tikibargirl

Vancouver hotel.

 

Since our arrival was so late we opted to save our dollars and stay at an airport hotel. I did Hotwire about 45 days out and got a holiday inn for $100 US. If was a little old but very friendly and comfortable with good wifi and a nice bed. Nothing walkable nearby, but a fine place to lay our heads for a few hours.

 

Despite our late arrival I was up at 5 am! The internal clock knows no times zones. Oh well. Did some reading shower etc and facetimed the kids.

 

About 1030 we took a cab to Canada place. It was a MOB SCENE outside. We got dropped off a block or so away and trucked inside. We dropped our bags with the longshoremen and got outta there!

 

We took martincaths excellent brunch advice instead of heading straight on board. The weather was gorgeous and we had a nice walk to Medina, a cozy local-favorite brunch spot. The wait was about 45 -60 minutes, which we passed by getting a coffee and chatting with a very nice Vancouver girl (hi shelley!). Soon we were seated and enjoyed seriously the best waffle I've ever had. Dipped in salted caramel. Oh my. Let the vacation begin!

 

 

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We are staying at the Vancouver Hyatt right near the ship terminal. What advice did you get about the time to board the ship? We are so close to the ship we are not sure what the best time is for us to check out and head to the ship to avoid massive crowds.

Thanks for taking the time to fill us in! We sail on June 26th! I'm guessing all is well with the ships condition. Looking forward to hearing how your stop in Ketchikan goes. :)

So we are sailing on the Infinity from Vancouver on June 19. Which ship scheduled to arrive in Ketchikan during that week will be diverted from the piers and have to tender their passengers to shore?[/qu

 

The website I use to see what ships are in port shows your ship getting to Ketchikan after the other two ships leave.

 

I didn't double check the accuracy of that site with any others, so I won't say it is 100%, but the site usually is pretty accurate.

 

Dodger can you share that site? We sail out of Vancouver on the 26th and I would like to check also.

So for the folks asking about the dock. We were there 2 days after Infinity on Solstice and the dock took some major damage that will take a while to repair. We could see part of it collapsed into the water.

 

Fortunately there was still room for us, but they did say that on busier days one of the ships will have to tender now.

 

Interesting note, when we were in port that morning on Solstice they started doing safety drills for the crew basically re-enacting the scenario the Infinity experienced. Started with a "Bravo Bravo Bravo to Deck 3 forward stores." A couple minutes later there was a "Kilo Kilo Kilo" which I had never heard of before, tried finding it on google on my phone at the time and got nothing but then started seeing crew all over the ship in their life vests and then shortly there after they sounded the entire emergency system normally only heard during the muster drill. So "Kilo Kilo Kilo" is a signal to the crew that something VERY serious has happened that could lead to an abandon ship and for them to report to their muster stations to prepare for passengers if the full abandon ship signal is given. So if you ever hear "Kilo Kilo Kilo" and it isn't a drill then you better prepare for the worst!

:eek::eek::eek:

GREAT! Thanks for the helpful info! I hope we don't hear "kilo kilo kilo" in 2 weeks when we're onboard the Infinity LOL Well it's good to know that they are practicing precautions. It's always good to brush up on that! Thanks for the update I appreciate it :)

WOW! Now I'm even more excited! That is beautiful!!! I too was worried about that incline before they put the dock in. This really came out nice!

Has anyone heard any updates on the ship's status and if there is a change in the itinerary ? I just listened to this radio clip I found online.

http://www.krbd.org/2016/06/03/celebrity-cruise-ship-infinity-hits-damages-ketchikan-dock/

http://www.ktuu.com/content/news/Cruise-ship-crash-dock-damaged-in-Ketchikan-during-high-winds-381850581.html

Found this photo of the damage :( We board June 25th

http://www.ktuu.com/content/news/Cruise-ship-crash-dock-damaged-in-Ketchikan-during-high-winds-381850581.html

This photo shows some damage to the ship.

Probably...sighs. We are boarding Infinity on Sunday guess we will find out next week 😕. Main thing is no one was injured on the dock or on the ship.

Try and keep us all posted barcarres :\ this just really stinks! YES totally happy no one was hurt that is the main thing. To miss a major stop on our 7 day cruise now that is going to put a damper on things.

As far as contacting celebrity about ANYTHING I called 3 different times with the same question and got 3 different answers. Now that is unacceptable. So I'm not surprised they had no clue this had happened to one of their ships because they are probably a main calling service for all their ships. Some of these operators do need some more training when answering important questions that require correct answers for plans on the day you depart.

Fingers crossed people!

They will have the same theme parties. We still have two more to go. You will enjoy !!

I just read about the accident at Ketchikan with the dock. Any updates on that? Will they be able to dock there in the coming weeks. I saw the video on youtube not good :eek:

What dock did it hit? Is the ship damaged?

Thanks Linda! I'm starting to get the hang of these boards. This was so complicated in the beginning LOL Tons of info on here. There aren't really any other websites for reviews on the Celebrity Infinity cruise that are recent. I use Tripadvisor all the time but that lead me to cruise critic. :)

They give you a disembarkation card a couple of days before the cruise ends. You check off which 30 minute time slot you wish to disembark. Return the card to your room steward or Guest Relations. As I recall, 9;30 to 10:00 is the latest time slot.

 

 

 

No, do not put your luggage out the night before if you are going to carry it off. HOWEVER, you must vacate your stateroom by 8 am, everything, so you will be schlepping your luggage all over the ship before you disembark. Depending how much luggage you have, that may not be fun.

Sorry El Crucero to be such a pain but is carrying it off our only option if we are not meeting our flight until 11pm that evening? I remember on other cruises that we had to put it out the night before for customs check. That's a lot of luggage for us to push through the ship!!!!! LOL:eek:

In our case, it was around 10am on the Infinity disembarking in Vancouver last week.

Did you just take your time El Crucero or did you request getting off at that time? I just need to know my options because I need to contact our tour company and if I can disembark around 10 I will tell them to get there by 10 am so by 10:15 we can be on our way.

I haven't been on a cruise in a long long time so I really don't know the routine. Also, do we need to put our luggage outside our door the evening before if we are taking our own luggage off the ship?

Oh I'm not looking to do laundry MicCanberra that was my sister's questions :) I just would like to do my own ironing. I am bringing all dry cleaned clothes anyway so if hey are a little wrinkled I'll just deal with it. The blow dryer does a good job sometimes getting wrinkles out :D

I guess you're right depends on the cruise line. She took Carnival once and said she did all her laundry. I am not spending my vacation time doing laundry.

We didn't choose OBC we got the drink package and tips included. Like one person said (after the fact that I already chose the tips) the OBC is a better option. Oh well next time!

Hopeless...once you're in your designated area how long is that process to get off the ship and get your bags? Do you think a 10 am pick up from our tour company will be ok?

Thanks Trvlr21. I just don't want to rush off by 9am I was figuring on telling the tour company to meet us at 10 am even if we get off a littler earlier we can just wait with our bags for them to arrive. 9:30/9:45 would be perfect. I was just curious as to how they handle this portion of the cruise. On past cruises it's like a mad dash to get off so you're standing in a crowded lobby with a million other people pushing through. It just annoys me and I don't want to end my vacation with hustle and bustle especially since we have no flight to meet.

Thanks so much for finding out that info for me Dennis. I really appreciate it. It's just too stressful to have to worry about catching a flight.

Also, its a long drive to take to just do some shopping at the village. We wouldn't be able to do much once we were there.

Again, thank you for thinking about me enough to reach out to your friend. I cannot wait to visit your native city!!!! :)

This is one of the things that gets me with Cruises. I feel they just nickel and dime you to death. I understand about safety and the iron but if the cabin steward brings you one and then takes it back why can't we just iron our own stuff without having to pay for it? Just urks me!

Can anyone tell me what is the latest time you can disembark off the ship on the day the cruise ends? We are in no rush at all to leave the ship that morning. We have no flight to catch until 11pm that night. we do have a private tour company picking us up to take us (8 people) and our luggage on a tour around Vancouver for 9 hours.

I was just wondering what time you HAVE to leave the ship that morning and how they dismiss you.

Can anyone tell me what is the latest time you can disembark off the ship on the day the cruise ends? We are in no rush at all to leave the ship that morning. We have no flight to catch until 11pm that night. we do have a private tour company picking us up to take us (8 people) and our luggage on a tour around Vancouver for 9 hours.

I was just wondering what time you HAVE to leave the ship that morning and how they dismiss you.

are there machines that you can do your own laundry on the ship?

Also, I read that there are no irons or ironing boards in the room and you're not allowed to take one on board with you. Can you request one before dinner to iron your clothes?

Thanks for all the ideas Martincath! I'm looking into some of the things you and some others have suggested.

I only listed 6 people because the other two are the same age (our spouses).

We're still hiring landsea for the day on July 3rd because we will have all our luggage with us. I didn't cancel the tour company just Whistler that we had booked.

Thanks Martincath and honestly I have no idea where I read Shoppie's post! OMG! I'm at 142 on this tread and I could have sworn that I was reading the most recent posts. Sorry still learning my way around cruise critic :)

I'll do some reading. I've posted that we are a group of 8 13 years old, 21, 24, 48, 52 & 73! Big mix! Not able to do a lot of hiking and walking. We have one wheelchair and my dad who is 73 can walk but not for miles and miles. We have so much time on July 3rd I would like to make the most of it. I was considering the museum of Anthropology but don't know if the younger ones would be interested in this. We don't have to be in the heart of the major tourist spots we are willing to travel a bit to see some of what Vancouver has to offer. I will go back and see what I can find on this thread and do some more reading. I still want to know how I got to page 142! LOL

Hi Shoppie we have 9 hours to kill after we get off our cruise ship before we get to the airport for a red eye flight.

We have a private tour company also booked for Saturday June 25th to take us around Stanley Park, Granville, Gastown etc. for 4 hours.

We are looking for things to do on July 3rd to occupy us for 9 hours. We were heading to Whistler but thankfully I posted something and people told me that it's your holiday weekend July 1st and there could be too much traffic to ensure we get to the airport on time.

So I'm looking for other suggestions for sites to see in Vancouver for July 3rd.

Thanks!