BC Ferries is handing out free breakfasts, free after-dinner desserts and free blankets to passengers travelling between Port Hardy and Prince Rupert this summer, but nothing at all to passengers going to Skidegate.
Ferries spokesperson Deborah Marshall said the freebies are intended to make up for the loss of the Queen of the North, which usually served the Inside Passage route until it sank in March. Passengers on the route must now travel on the Queen of Prince Rupert, which is smaller, slower, older and shabbier than the QN was.
"We're trying our best to provide a high level of service for these passengers," she said.
Perks include free continental breakfasts, a complimentary coffee and dessert buffet in the evening, free blankets for passengers on overnight sailings, three dinner sittings, and barbecues out on the deck on sunny days (there is a charge for the barbecued food).
The Rupert-Skidegate route doesn't get any extras because the voyage is much shorter, and because the QPR is the regular ship for that trip.
Meanwhile, spaces on the Inside Passage route are almost completely booked up for the summer, Ms Marshall said. The Rupert-Skidegate route, by contrast, still has a lot of spaces available. With only one ferry serving both routes, BC Ferries has reduced the summer schedule to about half the regular number of sailings.