Wednesday, May 21, 2014

Cruise is over - Vancouver arrival Saturday May 17, 2014

After a good sleep I awoke around 5:30AM and switched on the TV to see where we were - we were out in English Bay approaching the Lions Gate Bridge - so I quickly got dressed, grabbed the camera and headed up to flights to get a good position to watch us sail under the Bridge.

We cleared it and then in procession behind us were three more ships, in order they were Coral Princess, HAL Zuiderdam, HAL Amsterdam all of which docked a Canada Place while we tied up at Ballantyne Pier.

The weather was good - the temperature was pleasant and I enjoyed being up on deck and talking to many of those who were visiting Vancouver for the first and pointed out some of the sites to them.

Then it was back to the cabin - some final packing - as I am doing self-embarkation it was more of a matter to ensuring I wasn't leaving anything behind.

A breakfast and then to the Vista Lounge to await my disembarkation.

Rick and Anne who I am sharing a taxi with left me a note last night that there disembarkation time was 9:05 AM which co-incidentally was also my time - they are in the Crown Grill for there meeting place - I get Vista Lounge because I am Platinum but moved over to their location so we could leave together.

Unlike the mess in San Francisco this embarkation went well - in our favor there was no customs requirement as that had been met the previous day in Nanaimo.

I also noticed that things were moving faster than scheduled. We are both Walk off 09 and at 8:45 AM our group was called. Collected by luggage and walked with Rick and Anne off the ship and out to wait for a taxi.

This is where I thought there might be a challenge - with 4 ships in town and only so many taxis I expected a bit of a wait. Well it didn't happen - there were perhaps a half dozen people in front of us and each one was quickly pointed to a waiting taxi.

Fifteen minutes later we are at the Best Western Downtown - the original plan was to share the cost but Rick and Anne were so impressed with my tourist commentary on the short drive to the hotel that they wouldn't accept anything for the taxi ride - but I did insist on giving them a twoonie to show the grand kids what Canadian funny money looks like.

Actually the taxi fare was only $11.00 - might you we made just about every light on Powell, Richards and Drake so that sped up the trip.

Say my final goodbyes to them and walked the two short blocks to my condo.


The Coral Princess is behind is and here it is just starting under the Lions Gate Bridge.


Brockton Point from the ship.


Canada Place and downtown skyline.


Our disembarkation point - Ballantyne Pier.

In a following post I will review these two mini cruises - add a few more images and compare the two ships.

Cheers!