Vancouver businesses optimistic despite cancellation of first cruise ship arrival

Businesses in downtown Vancouver are remaining optimistic despite cruise ship season being delayed.

The first cruise ship scheduled to dock in Vancouver since 2019 has cancelled its visit, meaning the first arrival in the city will happen on April 10, rather than April 7. 

“(We’re) slightly disappointed, but these things happen,” said Wally Wargolet, executive director of the Gastown Business Improvement Association.

However, Wargolet says that the past two years have been devastating for Gastown businesses, many of whom heavily rely on tourism.

"Folks saw revenues down 80, 90 per cent and in some cases, we did have some businesses close," he said.

For MAKE Gastown, a newly opened gift shop, 2022 will be the first cruise ship season.

“The whole COVID-19 pandemic has been a whole lot of pivots and turns, so it was disappointing, but not surprising,” said store manager John Ong of the delayed start to the season.

While disappointed, Ong says the shop has already seen an uptick in business since COVID-19 travel restrictions were lifted.

"We're hoping there's no more delays, we’re really counting on the tourist season," Ong said.

The vessel that was expected to arrive this week - Princess Cruises' Caribbean Princess - is instead preparing for an extended dry dock in Portland, Ore.

In a statement, the cruise line said it had made the "difficult decision" to cancel the San Francisco to Vancouver portion of the trip "to allow added time to prepare" for the dry dock.

"This additional time will help assure the vessel is up to our highest standards in advance of the upcoming busy summer season," the company said.

Princess Cruises' statement did not address the COVID-19 situation aboard the ship, which is currently listed as "orange status" on the U.S. Centers for Disease Control website. 

"Orange status" means there are confirmed COVID-19 cases aboard the vessel, and they meet the threshold for CDC investigation, which is that at least 0.3 per cent of passengers and crew aboard the ship have tested positive.

Despite the rocky start to the season, Wargolet is remaining positive.

“If we’ve learnt anything through the pandemic, it’s don’t plan too much, anticipate and be ready,” he said. “Right now, we’re going to remain optimistic.” 

With files from CTV News Vancouver's Ian Holliday