N環球 
Vancouver closes record cruise season: 1.4M passengers, $1B+ economic boost as Norwegian Encore arrives
Norwegian Encore reaches Canada Place at 2:30 a.m. Monday, ending Vancouver's busiest cruise season on record: 1.4 million passenger visits and 358 ship calls, up nearly 20% from 2025.
Why it matters
The Vancouver Fraser Port Authority announced on October 9 that the 2026 cruise season injected more than $1 billion into the local economy, making it the busiest season on record. Between February and October, the Canada Place cruise terminal handled about 1.4 million passenger visits and 358 cruise ship calls, up 18% and 19% respectively from 2025 (1.2 million passengers, 300 calls).
Season highlights
The season opened unusually early with the Disney Wonder on February 26, and July alone saw more than 290,000 passengers pass through the terminal, the most ever for a single month. Norwegian Cruise Line's Norwegian Encore, the final ship of the season, arrives at Canada Place at 2:30 a.m. on Monday, October 12, and departs 24 hours later. The port authority estimates each cruise ship call generates an average of $3 million in economic activity.
What's next
Work to expand shore power capacity at Canada Place is scheduled to start in the coming months, enabling more visiting cruise ships to plug in to B.C.'s low-carbon electrical grid while at berth. The expansion is expected to prevent an additional 3,300 tonnes of greenhouse gas emissions each cruise season, the equivalent of removing 770 gasoline-powered cars from the road every year. Jeff Scott, the port authority's vice president of operations and supply chain, said the cruise sector has become a key engine for local tourism and jobs.
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