Category: Vancouver

Leaving Vancouver and Starting North

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We probably should have slept later. Explain the time change to me again please. Never mind, we’re up anyway, might as well get things started.

Showered and dressed it’s off to breakfast. We said “pass” to the $45 buffet and walked the 5 minutes to McDonalds. Although you don’t get much cash back from a $20 any more the coffee’s not bad and the egg McMuffin is more breakfast than we usually have. Back to the hotel room to discover our two large suitcases had been taken away, hopefully, to be next seen in our stateroom. As we returned from breakfast we visited the Princess cruises representative at the hotel and learned that she was planning to escort all interested cruisers across to the terminal round 11 AM but assured us that we could go earlier should we choose.

It was a gorgeous, sunny morning so we walked across to Canada Place which houses a hotel, convention centre, many other businesses and the cruise ship terminal. On both east and west sides of Canada Place are the cruise ship berths. Today, Crown Princess occupies the western berth and Celebrity Millennium occupies the eastern berth. 

Being as shy as I am, you all know that, I only talked to anyone who would stop to talk and as a consequence we found a group of five South African women. As the conversation developed we learned they were very serious about fishing and were on a fly fishing expedition in the Kamloops area. We chatted for a long time and I introduced them to the Lions (check them out in a photo). They said they would return to watch our departure. Later, as we sailed away we saw them on the pier waiving to us. We hope their fishing trip goes well.

On our walk about we discovered where we needed to go to check in and board our ship. Which we did after returning to the hotel to checkout. We spent a while in the hotel lobby, after checking out, chatting with an Australian couple from Melbourne. We chatted about some of our experiences while visiting Melbourne.

This time we decided it was time to see if we could board the ship. Along the west side of Canada Place there was an entrance leading to the boarding registration hall. From here on it is one long snake of would be passengers. First stop we pick up our Medallions, an electronic ID tag, and because of all the pre-registration there was little else to do at that stop. As the serpentine path continues, directed by pillars connected by nylon tapes, we eventually find ourselves at a security check point. Once clear of that we are faced with an array of self checkin machines for US Customs and Border Security. The biggest problem was getting the machines to scan our passports. Once done we receive a printed receipt to take to a staffed post where the officer simply collected our receipts and directed us through a door which lead to a lounge area where no-one waited. We were quickly into a fast moving line taking us onto the ship where the final step was a brief stop where we presented our Medallion and a crew member verified our photos. 

Our staterooms were accessible but we were asked to drop any luggage in our rooms then depart to the ship’s common areas. I believe we found lunch, after a walk around, eventually returning to the room. After a little more familiarization with our ship we returned to our room to discover our luggage had arrived. I had been following the AIrTag’s progress so I knew they were nearby. Now, quickly, unpack before we start to move. Just after 4:30 we began to move and soon thereafter we were under the Lions Gate Bridge and out into English Bay.

Since we now carry an electronic tag with us, rather than a plastic credit card look alike, it the key to our stateroom and is the key to all other purchasing and reserving while aboard. It is linked to a smartphone app with which one i supposed to be able to do all manner of amazing things. As it turns out, things are far from perfect, shocking, I know. It will all work out.

There was an event scheduled for 5 pm, recorded ballroom dance music. We attended only to find that whomever created the DVD knew little or nothing about ballroom dance. Among my observations from the first four tracks were: a viennese waltz that played out for five minutes; a seven minute tango; a bolero (Lady in Red) announced as a waltz; followed by a quickstep that promised to be four or five minutes long. It seemed to me that program would challenge the stamina of a seasoned pro and not appropriate for most likely to be on the ship. Later in the evening I composed a “shittygram” and asked a customer service rep to deliver it to the Cruise Director. We’ll check back in a day or so to see if there is any change.

The new format is supposed to allow cruisers with and without reservations to access any of the three main dining rooms and I suppose it does. We went as guests without reservations and got the feeling that there was much chaos among the dining room reception crew. We did get seated as a seventh and eighth joining a group of six who had reserved. The result turned out great. We were a table of eight Canadians with much in common. 

Subsequently, I tried getting dining room reservations only to receive a “No Reservations Available” message for the next several days. The next morning I was able to get reservations for two more days. Interesting.

There was music in most of the venues and we managed a few adventures on the floor with a very good guitarist so all was not lost. It seems as if there will be two or three groups worth listening to this trip. As we were ending our evening we found ourselves again chatting with another Australian couple whom we will join for dinner on the 19th.

On to the next day where it seems that our itinerary is being modified to accommodate weather conditions. We’ll just have to wait to see how that works out.

Augustine of Hippo

The world is a book and those who do not travel read only one page.

Burlington to Vancouver

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A not to those receiving posts by email. Remember, only the first few lines of the post are sent. Click through to view the full post. The last thing in each post is a quoted saying.

Alarm set for 6 AM. No need. Awake by 5:45. Shower, quick breakfast then out the door. Traffic to the airport was not bad at all. Then it started. The Park N Fly app would not allow me to properly set the colour of my car, nor would it let the staff correct it. Guess what, we revert to paper.

On the Park N Fly shuttle, the luggage rack failed to immobilize the suitcases. With every left turn most of the largest suitcases started to roll across the bus. In the terminal we got our luggage tags with only a small re-education on the electronic checkin system. Now to the security gate.

We are Nexus card holders and we received repeated notification that as a result we would receive Trusted Traveller treatment, meaning leave everything in our carry on bags and walk on through. As we arrived at the gate B entrance with the Trusted Traveller line, it was closed and we were redirected to the next gate entrance 500 metres away which, I discovered, did not have Trusted Traveller access. So I spent the next twenty minutes separating electronics devices and helping the security personnel find a corkscrew and small knife in my carry on baggage, all of which were within their acceptable limits.

It must be nearly a kilometre from the security position we used and the gate assigned for our departure. Fortunately, about half way, we found a Tim Hortons so we stopped for a complete breakfast. The staff there was great and I had a lot of fun with them while waiting for our order. Interestingly, this location did not participate in the Tim points program or allow the use of the Tim’s app for payment.

We carried our coffee away after the food was finished, to continue to gate B19 only to discover it was beyond a large glass door. There was no urgency so we waited outside the door. As it turned out, the gate area was being used for international flights until near 10 AM. Indeed, just around 10 AM the glass for opened. While we waited for the door we saw a parade of workers move in and out of the area secured by the big glass door through an entrance requiring an ID badge or door key code. Apparently, the security system wanted the door to close between each worker entering or exiting. However, whenever there were two or more workers in a group they ignored the 0ne-at-a-time protocol which resulted in 30 seconds of unmusical entertainment as the 160 decibel klaxon announced the violation.

The wait for the plane was uneventful as was the boarding, except, of course for overhead luggage space. I think travellers near the back of the plane deposit their bags near the front, for convenience on de-boarding (my word). With help from a flight attendant we compressed enough of the existing luggage to allow for ours. Yippie!!

Airline food is not what-it-used-to-be. Perhaps it never was but the Mac and Cheese pictured on the menu   bore absolutely no resemblance to what arrived. Gail, bless her heart, gave it a try but she eventually gave up and in the end received a refund of her purchase.

Now that is out of the way, it was a great flight. We took flight a few minutes early, cruised peacefully at 40,000 feet with virtually no turbulence and landed a bit early too. As we deplaned I checked my AirTags and discovered both suitcases had arrived with us. They were also among the first on the carousel. A Princess cruise representative met us on the ramp and presented us with a prepaid taxi voucher. We were in the taxi within about 10 minutes of retrieving our baggage. 

The cab ride into the city was a bit intense, if you were paying attention. There are no highways that pass through Vancouver. There are several north-south streets that carry the rather considerable load. we were on Granville Street. Traffic is stop and go and the driver was skilled at weaving in and out of traffic. 

We checked into the Fairwood Waterfront and after we settled in Gail phoned her niece, Karin, and made arrangements to meet her and her daughter, Brianna, at the White Spot about a10 minute walk from our hotel. We updated our respective lives since our last meeting then we said our goodbyes and we returned to the hotel.

Tomorrow we board the Crown Princess.

Roseanne Barr

Men read maps better than women because only men can understand the concept of an inch equaling a hundred miles.

Jasper to Kamloops to Vancouver

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I suppose this is the beginning of our trip home. I must confess that this trip was far more arduous than expected. Yes, we had to arise early but I rarely sleep until 7 AM and there was nothing preventing retiring early. Once on the train we were not confined to our seats and we could walk the length of the car at any time plus there was a small outside area at one end of the car referred to as the vestibule which was a place to get fresh air and take photos without glass between the camera and the subject. Apparently, this regimen is tiring perhaps fatiguing is the better word.

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Sea to Sky Highway-By Rail

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It was a very early start for us today so we would be all packed up for a 06:10 luggage pickup and a 06:50 bus pickup and everything was pretty close to on time. After a bit of chatter from our guide and we were on the way to the CN rail yard in North Vancouver. Using this start point eliminates an hour of travel from the downtown terminal around most of Burrard Inlet. The map below shows the approximate track we followed. The scenery was spectacular and you may get some impression from the day’s photos. I say impression because, as usual, photos hardly do scenery justice.

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