SUPER ALASKA CRUISE
N. Day 8: Debarkation and Vancouver
Some time during the night luggage was gathered from the hallways and invoices of all charges were attached to or slid under stateroom doors. For passengers leaving charges on their credit cards, no action was needed. For passengers who had errors on their invoices or have balances due or receivables because their deposits were via cash or travelers checks, the purser’s desk was open, very early in the morning, to resolve these transactions.
We arrived in Vancouver harbor early in the morning and docked before our scheduled arrival time of 7AM. Even though the ship is in dock, you cannot immediately get off the ship like in the other ports. There was time to eat a served breakfast. This breakfast was served in two seatings like earlier lunches and dinners (a buffet breakfast was also available if you want to eat earlier). After breakfast, all passengers had to be cleared out of their staterooms. Passengers had to go to public areas (lounges, the theater, or the open decks) with the bags that they will be hand carrying off of the ship. At this time they showed a videotape with highlights of the Tonight Show with Johnny Carson in the theater. From the top deck I watched longshoremen loading logs, which were floating in the harbor, onto an adjacent cargo ship.
Passengers had to wait on the ship until the color of their baggage tags was called. This insured that when passengers got off the ship, they would not have to wait for their luggage. I think passengers taking busses directly to the US went directly to their buses, rather than through the pier, because they would not have to go through Canadian customs.
The process of waiting for permission to exit the ship took a total of 1 ½ to 2 hours (I know because I was in one of the last groups). When you get to the pier luggage will be placed according to the luggage tag colors. If you come back down at the appropriate time you will not have to wait for your bags and the bags will not be waiting alone. Handing in a customs form, which I was given the day before, and a show of my passport was necessary before exiting.
I took a taxi and arrived at my hotel at about 11AM and was lucky, they had a clean room and I was able to drop my luggage and was able to change into lighter clothing. It would be sunny and warm all day and I wanted to explore Vancouver.
Vancouver is a clean city, bustling with people waking the beaches and enjoying the sunshine, even though it was a Monday. I went over to Grandville Island, south of the downtown area, which requires either a walk across a bridge or a ride on a $2 (Canadian) mini-ferry boat. Grandville Island is a government established artist area. There are art stores, art galleries, and an art school, along with a farmers’ market with lots of stalls where sandwiches and such were sold. One interesting and very entertaining sight on Grandville Island was a guy in a motorized wheel chair with a boom box belting out tunes that he was lip syncing and moving his wheel chair to. This seems like an established part of Grandville Island and many families, tourists and lunching locals sat down on surrounding benches to listen to him.
I took a mini-ferry back to the downtown area and walked along the southern beach of the downtown area. These are actual beaches with sand, lifeguards etc. There was also a place where you could take kayak excursions just like in Alaska. In addition, on Grandville Island there were motorboats that could be rented.
I walked along a beach side path. Many people were walking dogs, roller blading and bike riding. (I was surprised because this was early afternoon on a Monday.) I passed by a club where people were lawn bowling like in England (10 pin alley bowling seems like more fun) and walked to the northern shore of the downtown area. There are lots of fancy condominium buildings under construction, with selling prices that would not be out of place in NYC, and new waterside docks. There were also many fancy boats at the docks. This is clearly a city that is booming big time, though even though there are no traffic problems like in booming cities in the US.
I walked east and explored Canada Place. From the sidewalk on Canada Place you can see the cruise ships being loaded and passengers boarding, at eye level with the outside decks. I took pictures, again of the Dawn Princess and the Volendam, being prepared for their next voyages. (Picture of the Volendam will have to wait for me to get my next roll developed.)
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