INSIDE PASSAGE & VANCOUVER

THURSDAY, JUNE 27 - Just Passing Through

This was the best of all worlds. The relaxation of a sea day and beautiful scenery outside our balcony.

We attended the Captain's Corner talk this afternoon, which was very informative, and quite entertaining as well. Captain Sindre Borsheim has a wicked sense of humor. He told us we were quite fortunate to be passing through the Seymour Narrows during daylight. Because of the tides, large ships can only pass through here every six hours.

The pilot boat had dropped off a pilot on our ship, then went to drop another off on the Amsterdam:

We came out on deck after dinner to find this eerie landscape, with fingers of fog interlaced in the mountains, and even a rainbow off the starboard bow.

The narrows themselves were tranquil and ghostly.

It was a bittersweet and beautiful last night on our balcony. In the morning we would be pulling into Vancouver for a day of exploring before heading for home the following day.

FRIDAY, JUNE 28 - Snapshot of a City

By the time we were pulling into Vancouver the sun was again shining, but there were still some areas of low fog.

The sulfur piles:

Beautiful city and port!

I had debated for months about what hotel to choose for our night in Vancouver before flying home Saturday. I looked at the Blue Horizon, Westin Bayshore, Hampton Inn, and several others; but I kept coming back to the Pan Pacific. It was just SO much money for a place to sleep. But then I was tooling around on our credit card site and realize I had enough points to score a room for just a small supplemental payment. Score!

We had requested a late disembark time, to allow for a relaxed morning. We were assigned #81, scheduled for 9:10. We watched our arrival to Canada Place from our balcony, then finished packing up what we had left, and went to the Windjammer for breakfast a little before 8. The WJ was crowded, but we easily found a seat within Izumi.

Disembarkation was easy. We went to the theater about 9:00, and our number was called at 9:20. The line wasn't bad, and soon we heard the dreaded final "bong" as our seapass cards were used for the last time.

We turned in our customs forms and easily found our luggage. The elevator to the Pan Pacific lobby was at the end of the ground transportation area, past the tour buses. There was a bellman there who stopped us and said if we were checking in we should leave our luggage with him, because "there isn't any room in the lobby for them to store luggage." We told him we wanted to check if our room might be ready; he resisted a little, saying the chance of that was slim. We thanked him but told him we'd take our chances, and bring the bags back if we couldn't check in. Yeah, right.

A very friendly checkin agent gave us the good news that our room WAS ready, a ninth floor harbor view room, absolutely beautiful.

Rather like Anchorage, I had done some research about Vancouver but had no final plans in place. I knew one day was enough time to get only a glimpse of the city, but that was okay. 

My first priority was the Capilano Suspension Bridge. We unpacked and put a few things in a backpack for touring around, then went down to get some advice from the concierge in the lobby. She was terrific, asking us a few questions and giving some great advice. I had heard decidedly mixed reviews on the hop-on, hop-off tours, mostly because of possible long and crowded waits for the next bus. So we decided to use the free shuttle to Capilano, which picks up right outside the Pan Pacific. We bought our tickets for Capilano directly from the concierge for $36 each. 

The bus runs every 15 minutes, and there was one waiting when we came out. The driver acted as tour guide on our way out to Capilano, showing us this doorway which has been used in movies and as the door to the Daily Planet on "Smallville." 

Capilano was crowded, but we still enjoyed it very much. Since we had purchased tickets ahead of time, we used the express lane and were soon exploring. We crossed the bridge and then wandered the trails and the treetops adventure. Beautiful!

You can pretend you are an ewok!

Nice live traditional music

We came back over the bridge after an hour or so and got some burgers at the Loggers' Grill, quite tasty. Then we got in line for the Cliffwalk. They limit the number out there (which is good), so it was about a 15 minute wait for our turn. While we were waiting, we read the placards describing the engineering that went into it. Fascinating stuff. 

We went out to catch the shuttle back into the city and didn't have to wait long. The shuttle stops at quite a few hotels, so we decided to get off at the Blue Horizon to walk down Robson Street. Interesting, but as I have mentioned, we are not big shoppers, so we just enjoyed the big city vibe. We liked the Coliseum look to the library:

We worked our way to Chinatown, which was fascinating. Definitely a vibrant district.

It is only a few blocks from Chinatown to Gastown, the trendy dining district, but those few blocks are a bit, well, shady. I wouldn't advise it at night or alone. But Gastown was beautiful:

"Gassy Jack"

The Gastown Steam Clock

Gastown has a great vibe, and we rewarded ourselves for all that walking with the best ice cream bar I have ever put in my mouth (and I've had more Mickey bars than I can count, so that's saying something) -- a Rogers' Chocolates Dark Chocolate Almond Brittle. To. Die. For.

Even with that energy boost, we were running out of steam, so we decided to head back to the hotel for a bit to relax before deciding where to go for dinner. Of course we had to pass the Radiance at the pier, and I could not resist a peek to see if someone ELSE was using OUR balcony. Not yet.

From our room we were able to watch her sail away, hopefully giving another group of passengers an amazing vacation:

Floatplane pilot playing chicken with Radiance:

We didn't want to go far for dinner, so we chose Rogue, in the nearby Waterfront building, just a short walk from the hotel. I was able to make a reservation with my Open Table app. It was fun and very good, a great final vacation dinner.

We enjoyed our glimpse of Vancouver very much and would love to return some day, to see Stanley Park and all the other things we missed.

SATURDAY, JUNE 29 - All Good Things...

Our flight was scheduled for 11:20, so we relaxed and enjoyed a delicious buffet breakfast (included in our rate) in the beautiful restaurant in the hotel lobby. Then we finished packing and headed around the corner to the Waterfront station for the Canada Line Skytrain to take us to YVR. What a great deal, only $2.75 per person for a smooth, very clean, and comfortable ride right to the airport. (Weekdays it is a 2-zone ticket, so twice that amount, but still a steal.) You never actually scan your ticket, the gates are open. We were told it's on the honor system for now, but they will be starting ticket scans in the fall. With only a backpack and one rolling suitcase each, we were easily able to maneuver down the escalators and on and off the trains. As long as you can do that, I would highly recommend the Skytrain directly from a cruise to the airport any time. If the train is crowded it might be more difficult, but we had plenty of space.

It's about a 25 minute ride to the airport, and everything is clearly marked. We followed the signs to US departures and checked in at Delta. Keep the passport out -- that and/or the boarding pass were checked  or scanned at the kiosk, at the desk, at the baggage drop off, at security, at customs, and at the boarding gate. I'm not complaining, I like being safe. Customs was easy, no lines anywhere, and an automated kiosk where you scan your passport, answer some questions, and have your photo taken; and it prints out a receipt to take to the agent. Two ships had arrived in port that morning, so if we had been an hour later the lines might have been bad. 

Bye, Vancouver!

It was a typical travel day. We had about a 45 minute delay leaving Vancouver, but we made our connection in Detroit and were home by about 10:30 pm Ohio time. As nice as it was to see our daughter and the dog, wow, did we miss mountains and glaciers and our wonderful balcony from which to marvel at it all. 

I guess we will just have to return someday.

LINKS INCLUDED ON THIS PAGE

Blue Horizon Hotel

Westin Bayshore

Hampton Inn Vancouver

Pan Pacific Hotel

Vancouver Central Library

Vancouver Chinatown

Gastown

Gassy Jack Deighton

Gastown Steam Clock

Rogers' Chocolates

Rogue Kitchen & Wetbar

Canada Line Skytrain