Well, today begins the "legendary" Tales of the South Pacific, as these longer cruises are now described. This 56- day journey will take us to warmer climates and a most beautiful piece of paradise. We will definitely welcome the warmer temperatures, even if it comes with a few tropical showers.
The Volendam was docked at Canada Place, Vancouver at 6:30am about the same time we awoke. Breakfast was early, also at 6:30am, but we arrived closer to 7am. It was very sad to say goodbye to Endrian, the manager, as he will be leaving for home in Indonesia. His flight was at 1am, and it will take him up to 24 hours to get home. We could tell he was happy as a clam.
If all went according to the plan regarding the room change, we should still have a few hours to enjoy Vancouver, especially since it is our final stop here. Yesterday we packed most everything we could fit in the four suitcases and left the clothes hanging in the closets. The housekeeping crew came at 9am and quickly loaded a trolley with our stuff to take to deck six. They even took the small refrigerator because we asked to keep it and also the tower fan. We followed with our valuables, stashed it away, and left the room just as the announcement came for everyone to leave the ship for the zero clearance. Perfect timing. Stopping at the front desk, we asked about our new keys and were told they would be delivered to our room mail slot by the time we got back. Fine, that will work.
So we left the ship at 9:30am with our passports, old room keys, and the intransit cards to show anyone who asked. We ran into Sarah Coles once again, and she reminded us to be sure to go through the customs check on the way back. We promised to never miss that step ever again.
The weather today was overcast and rainy. By the time we went outside, the rain had begun to let up. It was cool, but not really cold. This is the first time in three weeks that the waterfront was not busy with runners, bikers, and tourists. We learned one thing…..do not walk in the designated bike lane. They take their right-of-way quite seriously, maybe not quite as bad as in Amsterdam, but pretty close. We figured the wet weather kept the locals inside until later. We were correct. While we are on the subject of locals, we must comment on the pride they all take in keeping their city clean. Sadly, we cannot say the same for San Francisco where we come from. They are doing something right here. Following our usual route, we walked the waterfront all the way to Stanley Park and the kiosk there. The horse-drawn carriage ride was still being offered. Before they left, we did have a chance to pet one of the horses. A young gal was preparing them for the next 1 hour tour, and the carriage was filling with young families with kids. Knowing that we needed to make it to the restaurant by noontime, we had to head back and not venture any further.
Lunch was at the Steamworks Brewery once again. We have decided that their Hawaiian pizza is the winning choice, and two Lions Head Lagers would be the perfect drink. We did add a dessert of the apple galette, since it is so good. We would need the extra energy to unpack again when we get back. Around 1:30pm, we started back, hoping that the majority of folks would be gone and the new guests already boarded. We did complete the journey back correctly, stopping at the kiosks and scanning the passports. Truthfully, there was no one directing the folks once again, but we followed the arrows and got it right. There were several guests going through here and that included up to 3200 Sapphire Princess guests that were boarding their vessel as well. We learned at dinnertime, that our ship only has 700 guests doing this 5- day sailing down to San Diego. That is less than half of the 1718 people that the ship can house.
When we arrived to our new room, there were no keys in the mail slot. However, we met our new room attendant, Anom, who let us inside. He said he would check to see what happened to our keys. In the meantime, we called the front desk, and were informed that someone would deliver them as they were not printed yet. Oh well, we needed to unpack, and set up our room, pretty much the same as a regular boarding day. It took us until 4pm to get 99% organized. We could not leave the room to go to the sail away or else we would be locked out. Finally, Jennifer arrived with new keys in hand……but they did not work. She admitted they had just installed a new printer and they were having problems. Within 10 minutes, another girl had keys that did work. We were free to roam, but way too tired to go anywhere. We just watched the sailing out of the harbor going under the Lions Head Bridge from our veranda. The rain had begun to fall lightly, so we did not miss anything at the aft pool gathering. By the way, we are really going to like this new room with the balcony. It will be much more useful with the soon-to-be warmer weather.
The ship left at 4pm, and we are heading around the bottom of Vancouver Island, where we began getting blocked signals for the TV reception. The internet was working, but that was cutting in and out as well. We sure hope the signal is as good as it was on deck one. It certainly is improved with the new system installed.
Dinnertime came quickly, and we headed to the dining room, one floor down. Convenient location, we are about in the middle of the ship now. We were hoping to see friends Bill & Leta at their usual table on deck four, but we did not see them yet. We ordered very tasty and hot chicken tenders, one Caesar salad, and a bowl of room service chicken noodle soup. The soup came piping hot. One of us might have to order that more often. Mains were one chicken dinner and one pork tenderloin with lingonberries….really good. The maitre'd and the food and beverage manager stopped for a visit, and that's when we learned there were only 700 guests. Both levels of the dining room were half full. Better for us, since our waiters can be more relaxed for 5 days. Then we will have a full ship after San Diego when the cruise officially begins. We were close to ordering a light dessert, when Leta, our good friend appeared at our table. She and husband Bill were seated on the opposite side of the upper dining room against a window. They spotted us, and Leta came by for big hugs. So nice to see they are back cruising….it has been 3 ½ years since we last saw them, and that was when the 2020 world cruise was halted in its tracks. She visited for a few minutes then went back to her table. When we finished dinner, we briefly stopped to say hi to Bill and promised we will have 56 days to catch up on all of the news.
There was no live show this evening, but the Origin Story of HAL's 150 years was shown once again. One interesting thing we noticed was that the Casino was advertised as being open all night for slot machines and electronic table games. Is it possible that there are some last-minute stand-by guests that got on the ship with their deeply-reduced casino deal? We will have to make a trip through the casino tomorrow and check out how busy they are.
Going to sleep like babies tonight….
Bill & Mary Ann
