Alaska Sojourn: Coral Princess cruisetour, Alaska Railroad, Radiance of the Seas

We walked around, hungry after our energetic morning at Capilano Park, and ended up eating delicious savory “pies” – a beef stew pot pie, and a clam chowder pot pie, each served in a lovely white stoneware bowl with lovely flaky top crust. We shared my energy drink over a cup of ice. Afterwards I went in search of ice cream (the people who had vacated the table for us said they had ice cream outside) and discovered three gelato stands – and an entirely new section of market to explore! We ended up not getting any ice cream, but we did buy a fresh baguette, and some salami and cheese, to enjoy for dinner later at the hotel.

Pot pies!

Free bottled water from the hotel, with my refreshing sports drink mixed in... over cups of ice from the pot pie counter.

We then walked around the island a bit more, looking for the route to the hoho bus stop in the parking lot next to a Starbucks. We had to cross off the island (the opposite end from where we had arrived via ferry) and by that time our feet and legs were SORE. We found the trolley stop and waited. When we boarded, DKNYC discovered a cell phone on her seat. All the passengers yelled at the woman who had just gotten off, and she came back to collect it, grateful to have her phone. Then one of the other passengers realized he had left HIS phone in the Starbucks! He ran back to get it, and fortunately it was still there. (Ironically, later that night we would learn I had left my phone charger on the porch at Capilano, when I unplugged to take pictures of the performers. I though DKNYC had collected the cord when she unplugged her own phone; she thought I would come back to get the cord myself. Despite reaching someone on staff at the park by phone, they didn’t find the cord, so we’ve been sharing one charging cord since then, although we do have some slower speed backup chargers as well.)

We sat gratefully on the bus all the way back to our hotel, which is one of the official stops. We enjoyed viewing the museum cluster of the Space Museum, Museum of Vancouver, and Maritime Museum, and wished we had time to visit all of them. (Alas I have no photos since my phone was out of power by then... perhaps DKNYC can add some, including a great one of the giant crab sculpture!!)

That night, I put up a load of laundry of the clothes we had worn to travel and tour all day. The laundry room was adjacent to the gym, which also had a Jacuzzi and sauna, both of which I used and definitely helped take care of my aches and pains from our nearly 7 miles (!!!) of walking that day. There was also a lovely rooftop patio, where I watched the sunset.

Our hotel was right next to the BC football stadium, which had a lovely white roof that looked like clouds, and a crown-like superstructure. The white part was later illuminated in a beautiful purple color, but once again my phone was so dead that I couldn’t even take a picture of it! I was so sleepy by this point I kept nodding off in the Jacuzzi and the sauna. We enjoyed a dinner of bread and cheese and meat, watching The Sorcerer’s Apprentice on TV, and going to sleep by 11pm.

Water wall hotel sign

Hotel gym

And jacuzzi!

Sauna

Laundry room...

With roof deck and city views!

DAY #2 - SATURDAY, MAY 14, 2016 – EMBARKATION DAY – CORAL PRINCESS

I arose at 5:30am – 8:30 east coast time, so it felt like sleeping in! – started to catchup on this travel log, and prepared to go for my weekly long run. My running group is doing 3 miles with a “magic mile” this weekend, and I wanted to stay on the same schedule, so I planned to do the same thing. I had looked at some nearby routes the night before on the computer using MapMyRun, but I was pretty tired so I didn’t really plan a full route.

I headed down past the stadium, aiming for the river. I found a great footpath over the Cambie bridge, which had dozens of blue flags I had seen the night before from the rooftop patio at the hotel. These signs said “NUR NAV”… oh wait a minute, that’s backwards! It’s “RUN VAN” – signs for the Vancouver Marathon! Yep, it was a sign.

I had a lovely warm-up run over the bridge, then did my timed mile on the flat along the water, enjoying the sights and stopping to take a few pictures (so not a very fast timed mile, but that’s fine). Then I walked and ran back to the hotel, taking more pictures at the stadium – and of the road pavers who were repaving the street. Yes, we had a note from the hotel – and some chocolates! – apologizing for any inconvenience due to the road closure.

"NUR NAV"...

... or is that "RUN VAN"?!?!

Beautiful sight running out over the Cambie Bridge. One of the reasons I love running when I travel -- you get to see all sorts of sights you might otherwise miss.

The end of the line...

Lovely waterfront path

Goslings!

Cool public art

Sunrise behind the science center

View of the stadium from the other side of the river

Heading back over Cambie Bridge

Bridge plaque

Street paving in front of our hotel

I grabbed coffee in the lobby, went upstairs to get Denise and went to the lobby but it was already 7:10 (I was delayed due to the various road closures) and we had missed the shuttle driver to book our times. We had decided to book the shuttle twice: once to Canada Place at 9:00 am to pick up the Trolley since our hotel stop was closed because of the street paving, and once to the Cruise Terminal at 1:00pm with our bags to board the Coral Princess. The front desk clerk called the driver for us and booked both times, and we went back to the room to change into our swimsuits so we could enjoy the Jacuzzi and sauna before we headed out for the day (DKNYC had already spent some time in the gym on the bike).

Then we went to the room to shower and change and head down to breakfast. There were so many people trying to check out that the elevator took forever, and all the food and drinks in the breakfast room were empty and had to be refilled. Rather than wait, today I had what was there: granola, yogurt, fresh fruit, plus a hard boiled egg and a sausage patty. Juice and coffee, and we headed downstairs – again waiting forever for the elevator, so we missed our 9:00 am shuttle and had to wait for the 9:30.

Running statues in front of stadium (in honor of Terry Fox)

View from the hotel's rooftop deck of Cambie Bridge and the blue "NUR NAV" signs where I had run earlier in the morning!

Young folks working out on the roof deck adjacent to the gym, overlooking the stadium roof

Relaxing in the jacuzzi after our morning workouts

A hearty breakfast before we head out for a busy day

Traffic to the port area was impossible: there were three ships in, the giant Star Princess, the Coral Princess, and the Holland America ship, Niew Amsterdam. The Trolley stop had been moved a block away (which our shuttle driver didn’t know), but we did get a nice view of the underground ship terminal parking lot as we dropped off other passengers, and took some photos of the Star Princess in port before walking around the corner to find the Trolley.

One had just pulled in, but it was the Park route, and we were going on the City route today. We saw crowds boarding various tour buses for Capilano, Grouse Mountain, etc., and finally our Trolley appeared. Driven by a young man who looked barely out of high school, we had to stop after a block due to the Trolley’s backup light and beeping running constantly. He called for instructions, fixed the problem, and we were on our way.

Coffee Coffee Coffee in cute cups and heat wraps

Star Princess... and heavy port traffic. We would have a SLOOOOOW boarding process and DELAYED DEPARTURE due to three ships in port for the first time this season.

We're on the trolley!

"Have a trolley jolly day" tip box

Traffic and trolleys on the city route

We enjoyed all the City route stops we had missed the previous day, up until we arrived at the Granville Island stop (where we had discovered someone’s cell phone yesterday). Then we traversed the same stops up until our (skipped) hotel stop, and went on to see many new sights, including the Science Center ball on the river that I had taken pictures of on my early morning run and the Chinatown area with its red streetlights and golden dragons.

Underground glass shopping mall

Trolley stop at the art museum

Museum of Vancouver in Vanier Park

Observatory with free star gazing

Urban building art

Science Center Ball

More cool public artwork

Chinatown sights

Gastown

Steamclock and beautiful streetlamps

Vancouver is truly a beautiful, diverse and vibrant city. I could envision spending a few days or a week here on vacation, if one could add on the extra time to an Alaskan cruise!!! I would love to have time to explore the museums and neighborhoods and live entertainment and restaurants...

Random beautiful doorway

Random striking monument

Random historical tanks

They're still repaving the street by the hotel... which I'm sure didn't help the downtown traffic! The HoHo bus would've skipped our stop, had we stayed on to the end instead of walking up from Gastown.

Back entrance to the hotel -- and the coffee shop where we had free drink tickets, courtesy of the front desk.

This lovely man made me a double iced latte!!

I've been thinking that due to your super long trip, at the pace that you are retelling your story, it will sustain me until my trip finally gets here. I'm inspired to share my story well, too - hope mine is as rich as yours!

Great commentary along with your pics. What website do you use to upload pics to cruise critic? Thanks

Hi Everyone,

This is DKNYC checking in. I am enjoying the re-telling of our awesome adventure. As Denise has said Vancouver was wonderful, even the suspension bridge. 😨 I think I have some photos I can share once I figure out how to upload them. I am using the Tapatalk app on my phone. That first day in Vancouver is still my all time high for steps. Not a pool person but that Jacuzzi was just what the Doctor ordered.

Denise S.

Sent from my SM-G900V using Tapatalk

I'm enjoying the review also! I've got two weeks until I'm on the coral princess southbound. Maybe I should offer to buy you coffee coffee coffee so you'll keep writing writing writing!!! Thanks!

Sent from my iPhone using Forums mobile app

Hi all, thanks for reading asking! I hope dknyc will add some photos from her phone or actual camera!! She got some great shots at different locations

I may move to a new format going forward, posting the text together, then doing multiple photo posts (with captions where appropriate). I feel like the text is too broken up this way... I remember when I didn't post photos in reviews at all and just painted word pictures of everything! We'll see...

Also as noted in my initial post, after the first week my notes became a bit more sparse, and I'll have to reconstruct a bit from the photos themselves. I hope they rekindle the thoughts and feelings I experienced at each location or activity, as that's the most interesting part of a travel journal to me!

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The famous Crab sculpture from the Museum in Vancouver. From the trolley.

Mountie Bear @ Capilano park

Look who's in the totem!

Hope this works...

Denise S. aka DKNYC

Sent from my SM-G900V using Tapatalk

Ok well they posted but they are sideways. Turn your screen to clockwise one quarter. 😎

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We arrived at the hotel, stopped in the lobby restaurant where we had been given drink tickets the night before to get (free!) coffee coffee coffee… well, DKNYC had a local Stanley Point beer… to enjoy while we did our final cruise packing. I asked for my usual extra cup of ice with my iced cappuccino, and they made me TWO cappuccinos instead!! We put another twonie in their tip jar and headed upstairs. (Pix of Cappucino in prior post)

I jammed all my stuff into the big bag, since I now wasn’t worried about weight, and selected a few items I might need for the day into my smallest rolling carryon. Then I went down to get a luggage cart and we loaded on our SEVEN bags, sat in the lobby (charging my phone) and then walked up the alley to the new location for the shuttle, again moved because of the street closure.

The driver loaded our bags, along with those of two other couples who were headed to the port, each of us to a different ship. However, we all went to the same place, and the stevedores collected our bags and transported them to the correct loading area. We stepped off the shuttle (giving the driver $5 and our thanks… that was our last Canadian money, we had to leave $2US for our hotel maid) picked up our light carryons, and headed into the terminal. And there the interminable adventure began: go upstairs to check in, go inside, then outside, then back inside to check-in area, snake line to sign in for Coral Princess (vs. Star Princess or the Holland America Niew Amsterdam), then another line to enter… a huge airplane hangar type room where we are being called by boarding groups. We are #70; they’re on #56.

And it turns out we’re GREEN #70, they are also calling BLUE numbers intermittently as well. Sigh. And despite having free cruiseport wifi, my phone will not connect, the power is draining, and I sit down on the floor by an outlet to charge… and then it must have connected because it did an entire system upgrade, which took up the rest of the time until we boarded… and we were there nearly an hour before they called our number!!

At that point we headed downstairs, combined with the other two ships’ passengers in a giant snake line to enter… to go past U.S. customs, then walk and walk and wait in line to finally board the ship!! As you may imagine, we passed a lot of very tired older and mobility impaired passengers who were truly exhausted by making their way through this lengthy procedure. Having left the hotel at 1pm, we didn’t board the ship until 3:30 (all aboard was supposed to be 3pm) – and there were hundreds of people behind us. Boarding, muster, sailaway, and even dinner were delayed as a result of these boarding issues. Indeed, by the time we arrived at our cabin, ALL of our bags had beaten us on board and were waiting for us!

DKNYC's packing companion

Hotel van transfer to cruise port (only for dropoff, not pickup we learned upon our return)

Sending our bags to their various cruise destinations (multiple cruises in port)

We'll be on her soon...

Check in lines

We're almost there!

Nope, not almost there... time to sit in the waiting room for an hour!!!

Boarding at last!! The bags beat us to the cabin.

See? Here they are!

Nice stateroom

And nice balcony! (We got a last-minute upgrade offer, which we jumped on, and moved from an OV to a balcony for this leg. Delightful!)

Our home for the next week

We unpacked a few items, then headed up to the Horizon Court for lunch – while it would have been nice to enjoy lunch in the dining room, a boarding day offering from Princess, it was far too late to do so. I enjoyed a huge salad, with a serving of nicoise salad, pasta salad, cooked green beans, a chicken and mushroom terrine, a croquet monsieur sandwich, and three big pieces of fruit for dessert: a full-length slice each of honeydew, cantaloupe and pineapple, skin still on.

We went back to the cabin with a bowl of fruit (pears and clementines) and did some more unpacking until it was time for Muster drill in the Universe Lounge. We walked downstairs carrying our life jackets, and attended one of the more serious muster drill lectures I have heard, with instructions on how to exit the boat in case of emergency (“close off nose with thumb, place fingers across mouth, hold onto life jacket with other hand, and step off – do not jump – into the water” Eek!). We returned to the cabin once again to complete our unpacking and meet our cabin steward Joseph. We requested 2 robes, ice 2ce a day, and 2 patters a day.

Denise & Denise, crossing the pool deck to get to Horizon Court for lunch

Beautiful Thai-themed Solarium

Main pool area -- no chair hogs in Alaska!!

Poolside decor

Illuminated sign for Horizon Court

Lunch!

Fresh fruit for dessert

Muster Drill

Obligatory life jacket photo

Sailaway - goodbye for now, Vancouver!

Container port

Heading towards the Lion's Gate Bridge

Holland America follows us out of port

Heading for the bridge

(Ooh! In three weeks when we return to Vancouver, I run around Stanley Park and have closeup photos of that lighthouse!!)

Beautiful tile work in the Explorer's Lounge

(Toldja)

International Cafe...

Free sweets

And savories

Beautiful Centrum

With beautiful music

Bubbling water fountain poles behind guest services.

After sailaway, we headed down to the International Café, where DKNYC picked up our fancy coffee card, which had punches for 15 specialty coffes and entitled us to unlimited free brewed coffee coffee coffee. We also stopped by Passenger Services to transfer some gift OBC, ask for a second patter, and sign up for an internet package (an extra 20 minutes if we do it today – I hate having limited internet time, can’t wait until Princess goes to unlimited services). Afterwards we went to the Lotus Spa to tour the services; the raffle was rescheduled to another day due to the delayed boarding problems. I also signed up for Spin class on two sea days and met one of the fitness instructors.

We went back to our cabin, and checked out the large public aft deck. This is a great area, and I hope that it continues to be under-used in the course of the cruise so we can enjoy it as our own large aft balcony!! We change for dinner and head down for 7:30 pm – only to discover that even dinner has been delayed by a half hour (just for tonight) so we wander the nearby shops until 8:00pm. We meet our lovely dining companions: Susan and Beth from Florida; Candy and Dave from Michigan. We share stories and plans and cruise and travel histories. We also get to meet our great waitstaff, Vincent and Balsamo, both from the Philippines, very personable and efficient.

Dinner was amazing: Rolls with butter (molded butter pats, served to you personally by the assistant waiter… not nasty foil-wrapped packets sitting on the table)… Gravlax with endive appetizer… creamed artichoke bisque… steamed cod over lentils with steamed potatoes, and an amazing chocolate soufflé for dessert. For all these past years cruising Royal Caribbean, I was so confused: I remembered loving souffles on cruises, but theirs were always disappointing. What was it? I was remembering the amazing souffles available on Princess!! Yum.

One of our party had listed this as a “birthday cruise” so the waiters came over with a beautiful birthday cake for her – at no cost, and without request – and we all sang happy birthday to her! She shared some of the cake with everyone. With the late start, we finish dinner too late to make it to the Welcome Aboard Show, trivia, etc., so we head to the cabin, where I start typing up this report.

End of the first day's notes!!!!! Now some more photos.

Another view of the elegant Centrum

Welcoming couches in one of the loveliest libraries at sea. These were usually filled -- indeed, the entire library was often packed!!

Another view of the library

Another view of the beautiful Solarium

Hardy souls wrapped up in their bathrobes enjoying the pool deck

MUTS on the pool deck (Movies Under The Stars/Sun)

Artwork outside Explorer's Lounge (I took a photo of a band inside, too, but it's so fuzzy I'm not going to post it)

Alaska items in the onboard gift shops

Beautiful views from our nearby public aft deck, with mountains and the Holland America ship still following us

Mountains

Pre-dinner music

And a non-drinker's drinks...