BC Ferries' Sonia - Soon-To-Be Northern Adventure

BC Ferry Sonia arriving at Esquimalt near Victoria from Greece before being converted and renamed Northern Adventure. Taking 2 years to build in Greece and touted as only being 2 years old, based on the launch date, the M.V. Sonia had only sailed the warmer waters of the Mediterranean and Caribbean before being bought by BCFS to fill the void left by the sinking of the Queen of the North. The powers that be will tell you that the M.V. Sonia is the replacement for the Queen of the North, while the fact remains that she is destined to actually replace the Queen of Prince Rupert between Prince Rupert and Haida Gwaii / the Queen Charlotte Islands. Despite winning a provincial election partly based on the promise of 3 newly built vessels to replace the current ageing northern fleet, the "Liberal" party of BC used the opportunity of the sinking of our former flagship, the Queen of the North, to pawn off this, although not undesirable, former 'party boat' built by a Greek shipyard with a checkered past.

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• sonia
• northern
• adventure
• northern-adventure
• bcferries
• bc-ferries
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• bc-ferry

[rtel123]

I also dislike the Liberals, but to be fair, the promise of 3 new vessels would have been kept, except for the sudden urgency of a replacement.

"Pawn off" is an unfair expression. The southern routes pay their own way with fares. The northern routes are heavily subsidized, so they are lucky to get a two year old vessel at OUR expense.

I was amused at discovering that the Sonia was retired from the Trinidad-Tobago route and replaced by a FAST CAT. Maybe we could have swapped?

[indyinsane]

Opinions are subjective and can be unfair. What if we didn't allow our media to editorialize? I got people talking atleast, didn't I?

[SparwoodApple]

Swapping may have been an idea, but I am more than sure that Trinidad-Tobago would require the fast cat to work.....something which we are not able to deliver on.......lol

[indyinsane]

Agreed, though I say scream and don't accept it ;) hence my exaggerated description; I'm glad that it served its purpose, even getting someone to call me a wanker over it thereby triggering even more discussion ;) :)

[cosast54]

Its the same every where , I say SCREAM and bear it ;-)

[indyinsane]

We'd love to, if only we didn't have a government that owns the monopoly. The Coastal Ferry Act does require our ferry system to look for alternate service providers, but at such unreasonable terms that it's next to impossible to make a profit and as such very few if any companies are willing to bid; those who bid in this case no doubt are in the pocket of the government and therefore only can create an appearance of competition.

[cosast54]

In that case do as we did in Greece , create a company and run your own ships.

After the disaster in '67 they had enough of unscrupelous ship owners and now we have fine companys like MINOAN, ANEK ,LANE etc.

[indyinsane]

Our problem is with the ship owner.

[rtel123]

The QPR is a vastly inferior ship to the larger QON. Google many pics on the net of both, to compare.

The Sonia was acquired quickly, as urgently needed, and cheaply, for the insurance value of the QON! BCF made the decision to make extravagant and unnecessary renovations, including a stupid change to make the only forward-view lounge into a children's play area!

Before and after reno's, it is a much more luxurious ship, although the outer profile does not have the classic beauty of the QON.

[NVanWendy]

Yeah, I don't quite get most of the potshots and gripes. If it's replacing Q of PR on the Haida Gwaii run, is the Q of PR an inferior vessel to the Q of the North it's replacing? (I'm asking; I don't know.)