I’ve never considered River Road a tourist hotspot, but I guess that might just be a lack of foresight on my part.
Cruise ships docking on the shores of the Fraser River, either in Delta or Richmond, is a not so far-fetched notion, according to the Port of Vancouver, which continues to study the feasibility of a second terminal somewhere in Greater Vancouver.
At the present time, the only cruise terminal is at Canada Place, its gleaming white sails providing a stunning welcome to the hundreds of thousands of passengers that pass through the city every year. Dropped on the doorstep of downtown Vancouver, cruisers from around the world can walk off the ship and enjoy all our envied city has to offer. From Stanley Park to Robson Street to Gastown, there’s much to see and do just a short walk away.
A Fraser River terminal, on the other hand, doesn’t have quite the same cachet. Yes, you’re docked in Vancouver – or at least somewhere within the Port of Vancouver’s jurisdiction – but the outlook is decidedly more industrial.
I can just see passengers agonizing over whether to visit the FortisBC LNG plant or the B.C. Liquor Distribution Branch warehouse. Maybe they’re faced with the choice between the community animal shelter and the Toyota wheel plant or perhaps the Vancouver Landfill trumps them all. Suffice to say, if you’re a cruise ship passenger and you end up in industrial Delta, or industrial Richmond for that matter, you’re going to feel a bit ripped off.
Mind you, every ship offers a variety of shore excursions that whisk visitors off to the most popular tourist attractions, so from that perspective, it doesn’t really matter where you’re docked, and if you want to do the downtown thing, that’s entirely possibly either pre or post cruise.
With the number of passengers on pace to top one million this year, it’s only a matter of time before Canada Place simply can’t accommodate any more vessels, making a second Lower Mainland cruise terminal a “when,” not an “if,” kind of undertaking.
The “where” still has to be worked out too, but with all there is to see along the River Road corridor, it’s hard to imagine the port authority not dropping anchor on Delta’s shores in the near future.
