No,I think Bournemouth Pier has been open ever since ..... there have been lots of smaller excursion boats operating over the years
It was closed to Waverley from last year on account of structural issues but has always been a thriving tourist attraction in the leisure sense of being a pier with lots of seaside entertainment
The latest attraction appears to have been a zip-wire and some have said that this would now get in the way of it ever reopening for a ship such as Waverley !
It also needs dredging. There is lots of sand in Bournemouth, which drifts and accumulates. Latterly Waverley had to miss calls on occasion depending on the state of the tide ...... and the state of the sea. If there was a reasonable swell, there was a big danger of her hitting bottom unless it was near high tide
My Dad was telling me that Bournemouth Pier used to have a jetty extension which ships of a similar size to Waverley used when he was a child so they could "dock" in Bournemouth more easily. This jetty is no longer there and hasn't been for decades now.
Since moving down to Bournemouth in 2011 we have never seen Waverley or a similar size ship go to the end of the pier as it is very shallow as you've mentioned (people swimming can still stand up a fair way out from the beach) - but we may have missed the times Waverley was there. We also used to holiday in Bournemouth when I was a young child (before going to school, so around the Millennium) and don't recall seeing the likes of Waverley near the pier but again may have missed her (somehow!). Smaller pleasure boats do still use the end of the pier however as you've also mentioned, as the one doing tours around the anchored HMS Diamond, at the air show this year, did.
It is a bit disconcerting that the end of the pier is still open given such structural issues. I have photos and videos I took from the end of the pier which show that the wooden structure has seen better days, but I thought that was more of a cosmetic problem! If Waverley does start visiting again that would be wonderful!