We arrived in Seattle late last night and connected with our travel group this morning at the Red Lion Conference Center. We'd been sent detailed instructions about the process and as promised, everything went smoothly. Everyone was intimidated enough to obediently queue up (in complete travel groups only, thank you very much) with green bus vouchers in hand, receive their envelope with cruise excursion info and ID buttons, and board the coach for our transfer to the Vancouver cruise port. It was very well organized. As we shuffled up the silent line I overheard someone grumble, "No soup for you!" to their companion. But to give credit where credit is due, the process worked well. They know what they're doing.
I was moderately tickled that Alan Schiller himself was at the bus, bustling around telling people to carry their backpacks in front of their bodies while loading the bus, informing us of his tours' cell phone policy (airplane mode when in the group), hoisting bags (after confirming they were under the forewarned 14 pound limit for bus carryons) into overhead compartments, etc.
(He looked nothing like what I'd pictured)
We arrived at the cruiseport after a 20 minute McDonalds stop and the border crossing into Canada. Our bus driver dropped us off to check in and then delivered our suitcases directly to the ship, simplifying the embarkation process considerably.
Petrol station in Vancouver harbour with a float plane skimming over for a fill-up.
It was gloomy and drizzly, but no worries as we were scarcely outside.
Farewell to Vancouver
This is our first time sailing on Holland American, and we're pleased with their larger staterooms and the ship itself. It's quieter, less frenetic, with less marketing of ancillary products. We attended one of their EXC Talks (Holland America's take on TED Talks) this evening and enjoyed the trip history and overview.
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