Our adventure began quite early this morning with a pick-up with our driver to SFO for a flight to Vancouver leaving at 6:35am. We had been advised that we needed to be at the airport three hours ahead of the flight because it was international. However, there were no agents at the Air Canada desk. We waited until 4:30am before a trio of agents arrived. No explanation, no excuses. Of course, leaving so early, we ran into very little traffic, arriving to the airport within an hour. Record time.
Having business class seats, we were allowed to bring 2 pieces of luggage each weighing up to 70 pounds for free. However, we had shipped four bags and only checked in one bag weighing 71 pounds. Oops, our scale must have been off a tad, but the agent let it go labeling it "heavy".
We also had the chance to utilize their lounge, but since it did not open until 5am, we just went to the gate and relaxed for an hour. Shortly before boarding, we were surprised by a dog patrol and the handler who checked us all sitting at the gate. Before she began her search, she warned everyone that the dog might eat their snacks. This time the dog was a shorthair retriever and quite well behaved. We also noticed that there were two security guards standing close by in case they were needed. We have to say that in all of our travels, we have never seen the dog search done at the gates. By the way, everyone on our flight passed the inspection.
The flight was quick in a small express jet, which was full. Many guests had to turn over their carry-on luggage since it did not fit in the overhead bins. We were lucky sitting in the front seats because they took our things and put them in a locker. We were told that the wifi was not working, and we could hear the moans and groans from the rest of the passengers. And with a jet of this size, there were no TV's. Had the wifi been working, we could have watched free movies on our personal devices. By the time we taxied down the runway, we were fighting to stay awake. Then we were served a full breakfast, which was pancakes with chopped apples, sliced orange sections with grapes, and a sweet roll with jam and butter. Orange juice and coffee made a nice meal. Better than a tiny bag of pretzels for a change.
We landed in Vancouver before 9am, then walked for miles to the immigrations checkpoint. At a kiosk, we scanned our passports, answered a series of questions, had a photo taken, then a coupon was issued to hand off before we left the baggage area. The carts for lugging our stuff were free, which helped with the heavy one. It was here that an HAL /Princess agent directed us to their desk. They checked us off their list for our transfer, took our bag, and pointed out the bus stop outside the building. We waited until 10am before a coach arrived, picking up a mix of guests for the Island Princess and the Zaandam.
Traffic was stop and go all the way to the pier, so it took all of an hour to arrive at Canada Place and the cruise terminal. The driver was quite the comedian, entertaining us with local stories all the way to the pier. To our surprise, there was a third ship docked where the HAL ships usually dock. It was the Serenade of the Seas, Royal Caribbean. All of us had to enter a door in the garage area where we showed our boarding passes and went through the xray checkpoint. Princess agents were set up checking in all of their guests. The HAL folks went to a different set of agents. For some unknown reason, we were held up there as they indicated there was a problem with one of our passports. A couple of head agents came to figure it out, then we were taken to another desk where the lady remembered us from last year. Wow, what a good memory. That's when we realized we had been "red-flagged" as President's Club members and they were sending an escort from the ship to expedite our way around the waiting crowd. Somehow, we avoided the zig-zag line and went straight to the face-to-face camera recognition. From there, we followed the HAL sign and boarded the ship.
We were greeted at the entrance by the General Hotel Manager, Darren Lewis, who remembered us from the last three fall cruises. He welcomed us back and led us to the elevator where Maria, our personal concierge officer escorted us to our room. Some of the amenities were there, but not all of them. The head housekeeper appeared and promised to get all of our requests done. We met our room steward, Pande, who followed through with most everything. Later on, Chandra, his assistant, delivered the shipped luggage, which we were afraid we might not see. The bag that we brought on the plane had all of our liquid toiletries, which could not be shipped internationally. Canada is very strict about what's in the luggage, so we had no choice. It did take some time unpacking all of it, so getting the other luggage later worked out better. To help stash it all, Pande brought us three sets of plastic drawers, smaller than the ones we had on the Volendam.
From there on, the rest of the afternoon was filled with multiple visits from the head housekeeper, the beverage staff, and our room attendants....all making sure we had everything we needed. We had two breaks - one with attending the mandatory emergency muster station (easy peasy) because we were leaving the port one hour ahead of the original schedule. Captain Willems came on the speakers urging the guests to scan their cards or else we could not leave. Sailaway was planned for 1:30pm, however we were delayed about ½ hour. And by the time of departure, the heavily cloudy skies turned to a light drizzle. Our second break was during sailaway when we opted to pop open the gifted HAL bottle of chilled sparkling wine and view the sailing out of Vancouver's harbor from our veranda. To be honest, one of us does not remember too many details after we polished off the entire bottle. One of the items we noticed missing were the trays of canopies and chocolate covered strawberries. But perhaps that came on the Legendary Tales of the South Pacific sailing. At 2pm, we missed the Mariner reception in the Crow's Nest, but there will be another one next cruise. Hard to do it all.
Around 4pm, we made our way to the Dive-In Grill for one hot dog and a Cannonball burger with fries. We had missed lunch time, and knew dinner would not be until 7:30pm....too long to wait. It was quite good and relaxing sitting by the Lido pool. On our way back to the room, we both thought about Ronald, our favorite Lido manager. Lo and behold, there he was walking right towards us, and laughing all the way. ESP? So nice to see friendly staff, and Ronald is one of the best. He told us Mehgan was the Pinnacle Grill manager, another familiar really nice fellow we recalled. Nice to see many staff members who delight in making us feel at home. They are good at their jobs. Another chance meeting was with Pulong, the Maitre'd of the dining room. It has been years since we sailed with him as a head waiter, but he still remembered our names. Incredible. He promised to visit more with us at dinnertime....and he did.
We could have skipped dinner, but we knew some of the staff were expecting us. Our waiters were Kadek and Yudah, new to us, but very accommodating. Sitting on the railing in the upper dining room at table # 37 ( a new number), we had a surprise visit from Jacques, the Sommelier from most all of the world voyages. What a surprise to see him since the last time we sailed together was on the Zuiderdam in 2025, where he stayed since then. Now he goes wherever they send him, happy to be working. He has done this job for 20 years now and intends to stay with the company. Anyway our meal consisted of Caesar salads, one roll, and pork medallions with double lingonberry sauces. One of us opted for sliced watermelon for dessert and it was so good.
What we did not expect was more excitement when a lady sitting behind us had a problem like choking we assumed. OMG....within minutes the staff was there to help with the medical staff on the way. Even two nearby hefty Australian passengers ran to her table to help. We figured they might have been EMT's. Well two nurses arrived with all the necessary equipment but it was not needed, thank goodness. The nurses stayed for a while and checked her vitals, then left after she reassured them she was fine. Something had been stuck in her throat but passed eventually. OK...enough excitement for one day. It was time to turn in for the evening.
There was one preview show with the World Stage Cast at 8:30pm. Been there, done that. Shelly on Guitar was in the Ocean Bar, Marcel on the piano in the Piano Bar, The Dam Band later in the Ocean Bar, and Vivace strings tomorrow in the Explorer's Lounge.
Typing until 10pm produced more mistakes than needed. Time to quit for the night for much needed sleep. Until tomorrow.....good evening.
Bill & Mary Ann
