The final ship of the Port of Vancouver’s 2026 cruise season arrives at Canada Place on Monday, October 12, with Norwegian Encore bringing a record-setting year to an end.
Passenger and cruise ship visits to the award-winning Canada Place terminal at the Port of Vancouver both surged almost 20% this year, with 1.4 million passenger visits and 358 cruise ship calls between February and October.
Looking towards next cruise season, work to expand shore power capacity at Canada Place is scheduled to start in coming months and will enable more visiting cruise ships to plug in to B.C.’s low-carbon electrical grid while at berth.
The expanded shore power is expected to prevent an additional 3,300 tonnes of greenhouse gas emissions each cruise season, the equivalent to removing 770 gasoline-powered cars from the road every year.
The shore power expansion comes alongside other initiatives at Canada Place to ensure the cruise terminal can sustainably handle growing passenger and ship volumes.
Cutting-edge facial biometric processing technology has significantly cut passenger embarkation times, while new elevators at key arrival locations will soon help passengers seamlessly navigate the terminal.
Average embarkation times for passengers boarding a cruise ship in Vancouver has shrunk to under 30 minutes since the introduction of facial biometric scanning in 2024.
The latest Cruise Passenger Survey, conducted by the Pacific Rim Cruise Association, found that beyond the economic benefits generated by cruise passengers flying through Vancouver International Airport, spending additional time in Vancouver before or after a cruise has become an increasingly important part of many traveller’s itineraries:
- 76% of cruise passengers now spend time locally before or after their cruise (up from 70% in 2023)
- Cruise passengers are spending an average of $1,144 each locally on hotels, restaurants, shopping, tours and local attractions, and more
- Cruise passengers are staying an average of 1.4 nights in Vancouver before or after their cruise, with passengers from outside North America spending an average of 2.6 nights in the city
Preliminary bookings for 2027 point to another robust year, with strong numbers of cruise ships and passengers expected at the Port of Vancouver.
In 2026, the Canada Place cruise terminal was named ‘North America’s Leading Cruise Port’ for the second year in a row—and fifth time ever—by World Travel Awards.
Source: Port of Vancouver Media
Image: © 2026 Vancouver Fraser Port Authority
0 Comments