The day in Vancouver

We arrived at the Pan Pacific around 9am. Naturally, our room wasn't quite ready. We hung around the lobby until our friends arrived. Della and Joe decided to try for a noon flight, and so bailed on us for lunch. Sam and Kathleen, however, knew they weren't going to get on the noon flight to Seattle, so decided to stay for lunch.

Before that, however, I took them all to the hotel business center to get their boarding passes. We then walked Joe and Della to the air train station to the airport, a new public transportation system that apparently has been opened since the last time we visited the Vancouver airport in 2006. After a quick cheerful good bye, we head to Joe Fortes for lunch. It was a nice, although slightly expensive, lunch. We enjoyed getting to know Sam and Kathleen, and are hoping to see them when both our schedules settle down. They'd left bags at our hotel, so we headed back there with a stop at Rocky Mountain Chocolate for me to get a Caramel Apple.

We then wandered around Canada Place, and looked at the ships. There were three there that day - the Golden Princess (which we'd just vacated) and two Holland America ships. I left Glen to take a nap while I headed to a nearby coffee place for a quick internet check.

When I returned, we wandered around some more. There are two convention centers at Canada Place, so we walked around the promenade of the other building. There were display boards about the history of the area, and curiously, they chronicled some of the worst black spots on Canadian history.

Following that, we met our friend Tammy, who works for one of my client companies. We had a delightful hour at the hotel bar, and then she had to leave.

That, however, gave us time to watch the sailaways of the ships.

We watched muster drills. Here's one of the many things I love about Princess.

Here's the muster drill on one of the Holland America ships:


And here is the same view of the Island Princess during their muster drill:


Notice the difference? Princess musters their passengers in the theater and lounges - much nicer.

After sail away, we headed back to the room and relaxed until our dinner at Joe Fortes. Yes, the same restaurant we had brunch at. Someday, we'll have to go to a different restaurant in Vancouver.

We wandered back to the hotel after dinner, watched The Empire Strikes Back on TV, and went to bed, anticipating our next cruise tomorrow.