twangster

After North Star I wandered the ship re-acquainting myself with a Quantum class ship.

This railing area may be a great (and popular) location for glacier viewing.

With that it was 1pm and cabins were announced to be ready. 

On the ship I checked at the information desks temporarily set up in the Esplanade outside Boleros for last minute reservations.  I wanted to see how they were handling North Star while the ship would be at the glaciers.  They informed North Star at the glaciers would be chargeable compared to the times I could pick in the cruise planner that were available starting at 1pm two hours after the glacier.

Up to shore excursion they said it wasn't loaded in the system yet but they were taking names for the $49.99 North Star rides while at the glaciers.  I declined and proceeded to make specialty dining reservation then off to Cafe Two70 for lunch.

After lunch I headed up to deck 15 to take some photos while we were in Vancouver.

It looked like they were ready to offer North Star on a walk up basis so I jumped in before the lines began to form.

Great views of the city from here.

A couple of Eagles were spotted flying around near the ship.

Day 1 - Getting To The Ship

I left my hotel at 9am walking 1/2 mile to the light rail Bridgeport station.  It's concrete sidewalks all the way so managing my two spinner suitcases wasn't as bad as I feared it might be.  Drivers here respect the crosswalks unlike some big cities where crosswalks are target zones for pedestrians.

The two zone fare one-way was $4.20 CAD or $3.12 USD.  Pretty inexpensive transfer to the ship.  I purchased with my credit card having notified them of my international travel plans before hand.  If you take the train from YVR airport there is an additional fee when leaving the airport.  That fee didn't apply to me since I boarded the train further down the line.

Since the Canada Line services the YVR airport luggage isn't an anomaly although there isn't a luggage rack.  I slid mine into a window seat next to me while I sat in the aisle seat. 

The first "Waterfront" train that arrived at the station was packed with daily commuters on this Monday morning so I waited for the next train that was nearly empty.

Arriving at the end of the line the Waterfront station is approximately one 1/4 mile from Canada Place in downtown Vancouver.  I used the elevator from the train platform to reach street level and made the right turn to head towards Canada Place.  The paper ticket card I purchased is needed to exit the platform so keep your ticket handy at all times.   

Once at Canada Place the cruise terminal is accessed by going down the ramp following the signs.  Taxis, shuttles or private cars would drive down the ramp.

I arrived shortly before 10am.  Total transfer time from my hotel including walking to the train and to Canada Place was around 50 minutes.

Departing guests were making their way up while I headed down.

The terminal uses four stages to mark the embarkation process with signs for them labelled one through four.  Step 1 is the baggage drop which is geared for vehicle traffic down on the P2 level of the parking garage below the terminal.  For pedestrian arrivals you can use a parking elevator to reach the P2 level.

Following the signs in the parking garage I was led to the baggage drop off in the parking garage.

There is a desk set up for guests who did not print luggage tags at home.

Guests with tags already on their bags can skip this and go directly to the drop area.

This is organized by forward cabins to the left and and aft cabins further down.

With baggage dropped off, it was back up to the terminal using the same elevators or stairs.  Here there were signs for step 2, check in,  up the escalator.

The check in hall is up one floor following the signs for step 2.

Terminal contractors with tablets were here to greet me, scan my SetSail pass and passport, take my photo and finally stamp my setSail pass.

Following the signs for the loop around to step 3 the path takes you outside along the edge of the building to an escalator down to security.

At the bottom of the escalator I was directed through to security where I didn't take any pictures but it's clearly marked for step 3.

Typical cruise security with carry on through X-Ray and guests through metal detectors much like airport security.  

After this was step 4, US Customs and Immigration.  No pictures but it was nice to pre-clear US customs here so we wouldn't have to deal with it mid-cruise.  They have kiosks where you scan your passport, make your declarations and proceed.  

With that complete I was led to a holding area since guests were still debarking the ship.  Time at this point was 10:25am.

Initially there was seating for around 250 guests but with the ship delaying embarkation they expanded this and added another 250 seats, then another 250 seats.  

The terminal appeared to have wifi available but it didn't work.

Instead my phone switched to 3G cellular this far into the interior of the terminal away from the LTE signal I had been enjoying outside.  T-Mobile includes Canada and Mexico in my home area so my phone works no different compared to being at home with no additional charges. 

Terminal contractors were very apologetic stating it doesn't usually take this long before the ship is ready.  I suspect departing guests were slow to leave as we could see a few heading off and through the terminal from time to time as we waited.  Finally the ship was ready for us and we were led to the typical embarkation photo area and outside to the gangway.   

Time to start boarding - 11:25am.

They were busy loading the ship down on the dock below us.

Up the covered gangway and onto the ship.

It was a very organized embarkation with the four steps clearly labelled and easy to follow.  In fact it may be one of the most logical and easier embarkations I've experienced.

1 hour ago, Nicolas LaBarre said:

We gotta meet up @twangster and talk about this crazy first day.

Maybe we have...  I met another blog reader in the line at guest services.  

Welcome to the message boards.

Guests who are not booked in a suite can not access the perks from a friend or family member who is.  They are for individual guests who have booked into Sky Class.

On board!

Will post boarding process here for anyone sailing another ship out of Vancouver in another post.

Specialty dining offered from my agent booked.  Kümmelweck sandwiches consumed. 

For now I can offer the North Star experience at a glacier has to be booked at Shore Excursion for $49.99 per person.  It's not loaded in the system yet so no signs or screen shots to share.

32 minutes ago, StayFrosty said:

I agree.  Though, the long-distance coastal passenger trade is pretty much non-existent.

Problem is the law as written doesn’t distinguish between vessels very much.  A 50 passenger ferry is a vessel.  A 6,000 passenger cruise ship is a vessel.  Much of the law applies to both equally.  

4 hours ago, StayFrosty said:

The law is the Passenger Vessel Services Act of 1886.  It was designed to protect the US domestic passenger industry from foreign competition.  Of course, now there little left of the domestic passenger industry but the law still remains.

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Passenger_Vessel_Services_Act_of_1886

(Credit to @twangster for educating us on this topic earlier)

Actually still a bit of industry.  Ferries come to mind.  Water taxis.  Etc. Imagine the foreign invasion if vessels didn’t need to be made in America and crewed by Americans. It creeps into daily life on a frequent basis. 

My trip back toward my hotel meant a transfer from bus to train at Waterfront station so I took the opportunity to walk downtown on this slow Sunday evening and to visit the Canada Place cruise terminal.

The side of the terminal that Holland America uses and the site of last weeks "kissing ships" when the two company vessels scraped balconies with each other.

Ovation was still setting lines when I arrived.

Beautiful skies tonight with the sun close to setting.

One of Ovation's smoking areas captured from an angle you don't see too often.

The proximity to downtown and easy access to the transit system make this a great port.

With that it was approaching 9pm and time for me to head back to my hotel. With nearly 10 miles under my feet it was time to grab a sandwich at Subway and watch the latest episode of Game of Thrones in my hotel.

After an hour or so to decompress in my hotel room I made plans to head downtown using the local transit system.  My hotel is in between two Canada Line light rail stations.  Using the transit feature of Apple Maps it calculated my route to my destination.   This included walking to a train station, transferring to a bus and then walking about a mile.

 

Walking a mile?  Well yes, given that my destination was the Prospect Point lighthouse through Stanley Park which is loaded with trails for biking, jogging, strolling, etc.

After sitting all day in planes a walk was perfect. 

At the train station I purchased an "All Day" Compass Card for ~$16 CAD which ended up on credit card at ~$12 USD.  This would get me there and back to my hotel so all in all a pretty decent fee for a day pass.

Stanley Park is beautiful and you could easily spend a day exploring it.  I was on a mission to reach the lighthouse so I'm hardly doing it justice with these simple photos.

First glimpse of the Lions Gate Bridge that separates Vancouver Harbor from Burrard Inlet and passages towards the Pacific Ocean.

I timed my arrival for low tide which today was 6:41pm.  Actually I was a little early so I could explore the area before the main event and the real reason I made this journey.

With tides on the way out I could see much more beach exposed compared to high tide.

The original Prospect Point Lighthouse was built here in the late 1800's.

Long before the bridge was built in 1938 the original lighthouse was in response to numerous shipping incidents like the SS Beaver that ran aground on the rocky shores in 1888.

These narrows have tricky tidal currents that I could see as the tide went out.  Looking out under the bridge there were patches of smooth water and areas with strong currents marked by swirling water and waves.

Interesting sea life including these purple sea stars.

Some seals playing or feeding in the water.

The large difference in tides is apparent and you can see the high tide mark along the wall.  Where I'm standing would be over my head at high tide.

This is important because technically there isn't enough height over water for Quantum class ships to pass under with the standard safety margins that are required for safe navigation.  However using the tides to their advantage the extra 12 to 15 feet of tidal differences allows ships like Ovation to pass under the bridge if they time it just right.

Before Ovation can arrive and dock at Canada Place, the cruise terminal in downtown Vancouver, a few ships need to get out of town.  This included the Star Princess and two Holland America ships, Westerdam and Noordam.

The area is popular with the outdoor type folks and the backdrop of the bridge made for a popular selfie station.  If you look along the waterline to the far left you see a tiny ship on the horizon.  Ovation of the Seas! 

A cargo ship also had to enter the port just before Ovation arrived.

As I waited the sun was moving lower on the horizon making pictures in this direction challenging so I used the lighthouse to block the sun and I hid in it's shadow as Ovation approached.

One thing I noticed was how the currents had settled down, the rippling and waves were gone, the water was smooth.  This too is important so any ship can stay within the narrow channel and pass under the bridge at it's highest level.

Ovation continued it's approach with a tug at the ready just in case.

Closer, inching closer...

Success!  Clearing under the bridge with a large safety margin North Star was under.  I could hear the roar of the crowd on the ship all cheering and celebrating which is rather ironic because it marks the end of their journey.

The bigger challenge was the funnels and aft part of the ship.

Also under with plenty of clearance.

Woohoo!  My cruise can continue as planned!

To be honest it was a bit anti-climatic.  I expected her to be closer to the bridge.  I was confident she would fit, they wouldn't risk the bridge or the ship but I feel like Anthem passing under the Verrazona-Narrows bridge in New York is tighter.

My hotel is relatively inexpensive as Vancouver hotels go at $101 USD plus around $37 USD in taxes and fees.  It's less expensive because it's an airport hotel which saved me hundreds compared to staying downtown.

The Westin Wall Center Hotel:

 

Landed at Vancouver International Airport (YVR) on time at noon.  Deplaning and once walking through the terminal I saw a half dozen wide body international planes from a number of countries.  Ugh.  That meant Canada customs was going to be busy, and it was.  So busy there was a holding area on the second floor for international guests because the main immigration area on the first floor was packed.   They were releasing them in batches as the queues on the first floor depleted.  

Lucky for me my Canadian passport saved me from that madness and downstairs the queues for Canadian passport holders was relatively short.  I was at the baggage carousel waiting for luggage within 15 minutes.  

YVR like Montreal when I flew in to Adventure's Snowbird Migration cruise last year has immigration kiosks that scan your passport, asks you the normal immigration and customs questions then prints out a piece of paper you use to proceed.

However there were luggage issues.  Our bags started arriving 30 minutes later then a luggage jam occurred somewhere below us and they had to call maintenance.  Somewhere around 60 minutes after landing my "priority" luggage arrived and I was able to queue to leave the Canada customs area which only took another 10 minutes.  

I saw a number of other cruise line luggage tags and kiosks were set up for Holland and Princess cruise lines.  If I was on a cruise departing that day I could only imagine the added stress of waiting so long for immigration and luggage.  Flying in the day before was definitely the right thing to do. 

Finally outside and across the traffic lanes to the general shuttle area to wait for my hotel shuttle which arrived with 15 minutes.

On the way up to Vancouver we flew past Mt. Hood which is hard to miss unless it's cloudy which it became right after I took this photo:

Unfortunately those whisps of clouds turned into full cloud cover that we flew within for the remainder of the flight.

8 hours ago, Andrew72681 said:

How is the SkyClub in SLC? I’ve never been through that one. 

Decent size but always crowded.  

Suggest you look over some recent cruise compasses from past guests on Adventure:

https://www.royalcaribbeanblog.com/cruise-compass?ship=281

Even if you don't find your itinerary a lot of times will be similar on another itinerary.

Cruises 5 nights and longer in North America usually have lobster on a formal night.  Shorter sailings and other regions typically do not.  

Sales apply differently to different ships and sale dates, it's not a flat discount applied across all cruise planner items.  

If the drink package or an excursion is selling well, it won't be discounted.  For someone on a week later it might be.  It's been like that for a long time.  

2 hours ago, Zambia-Zaire said:

@twangster, where are you getting this notion of cost overruns...from everything I gather, they finish the extension ahead of schedule and on budget? Apparently, the only reason royal didn't proceed further with the remaining Vision Class Ships, because of budgetary reasons involving the orders for Oasis class ship & Freedom Class ships that was currently, at the time, being built. If orders for the Oasis class ships would have come later, Grandeur OTS was next in line to be extended to a similar retrofit.  

From a documentary about Royal Caribbean and it's history I saw while sailing on Symphony.  They deemed the final price too high to continue with Grandeur.  

No.  Victoria is on an island and it would take too long to see her leave Victoria.  I plan to be at the bridge in Vancouver when she arrives. 

3 minutes ago, Jaymac Radio said:

Isn't She Going To Pull In To Vancouver At  Eight Tonight? 

Correct.  I think she leaves Victoria at 2pm.  

5 minutes ago, Zambia-Zaire said:

From what I understand, they drop plans to extend the others, in the Vision Class because of the future contract order for the 1st Oasis Class which started to be built two years later in Nov 2007. Couple that with 3 Freedom Class ships(Freedom OTS being less than a year from completion) & Liberty OTS set to start being built, and a contract signed for Indy. Royal pull back it's ambitious plans for extension of Vision Class ship, which Enchantment OTS was deemed a success & was not Royal 1st attempt at extending a ship length. They have done it before & Enchantment was the fourth ship Royal have extended.

Right.  The "bang for the buck" wasn't there when Enchantments costs soared above initial estimates when they first started thinking about it.  They found it wiser to put the money into new ship builds.

The bigger the ship is, the more complex a task it is to stretch it.  With the earlier (smaller) ships it was easier.  

Welcome to the message boards!

Entertainment varies by ship.  Freedom class and newer have better entertainment featuring Broadway style main theater shows.  Voyager, Freedom and Oasis class have an ice skating rink with ice skating shows that are quite enjoyable.  Oasis class have an Aqua Theater with swimming and diving shows.  On the older and smaller ships the entertainment varies from pretty good to not in wheel house.  

The best entertainment in my opinion is on Oasis class ships.

Have things changed since 2010 on Royal?  Yes.  Like all cruise lines they have optimized many things to maintain pricing close to what it was in the past and eliminated waste.  Room services features a better menu with some great choices but that comes with a $9 fee per order (not per item).

There are rumors of a stretched version of Oasis in the works but rumors like this often prove to be false.

Looks like Ovation just arrived into Victoria.

Webcam:

http://www.bigwavedave.ca/webcams.php?cam=10

While we don't have Victoria on this itinerary this will be a critical port of call for Ovation this summer since it keeps the Seattle based round trip cruises legal with respect to the PVSA.

The adventure begins...  currently sitting in the Delta Skyclub in Salt Lake City waiting for my connection to Vancouver.  

The plan is settle into my hotel room and take the Canada Line into the city.  I hope to catch Ovation's sail under the Lion's Gate Bridge tonight.