Early morning welcome to Vancouver, BC

Cruising into Canada Place in Vancouver while the city is still asleep

Cargo loading facility in Vancouver

 

Friday, September 6, 2013...We were up by 5:40 AM to head for breakfast in the Windjammer for the final time...and boy were we glad we got there early.  The line moved into the room, past "koo, koo" boy...who had welcomed us each morning wearing a different crazy hat, and reminded us to sanitize our hands. It was already getting crowded as we grabbed coffee.  I got a table while Pat went for food, then we traded places.  We kept it simple, just oatmeal, bacon, scrambled eggs...no personalized omelet today. 

 

When we got back to our state room we were surprised to see that Patu was in there already remaking the room for the next cruise guests!  We watched as he completed resetting the bed and collected laundry.  He started to hurry out of our way, but we were able to stop him long enough to personally hand him his gratuity and thank him for all his service.  He thanked us, and then hurried on his way to reset another state room.  We each got our showers and got ready to head down to the Aurora Theater at 8:20 for our call to begin the debarkation process. 

 

Time to say goodbye to the beautiful Radiance of the Sea

We barely sat down when our time was called to come to the deck for departure.  As we passed through a long line, security scanned our Royal Caribbean ID for the final time, and we headed over to security and customs at Vancouver's Canada Place.  As we entered the building we were told that passports would not be needed, as we had already been cleared for entry by our captain.  Our declaration page was reviewed by an agent, and we were permitted to head into a large room with all our luggage....supposedly.  We walked through the lines of luggage trying to locate any with the number 67 like we had been issued.  None were to be found as we entered the last row...but wait...just then a large skid of luggage came in and I could see my blue luggage in the pile.  The workers quickly lined them up, and Pat & I were able to retrieve all our suitcases.  We each grabbed a luggage cart to pile everything upon, then headed out the door into a sea of people trying to figure out where to go next!

 

We had rented a car through AAA at Alamo Car Rental, and we could see it's kiosk, but there seemed to be a huge mass of people standing in front of their booth.  Finding a restroom, we took turns watching the luggage while the other headed to the bathroom.  Pat then found someone at the front of the mass of people and discovered that they were waiting for a tour bus, NOT in line for Alamo, thank goodness.  We made our way over to the Alamo kiosk and found just one other person in front of us.  Next...and Pat was soon given the keys to our Jeep Cherokee rental car...very nice.  He was also given directions to help us get to our reserved hotel in nearby Surrey, BC.  We found our way to the elevator to the garage to get the car loaded and ready to pull out of Canada Place.  Pat drove the Cherokee out of the garage to Hastings Street like a pro.  We had left our safe home on the beautiful Radiance of the Sea and were now out on our own in the Great Northwest...ready for more exciting adventures.

 

Vancouver is waking up as Pat & I drive out of Canada Place

More Vancouver, BC skyline as we leave the cruise ship
to head out for more adventures in the Northwest