When the Seabourn Odyssey pulled into the Port of Nanaimo this week, it marked the end of a five-year dry spell for cruise-ship visits, buoying the spirits of local businesses.
The 650-foot ship, with room for 450 passengers, arrived in the harbour city Thursday for a full-day visit, giving passengers plenty of time to take excursions and visit stores, restaurants and attractions.
“When cruise ships come in businesses thrive,” said Judy Stephan, chair of the board of the Greater Nanaimo Chamber of Commerce.
An RCMP officer was on hand to mark the arrival of the Seabourn Odyssey passengers who were offered Nanaimo bars donated by local businesses.
The ship arrived during filming on Commercial Street in downtown Nanaimo for the television series The Last of Us, set in a post-apocalyptic world where a fungus-like organism is turning people into zombie-like creatures.
Excursions for cruise-ship passengers included visits to Cathedral Grove and a cranberry farm, accompanied by Tourism Nanaimo volunteers who provided commentary, said Morgane Riddell, visitor services manager at Tourism Nanaimo.
Volunteers also delivered a commentary to passengers who chose to ride shuttles into downtown on the hop-on hop-off service.
A cruise ship carrying passengers last docked at Nanaimo in 2019; the onset of the pandemic led to planned 2020 ship visits being cancelled.
The Silver Muse stopped in Nanaimo in 2022 for maintenance only and did not carry any passengers.
Thursday’s visit was the first indication that the sector is bouncing back, with the hope of more dockings to come.
The next ship set to stop in Nanaimo will be the 850-passenger Oceania Regatta, which is scheduled to make a day-long visit on Aug. 26.
Nanaimo’s downtown businesses received another bonus from attendees at the 2024 Land Summit at the Vancouver Island Conference Centre, which attracted several hundred participants.
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