer to non stop transit to Bridgeport. Just dreaming!
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Post by paulvanb on Aug 15, 2023 12:15:57 GMT -8
These two vessels might soon present a great opportunity for BC Ferries. Should they become available, and I am sure they will very soon, to quickly start up a foot passenger service from Swartz to Tsaw. Demand is there; often 200+ walk ons. Through ticket/seamless dock side transfer to non stop transit to Bridgeport. Just dreaming! With a U-Haul barge for the luggage!
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Post by Blue Bus Fan on Aug 15, 2023 12:21:51 GMT -8
I think Hullo needs time to begin sailing normally because it’s first couple days so they be some massive hiccups in operations. I do think if they are still struggling by next spring they will go out business.
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Post by 1foot2ships on Aug 15, 2023 12:27:30 GMT -8
Something is up - I am so curious what is going on here. First two days scrubbed, and then the service is cut in half and only bookable through to September 30th. add me to the danetrain. fully agree something big is being kept from public knowledge. 1. (still) refuse luggage 2. high price 3. poor social media 4. terrible start (+ lame excuse) 5. significant and sudden schedule cut 6. something else is definitely up at best, i thought it was about 50/50 to survive. now, with the addition of #4 and #5 (& maybe #6?), sorry BBF, but i fear paulvanb could be right: weeks. and fwiw grk2: if BCF has any business sense, they should immediately begin their own internal studies to evaluate their appetite for vulturing this opportunity, should this venture fail.
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Neil
Voyager
Posts: 7,181
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Post by Neil on Aug 15, 2023 17:02:53 GMT -8
Something is up - I am so curious what is going on here. First two days scrubbed, and then the service is cut in half and only bookable through to September 30th. add me to the danetrain. fully agree something big is being kept from public knowledge. 1. (still) refuse luggage 2. high price 3. poor social media 4. terrible start (+ lame excuse) 5. significant and sudden schedule cut 6. something else is definitely up at best, i thought it was about 50/50 to survive. now, with the addition of #4 and #5 (& maybe #6?), sorry BBF, but i fear paulvanb could be right: weeks. and fwiw grk2: if BCF has any business sense, they should immediately begin their own internal studies to evaluate their appetite for vulturing this opportunity, should this venture fail. Jeez, guys... take a deep breath. It's not quite time to put the tag on the corpse's toe yet. Cancelling the first two days could be a sign of real trouble, but it could just as well be a sign of a company that wants to get everything right before they start. No one's more skeptical about these passenger ventures than me. But this company purpose built two vessels for this route, and they bought a spare engine as well. I think at $40 one way, their pricing is not unreasonable at all, for an unsubsidized service. Maybe cancelling half the sailings for August is from a concern about having enough crew; if so, nothing unique to them. In any event, let's delay the death notices until we have a better idea about the viability of the service model.
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Post by paulvanb on Aug 16, 2023 9:21:05 GMT -8
As of 10:19, the good ship Sthuqi is running at 35 knots. I wish them good luck!
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Post by Dane on Aug 16, 2023 10:10:32 GMT -8
As of 10:19, the good ship Sthuqi is running at 35 knots. I wish them good luck! They've made the advertised run time it looks like; just approaching the terminal as I type this and they had left 68 minutes prior.
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Post by WettCoast on Aug 16, 2023 10:50:42 GMT -8
It looks like the walking distance from where they are docking in Vancouver to Waterfront Station and connections to Skytrain, Canada Line & Seabus is about one km. A one km walk for me is no big deal but for lots of people it would be a challenge. Good thing you will only have carry on luggage to pack around.
It would have been better if they had secured the same spot as that once used by Royal Sealink.
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Post by Dane on Aug 16, 2023 13:17:43 GMT -8
It looks like the walking distance from where they are docking in Vancouver to Waterfront Station and connections to Skytrain, Canada Line & Seabus is about one km. A one km walk for me is no big deal but for lots of people it would be a challenge. Good thing you will only have carry on luggage to pack around.
It would have been better if they had secured the same spot as that once used by Royal Sealink. While the convenience of transit at the SeaBus terminal is undeniable, the airport is much nicer accommodation for waiting passengers by both literal comfort & amenities. All the float plane services are at the exact same spot, obviously. There is a SkyTrain entrance at Howe/Cordova which is the nearest entrance and much closer to Hullo than SeaBus is.
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Post by WettCoast on Aug 16, 2023 13:58:23 GMT -8
Must be Burrard Station. The terminal in Nanaimo is more of an issue if you have to walk somewhere to make connections, such as to the Gabriola Ferry terminal.
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Post by paulvanb on Aug 16, 2023 16:52:55 GMT -8
It looked like the morning sailing went off without a hitch. However, Vesselfinder shows both boats in Nanaimo, meaning no 6:30 sailing from Vancouver?
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Post by Blue Bus Fan on Aug 16, 2023 16:54:32 GMT -8
It looked like the morning sailing went off without a hitch. However, Vesselfinder shows both boats in Nanaimo, meaning no 6:30 sailing from Vancouver? Vesselfinder seems glitchy right now.
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Post by Dane on Aug 16, 2023 16:58:49 GMT -8
It looked like the morning sailing went off without a hitch. However, Vesselfinder shows both boats in Nanaimo, meaning no 6:30 sailing from Vancouver? Vesselfinder seems glitchy right now. It isn't sailing.
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Post by paulvanb on Aug 16, 2023 17:06:09 GMT -8
Vesselfinder seems glitchy right now. It isn't sailing. Nothing on their website, not that it is a surprise. I was going to head over to Ambleside to photograph whichever ship was going to do the return sailing, but I won't have to worry about that now. I was thinking of going tomorrow on the noon sailing, then probably coming back via Departure Bay as I do not expect a return sailing now.
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Post by Low Light Mike on Aug 16, 2023 17:29:10 GMT -8
It looked like the morning sailing went off without a hitch. However, Vesselfinder shows both boats in Nanaimo, meaning no 6:30 sailing from Vancouver? Vesselfinder seems glitchy right now. SiiTEch shows both ships at Nanaimo, at 6:00pm. Both ship readings are from just a few minutes ago. Of course, there's no mention of the evening round-trip cancellation on the Hullo website or Facebook page. But there are plenty of photos of the Hullo team looking like they are posing for a game show or something.
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Post by WettCoast on Aug 16, 2023 18:08:38 GMT -8
Marine Traffic shows the same info. Both boats tied up in Nanaimo. Has anyone here gone through the complete online booking process? What are your thoughts on the ease of use? Better, worse or about as good/bad as the BCF process?
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I feel as if Hullo should have gone with a few days or maybe a week of 'soft sailings' rather than 'in service' scheduled sailings only to have to cancel most of them.
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Post by Low Light Mike on Aug 16, 2023 18:20:49 GMT -8
One more thing on Hullo and their frequent use of the phrase "Warm Regards" in their social media messaging.
I've encountered "Warm Regarders" before in business, and sometimes I wish I could exchange every warm regard for just 1 bit of hard information or helpful word.
But warm regards is all that I received and it didn't help me.
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Neil
Voyager
Posts: 7,181
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Post by Neil on Aug 16, 2023 19:42:46 GMT -8
One more thing on Hullo and their frequent use of the phrase "Warm Regards" in their social media messaging. I've encountered "Warm Regarders" before in business, and sometimes I wish I could exchange every warm regard for just 1 bit of hard information or helpful word. But warm regards is all that I received and it didn't help me. As strata president in my building, I always get 'warm regards' from the management agent who is fresh out of strata school, is severely overworked and underpaid, and more often than not, is clueless about what I'm asking. He wouldn't know me from a telephone pole if we passed in the street. The joys and authenticity of social media. Get with the program, Mike.
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Post by Dane on Aug 16, 2023 20:11:38 GMT -8
Marine Traffic shows the same info. Both boats tied up in Nanaimo. Has anyone here gone through the complete online booking process? What are your thoughts on the ease of use? Better, worse or about as good/bad as the BCF process?
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I feel as if Hullo should have gone with a few days or maybe a week of 'soft sailings' rather than 'in service' scheduled sailings only to have to cancel most of them.
I have now made five bookings, four of which were cancelled and very quickly refunded. The process itself was fine, there seems to be a few extra steps; the amusing one being selecting the number of seats you need after you've selected the number of passengers. But I'm sure that's just come with whatever software they've purchased. The only actual substantive issue I've had, at least twice, was the website crashing after I made the actual reservation. In one case, the booking was actually made, and in the other case it wasn't. The only way to tell was whether I got an email confirmation as in both cases my credit card was actually billed as a hold. When the booking didn't go through, the hold did release in about 12 hours. -- Right now, I am booked for tomorrow. But I'm pretty seriously considering canceling that. Today's cancellation still are not showing on their website, so how can I have any idea that they are operating tomorrow? Driving from Victoria, to Nanaimo simply to have a canceled sailing is rather ridiculous. (And, I had gone to Vancouver for the first set of canceled sailings at fairly significant expense).
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