bobmacliberty

Unfortunately, things haven’t changed from what you said. Oceans 999 is only open for breakfast. I asked when it might be open again for dinner and the clerk at reception was confused. He said it’s only a breakfast restaurant. I said that it used to serve dinner but he had no clue. Must be new. The Coal Harbor bar is open noon to 11:00pm and serves dinner. Same menu that we had for room service. The outdoor patio however was not open. No idea when it will be open. You probably know that the Five Sails restaurant is open. Not part of the hotel (anymore…used to be) but in the same building. It’s a fine dining place and looks pretty upscale. And I didn’t answer you’re other question earlier but we checked in around 1:00pm and were given a room immediately. I’m don’t think l’ve seen another guest on floor 9, so they probably aren’t full.

As we left our hotel this morning, we noticed that there are 2 ships at the cruise terminal. Ruby Princess on the east side. HAL Zuiderdam on the west side.

I’ll have to give iConv a try. I downloaded a different app (called Media Converter) to convert to mp4 but the resulting file wouldn’t upload to CC for some reason. If I have longer videos to post, I’ll upload to YouTube and then embed the YouTube link in a post. For short videos like what Crystal posted, I just insert the native iPhone .mov file, but I know that’s a problem for Android users.

Our room is clean and well supplied. They told us at check in that there was no automatic maid service but we can call if we need anything (like fresh towels) and they would deliver. Haven’t tried that yet but will probably ask today for more coffee packets. We actually don’t mind that since we’d rather not have strangers in the room while we’re not there and we’re fine with the same towels/linens for 3 nights. We haven’t checked out the restaurant yet, or the bar for drinks. I’ll see what I can learn today. We did order room service last night for dinner and it was delivered quickly and hot, for whatever that means. No issues with the elevators and the pool deck/hot tub is open.

I find that humor is helpful in difficult situations. That’s obviously not true for everyone. Since we are still fairly new Floridians, my friend sent me this:

Thanks for posting the videos Crystal. They work just fine on my iPhone. Stay safe!

Makes sense about the hotels. We are ready, at least as ready as we can be from 3,000 miles away. As I said earlier, we are not in a flood zone on the island, but everywhere can be in a flood zone with a significant enough amount of water. I’m not too worried at this point. People on the west coast of Florida have it much, MUCH worse than we probably will.

Hmmmm…uncomfortable seating. That might severely impact my prediction of CP 150 being your favorite restaurant. Maybe I should switch my guess to Wonderland?? Would a Sea Dog like that kind of atmosphere?? Would another visit to CP 150 later in the week with better seating move it back to the top of your list again?? Think I’ll stick with CP 150 as my guess. Time will tell.

Good morning from Vancouver! I had a tough decision this morning. There’s a Starbucks on the ground level of our hotel. There’s a Tim Horton’s across the street. Where to go for breakfast? Just kidding…that’s not a decision at all. I can go to Starbucks just about anywhere. Timmies is a rare treat. And no, that’s not a double double. I’m a black coffee guy.

Absolutely stunning!

By the time the train arrived 30 minutes late, we cleared customs, and checked into the hotel, it was 2:00 and we were hangry. Went to a place on the next pier over call Murphy’s Tavern for lunch. It was just OK. Better than the Windjammer though. We walked around Gastown for a bit. This is the touristy part of Vancouver with lots of shops and restaurants. Everywhere we looked, we saw the Canadian maple leaf. Surprise, surprise, there was no personalized key chain that says Micheline. Really surprising, was that there wasn’t one for Bob. There WAS one for Robert. Maybe the don’t use the Bob nickname in Canada?? if you were feeling cold, there were plenty of toques (ask a Canadian friend 🤣). is that you Mike Szwajkowski? Gastown’s iconic item is the steam powered clock. Every 15 minutes, steam blows through whistles to play a song. FullSizeRender.MOV

Loved it. Shows that he’s got passion.

I’m trying to look on the bright side. Practically their entire defensive backfield was out, as were their 2 starting DTs. Their C, RG, and RT were second and third stringers. They missed an easy FG, dropped an easy pick six, fumbled inside their own 10, Josh bounced an easy TD pass, and they had numerous badly timed penalties and a couple of bad coaching calls. Yet they only lost by 2 and nearly pulled out a win. They’ll be fine.

I used Trip Advisor Plus (think I can mention them since CC is owned by TA) to book our stay at the Pan Pacific Vancouver and last night at the Embassy Suites in Seattle. TA+ has an annual membership fee but I saved enough on our Pan Pacific booking to more than cover the annual fee. I saved another $120 last night at Embassy Suites. Unless it’s a coincidence (Gibbs’ rule #39), these savings mean getting the least desirable rooms. We all know from cruising that all rooms are not created equal. Last night at ES we were in a standard 2 queen bed suite, but on the third floor overlooking the front entrance. No big deal since we didn’t care about the view and there was no street noise. We took the first available room so that Micheline could lay down and they had a room for us at 10:00. That was exactly what she needed and we didn’t care where the room was. Today at the Pan Pacific, we are in a standard harbor view king room. We’re on the 9th floor which I assumed would be fine. However, the outdoor pool is on a raised section above the 8th floor roof, right in front of our window. Since we’re going to be here a few days, I did opt for a more expensive view, although granted at cheaper TA+ rates. Technically, we can still see the harbor, but I should have confirmed the view when we checked in. Our 9th floor harbor view: Yup…complaining about some little things. Moral of the story though is that I think that cheaper 3rd party room rates mean the hotel tries to give you their less desirable rooms. Here’s our Vancouver hotel (upper right part of the picture) directly above Canada Place and the cruise terminal. The hotel has a service where they will take your luggage from your room and deliver directly to the ship. Nice.

Carlington is the Suite Concierge for our cruise. Got an email from him a couple of days ago and he has already booked all of our reservations.

I wish the US had a better train system. I love train travel in Europe. I get it though. The US is large and train travel takes time. Even with the flying hassles you mention, flying is almost always faster. Plus we do love our cars. Probably not enough demand to justify the expense.

And the bag of laundry. 😁

Enough pics for now. We’ve turned inland and are traveling along the Fraser River by Surrey. About another 30 minutes through the outskirts of Vancouver until we arrive at Pacific Central Station in downtown Vancouver. We’ll take a taxi/Lyft/Uber from there to our hotel. More to come…

Great Izumi review with fantastic pictures. We love Izumi sushi…our favorite specialty restaurant (usually). I agree completely with Japanese beer but for me, it’s Kirin Ichiban

The train has been great. Beautiful views almost the whole way. We’re happy that we didn’t take the bus!

Welcome to Canada! Semiahmoo Bay, BC

Bellingham looks like nice sea town.

Near Bellingham, WA

Eyesight isn’t a problem but patience certainly is. So are fat thumbs.

Misc. thought two…using Cruise Critic on a phone sucks for several reasons. I usually use a desktop. Don’t know how you phone only people do it.