The Zaandam arrived to the port of Vancouver close to 6:30am, going under the famous Lions Gate Bridge at the same time the sun was rising. The weather was going to be just as pleasant as last week with temps in the high 60's, little winds, and 80% humidity. Early in the day, there was some sunshine, but it got more overcast as the day advanced. The good news was there was no rain in the forecast.
Breakfast for us was from 6:30am to 8:30am in the Pinnacle Grill, however, we were the only two customers until 7:30am when 2 couples arrived. Megan told us that most of the Neptune folks ordered room service instead. It was disembarkation day for most everyone.
We had been given specific instructions for leaving the ship today. Marie, our concierge, had remined us that we would need to be off of the ship by 9:30am and we believe today was a zero-clearance day when no one would be allowed on the ship until after 11am. We did have the option of staying onboard the ship and not going to town. If that was the case, we would have been escorted off to the shoreside inspection, then brought back onboard after 11am.
A long story short, we have not been sleeping well due to a very well-worn mattress. The egg crate pad has not helped the lumpy side of the bed at all. We finally reported it to our room steward, and he promised to look into added another pad, or changing the mattress. By 9am, we did leave the ship but one of us did not remember to bring the small camera. Now what? We had our cards scanned already and only went 20 feet down the ramp when we recalled leaving it behind. Explaining this to the security guard, he took a detailed description of where the camera could be located in our room. Another security officer must have recognized us and gave us permission to go back on the ship to retrieve the camera ourselves. A first time for everything, we will not make this mistake again.
So with our "in transit" cards, passports, and room keys, we took the short cut up the escalator right to the Canada Place walkway across from the ship. The rest of the formalities would take place on our way back after 1pm, where we went to the checkpoint with guests from the Coral Princess and Regent Explorer.
Picking up a city map from a nearby kiosk, we strolled the waterfront to Coal Harbour and the Westin Hotel. Still tired from a bad night's sleep, we went no further today. We found the bench where we normally sit across from the marina and Royal Vancouver Yacht Club, relaxing in the filtered sun while people, dog and float plane watching. Being that today was a Wednesday, the harbor was not very crowded like on a weekend.
We had some shopping to do back at the nearby food court and mini mall. Rexall Drugs was our destination where we found a replacement bottle of Tylenol that had been confiscated last week from our shipped luggage. This store also has a nice assortment of snacks, so we picked up a bag of salted peanuts as we are trying to keep snacking healthy and minimal.
Lunch was at the Steamworks Brewery with a shared Hawaiian pizza and a few Lion Gate Lagers. For a change, the restaurant was not crowded. We were back to the cruise terminal by 1:15pm, although we could have checked in around 2pm or so with the all aboard time of 3pm. This is one place you do not want to cut your time short since the terminal may be filled with thousands of guests checking in for three or four ships.
The entrance line was not too long and after showing our in transit cards and room keys, we were let into a shorter line with the disabled folks. Passing through x-ray, we were directed to the boarding line and had facial recognition done. Both of us passed with the green check mark. We were back onboard before 2pm, where we had an invitation to the Mariners welcome reception from 2 to 2:45pm in the Crow's Nest. Our greeters said there was a couple of fellow President Club members who were waiting to see us. Not sure they want their names revealed here, we did indeed recognize them. We visited for the entire time while sipping mimosas, then it was off to the mandatory FULL muster drill held for everyone on the lower promenade deck at 3pm. As required by maritime law, this longer drill will be repeated every 30 days. With everyone in attendance, the drill went smoothly as well as quickly.
The ship left around 3:30pm, back-tracking the path we took coming here last night. It was rather cool sitting on our veranda on the sailing out of the harbor. Even though we were not all that hungry, we did go to the dining room for dinner at 7:30pm. Much to our surprise, our waiters were gone and replaced with new ones. Now they are Fraysure and Ferry. Replacing Maitre'd Pulong is Dwi, but both upper dining room head waiters are the same - Sutamba and Yudy. They have been most helpful in bringing us hot meals every night. We asked them about the switch with the waiters, and they informed us that there is a change every two weeks now. The exception are the grands and legendary voyages where most of the crew stay for the duration. We found it interesting that neither of our waiters had told us they were moving to a different area. Actually, we noticed that many crew members on the grand voyage ended their contracts throughout the entire 133 days.
We kept our meal simple with one Caesar salad, a bowl of chicken noodle soup and mains of pork medallions and pot roast. The serving sizes have been just right for us....not too large like they used to be. One good thing is that the chefs are not hiding mounds of cooked spinach under the meat, chicken or fish like they did on the Volendam on this year's world cruise. No room for dessert, so we turned in early.
The show in the World Stage was only at 8:30pm with a look at what's to come featuring the world cast. And the Wajang movie was Mystery Alaska. All of the bars and lounges were in full swing too.
Expecting a restful day at sea tomorrow.
Bill & Mary Ann
