Some BC Ferries passengers face seven-hour wait on Easter Monday

Some BC Ferries customers travelling without a reservation on Easter Monday will have to wait seven hours to get on a ship, and stormy weather forcing the cancellation of some sailings isn’t helping.

Several morning sailings between Horseshoe Bay and Nanaimo were cancelled due to bad weather, forcing people to line up for later sailings on the already jam-packed holiday weekend.

By 10 am, BC Ferries staff at Departure Bay were selling standby tickets for the 5:55 pm ferry, with all other sailings beforehand full.

#BCFHeadsUp #DepartureBay – #HorseshoeBay is now ticketing standby traffic for the 5:55pm sailing leaving Departure Bay:

10:40am – Full
12:00pm – Full
1:00pm – Full
3:45pm – Full
5:55pm – 28% currently available

Reserved traffic is moving normally. ^ab

— BC Ferries | Reconnecting BC (@BCFerries) April 18, 2022

It’s a similar story at Nanaimo’s Duke Point terminal, where people were lining up for the 5:45 pm sailing just after 9 am.

#BCFHeadsUp #DukePoint – #Tsawwassen is now ticketing standby traffic for the 5:45pm sailing leaving Duke Point:

10:15am – Full
12:45pm – Full
3:15pm – Full
5:45pm – 8% currently available

Reserved traffic is moving normally. ^ab

— BC Ferries | Reconnecting BC (@BCFerries) April 18, 2022

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Reservations are also maxed out for the Southern Gulf Islands ferry route, and BCFerries encouraged anyone without a booking to travel on Tuesday or go back to Vancouver via Swartz Bay near Victoria.

#BCFHeadsUp
Sailings from #SouthernGulfIslands – #Tsawwassen are fully booked today. If you’re travelling without a booking, we recommend booking in advance for travel on Tuesday or travelling on a Thrufare via Swartz Bay. ^ab

— BC Ferries | Reconnecting BC (@BCFerries) April 18, 2022

The situation was better on the Victoria to Tsawwassen route, with standby tickets still available for morning sailings.