Vancouver

The following chronicles our Alaksa Northbound cruise on the m/s RSSC Mariner. Hence, a lot of RSSC Mariner references are made in the course of the narration.

We decided to fly up one day ahead of sail away, in order to explore Vancouver, B.C. a bit. Our Air Canada flight was uneventful and we had clear weather all the way up. Upon arrival, I was duly impressed with the Vancouver International Airport facilities…our gate was at the far end of the terminal and in order to get through customs we had to walk through an exhibit that mimicked the local rainforest, complete with native totems, burbling water, vegetation and wild bird and animal sounds…I found it very charming! As we entered the customs hall, another wonderful installation greeted us; this one mimicked a stream. The water that cascaded over the natural stones did sound like the real deal! Quite relaxing, up until I gauged, by eyeball, the masses of people awaiting customs clearance down below…it seemed we had arrived with at least 4 jumbo jets from the Far East…we figured we were going to be in line for an hour, and that was the case…neither Peter nor I, veterans of several international trips to various types of countries (e.g. first world, third world, etc.) had ever had such a long wait to clear customs…clearly, there were not enough stations open, but if the Canadians were aware of this fact or not, they didn’t alleviate the situation! Once we cleared customs and collected our bags, we went to pick up our rental car to drive ourselves into downtown Vancouver. So in summary, the airport aesthetically garnered my enthusisastic approval for most prettiest, but gained by thumbs down for most efficient customs clearance.

Slow customs notwithstanding, Vancouver is truly a delight and easy to get around in (by car, that is). A small “big” city with spectacular views and surrounded by wooded areas and charming neighborhoods. The weather was glorious to say the least; I had anticipated grey weather so the clear blue skies and the perfect temperature certainly put us in an even more sunnier vacation mode. We decided to stay (well, having the free Starwood points more or less determined this) at The Westin Hotel, which is located in the Coal Harbor section of downtown Vancouver. We found it to be an excellent choice and well located, certainly we would pay to stay there. It had great views of the sea plans coming and going, as well as of the cruise terminal. We were a stone’s throw away from Stanley Park (which unfortunately we did not have a chance to visit). We decided to try lunch at Cardero’s, a restaurant next door to the Westin. It seems to be a popular spot for the locals, and we soon found out why…it was very good! The lunch truly felt like the kickoff to what we were sure was going to be a fantastic vacation. Our big afternoon tea excursion (since we did not have time to go to Victoria) was to visit The Secret Garden in the Kerridale area of Vancouver. Even though we could not make it to Victoria, this teahouse is a winning second choice, with the most fabulous selections of gourmet loose tea. The one we had and that won me over (and I’m not a big tea fan or drinker), was they Creamy Earl Grey….a definite must have. Dinner was a no brainer, Cardero’s had been so good for lunch, we decided to go back for dinner…we were not disappointed!

The next morning, under continuing clear blue skies and gorgeous weather, we walked up one block to have breakfast at The White Spot, a sort of Canadian version of Coco’s. We recommend this restaurant for a nice hearty Candadian style breakfast in Vancouver.

Soon enough we mad our way towards the Cruise Terminal. We arrived at around 12 noon at the cruise terminal and found it to be a hive of activity…3 other cruises were going to set sail, all of them the larger type…so after some initial controlled chaos as we cleared U.S. Customs, we soon stepped into the civilized tranquility of the RSSC check in experience…our check-in took less than 5 minutes. If we craned our neck over and saw the checkin for the other megaliners, it was clear that process would not take less than 5 minutes. We were soon on board and happy to be back on the Mariner!

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