Nanaimo BC Vancouver Island Canada
34
Cruises availables
At departure or passage at this port
Azamara Club Cruises (17 Cruises)
Azamara Pursuit
12 Cruises
Crystal Cruises (3 Cruises)
Holland America Line (10 Cruises)
Frequently Asked Questions
At a dedicated cruise terminal, just over a kilometre from the shopping streets. A free shuttle usually serves the main points of interest during port calls.
Yes, it is about a fifteen-minute walk along the harbour, made pleasant by the Harbourfront Walkway. The free shuttle remains the easy option for anyone who would rather save their legs.
The Harbourfront Walkway, the Bastion and the Old City Quarter easily fill a morning, with a Nanaimo bar stop along the way. On a longer call, the ten-minute ferry to Saysutshun Island adds two to three hours of coastal trails.
A three-storey white wooden tower, octagonal and pierced with loopholes, built in 1853 by the Hudson's Bay Company to protect the young coal outpost. It is one of the few structures of its kind still standing in the country; in summer a daily noon cannon firing, preceded by bagpipes, draws a crowd.
A Canadian dessert born in the city: three no-bake layers of chocolate, custard and coconut. An official trail map, available at the visitor centre, lists the many places serving their own version.
Yes if you have at least three hours. The ferry takes ten minutes from downtown, and the car-free provincial park offers coastal forest trails, pebble beaches, resting seals and views of the snow-capped mainland peaks.
The Canadian dollar and English. Cards and contactless payment work everywhere, including at the fishermen's wharf; keep some cash for buying directly off the boats.
Yes. Maffeo Sutton Park and its swimming lagoon sit right on the waterfront walk, the floatplanes landing among the masts fascinate children, and the noon cannon at the Bastion never fails.
May through September, the Vancouver Island cruise season. It is also the only period when the Bastion's daily cannon firing takes place and when the fishermen's wharves are busiest.
Spot prawns and Dungeness crab, sold by fishermen at their wharves. Locals fill their coolers here on weekends, which tells you what you need to know about freshness.
