Seems there have been problems with logging into the blog! Unfortunately lack of reliable and fast internet up here meant that I could do little to fix it. I finally got around to phoning the hostog compan today, and they fixed the problem in a couple of minutes.
Another trip starts, this time without the trailer. I aam not sure what internet access we will have on this trip, so blog entries may be sporadic!
We had originally planned to travel to Alaska in the trailer, but after giving it some serious thought we decided to take a different approach. The cost of diesel alone to get the trailer up to Alaska from Alabama and back would pay for a flight to Vancouver, a 7 day cruise to Anchorage, 10 days car rental and a good chunk of our hotel costs. Given the wear and tear that would be inflicted on the truck and trailer the decision was pretty obvious, that is why I am sitting 40,000′ over Manitoba writing this.
It’s going to be a long day, we left home at 05:00 this morning, which will get us into Vancouver around 09:00 local time. We can’t start boarding te ship until 12:00 so we he some time to kill in Vancouver. Unfortunately we will have our suitcases with us, so that makes walking a little inconvenient, however there is the Skytrain which travels around Vancouver and the suburbs on an elevated track, so we will probably take the “scenic” rote to the cruise terminal on that. The ridiculous thing is, it won’t cost us to travel the extended route; the fare from the airport to the terminal is $4.00 PLUS a $5.00 airport “convenience” fee. For the same price you can buy a day pass, which is not subject to the fee. Must be a west coast thing!
After heading out to New Westminster and grabbing a snack we took the train back to the Cruise Ship Terminal. Although we could see the ship from the station, finding the terminal was a little more challenging. Finally we found it with a little help, and successfully cleared US Customs and got checked in. The cruise terminal was somewhat underwhelming compared with previous ones we had used in Florida.
The ship was much smaller than previous ones, it only carries 630 passengers compared with over 2000 for the others.
There was a Disney cruise ship at the terminal as well, and for some reason it seems we had to wait for it to depart before we could. We were due out at 16:00 but we left an hour later. As soon as the Disney ship set sail, we moved off minutes later.
Disney under Lions Gate Bridge
We headed N.W. out of Vancouver, around Stanley Park and under the Lions Gate bridge. From there we continue N.W. in the channel between the mainland and Vancouver Island. At some point later on to night we pass through the narrowest part of the channel which is only 140 feet wide. Our cabin is directly under the bridge (the one where the driver sits, not the Lions Gate one!) so we get a good forward view, if you go to princess.com and find the Bridge Cam tab, then select Pacific Princess you will see what we see from our balcony.
We also had a rare sighting of a floating Canadian submarine!
