Port of Vancouver

At least one cruise ship is usually docked in Vancouver on any given day. Most frequently, Holland America uses the port for its Oosterdam, Zaandam, and Noordam ships. However, Disney’s Wonder, RCCL’s Radiance of the Seas and Jewel of the Seas, Norwegian Cruise Lines’ Pearl, Sun and Jewell Celebrity’s Millennium, Princess’s Star and Coral ships, and Carnival’s Legend all dock at Canada Place. Combined, nearly 1 million cruise ship passengers visit Vancouver every year.

One of the most remarkable features of Vancouver’s Port is the commitment to protecting its pristine marine environment from the potential carnage that mega cruise ships can cause trundling in and out of port. The “EcoAction Program” is a unique initiative that the Canada Place cruise terminal utilizes to incentivize cruise ships to power down their engines when in port by utilizing Shore Power to promote emission reduction.

As a cruise ship passenger accident lawyer, I have often found that the best and sometimes only way to get the attention and cooperation of cruise lines is through their checkbook, and the Canadians certainly understand this. To motivate the cruise lines to cooperate with the EcoAction Program, they offer ships 47% off the harbor due rate if they voluntarily meet their industry best practices, have met third-party environmental designations, or use alternative fuels such as Shore Power.

If you are injured on a cruise to or from Vancouver on one of the major cruise lines, most likely the cruise ticket requires that any claim against them be filed within one year of the date of the incident, in a United States Federal Court, usually in Miami or Fort Lauderdale. It often comes as a surprise to injured passengers, who may never have been to Miami, to learn that to sue the cruise line, they will have to travel to South Florida to preserve their legal rights.