Disembarkation & Vancouver, Canada

Wednesday, 29 Aug 2018 – Our alarm woke us at 6:00 AM.  Of course, the Horizon Court was packed with people eating, but we finally found a place to sit.  We tried to eat enough to last us all day!

We were out of our cabin by 8:00 AM.  That was the required time to vacate, but it has taken us several cruises to succeed in meeting that deadline!  Almost at the last minute, Jesse noticed that one item of clothing had not been returned with our laundry last night; however, Hedy ran up to us with that item, just as we were leaving our cabin.  After that, we sat in a lounge until our scheduled 9:20 AM disembarkation time.

Once in the cruise terminal, it was easy to find our suitcases in the proper section, and we pulled our luggage for a short distance out to the line awaiting taxis.  Amazingly, there were no security or passport checks upon entering Canada.

The drive to the EXchange Hotel was less than 5 minutes.  The driver requested that we pay him $10.00 CAD in cash in preference to our charge card.  Sadly, we didn’t have any Canadian currency, and after a few minutes of negotiation, we paid him $20.00 US and he gave us $12:00 CAD in change.  We later figured out that we had paid him the equivalent of $13.00 US, which was definitely too much for the 5 minute ride!

Although we had reservations, we were told that check-in time was 4:00 PM.  To pass the time, we sat in a lounge with our laptops, and at 2:30 PM we received our room keys.  Later, Val and Ed called.  They had been allowed to check in to their hotel upon arrival, and had spent most of their day touring an underground mall located beneath their hotel. 

We had discussed our respective hotels before leaving the ship.  Their hotel was located near the port and ours was downtown; therefore, we were prepared to take a long walk or a taxi ride to their hotel.  However, it turned out that their hotel was only 2 or 3 blocks, or a 4 minute walk, away!  We decided that we would walk to their hotel.  Since our hotel only recently opened and the restaurant was still under construction, we had intended to eat at their hotel, but it was extremely expensive.  So we ended up walking back to the Scoozis Mediterranean restaurant located next to our hotel.

Scoozis Eatery, Vancouver, Canada

The restaurant was family operated by Turkish immigrants, and one of the young female family members was our waitress.  Jesse asked her if she watched the Dr. Oz show, since he is also from Turkey; she responded that she didn’t watch TV!  We all ordered salad and lasagna, which was tonight’s specialty.  After finishing our meal, we said our goodbyes to Val and Ed because they had early morning flights home.

Thursday, 30 Aug 2018 – Beginning at about 6:15 AM, we were awakened by loud noises that sounded like alarms going off, seemingly right outside our hotel window.  It turned out to be construction equipment.  Being on the seventh floor didn’t help reduce the sound.  At about 8:00 we went down the hall to the breakfast buffet near the elevator, not far from our room.  We had been told by the hotel staff that a breakfast buffet would be set up on each floor.  We found bananas, apples, kiwi fruit, yogurt topped with granola, orange and cranberry juice, and 2% milk.  Also included were some tempting sweet rolls.  We took some items to eat right away and some to eat later.

We stayed in our room passing time on our laptops until about 6:00 PM, when we walked up the street to the mall that Val and Ed had mentioned.  There we found a food court and purchased dinner from the Flaming Wok Chinese restaurant.  Derek and Gina arrived before too long, at least sooner than we expected.  They had driven from Seattle after work, and also had reservations at the hotel.  Since they wanted to go out, we walked down the street to the Lions Pub, where we enjoyed drinks.  Jesse and I had hard cider.

Vancouver Maritime Museum

Friday, 31 Aug 2018 – Again, we picked up breakfast from the breakfast buffet.  Although we had told Derek and Gina that we would meet them downstairs by 9:00 AM, that turned out not to be quite enough time, so we were 15 minutes late.

From the hotel, we walked to the pier area, and purchased day passes for False Creek Ferries, then took a boat along the coast.  Our first stop was the Vancouver Maritime Museum.  We toured only the outside of the museum.  Several small vintage ships were docked at the pier and the “Ben Franklin” Oceanographic Research Submersible was on display.

Edible Canada Bistro

Across from Terra Breads Cafe

Our next stop was at a more populated area, with numerous shops.  There were very interesting displays at the Vancouver Biennale Open Air Museum, with beautifully hand painted concrete mixer towers.  Then we stopped at the Edible Canada Bistro for lunch before boarding another ferry for a short ride back to the mainland.  From there we walked to the train station, stopping briefly at Terra Breads Café for an afternoon snack.  We took the train back to the city and then walked a short distance to a chocolate shop where we drank chocolate.  It was something like a melted dark chocolate bar, and a chocolate-lover’s dream!  Then we walked a little more before taking a taxi back to our hotel. 

Zabu Chicken Korean Restaurant

After resting for two hours, we started a walk to find a restaurant for dinner.  We had decided on Korean, but we soon tired from walking and took a taxi to the “Korean restaurant” area of Vancouver.  After surveying several menus, we stopped at Zabu Chicken Korean restaurant for dinner.  Although the food was unusual, it was very good.  By 7:30 PM we were back in our hotel room, where we enjoyed drinks before retiring for the night.

Saturday, 1 Sep 2018 – Our alarm awoke us at 7:30 AM.  After eating the hotel breakfast, we packed up and went downstairs to the lobby at 9:30 AM.  Sally joined Gina at their car in front of the hotel while, Derek stayed with Jesse as he signed out at the front desk.  After loading the luggage, we drove toward the U.S. border, stopping at a Wendy’s once for drinks and bathroom breaks.

Near the U.S. border, we stopped – as did the cars in 6 or more lanes.  For the next 1.5 hours, we would drive a short distance, and then turn off the ignition – and repeat this process several times.  At the border, the agent checked our passports and asked us a few questions, such as where we had been, why we were in Canada, and how we knew each other.  Seattle is a little more than 100 miles from the border, so we stopped at a Mexican restaurant for lunch along the way.

We would be staying at Derek & Gina’s house over the rest of Labor Day weekend, and then visiting more family in Washington and Idaho before flying home.