Booze cruise: Here's how much beer will cost on board BC Ferries

From now on, when you set sail on a major BC Ferries route, you can take in the views with a glass of wine (or two).

This comes after it successfully piloted a wine and beer service at its Pacific Buffet for five months without incident back in October 2019.

“We’ve heard from many passengers that they would like to enjoy an alcoholic beverage with their meal while on board,” the website reads. “We are adding alcoholic beverages to the menu in select Coastal Cafes as a way to improve the customer experience.”

While we would like to cheers to the move, the company brought it in quietly.

On November 9, the Coastal Cafe menu was expanded to include BC beer, wine, cider and refreshment beverages on ferries sailing between Vancouver (Tsawwassen) and Victoria (Swartz Bay).

This is just the start, BC Ferries added.

“In the coming months, alcoholic beverages will be available on ferries sailing between Vancouver (Tsawwassen) – Nanaimo (Duke Point) and Vancouver (Horseshoe Bay) – Nanaimo (Departure Bay).”

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Alcohol will only be served to customers older than 19 with a valid ID and who are purchasing a drink with a meal. There will also be a two-drink limit per person.

Here is a breakdown of the price range for drinks:

• A 12-ounce glass of cider costs about $7.49 plus tax,
• A 12-ounce refreshment beverage costs about $7.49 plus tax,
• A 8.5-ounce (250ml) glass of wine costs about $13.99 plus tax,
• A 12-ounce (355ml) glass of beer ranges from $6.99 plus tax to $7.99 plus tax.

Liquor will be sold on sailings between 11 am and 11:30 pm, seven days a week.

However, the service cut-off time is 30 minutes before the vessel docks.

Meanwhile, earlier this month BC Ferries decided to axe online food ordering.

The service was initially launched to as a trial on the Spirit of British Columbia and the Spirit of Vancouver Island with plans to improve it if the company decided to expand the option for customers.

However, online ordering did not meet BC Ferries’ exceptions.

“We expected online food ordering to improve our customers’ experience by reducing crowding and line-ups and for the cafeteria,” it said. “Also, only a small number of customers per sailing used the system and so there wasn’t a significant change in the queues to the cafeteria.”

“The online order system complicates order fulfillment in the kitchen, so removing it will allow staff to focus on filling orders for customers ordering in person,” BC Ferries added.