TeanneTX
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Posts posted by TeanneTX
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I'm taking a cruise in Sept '24 around Japan. I was born and raised in Japan (lived there until I was 13). I was born at Tachikawa AFB and than lived up north at Misawa AFB. Any idea if I can get on those bases when I visit there next year. I would love to be able to see all the places I was at as a kid. Mostly just interested in Misawa AFB.
Teanne
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On 11/24/2022 at 1:34 PM, Hlitner said:
Not sure that "industrial" is an issue (anywhere) since tourism areas are generally not industrial. I was stationed at Misawa Air Force Base which was less than an hour drive from Aomori. We used to head over towards Aomori to get he ferry over to Hokkaido (they docked at Hakodate) as, in those days, they did not have a tunnel or any kind of direct connection. The trains, cars, and people all used the ferry (about a 4 hour ride across the strait). We always thought of Hakodate as the place we got off the ferry to grab the train up to Sapporo. There is actually a pretty decent National Park in the Aomori area (Lake Towada) where we used to do a lot of camping.
Just an old thought, but in my day it took us about 12 hours on a very uncomfortable train to get from Northern Japan to Tokyo. They had no high-speed trains and flying was not a good option. I do think that one of the highlights of Japan is the winter ice festival in Sapporo, but this happens around February. If you can imagine the Tournament of Roses Parade with the floats all being carved out of ice, you would be picturing what we would see at the ice festival.
Hank
I'm taking cruise that goes to Amori and Hakodate in Sept '24. I lived in Misawa AFB in the 60's and we used to travel to Amori and Hokkaido too. I remember the Sapporo Ice Festival. Lake Towada sounds familiar too. When were you in Misawa? I'm hoping that while there I could visit Misawa and get on the Base. Not sure if thats allowed. My father was a civilian on the base and worked on the Univac computers up on "The Hill". Not sure if thats still part of the Base either. My parents belonged to the Aero Club and spent the weekends flying there. It was a great place to live. I went to Sollars Elementary but we lived in off-base housing. We lived right next to a horse racing ranch that was owned by the Emperor.
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Wow thanks for the info. That sure puts things into perspective. I don't think we'll do the car rental from Vancouver after all. I didn't realize you have to wait an hour to get on the ferry. That is crazy. That ends up being 5 hrs just to get too and from the island. I think flying is starting to sound better. I know its pricey but this is a once in a life time trip for us so maybe we can make it work. Or we may just stay in Vancouver after all and see their gardens.
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I want to take my SIL from Vancouver over to Butchart Gardens from the Westin Bayshore Hotel. My problem is that all the regular tours include Victoria and are about 12 hrs long which we can't physically do. So I was thinking about renting a car for just the one day. Is there a car rental place near the hotel and is this doable for 2 women in their 60's to be able to navigate out there. We rented a car when we went many years ago but we were younger and my husband drove.
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On 1/18/2023 at 3:04 AM, martincath said:
Butchart Gardens is on the Island - about a half-hours drive from Victoria. There's no way to avoid either a LOT of time or a LOT of money if you want to see them from Vancouver! I believe Harbour Air's tour - which includes a shuttle and entry to the gardens - is set at a little over $500pp at the moment.
Frankly, while Butchart is an excellent garden you can see plenty, including better Asian gardens, right here in Vancouver - Dr Sun Yat-Sen is literally the best example of a Chinese Scholar's garden outside Suzhou and is downtown; the Japanese garden out on the UBC campus even offers traditional tea ceremonies; there's a large Botanic garden and arboretum out there too, including a Treewalk; UBC also has a nice (but small) rose garden with phenomenal sea views, and the rose garden in Stanley park is bigger and better than Butcharts. Queen Elizabeth Park has two quarry gardens - neither anywhere as big as Butchart, but the larger one is still pretty impressive and the price can't be beat at $0. QEP also has Bloedel's tropical dome garden full of trees and birds (this does have an entry fee, but single digits - and combo tickets with the nearby VanDusen Botanic garden shave the price even keener).
Price of carriage rides is insane these days - the hourly rates for your own carriage are now ~double the cost of return flights to Victoria! Even the trolley, which jams up to 26 people on, runs $50 a pop (Seniors do save a few bucks on that). The best ways to see the park are on foot or by bike - eBike rentals make things much easier on your legs, but since it's entirely flat around the Seawall it's a really easy ride on regular bikes round the perimeter... just don't try to cycle up to Prospect Point unless you're feeling energetic!
If your SiL has never seen the city, a HOHO tour would work well - they don't seem to have a stop at the Bayshore right now, but they have in the past (not sure how well HOHO has bounced back since Covid closures - Summer season used to include 2 loops, many stops, including very close to the Bayshore - but right now the nearest stops are Blue Horizon or Marriott Pinnacle Hotels, both ~900metres walk from the Bayshore.
Day Passes on transit are also a great value - there are bus stops close by, and you can transfer from those to SkyTrain and Seabus all day for only CAD$8.65 if you're >65. QEP and UBC are pretty easy to get to by transit, and there's even a bus stop in Stanley Park (the #19 from here is a pretty good 'tourist bus' for you as it runs from the park within a block of your hotel, right through downtown, Chinatown, and then onto Mount Pleasant enabling convenient transfers to lots of other bus routes as well as SkyTrain). Any service along Cordova including #19 link up with the #50, the other good 'tourist bus' as it takes you to Granville Island and then on to QEP.
Wow-great info. So many options. Thank you so much.
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I will be traveling to Vancouver for a cruise and will be alone when I arrive. I will need transportation to the Westin Bayshore. Uber and a taxi are about the same price. How is the availability of taxis and Ubers at the airport. Also how safe and clean are the taxi's? Just trying to find the safest and best option for me. A private town car is too pricey now.
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8 minutes ago, cruiseryyc said:
Found this on Google. For you I suspect a taxi would be your best option, they have a set price from the airport to downtown and I think its in the $35-$45 CDN range.
Thank you-yes I think the taxi is my best option. That looks like about $ 33 USD for the taxi.
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7 minutes ago, cruiseryyc said:
A day trip to Victoria to see Butchart Gardens will be 12-14 hours, unless you take a seaplane from Harbour Air.
https://harbourair.com/flights/
Victoria is not a "must do" especially if you only have two days to work with.
I looked at the cost for RT on HarbourAir and wow-over $400 per person. I'm afraid I'll have to skip that. Too pricey for me. I think we'll just do a tour to the Gardens one day and than Stanley Park the 2nd day and skip Victoria.
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46 minutes ago, Arizona Wildcat said:
AQ cabins vary in location by class of ship. Would never stay below the pool. Lots of great locations
This was for Silhouette.
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We've only had AQ once and wouldn't do it again. Blu was OK but I found the seating uncomfortable because we were all crammed in the dining room. I did like the fresh juice and snacks in the room in the afternoon. My real complaint was that the rooms have always been right below the pool deck. So in the middle of the night you'd hears the pool chairs being dragged around. So I didn't get much sleep on that cruise. So we won't do AQ again.
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I'm booked for an Aug 2023 Iceland/Greenland cruise. I don't have a cabin number yet since this cruise was sold out and I was waitlisted. Now I have a "V1-GTY". Any idea what that means. I've never booked a cruise and didn't get my cabin right away. How does it work for assigning cabins. Any idea when that happens? I did it through my TA and she says they could assign it at any time. I'm anxious about not knowing what cabin we will be in.
Teanne
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Anyone stay at the Westin Bayshore, Vancouver pre-cruise? Would love some input on the hotel and things to do in the general area. Whats in walking distance, any yummy restaurants? How far is Stanley Park? Any information would be helpful.
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I arrive in Vancouver in mid-May at 4:30 pm for our cruise. We're spending 3 days in Vancouver at the Westin Bayshore by Marriott. Whats the easiest way to get to the hotel from the airport. Do they have Uber and Lyft there. Taxi or should I hire a car service to pick me up. I want something fairly easy and not complicated but not incredibly expensive. I'm a mid 60's female traveling by myself so I want safety of course. My SIL who is traveling with me but she doesn't arrive until 9 pm so I'll be sharing this info with her too.
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My SIL and I will be going on an Alaska cruise out of Vancouver in May. This will be her first trip but its my 3rd. We will be staying at the Westin Bayshore hotel for 3 nights and will have 2 full days to explore the area. We're both in our late 60's, healthy but the usual issues someone our age has. Joints ache and we don't have the stamina we used to. I do want her to see Butchard Gardens and Stanley Park. I looked at tours to the Gardens and Victoria but they seem all to be about 12 hrs and not sure we have the stamina for that. Is the city of Victoria a "must see" or can we skip that. I've been to the Gardens and Stanley Park but would love to see them again. I just don't want to over-do things and than we're both exhausted. I also have no idea where our hotel is in relation to the cruise terminal. We don't want to rent a car but we're fine with using public transportation. I know we want to do the horse drawn carriage ride in Stanley Park. Any help would be greatly appreciated.
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8 hours ago, DogLover said:
As @martincathmentioned, an overnight in Victoria would be well worth the time. We did the opposite, though ... took the BC Ferry Connector coach to Victoria after our cruise ended in YVR. It was awesome as the Coach picked up at Canada Place after we disembarked, transported us on the Ferry, then to downtown Victoria (just a few blocks from our hotel.) We stayed at the Magnolia Hotel, walking distance to everything. Next day, we took a shuttle to Butchart Gardens, spent several hours and then shuttled back. For another activity option, would highly recommend Canadian Craft tours as well. We took really fun wine tour to the Cowichan Valley. https://www.canadiancrafttours.ca/
After spending 3 relaxing days in Victoria, we flew out of YYJ back to Phoenix on Delta with a connection in SEA. (Unfortunately, Delta no longer serves YYJ.)
Whatever you decide, Victoria is lovely ... enjoy!
Thank you for the info. We may just do that instead of spending the time in Vancouver. Wonder how it would work to get back to Vancouver in order to catch the ship.
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13 hours ago, Heidi13 said:
In addition to tours where you abide by their schedule, you can consider public transport and the ferry.
Coast Mountain operates buses out to Tsawwassen Ferry Terminal that arrive in time to walk on the ferry to Swartz bay (Victoria). On disembarking the ferry you can catch the Victoria transit bus to the gardens (#81 if memory is correct)
You can spend as many hours at the gardens as you want. Personally we plan for at least 4 hrs. You can then catch the local bus back to the ferry terminal, or down to Victoria.
Thanks. This is very helpful. We may try to do it ourselves rather than the tour. Sounds like they have good public transportation.
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My SIL and I are going on an Alaska cruise out of Vancouver in May 2023. This will be her first but my 3rd. I was thinking about arriving in Vancouver a few days early so we can see the sights. I'd love to take her over to Victoria to see the Gardens. I think we rented a car last time I did that with my husband. I'd rather not rent a car though this time since I'm not familiar with the area. We're both in our 60's and fairly active. Is there some sort of transportation over to Victoria and than on to the Gardens? Maybe a tour company that does all the driving for you? Any suggestions?
Teanne
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2 hours ago, spleenstomper said:
Canada drops all Covid requirements October 1: https://www.canada.ca/en/public-health/news/2022/09/government-of-canada-to-remove-covid-19-border-and-travel-measures-effective-october-1.html
Yea!!! So happy that they have lifted all their restrictions. Now to plan some cruises.
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On 9/1/2022 at 10:30 AM, Mountaineer0313 said:
Not as far as I know. My husband grudgingly got vaccinated, since I told him I was heading to Alaska with or without him, his choice. So he got it done with a month to spare and we leave Monday.
I understand. Vaccination is not an option for us unfortunately. Guess we'll just wait it out and see if Canada changes its policies.
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1 minute ago, Heidi13 said:
Being fully vaccinated is a requirement for everyone aged 12 yrs and older, with very few exceptions. This is a requirement to embark/disembark a cruise ship in Canada, or even be aboard a ship that docks in Canada.
No, you cannot just stay onboard, as by being onboard, you have already entered Canada.
Darn-I was hoping Canada would change their rules. Wish the US would allow cruises to go to and from Alaska without stops in Canada.
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On 8/15/2022 at 1:14 PM, JT1962 said:
Great news. Hopefully headed to no vaccine or testing requirements for anyone on any sailing by the end of the year.
Oh I do hope that will eventually happen. It upsets me to see people treat the unvaxxed like they are diseased and looked down on. So many people who are on on fully vaxxed and tested cruises still get covid. We need to move on from this and treat the non-vaxxed equal to the vaxxed.
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So I'm confused. If you have an Alaska cruise the starts and ends in Seattle but makes a short stop in Victoria. Can you stay onboard during the Canada stop if your not vaxxed? I have no problem skipping Victoria-been there several times.
Teanne
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I know that there are a bunch of lines that are opening up cruises to the non-vax. We want to finally get to go to Alaska but all stop in Canada. Can you just stay on the ship during the stop in Canada? Does anyone know if you can do this or is there another board to ask this question?
Teanne
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3 hours ago, jelayne said:
Yes you can get a margarita, daquarie, pina coloada, martini, and a lot of drinks for $9.
The beverage package, Wi-fi, and gratuities are a pricing option offered by Celebrity. So you paid Celebrity for those perks. Unless you are booked in a Suite or Aqua class there is a Cruise Only rate which is less expensive and doesn’t not include the drinks or wi-fi and you would pay the daily gratuties instead of having it packaged with your fare.
As to trading the beverage package for specialty dining, Celebrity doesn’t switch the the beverage package for dining, excursions or other items.
Thanks for the info. Thats very helpful. So I see your a fellow Texan. I live near Lampasas. I've been through Gatesville many times.
Japan Cruise itinerary
in Asia
Posted
You were there right about the time we were leaving. You might have used the computers that my dad worked on. I know The Hill was spying on the russians. lol It was a huge listening station. We moved to El Paso and my dad worked out at White Sands Missle Range and there was that same "elephant cage" sitting out in the middle of the desert. I remember my father not answering me when I asked what it was doing there. lol The one at Misawa was also where we got the information when the russians shot down KAL 007 which I remember as a kid.