Princess Cruises’ Star Princess arrived at Canada Place at 1:45 a.m. on Sept. 27 and left at 1 a.m. on Sept. 28, surpassing previous Vancouver records for size.
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Canada Place’s cruise ship terminal in Downtown Vancouver welcomed Star Princess as the largest ship ever to visit the city, the Vancouver Fraser Port Authority confirmed.
The Princess Cruises vessel arrived at 1:45 a.m. on Sunday, Sept. 27, and departed at 1 a.m. on Monday, Sept. 28. Its timing was coordinated with low tide to allow the ship to clear the Lions Gate Bridge safely.
Star Princess has a gross tonnage (GT) of 177,882, topping Vancouver’s previous record-holders: the Norwegian Encore at 169,116 GT and the Norwegian Bliss at 168,028 GT.
Star Princess is 1,133 ft. (345 metres) long and 155 ft. (47 metres) wide, with 20 decks and capacity for 4,300 passengers and more than 1,500 crew members.
After leaving Vancouver, Star Princess stopped in Victoria before continuing to San Francisco, Los Angeles, Cabo San Lucas, Mazatlán and the Panama Canal.
The Vancouver 2026 cruise season began Feb. 26 with the early arrival of Disney Wonder, and the port authority has projected it would be the busiest on record by passenger volume. More than 1.4 million passengers are expected in 2026, surpassing 1.32 million in 2023 and rising from 1.2 million in 2025.
Between May and September, Canada Place handled nearly 40,000 to 50,000 passengers each weekend, with up to 56,000 on the busiest weekends. An all-time monthly record of 290,000 passengers was set in July 2026.
The port authority also projected nearly 360 cruise ship visits to Canada Place in 2026. After Star Princess, five more cruise ship visits are scheduled before the season officially ends Tuesday, Oct. 13, with the departure of Norwegian Encore.
Norwegian Joy, at 167,725 GT, is set to visit Vancouver on Thursday, Oct. 1.
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