Campbell River; Prince Rupert shore excursions

Does anyone know or have experience with independent tours in these two locations?? I think they may be relatively new as cruise ports. Would love some ideas for September. Thanks.

Campbell river is a new port of call starting this year - originally a lumber and pulp town the town has now become one of the best eco-tourism spots on Vancouver Island - deep sea fishing, whale watching, hiking, first nations village - in fact where the ship will berth is on First Nations land - Seymour Narrows is just north of town - lot's of history there as they blew up Ripple Rock in the 50's to make this route safer for marine navigation.

Here's a link for the Chamber of Commerce

:http://www.campbellriverchamber.ca/intro.html

As for Prince Rupert it has been receiving ships for the past couple of years - NCL stops regularily there - There have been other posts on it so do a search of the threads and you will probably come up with one - if i come across one i will post it here - also check the Canada board.

Cheers from Vancouver

Dennis

Dennis, you forgot to mention that the scuba diving in Campbell river is absolutely fantastic.

Abyssal dive charters is an excellent dive operator.

I should know that as a friend of mine from Vancouver who moved to Campbell River many years ago was an avid scuba diver.

I am also sure that others on these boards will have other suggestions as well.

Cheers

Dennis

ffwife hi, what date & ship are you on? We booked the Mercury leaving Sept. 19 We too are going to Prince Rupert and Campbell River.

http://www.vancouverislandaccommodations.com/campbellriver/top10.htm

Good place for seafood in CR is-The Lookout. Try the onion rings-amazing!

ffwife hi, what date & ship are you on? We booked the Mercury leaving Sept. 19 We too are going to Prince Rupert and Campbell River.

Hey, we are traveling together! Am trying to determine what options we have;Celebrity does not even list Campbell River under shore excursions yet and we are in Prince Rupert noon-midnight, so I wonder if some of the ones listed there will be available to us. I prefer to try and book independently.

It looks like we will have 11-12 in our group. The guys I think will fish out of Campbell River and other than that I haven't a clue! Have you found options? Have you sailed Celebrity before? Seven of us did the Radiance out of Seattle when they had it two or three years ago; really excited about going again. Will share info I find...You too??

Marge

For Prince Rupert, try http://www.rupert.bc.ca/

Go to Travel Guide, then Tours - lots to do. The North Pacific Cannery is very

interesting and doable in your time frame.

For Campbell River, good fishing with guides out of Painter's Lodge or April Point.

See www.obmg.com for both these locations and to make advance arrangements.

Both have nice lounging areas and facilities for those not going fishing. Painter's is

closer if time is limited.

Cliff

Hi ffwife! We have sailed on the Infinity twice to Alaska. We just love her! We live in Washington State so it is very easy to sail from Seattle or Vancouver B.C. Have you signed up for the Cruise Critic party yet? We need 25 for a party! We are going to do Grouse Mt.& the bridge in Vancouver. I want to go see the Grizzly Bears in Prince Ruppert. I am hoping that they post the shore excursions soon on the Celebrity website. Looking forward to ending the Summer with this trip. We were able to get a great rate before the gas prices took the prices too high.

I too am on that Cruise leaving Sept. 19th. I was looking forward to Campbell River as they have a great snorkel float down a river with the salmon. Great time of year for that too, as they are really running strong.

I spent some time e-mailing back and forth with the tour operator up there and have found that it's unlikely we'll be stopping there. Here is the e-mail I sent to the Chamber of Commerce and their response.

"Good day,

I recently booked a cruise on Celebrity Cruises, on the ship Mercury that sails on Sept. 19th. The itenerary has listed Campbell River as a port of call for Sept. 21. In looking for excursions while we are in port, I've spoken with several local operators of tours. They don't seem to think the dock will be ready by then. Have you heard about any of the cruise lines cancelling the stops, or any other news like that? I appreciate the time and really hope I'll see your beautifull area this fall."

Their Response

As far as we are aware Celebrity wont be stopping in Campbell River thisfall as scheduled. The permanent new dock may not be ready & the alternativedock put forward was not acceptable to the operator. We would suggest you contact the Cruise Line or Travel Agent to ascertainthe Lines alternate plans.

Martin C. Brooks

Executive Director

Campbell River & District Chamber of Commerce

900 Alder Street

PO Box 400

Campbell River BC

V9W 5B6

Telephone 250 287 4636 ext.2

Fax 250 286 6490

Web Site www.campbellriverchamber.ca

email chamber@campbellriverchamber.ca

I've e-mailed Celebrity but they wouldn't (or couldn't) tell me anything about the stops.

Whatami, thanks for the information...I have organized this trip for our group and fishing out of Campbell River was absolutely one of the main reasons for this trip! I have a call in to my travel agent to see if he can find anything out. I spoke with a sportfishing outfit just the other day, and while he did say the dock wasn't finished, he didn't say he expected it won't be by Sept.

Windemere: I also was looking at the possibilities of bear watching out of Prince Rupert, but I found one company (Grizzly Bear Tours) that ends theirs by Aug 1 because you won't see anything. One of the reasons I wondered if it will even be an option for us?

Fishing that I have found out of Prince Rupert is running more than double what what I found for Campbell River. Does anyone think it is likely they would substitute another port? I hate to be an alarmist,but this is really upsetting!

Please update with any info you learn. Thanks.

Marge

Here is a link to a Press Release by the Campbell River Port Committee. Just so we have something we can show to Celebrity if we can get them to talk...

http://www.dcr.ca/news/pdf/Port_of_Call_Celebrity_Cruise_Lines.pdf

Regards,

Hi whatami, Thank you so much for the updated info. I wonder if we will have a extra day at sea or go to Victioia or Neinmo(sp). I vote for a day at sea! I live across the water from Victoria and go twice a year.

ffwife, I think as long as the ships a coming in they will stay open? I will see what I can find out and post it.

I hope you both are going to sign up for the CC party? Jen

You won't get to enjoy the wonders of Campbell River - my May 05 NCL repo was originally scheduled for Campbell River and was changed to Nanaimo - still a great city to visit but straight across the strait from Vancouver - we will be tendering in Nanaimo

FYI - tendering is not a possibility in Campbell River because the waterway is only about .6 miles wide and very strong currents.

Just think of all the energy I wasted and the extra strain I put on my tired typing fingers posting the info on Campbell River - O well - that's life

Cheers

Dennis

I spoke with my travel agent today, who claims to have spoken with Celebrity...he says as "of now" Celebrity plans to make the Campbell

River port of call. That does not appear to be true!! Guess I will have to fess up to all our friends who have booked and see if they want to cancel. Another day at sea would hold little appeal to most of the guys and Victoria would not be a good substitute. I would have preferred a little honesty! We only booked about a week and a half ago and are paying well over double what we paid for RCCL 2-3 years ago...if they have known since February 11(the date on the port of call media release) then I consider it false advertising. Missing a port for weather problems is one thing, but when you know 7 months in advance you will not be following an itinerary then it seems you should tell people.

Pondering what to do!

Hang in there ffwife! My TA said that the Campbell River is still on her books too. She was making some phone calls I faxed her the info from whatami. She should call me back today. I will post what she says. I have emailed the Grizzly Bear company about being open in Sept. I will post that too. We got a great rate on this trip we booked it in January. I am sorry thet the cost was more for you & your crew.

Are you having to fly to Seattle or do you live close enough to drive to the dock? nI know not having to fly in would cut your expense. Have a great day everyone! The website for the G. Bear tours is http://www.palmerville.bc.ca

weekend and went to check out the dock. Not ready for any of you! Next year.l

I just spoke with Celebrity customer service not 15 minutes ago, and she insists that the Mercury will be going to Campbell River!! I asked if it would be wise to go ahead with my plans for independent fishing and she said sure!! Do you think they will admit it after full payment, on board, when? I have never dealt with Celebrity before and this is definitely not impressive. It only seems fair to share with passengers what the alternative plans are...they must have them? Our decision regarding this cruise were port-driven...if the alternative allows fishing for the guys it most likely would be fine,another day at sea would not. Wish they would come clean so we can plan!

Hi ffwife, windermere, and whatami,

I just booked my husband and I on this cruise and was excited to see others here are going. Thanks for the information on Campbell river, although I really don't care where we go, just glad to be on a cruise.

I spoke with Paula at Celebrity yesterday, and while she admitted there could be a change, she had nothing in her computer to indicate that. I asked who I could call to begin to find out and she wouldn't give me a number.

Didn't someone at one time have the Presidents e-mail address or something. Obviously plans have got to be underway for a new port. I'll be very dissappointed if we don't find something soon.

Hi Symon, Welcome aboard!

Windermere,

I see you are from Washington, me too (Puyallup). It is so nice to be able to drive and not worry about airfare, late flights, etc.

Good Morning, Heard from my TA she said we are still going to Campbell River. She also said that Cruise lines have been known to change ports during the cruise too. She felt when the Alaska sailing season starts (May) we could at that time get updated info on any port changes? How is that ??????? I guess we will all be in a wait & see mode.

I never did get a response back from the Grizzly bear tour. I also called and left a phone message too.

Hi Symon, Yep, I do live in Wa. I am lucky enough to live here in beautiful Port Angeles! Have a good day everyone.

Windermere: You asked about if we had signed up for the CCparty. I thought I had read they don't do them on less than a 7 night cruise? Were you able to sign up for one? Our group is all from Seattle, except for our daughter, who lives in Oregon.

Whatami: You brought up about e-mail address for top Celebrity person. I brought up the Campbell River situation on the Celebrity forum on this site and someone gave me the e-mail address. Look for it under "need advice from Celebrity experts." I have sent an e-mail and hoping for a reply.

Shall we guess what alternate plans they will come up with? I am hoping for Nanaimo or Ketchikan. Anyone else want to go on record with a guess?

Meant to say howdy to Symon also! Welcome to our little band!