"Live" - 17-21 September 2018 Exploring Vancouver Island on Explorer of the Seas

Hello everyone. Well the weather does not look like it is cooperating (should be low 70s F this time of year) but nothing like a short end of summer cruise to distract us from the seasonal change.

We are Bill and Marie from the suburbs of Seattle. We have been cruising since 2010 and try to go as often as vacation hours and budget will allow.

As I mentioned it's about 10 degrees cooler than we planned but at least looks to be dry so we are thankful for that. :D

Looking forward to this Bill, though I guess I won't be seeing any fish photos from SEA.;)

Looking forward to this Bill, though I guess I won't be seeing any fish photos from SEA.;)

LOL, not unless one jumps along side the ship. That was the appeal to this cruise, no flights, no hotels and dirt cheap.

Speaking of the price I noticed even after final payment date there were a lot of inside cabins available so we waited for the price to drop to around $200 pp before booking, Not often that we get that opportunity many Floridians get of last minute booking.

I found a cabin on Deck 9 not too far from the Concierge Lounge making it easy to do a coffee run. ;p

We did this cruise in May - it was fun!

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Good thing you are doing this now, these look to be the last non-Alaska Royal cruises to the Pacific Northwest for a while.

We did this cruise in May - it was fun!

 

 

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Good to hear, hoping to also have fun.

Good thing you are doing this now, these look to be the last non-Alaska Royal cruises to the Pacific Northwest for a while.

I know, what a shame. Next September we are on Ovation from Vancouver to Hawaii. It's a strange itinerary as the 2nd day we stop in Seattle. But we love the ship so we will give it a try. :D

Just got off the explorer 3 weeks ago.

Had a great time

When we were in Skagway on our Itinerary it was 39 degrees F and strong winds.

Froze my ****** offf.

And I cannot believe the price you got, AWESOME!

Looking forward too your little getaway.

Safe travels.

Sue

Thanks for bringing us along!

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I found a cabin on Deck 9 not too far from the Concierge Lounge making it easy to do a coffee run. ;p

 

Lol! Hilarious... we're neighbors (9345) specifically for the morning CL coffee run as well :D

I just messaged you on the roll call.... may I join the fun?

Wow, what a nice getaway! Thanks so much for bringing us along!

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I did a little searching and found some reading materials for Vancouver Island, a collection of short stories.

Hodgins' prose brings Vancouver Island to life in its touch, its taste and the sound of its dialects — a determinedly real world. At the same time he imbues his people with a sense that there is something more that they cannot see but which they sense and strive towards — a mystery or even magic that they can almost touch but which remains forever elusive.

Often compared to Faulkner's fiction of the deep South, Hodgins' stories develop through people who seem to live at the edge of the world, always in danger of falling off that edge. There is Spit himself, the keeper of a steam locomotive that has been exiled to Ottawa for display; there are loggers, country wives, bookstore owners, and people who “live up the mountain” in isolated communes.

Thanks to those of you that have joined up. Our towncar picks us up at 9:30 tomorrow morning. Maybe a little early but I am eager to get on board.

We have made plans for both the ports but how active we are will depend on whether it rains. Hoping for the best.

In Nanaimo we have a rental car to go exploring. We have a list of places to visit, too many for one day so we will see what we make it to.

• Cathedral Grove
  
• Little Qualicum Falls
  
• Old Country Market - Coombs
  
• Qualicum Trading Post
  
• North Island Wildlife Recovery Centre
  

For Victoria we look to ride the hop on hop off bus around town.

A couple of the stops we are considering are Craigdarroch Castle and the Robert Bateman Centre.

Bill's given me his blessing to jump in here once in a while... thx Bill! I've reviewed this sailing already the last couple of years so I'm not doing a full review post cruise this time...this will be it here on this thread. It will be great to see my home "area" from Bill's eyes.

Flashback to last spring..... I was supposed to be in Miami today getting on the Oceania Sirena.

New Cuba itineraries came out about the same time I booked that French Polynesia cruise on Oceania, so I booked Cuba 8 days as well at a superb bargain price, a per diem lower than Empress sailings! I had to give this up close to final payment as GF had permits in place at city hall for new reno/rebuild of her house that would've interfered with those travel plans. As it turns out, all the permits were delayed and we had already cancelled that cruise :mad:

I had been looking at this Explorer sailing ever since knowing I'd want to sneak at least a short cruise into my fall schedule, so like last couple of years I watched prices plummet and also the weekly GGG sale. Like Bill already said... no hotels, no flights, low price and simple mid-week getaway for $229 (actually went down to $199 for one week)... no brainer. And a few CC'ers were asking in several previous threads why Ovation won't do any Pacific Coastals :rolleyes:.... I'm sure Royal just loves selling cruises for free to Casino Royale and to the rest of the public at $199. Next year they won't have to as this fall are the last coastals offered for a while I assume

IIRC, Bill bought the dining package on sale recently, and I too will be dining specialty all four nights so it'll be interesting to compare our experiences. I'll be doing Chops twice, Giovanni's and Izumi once each. Regarding the ports of call however, contrary to Bill & Marie we are doing totally different things in Nanaimo & Victoria....

In Nainaimo we're planning to head south to the Cowichan Valley/Shawnigan Lake area to hike the Kinsol trail and famous trestle, then visit a couple of wineries (there are about 15.... we're targeting Unsworth and Enrico wineries), and then stopping at Chemainus "The City of Murals" to walk around a bit.

Kinsol Trestle (used for CN trains until 1979... one of the tallest free-standing timber rail trestles in the world)

On Victoria day we've planned on heading west to Royal Rhodes University Gardens/Hately Park, almost as beautiful as Butchart yet no one knows about it.. Then heading up the Malahat Highhway to visit various view points, then hopefully touring around Goldstream Provincial Park area and taking in a little beach/swimming at Mackenzie Bight.

Royal Rhodes (honestly folks... this is a stock photo of Royal Rhodes and not a photo of one of the castles I just visited on my UK review! Beautiful right?)

Some of the above itinerary ideas may have to change on the fly however... up to last week the long range 14 day weather forecasts showed mid/high 60's and mostly sun this coming week, however that has now changed to mostly cloudy, low 60's and high chances of showers on all days :mad: BOOOOO. September is normally superb weather in the Pacific Northwest, but not this year. I guess we'll see in the next few days.

On this cruise are also two other local couples whom I met on Serenade in the Med/Adriatic 4 years ago, so it will be great to finally meet the CC-famous PCWalton & Marie, as well as some past cruise buddies. Time to go pack.... ;p

We are practically neighbors, too, in 9383 which means we’ll be passing by both of your cabins on our way to Concierge Lounge for our morning coffee. Enjoying your review(s) so far. We arrived from So California this afternoon and can’t wait to board bright and early tomorrow. Our hotel is near the Space Needle and a Whole Foods market where we got a very good pizza and bottle of wine for dinner and a bouquet of flowers to brighten our little cabin. It’s been a while since we’ve been in an inside but the price was right and we won’t have to move on the B2B. See you all tomorrow!

Karen

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Sounds like we all had the same idea, cheap cabins close to the CL. ;p

Interested due to us sailing on Explorer 31/08/19.

Great photos. Looking forward to the rest of your review.

Sad to hear they’re not doing the Pacific Coast Cruises next year. I was on it last September and it actually ranks toward the top of my favorite cruises. (Loved staying 2 days in SF).

Explorer is a great ship! We were table mates with Lionesss, aka Sue, a few weeks ago. (Hi Sue!) Looking forward to this review.

Cabin 8563, leaving our house in 30 minutes!

Bill and Marie,

I so much loved your live review aboard Ovation back in the spring and am thrilled to follow along on your next adventure aboard Explorer :)

Thanks everyone for following along. Town car should be here shortly.

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We are following you on Sept 28th. Following your posts.

Have a great cruise. Always love reading your cruise reports. Thank you for sharing it with us. Great deal too! Enjoy your trip!

Sad to hear they’re not doing the Pacific Coast Cruises next year. I was on it last September and it actually ranks toward the top of my favorite cruises. (Loved staying 2 days in SF).

 

Explorer is a great ship! We were table mates with Lionesss, aka Sue, a few weeks ago. (Hi Sue!) Looking forward to this review.

OMG Small world.

Yes one day we should all sail again.

We had fun!!!!