earendel's "North to Alaska" trip - Day 2
Posted: Mon Jul 07, 2008 9:31 am
Our original plan was to have a day in Vancouver doing some sightseeing, but that went out the window when the luggage snafu occurred. We got up and spent our day trying to find clothing and something to carry it in. After enjoyig the continental breakfast at the motel we headed out, armed with a map thoughtfully provided by the desk clerks (elwing asked about places to shop) and spent our morning engaged in a retail safari. Purchasing clothing has never been one of my favorite activities, and given my size I'm not an easy fit anyway, so it made it doubly difficult to find anything that I could wear. We tried at least a dozen different stores before finding pants that I could wear, but they were too long. elwing said that she could sew them up for me to wear, so I purchased them along with a couple of shirts. elwing needed both clothes and shoes, so that took a little extra time. And we had to use a debit card because our Canadian money was packed away for when we'd be in the interior - what little we had was only supposed to cover a meal before boarding the ship.
Lunch was at a restaurant called (IIRC) The White Spot, famous for a special mayonnaise-based sauce that they put on their burgers and other dishes. The food was good but the service was, shall we say leisurely? But we weren't worried because according to our documentation the ship left the dock at 5PM and we could catch a bus from the airport to the dock at 4PM. We finished dinner and headed to the airport to turn in the rental car, then make our way to the site where we would catch the bus.
Unfortunately our documentation was wrong - the last shuttle from the airport was at 3PM and the ship was to sail at 4. The Holland-America representative got us a cab (for which they paid), and we headed off to the docks. Surprisingly the traffic in downtown Vancouver on a Saturday was fairly heavy and the cab driver (from India or Pakistan) was in no hurry, assuring us that we'd make it in plenty of time. Wrong again - we pulled up to the terminal and had to rush through to check in, then rush to get onboard - the passengers were already involved in the mandatory lifeboat drill done just prior to boarding; we missed it but at least were onboard just before the ship left the dock.
Interestingly, even though the ship sailed, it didn't go anywhere for a while. It was in a queue to leave the harbor, so it actually went in circles for about an hour before being cleared for passage. We had an early dinner on the Lido deck (the regular dinner seating was at 7:00) then went to the cabin, which was very nice. Unlike our transatlantic cruise, this cabin actually had windows out of which we could see the sea, or more appropriately, the coastline. We were traveling through part of the "Inner Passage" so we had the Canadian coast on the starboard side of the ship and a string of islands on the port side.
Our dinner seating was problematic for me since we had to share a table with six other people, none of whom we knew. I've mentioned before that I have a problem eating in the presence of strangers if I'm seated with them - I'm painfully shy and not good at conversation, not to mention my fear that I'll have something stuck to my teeth or drop food on my clothing. But I survived the meal and elwing and I went to the Piano Bar for what was supposed to be a music trivia event starting at 8:30. It had already started by the time we arrived, so I didn't get a chance to participate. Just as well - it was more of a "song identification" game than anything else, and all the tunes were disco, meaning that it was hard to distinguish among them (all the host played was a snippet of the introduction).
After that it was time for bed - after two days of early rising and late bedtimes I was ready to enjoy a good night's rest, hoping that what had proved to be a rough start would get better.
Lunch was at a restaurant called (IIRC) The White Spot, famous for a special mayonnaise-based sauce that they put on their burgers and other dishes. The food was good but the service was, shall we say leisurely? But we weren't worried because according to our documentation the ship left the dock at 5PM and we could catch a bus from the airport to the dock at 4PM. We finished dinner and headed to the airport to turn in the rental car, then make our way to the site where we would catch the bus.
Unfortunately our documentation was wrong - the last shuttle from the airport was at 3PM and the ship was to sail at 4. The Holland-America representative got us a cab (for which they paid), and we headed off to the docks. Surprisingly the traffic in downtown Vancouver on a Saturday was fairly heavy and the cab driver (from India or Pakistan) was in no hurry, assuring us that we'd make it in plenty of time. Wrong again - we pulled up to the terminal and had to rush through to check in, then rush to get onboard - the passengers were already involved in the mandatory lifeboat drill done just prior to boarding; we missed it but at least were onboard just before the ship left the dock.
Interestingly, even though the ship sailed, it didn't go anywhere for a while. It was in a queue to leave the harbor, so it actually went in circles for about an hour before being cleared for passage. We had an early dinner on the Lido deck (the regular dinner seating was at 7:00) then went to the cabin, which was very nice. Unlike our transatlantic cruise, this cabin actually had windows out of which we could see the sea, or more appropriately, the coastline. We were traveling through part of the "Inner Passage" so we had the Canadian coast on the starboard side of the ship and a string of islands on the port side.
Our dinner seating was problematic for me since we had to share a table with six other people, none of whom we knew. I've mentioned before that I have a problem eating in the presence of strangers if I'm seated with them - I'm painfully shy and not good at conversation, not to mention my fear that I'll have something stuck to my teeth or drop food on my clothing. But I survived the meal and elwing and I went to the Piano Bar for what was supposed to be a music trivia event starting at 8:30. It had already started by the time we arrived, so I didn't get a chance to participate. Just as well - it was more of a "song identification" game than anything else, and all the tunes were disco, meaning that it was hard to distinguish among them (all the host played was a snippet of the introduction).
After that it was time for bed - after two days of early rising and late bedtimes I was ready to enjoy a good night's rest, hoping that what had proved to be a rough start would get better.
