Northern Adventure sails into Prince Rupert Harbour

The official grand tour won’t take place until next Wednesday, but Rupertites were looking out into the harbour this morning for a glimpse of the latest addition to the BC Ferry Fleet, the Northern Adventure. (seenleft on its European vacation last year)

The vessel that will take up the route that the Queen of the North ran on until its tragic sinking last year, slipped quietly into Prince Rupert waters on a training run for its crew. Appearing anchored in the harbour in the mid morning period.

The Ferry Corporation plans an open house for Wednesday the 28th for Prince Rupert residents that wish to tour the vessel and see what the new ferry experience will look like.

The Daily News featured the Ferry Corporations proud papa moment with a front page article in Friday’s paper.

BC FERRIES WANTS WORLD TO HEAR ABOUT NEW VESSEL
By Leanne Ritchie
The Daily News
Friday, March 23, 2007
Pages one and three

As B.C. Ferries prepares to embark on a new season sailing the Inside Passage with the MV Northern Adventure, it is also ready to launch a new marketing campaign to rebuild traffic on the route.

Dan Wong, B.C. Ferries vice-president of marketing, described a plan to work with communities along the Inside Passage to provide quality regional service while also rebuilding the reputation of the scenic trip among travellers across the globe.

“When you have a new vessel, it’s quite a focal point,” said Wong of the vessel that pulled quietly into Prince Rupert Friday morning for the first time on a training exercise.

“The MV Northern Adventure can easily be described as ‘quite special’. It’s been redone in a way that is a modern and conducive for long travel voyages as any ship in the fleet.”

The new vessel officially arrives in Prince Rupert for an open house on Wednesday. People are invited to tour her from 2 to 5:30 p.m. at the Prince Rupert Terminal.

The Northern Adventure, formally the Sonia, was purchased last year by B.C. Ferries to replace the Queen of the North. It will allow the company to resume full service on both the Inside Passage and Queen Charlotte Islands this summer.

Some 1,500 people, not including dignitaries, came out last Saturday to look at the vessel during the open house in Vancouver.

“We were quite overwhelmed by the response,” said Wong.

The company needs to rebuild the passenger count on the northern routes. Following the sinking of the Queen of the North and reduced summer service in 2006, the passenger count on the Inside Passage dropped to 50 per cent of normal levels.

Part of B.C. Ferries’ plan includes working closely with its tourism partners to deliver the company’s message, said Wong.

“The message is that service to the North Coast of British Columbia is back in place and it’s bigger and better than it has ever been before.”

In addition, B.C. Ferries is working with a media specialist to promote the service and the new vessel in big European markets.

“In the summer season, those are the heart and soul of the tourist trade,” he said.

This includes inviting media for familiarization tours early in the season to experience what the Northern Adventure has to offer and attending early-season travel shows with partners such as Tourism Prince Rupert, the Northern B.C. Tourism Association and Tourism B.C.

On board the vessel, B.C. Ferries has some new features planned, including First Nations arts displays, lots of opportunities to promote northern communities and an onboard naturalist program to guide travellers through the amazing scenery and wildlife around them.