Leaving Vancouver and Starting North

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.