Vancouver Closes Record 2026 Cruise Season With Nearly 1.4 Million Passenger Movements
If you are sailing from Vancouver, plan on the port's facial biometric scanning, which the port says has cut average embarkation to under 30 minutes. The Pacific Rim Cruise Association survey found 76% of passengers add time in the city, averaging 1.4 nights, so consider extra hotel nights before or after your sailing. Budget for the roughly C$1,144 per person that surveyed passengers reported spending on hotels, food, shopping and tours. Shore power work begins in the coming months ahead of 2027, and new terminal elevators are being added.
My read is that Vancouver's record year owes a lot to its role as the gateway to Alaska, which is how Jeff Scott of the port authority framed it. Nearly 1.4 million passenger movements and 358 calls, up 18% and 19% on 2025, are big numbers for one terminal at Canada Place. The winners are local hotels, restaurants and tour operators. The port says cruise tourism brought in more than C$1 billion, and the survey figure of C$1,144 per passenger, with 76% staying an average of 1.4 nights, shows the money is made off the ship as much as on it. The under-30-minute embarkation claim comes from the port itself, so I would treat it as a goal until I have tried it. The mild losers are anyone hoping for a quiet terminal, since Star Princess at 177,882 tons shows the ships are getting bigger too. In your shoes, I would book the extra hotel night early and enjoy the city rather than sprint to the airport.