Prince Rupert Cruise Ship Photos

The best time to visit Prince Rupert is when the cruise ships come to port. Not only does the sun seemingly make it's only appearances for the week, but the otherwise too-often desolate streets of Prince Rupert come alive.

The cruise ship industry, still in it's infancy in Prince Rupert, is quickly becoming a popular draw. Norwegian Cruise Lines, Celebrity Cruises, and Regent Seven Seas Cruises are sending over 50 ships to Prince Rupert in 2006. Starting out in such destinations as California, Seattle or Vancouver, Prince Rupert is becoming a port call en route to Alaska.

The ships have capacities of 2000 or more, meaning a total of about 100,000 passengers and crew members come to Prince Rupert between mid-May and late September. It is approximated that about 1/5th of these passengers do come ashore. Some go on short fishing or sea kayaking adventures. Others seek wilderness tours of whales or grizzly bears. Others take a train out to the historic Pacific Cannery Museum.

Others still just stroll along the city streets and Cow Bay, contributing to $6 million to $8 million to the local economy in the 6 month season.

And though one should never mention such a thing when talking about cruise ships, this is just the tip of the ice berg.

Most Alaskan cruise liners skip by Prince Rupert and head straight north for Juneau and/or Ketchikan, Alaska. Those destinations hosted over 1 million passengers in 2005. Prince Rupert hopes to keep chipping away at this traffic. The goal is to double current expectations by 2014, and have 200,000 passengers arrive at newly created Northland terminal.

Prince Rupert is a lot of fun when the cruise ships come to town. The town does a great job welcoming and hosting its guests. There are often concerts in the park, and food fairs. The whole town, too often dreary and depressed, comes alive with hope and optimism. The shops are taken over by browsers with American dollars to spend. The restaurants are full of happy eaters. The docks become a place of great activity.

I try to get to Prince Rupert for opening day of cruise ship season every year, which I accomplished in 2004 and 2005. I will get to the Rupert for 2006 a little later in the season. Below are just a fraction of cruise ship photos I've taken while in Rupert. Below that are a series of links of interest regarding the cruise ships in Prince Rupert, including a 2006 schedule.

The Norwegian Spirit 2005



The Norwegian Spirit heads toward Northland Terminal. The historic Pillsbury House bed and breakfast and public gardens as well as some luxury condominiums are first to witness the arrival of 2000 passengers and crew.



I tried to make this into an interesting shot. Sneaking onto the piers of the private yacht club, which is mostly filled with fishing vessels, I tried to caputure the magnificence of the new ship.



To give some idea of just how massive this ship is, here it is docked at Northland terminal. A welcoming committe, who look more like ants in comparison to the massive liner, awaits the first guests.



This is another shot intended to impress the size upon you. The amazing thing is these boats are amazingly quiet, and can turn on a dime. It's quit the event just to watch them arrive.

Norwegian Princess 2004



Another sunny day welcomes the 2000 passenger Norwegian Princess in 2004. Its amazing how many local trollers and other boats head out to get a closer look at the arriving ship. They better be prepared to strain their necks, not to mention get out of the way.



An attempt at artistic photography, I captured this image down at Rotary Waterfront Park. That's another great blessing of the cruise ships coming to town. Rupertites have done a great job of cleaning up the city, restoring old building downtown, and creating welcoming parks. It sure is a great improvement from the years before the cruise ships arrived.



I just like this photo. As big and as impressive as the cruise ships are, they are completely dwarfed by the beauty of Northern British Columbia. The blue skies, the ever present clouds, the brilliant sunshine, the green mountains and massive ocean. It's enough to make you want to get aboard one of these cruise ships and see what else there is out there!

Unfortunately you can't actually get on this ship in Prince Rupert. You'd have to fly or drive all the way to Vancouver, or maybe Seattle or Los Angeles, spend a few thousand dollars and the come all the way back up!

Some links of interest:

Prince Rupert Port Authority
2006 Prince Rupert Cruise Ship Schedule
Prince Rupert Cruise Shore Excursions

Cruise liner homepages:

Norwegian Cruise Lines Alaskan Cruises
Celebrity Cruise Lines Alaskan Cruises
Regent Seven Seas Alaskan Cruises