Inside Passage to Alaska - Vancouver, Saturday 2004 August 7

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We arrived in Vancouver before 11:00, two flights in advance of the departure of the ship, as advised by the travel agent to avoid problems if WestJet cancelled or delayed our flight. No problems. The taxi took us through downtown Vancouver to Canada Place, which is where the cruise ships dock. (I asked about the new Central Library, and caught a glimpse of it. More anon.)

The cruise ship passenger-processing area was a marvel of efficiency. A porter whisked away our heavy luggage with its special luggage tags. The taxi driver pointed out how to get back up to the street. After a pause for reflection and to put our hand luggage in order, we walked a long hallway to the adjacent hotel and up onto the street. Setting off across a small plaza adorned with a spectacular planting of petunias, we spotted a pub. Hunger and our motto to drink a beer in every port drove us there, rather than in the direction of a food court. The temperature was just warm enough to let us sit outside at a sheltered table. Grey clouds and earlier rain were dissipating.

Fed and watered, we chose a direction at random. Quickly we saw some great old buildings, which certainly interested me. One building had beautiful carvings of waves and orcas and birds. A modern adaptation for a commercial tenant blended excellently into this fauna theme.

Decorated orcas also dragged us from one corner to another. These were the same device used by other cities to raise money for charities and bring recognition for the arts, like Calgary’s and Edmonton’s cattle and Toronto’s moose. “Elvis Orca” was hilarious, decorated in outrageous sequins and sunglasses. However, the best was the first one we saw down on the waterfront. It had a “recycle” theme, using old license plates, bottle caps and fuses to decorate the orca, topped by a water faucet blow-hole!

After a lot of wandering and a bit of resting, we were almost ready to turn back, when I spied the new Central Library . (The taxi driver had offered to drive us by, but she had no idea it was so close to Canada Place.) We walked part-way around the building; it was huge. Distracted by a “bookcase” orca (a combination of trompe d’oeil and three-D books), we took pictures and headed into the library itself. Actually, the library was the circular section that looked like the Roman forum, and the tall adjacent tower was commercial space. An internal courtyard carefully kept the small cafés and businesses on the private sector side. The library was seven stories high. As recommended by an information clerk, we took the elevator up to the top to see the views, which were quite mundane. Maybe on a sunnier day, the mountains were visible. We walked rather quickly around the top floor and looked into the central atrium. The building design didn’t appear particularly effective for the library functions, but it was impressive.

We started back to the waterfront, and Ruth confessed a need for flip-flops, which informed our choices of direction. We enjoyed the pell-mell of a Saturday afternoon in the shopping district. The shops were full of clothes and accessories we didn’t want to buy – fortunately – except for the flip-flops. On one block that proved to be the university, various causes related to animals had set up displays. We returned to Canada Place through a series of quasi-residential streets, softened by trees and lovely flowers.

After a quick effort to see more of Canada Place (closed, no conventions) and a brief photo stop to shoot the “sails” of the building and to click their camera for some Japanese tourists, we paused to reorganize again in the cruise ship reception area. There were many more people but seemingly for a different ship. We flew through our check-in and the cursory check by US immigration and customs. Suddenly, we were on board, waiting a few moments for the elevator to the tenth “floor”, Caribe deck.

The ship’s décor was beautiful - light woods and polished brass. Our cabin was correctly set up with two beds. We immediately opened the sliding glass doors to the balcony … and all we could see was the next-door ship. Two of our three bags had arrived; upon checking by phone, we were assured that out of the 20,000 (or something like that) pieces of luggage, ours would be delivered to our room before sailing. And it was.

The ship’s daily newsletter introduced us to a different department head each day, and, of course the first day profiled Captain Rivera. Ruth was amused to note that, while the Captain was from Italy, his wife was from Chesterville, Ontario, a town about thirty miles east of where Ruth lives. After a quick look around, we went on a discovery trek to find where tea was served, a delightfully decadent memory from my Panama cruise. Not surprisingly, they were not serving tea on departure day. So back to our cabin for some unpacking.

Suddenly, we were rushing to change for dinner, as we had booked early seating. Or so we thought. In discussion with the maitre d’, I found out that you have to buy your cruise tickets very early to get a set seating, and we were well out of the running for that. We followed his recommendation to descend one deck to the “Personal Choice” dining room. After a bit of fumbling, we cottoned on to this – one of the best features of the cruise. Without a set time, we thought we would have to eat by ourselves. Quite the contrary! You enter the dining room and say “Two to share” to the maitre d’, and he shows you to a table of six, eight or ten, and you introduce yourselves. Dinner goes by most pleasantly, exchanging travel stories with your table companions. Only once was there only a table for two, and that time the woman at the next (very close) table was on her own, because her friend was sea-sick. So we still were able to exchange stories.

Many of the passengers were from the southern United States or the UK. They were quire overwhelmed by the endless parade of great mountains. Before the cruise, quite a few took a ten-day bus tour of the Canadian Rockies from Calgary to Vancouver; they were almost bereft of any more words to describe the scenery. One man told us about the statue in Calgary in which a horse was fashioned from old farm machinery parts. He regretted not taking a picture of it, so I offered to mail him one. He was quite delighted and very happy months later when I actually emailed him the scanned photo.

Many delicious and inventive meals were to come. My favourite was the venison, which reappeared as venison chili the next day, as a special on the swimming pool deck. Ruth’s favourite dish was the “Fresh Ketchikan” salmon, oddly served the evening before we got to Ketchikan.

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Photos

Island Princess at Canada Place
Dramatic view to begin our Alaska cruise

Judith amused by the book orca
Vancouver library

Ruth in front of the Vancouver library
Orca full of "books"

Comments

[Isabel Gibson]

I've often considered taking this cruise, so will look forward to your experience of it. And lovely, too, to think about Ruth. You sound like excellent travel companions.

[beentouring]

Alaska cruise
Don't just think about it. The cruising is more than just floating around on a ship. Be sure to go in high season when the coast line is most likely to be readily visible.