Local Crafts at Ogden Point, Victoria Vancouver Island 2017

One of the joys of coming down to take pictures of cruise ships at Ogden Point is discovering the many local crafts made by local artists. You will not find this type of quality at your local mall for sure. If you do come into a port , please take the time to visit port crafts which are normally in the dock area. Majority are reasonably priced and majority will take credits cards or your currency . My problem is I cannot resist at times so end up supporting local artists and of course my family end up with surprised presents  🙂

The below picture is the large tent now used by our local artists.

 

 

 

At Ogden Point July 15th 2017
First local Artist and Jeweler who makes lovely products
https://www.facebook.com/CoralBarclayFineArtist/…
https://www.coralmbarclay.com/ 

Next vendor at  Ogden Point July 15th 2017
This is PolyGems who use Polymer Clay to make a lot of their products. Newest are soaps and small paintings.
http://www.polygems.net/…
https://www.facebook.com/polygems123/

Next  at Ogden Point July 14th 2017
A new local vendor selling at the cruise port, course I bought an item for Liz 🙂
– Fused Wood & Resin Jewelry –https://www.facebook.com/arteakjewelry/
https://www.etsy.com/shop/arteakjewelry…
Instagram = @arteakjewelry –

Liz now has a lovely Burl wood and resin necklace.. check out her above website.

Next  at  July 7, 2017 Ogden Point -Cruise Terminal
One of our Local Craft Vendors Handcrafted Honey , scented honey candles and more. #ogdenpoint #theyoungwildandfreeshop
https://www.facebook.com/theyoungwildandfreeshop/
http://www.theyoungwildandfreeshop.com/product/infused-honey

Now have some honey at home 🙂 🙂

Next at July 7, 2017 Ogden Point -Cruise Terminal
One of our Local Craft Vendors Handcrafted Leather / Stone bracelets and more. Ready to serve you #wovenstoneco #ogdenpoint
https://www.facebook.com/wovenstoneco/
https://www.etsy.com/shop/wovenstoneco

Well I now have two men’s bracelets , one is brown leather and wood (Handcrafted with Genuine Leather, wood, Grainstone, and Fancy Jasper gemstones) .while other is black with lava stones as in (Genuine Leather, Lava Stone, Hematite, & Black Agate gemstones.) Course Liz, grandchildren have benefited.  🙂

Ogden Point July 28, 2017
A cool but sunny evening with three ships in,   HAL Eurodam. Ruby Princess and NCL Jewel.
Here is a new vendor , come on down and shop
Sweet Silver Sea Shells Sweetsilverseashells Handmade Jewellery with a Beachy Boho Style www.etsy.com/ca/shop/SweetSilverSeaShells
https://www.facebook.com/Sweetsilverseashells/ — 

As I discover more vendors ,  I will add to this section.

For the moment here is one of the cruise ships moored near the Artists Craft tent

HAL MS Amsterdam on July 16, 2017

 

Sorry about not posting for a few months .. Stay tuned / Rob  (aka RobBar)

 

 

Schedule Alaska Cruise Ship Season 2016 – Ogden Point (Victoria BC Vancouver Island)

Ogden Point Piers

Effective April 3rd 2016 the Star Princess will be the first cruise ship to dock at Ogden Point for 2016.

Will arrive from Los Angeles at 08:00 pst and leave for Vancouver at 23:59 pst

http://victoriacruise.ca/page/cruise-schedule

 

 

Alaska Cruise season 2015 to Ogden Point finishes with 2016 Growth

The Star Princess was the last ship in for Alaska 2015 cruise season at Ogden Point , on its way to Los Angeles.

Per attached article ,

http://www.timescolonist.com/news/local/more-cruise-visitors-expected-next-year-on-bigger-ships-1.2107226

quote: ” Overall, the harbour authority welcomed 227 ship visits and about 533,000 passengers in 2015 — up from 206 ship visits and about 465,000 passengers the previous year –  It’s a record year,” said Ian Robertson, chief executive officer of the harbour authority, which oversees cruise operations at Ogden Point. “It’s a record year for number of ships and number of passengers coming into Victoria.” Robertson attributed the increase to the growing Alaskan cruise market and the rising appeal of Victoria as a destination port –  ”

It is expected for 2016 to be same number of ships but larger capacity as RCCL will be sending the International’s Explorer of the Seas , a first to Alaska.

This year with introduction of low sulphur ships , ferry to Inner Harbour , improvements to Ogden Point and transportation , our cruise port is very popular with passengers and crew.

Looking for forward to 2016 season.

Ogden Point, Vancouver Island – Alaska Cruise Season 2015 Schedule / Items

Well, I am pleased that not only was today in Victoria , Canada on beautiful Vancouver Island a wonderful sunny day,  though at 16C but our first cruise ship ‘Grand Princess’ will be docking at Ogden Point this Wednesday April 22nd 2015 at  07:00 pst from Vancouver and to San Francisco at 14:00 pst.  It will then begin its regular Alaska cruises back to Vancouver.

This year 230 cruise ship port visits will be made to Ogden Point , majority are on route back to Seattle or San Francisco with some being repositioning cruises and some parts of World Cruise segments. This year we expect a large number of ships to dock in morning or afternoon giving passengers a longer time to enjoy Victoria instead of the standard for some of 18:00 to 23:50 pst stops. Mind you our daylight hours are longer into the late summer.

The last scheduled cruise ship will be the ‘Star Princess’ on November 9th 2015 , making its way to Los Angeles

Here is the link to our schedule  http://victoriacruise.ca/page/cruise-schedule   and a PDF can be downloaded from this site.

The  Times Colonist has written a great article on the pending season ,  quote : ” Cruise-ship daytime visits are scheduled to rise by about 17 per cent this year compared with last, bringing good news to local businesses keen to sell services and goods to tourists. – See more at: http://www.timescolonist.com/news/local/more-cruise-ships-coming-earlier-in-day-to-victoria-staying-longer-1.1820867#sthash.SA62Wkkn.dpuflink is here

Sadly we have been advised by the Times Colonist that   ” Harry, Happy and Henrietta, the Hippo buses that have been carrying tourists on land and on water in Greater Victoria, are leaving for warmer weather in the Caribbean. – See more at:  http://www.timescolonist.com/business/victoria-s-hippo-tourism-buses-head-to-warmer-climate-1.1822578     So, will it be Barbados or St Maarten or what Island in the Caribbean to host these three land/sea buses 🙂

Of special note and thank you to a Facebook friend in the UK , I was advised that the Crown Princess will be in dry dock at Victoria Sea Span Yards from approximate May 1 – 15 2015 , undergoing tune-ups and maintenance.

http://www.seaspan.com/seaspan-shipyards-cruiseship-repairs

These yards have worked on many cruise ships and have a reputation of quality work and to ensure the job is completed on schedule allowing it to begin its scheduled Alaska runs out of Seattle.

Welcome to all the crew and contractors , course we enjoy the revenue and work in our city .

Ogden Point Busy January 2015

Our local harbour welcomed the MV Brattingsborg V6005 from Mexico as it offloaded two yachts
We have many pleasure craft delivered this way at the harbour.
Saves one coming up the Pacific Coast at this time of year
The Bulk Carrier MV Lillian is in port to have its inners scrubbed and cleaned as we have a deep water port
Alaska Cruise ship 2015 estimates are we will see 231 ship visits with a record 530,000 visitors scheduled excluding crew.
Royal Caribbean will be replacing the 915 foot Rhapsody of the Seas with the 962 foot Jewel of the Seas visiting our port this year.
Our local James Bay Association should be quieter this year as the new NA sulphur fuel content to lowest level much like EU rules take effect this month
Expect possible fare increases to accommodate this more expensive fuel on the Alaskan waters

Stay tuned when the 2015 schedule is published I will post
Cheers. / Rob

Ogden Point: End of Alaska Season 2014 – ms Zaandam

The last ship for the Alaska 2014 season docked at Ogden Point , Victoria , Vancouver Island Canada on October 6th 2014. It arrived from Vancouver BC at 07:00 pst and left for San Diego at 13:00  pst.

I arrived at the dock area around 11:00 pst and it was fully fogged in,  though by 11:45 pst it had finally lifted. Many passengers walking around, coming back by bus or taxi and crew looking for WiFi access near the shops.

I had finished taking some pictures , some inserted here and was relaxing on a bench watching passengers pass though security and final excursion buses arriving. Driver pulls out a step stool for  folks to come off the bus onto the pavement and they all start to walk to the terminal to board the ship but two folks decide to walk in the other direction , away from the ship. !

I watched and thought , who in Victoria would take a shuttle bus back to a ship ?  My concern was it was now going on 12:00 pst ( Noon) and the ship was leaving at 13:00 pst. (yes, I am known to ensure one does not miss a ship’s departure, prefer being on board 1- 2 hours prior)

It was two woman , one perhaps in her 70’s / 80’s walking slowly and the other , a daughter or young friend in her 40’s.  I ran after them and asked if they were off the ship, they said yes and had been told they had time to visit our Ogden Point Breakwater wall.  I said well you do realize that it will take you about ten minutes to get there (plus the stairs). It will take you from here about five – ten minutes to get on the ship going through local security, Most ships do begin the process to bring in the gangplank   30 minutes prior to departure. They  looked at me in wonder  and then left to board the ship, walking slowly, I sat there watching and finally saw them emerge on the quay after security at 12:20 pst , walking slowly. The good news was there was a long queue at the gangplank, waiting to board.  🙂

Love to find the intelligent person who gave them that advice…… crazy

I am enclosing an article that explains the benefits to the local city for cruising and tourism  and of course we want folks to come back for a longer visit to our shores.

We had 462,201 passengers approximate plus crew  from 205 scheduled port visits this year

A few ships could not dock due to weather but that was rare, and we brought in 33.4 million dollars per a report in March 2014 from previous seasons ( seems to be the normal average of $60 – $100 a passenger , per my unofficial calculations).

http://www.vicnews.com/news/277956851.html

Here are some of the pictures I took (cc Robbar — Robert Holloway)

ms Zaandam (fog gone)

ms Zaandam , tenders in Fog

ms Zaandam (fog)

New water shuttle

New Marine water shuttle

ms Zaandam ( fog lifting )

ms Zaandam ( barely visible in Fog)

Breakwater Wall in the Fog Ogden Point

Cable Ship “Wave Venture”

Ogden Point: End of Alaska Season 2014 (almost)

Been awhile since my last post as we were in Barbados with family so missed a few months of cruise ships porting to Ogden Point , Victoria Canada.

Only one week  left and the ms Zaandam on October 6 , 2014 will be the last ship in for the 2014 season , all will be quiet.

The ship will arrive from Hawaii on October 4, go to Vancouver , back here and off to San Diego.

– Tomorrow on September 29, 2014 the Star Princess will arrive from Ketchikan , Alaska and then on to San Francisco.

– On September 21, 2014 I went down to Ogden Point to see the Silversea ‘Silver Shadow’  and the Celebrity ‘Solstice ‘

Have added some pictures.

Silversea – Ogden Point Sept 2014

Ogden Point Sept 2014

Leaving Ogden Point , into channel

Ogden Point ,

We  had a good season with lots of passengers and no loud noise from the community of pollution , noise, horse poop , cars going through quiet streets.

The Victoria Harbour Authority has done a lot of work in listening to concerns, offering ways to provide options to go into town that lessen traffic and yet retain a vital business for the community.

Early 2015,  the North America Act for bunker fuel usage by cruise ships comes into effect,  as in ” more stringent 0.1 percent sulfur rule effective in 2015 ‘ .

Some estimates suggest a cost increase per week per passenger as in Alaska by $100+ , which in the broad scheme of things is less then tax you pay by Air for fuel usage and in this case , much cleaner , so less impact to environment, peoples whose health can be effected and other reasons.

http://www.cliaalaska.org/safetyenvironment/air/

Ogden Point (Victoria BC Canada) 2014 -1

Attached are some pictures I have taken from my Facebook site
https://www.facebook.com/groups/325535934241017/
of our local Ogden Point Cruise port where we have about 250 cruise ships docking during the Alaska season which runs from mid April to early October each year.
I am not a WordPress expert yet but I have moved to my own site and plan to make a slideshow of this over the winter
I find I use my iPhone 5 for the pictures displayed here but I also use my Canon for more pictures which I intend to edit and work on.
The iPhone allows me to find the pictures moved to ICloud which magically downloads to my Home Computer on the Photo Software Picasa 3 , allowing me to crop , edit and upload to Facebook. Now and then I will flip it from iPhone right to Facebook but more edit features on ones home computer.

For now I will let you enjoy and add more later
Cheers / Rob

All photos are Photo Credited as ‘RobBar’

Luv to all

Horse Carriage Tour

HeliJet to Vancouver

Customs / Immigration main area / Shops / WiFi / Currency exchange

Carnival Miracle

Pickup area for Cars / Buses / Taxis / Water Boat to Victoria / Walk path to Victoria , Dive Shop , Restaurant

 

Princess – Star

Oceania Regatta / Carnival Miracle

Boat Tour to Victoria waiting area / Carnival Miracle

Seaspan Tug mooring area

Pilot Boat

Carnival Miracle

Oceania Regatta / Carnival Miracle

Sea Wall Murals by Esquimalt and Songhees South Salish Nations

Welcome to Victoria Mural at Customs / Immigration area

Ogden Point – Our Esquimalt and Songhees Nations Sea Wall Paintings

 I was taking pictures of a cruise ship tonight at Ogden Point (Victoria BC) July 7th 2014  and took one of our fantastic sea wall painted by our local Esquimalt and Songhees Nations. In looking up the history of the project I came across this site explaining the project, excellent video and very informative.
They plan to expose other schools to this discovery, could be a great educational project for a school.

www.theunitywall.ca

The Unity Wall mural on the Ogden Point breakwater is a growing public art piece honouring Esquimalt and Songhees Nations, and creating a bridge between cultures.

theunitywall.ca

Sad . A lovely day but no ships 😘

Yes I write updates about cruise ships yet today and tomorrow no ships will be docking which is really due to regular schedules
we are now in the 7 – 10 day cycle
No more repositioning ships till the fall.
Shucks 😊
Thought I would add some thoughts today
I have been reading some cruise posts recently about some peoples expectation on a cruise
It amazes me that they act this way
fog horn
I want a credit as the fog horn kept me awake or inform the Captain to not sound during the night
I guess we will not check their cabin when an emergency muster is called.

comedy club night show
My teenage daughter should not hear jokes like that and I want a credit
What happened to babysitter or club or just not going

Group in study room
When you made an announcement over the speakers it disturbed us and that fog horn should be stopped
Mmmmm we are on a ship with 2,000. + souls

dancers costumes
We are insulted by the skimpy clothes they wear and demand a refund
Did they ever think that ship dancers wear more clothes then on a beach

looked at passenger too long
Officers greet passengers and one lady was so beautiful they spent a few seconds longer turning left while upset passenger next inline was upset
Wanted a free meal at least in compensation

strong currents cause late arrival
Passenger booked own excursion and was told they would loose 50 % or more
Wanted ship to refund the private excursion costs plus costs for being at sea an extra day
Do they ever read contracts and electing to save monies with a private tour now want ship to pay up ?

ships arrival mooring
Compensation for noise of anchor dropping each day
They chose the cabin……

Steak House
I am a vegetarian and booked the Steak House but it only ha done offering
Want a refund
Why book a steak house and did you read the menu posted outside prior

smoking
I paid good monies for this cruise and why should I not be allowed to smoke where I want
Forgot the rest of the ship who adhere to rules

So I am sitting here on my iPhone typing my thoughts and it still amazes me the me only expectations people have on a cruise and are so rude to the crew and other passengers
Any thoughts 😳    / Rob