June 1 - Headed to Alaska!

Sunday morning was another transition day and again, we were up early – 6:20 AM (our alarm was set for 7am). We completed our packing, retrieved the car from the charging down the street, and were on our way before 7:00.

 

We had breakfast at a McDonalds nearby and continued North

towards Vancouver. This was our first time crossing the border

by car so that uncertainty made us a bit intrepid. There was

no line at the border and after a short conversation we were in

Canada!

 

We found a charging stop in Richmond just so we wouldn’t

have to charge after we picked up our car in three weeks.

While we charged, Haley found a nearby Tim Horton’s that

she walked to for a cruller and doughnut we enjoyed. Then we 

headed to the Value Long Term Lot at the airport where we

left our car. Conveniently, there is a light rail train that

connects the airport (with a stop at long-term parking) to the 

waterfront/cruise port. We hopped on the train and rode 30 

minutes to downtown Vancouver. Still no issues as we

schlepped our bags the rest of the way to Canada Place

to go through the boarding process. Vancouver had their

boarding process down to a fine art - it was incredibly efficient 

(there were 3 ships being loaded with passengers 

simultaneously - truly incredible how they had this designed)

we were on the ship by 11:20. It’s always a great feeling when

 you board and this was no different.

 

On board we tried to get in our room, but we were a little too

early. We purchased our Thermal Spa pass (which we’re now

addicted to!) and headed to lunch. On embarkation day, the 

Lido Market (buffet) is the only choice. It was good as always - 

the always have great Indian and Asian food. Leon had Indian 

I had Korean and Chinese selections. Most of their staff hail 

Indonesia - they know what they are doing when it comes to 

making excellent curries and flavorful dishes. Next, we headed

to our room to check it out. We’re still on cloud 9

for our verandah upgrade and we loved our room! No

surprises there; we appreciated that we were 30 seconds

from the spa area AND Explorations Café (Haley's favorite   

coffee spot that is in the Crow's Nest, so there are always 

great views from there. The location couldn’t have been better.

 

The rest of the afternoon in port, we enjoyed our balcony and 

the back pool in the nice weather and watching the seaplanes

and other port activities. We also had a nice fly-by from a bald

eagle. 

Once the ship was underway, we headed under the Lionsgate 

Bridge - always a special sight!

We decided to enjoy the thermal spa for a while, listened to a 

musician in the lounge, then headed to the Lido for dinner.

Their menu looked better than the dining room menu, so we 

enjoyed our prime rib and seafood dinners. Leon happened to 

just miss two whale breaches but caught their big splashes.

We saw an additional ten whales (they were far away) or so

while we finished dinner.

 

We spent a little time in the Crow’s Nest before we headed to

bed a bit early.