Fairgarth

Don't know what ship yopu were on but here's a photo from our cruise in June.

What a glorious video and lovely photos, thank you. We were on her in June and also got lucky with the weather in Glacier Bay. So that's what we looked like!

In 2017, I good friend of ours was leaving Vancouver on the Zaandam. We decided to get on to the Lion's Gate Bridge and wave at the ship passing underneath. It was very late, we waited and waited, our paid parking expired and we had to top it up. Finally, we saw the ship move. He told us later that they had a medical emergency before they even left so that involved an offloaded passenger, doctors, ambulances and probably a lot of paperwork.

Oh my! Great advice. We boarded the same cruise on 10th June. After an hour in the U.S. Customs lineup I was desperate for a biological break and figured I'm not gonna make it. I beckoned to one of the ground staff who pointed me to a washroom so I fled the queue. I was afraid that my party would have cleared customs by the time I got back. Ha! Their progress could be measured by micrometer, not tape measure. Incidentally, all the ground staff at Vancouver port were excellent, smiling, friendly, helpful.

Some years ago my wife was flying from Winnipeg to Vancouver on the 12:30 flight. It pushed back on time but then sat for several minutes. The pilot announced that he was not happy with one of the instruments and had called maintenance. The woman sitting next to her got a bit agitated. After a while, the pilot announced that the problem could not be fixed and the flight was cancelled. Now the woman was really agitated. She was heading for a Holland America cruise sailing out of Vancouver at 5:00pm. Where were her brains? I've said it before: her faith in the airlines is touching and totally misplaced.

I have flown on airlines all around the world but as a resident of Canada, I have used Air Canada more than all the others put together. Ignore the negative reviews. You can, on occasion, have a miserable flight on AA, BA, United or anybody else. The probability is very low on AC. Go ahead.

I agree absolutely. Port staff were great, smiling and helpful.

I have had two negative experiences with Uber in Vancouver. It did not work out. On request, they tell me that there is a cab 14 minutes away....no, make that 8 minutes away....no, make that 11 minutes away...no, make that 12 minutes away...no, sorry, no cabs available. All right, sport, I'll call Yellow Cab. Four minutes.

Well, you have not said when you are travelling or where you are starting from but..... currently American does fly non-stop between O'Hare and Vancouver.

We disembarked Koningsdam on Saturday. Next to us in the queue for taxis was a couple heading to Abbotsford to catch their flight. They were moaning that it would cost $160 and did anyone want to share? We did not know what they saved on the air fare but it would certainly not be worth it to us. Abbotsford airport would be an hour and a half from the port on a good day, or a lot more if there was an accident or roadworks on the highway. What is your flight time? Too tight to be sure? Six hours wait at the airport? Flying YVR - YWG may cost more but for us that would be money well spent. Make sure you know the total cost of flying out of Abbotsford. Not just the fare but baggage, seat selection etc. What's the back-up if your flight is three hours late or cancelled due to a mechanical? Your choice!

Well, I have now had personal experience of this "shambles". Blame U. S. pre-clearance. We took a tip from 'martincath', dropped off our baggage at 11:00 and went for a wander along the waterfront. Had a nice lunch at Mahoney's. Walked back to Holland America check-in, no waiting, very slick and quick and moved on to the next. Bit of a line-up for security then a major line-up for U.S. pre-clearance. That took and hour and a half or more. Out of 21 cruises, this was by far the most time-consuming. Be prepared.

We disembarked in Vancouver yesterday. We went self-assist. From cabin to cab rank took five minutes, if that. There were a number of officers collecting customs declaration cards so no line-ups and nobody checked passports. I suspect that if you board in Vancouver you have already been admitted to Canada so why do it again?

Thank you, Sir. We normally do our own thing ashore but this is the first time we have booked and paid for a ship's excursion in advance of boarding.

We booked a trip through HAL for the railroad in Skagway. Do we get tickets for that? Can we board the train and how do they know we paid already?

Sorry, I don't begin to understand the question. Let me make some assumptions. If you are starting in Halifax, then your outbound could be YHZ - YYZ - YVR - LAX - SYD for example. But on the return flight you have SYD - YVR - LAX - YYZ - YHZ. If you have already made it to YVR coming home, why on earth would you proceed on to LAX if your destination is Halifax?

That is very interesting, thank you. I'm surprised how the speed varies.

Cedar Valley golf course - about a five minute drive from the port in St. John's. I used to drive past it every day, it looks OK but have not played it. Check it out on Trip Advisor first. Do it yourself, no need for an excursion.

That's good to know. Thank you.

Reminds me of a quote from Bob Crandall, legendary head of American Airlines years ago. Can't remember it exactly but something like "passengers would slit their grandmother's throat to save one dollar on an air fare". He was right and it's till true.

I was thinking - always dangerous - that Vancouver Island is almost 300 miles long. So if you depart Vancouver port at 5:00pm, you travel the inside passage largely at night so you won't see anything. Same thing coming southbound. If you arrive Vancouver at 7:00am, you have travelled the inside passage all night. Am I missing something?

You'll be fine. The prevailing winds in Vancouver are westerlies so short of a conflagration in mid-Pacific we usually don't get much smoke (although we did get a lot from our neighbours down south last year). In fact, due to these winds, we send our smoke to Saskatchewan. You're welcome.

Thank you, kind Sir, that is encouraging. And, may I add, I seriously doubt your degree of decrepitude. And to the OP may I say thank you for a most interesting and informative review.

I was interested and disappointed that you did not take the inside passage northbound. Since we will be on the same cruise shortly, I am wondering why not. My nasty, suspicious mind says that maybe they save the cost of a pilot? But I don't know if they need a pilot. Maybe they want to dump some sewage in the wide open ocean which is not allowed in Canadian waters? But I don't know if they dump sewage at all. Going around the outside looks like a longer haul and rougher water so they would burn more gas and upset the passengers. So what is the point and was that a one-off?

Whoops! I'm sorry, thank you Host Kat for reminding me of the rules. I did some research. I tracked reviews for around a dozen ships. Most of them, indeed, did take me to the newest review. I guess the ship I was researching originally was one of the few that didn't. There are some but I now think that it is working as intended most of the time.

Speaking from memory, I used to be able to go straight to the most recent ship review and then page back through reviews progressively older. Either I have lost the plot or Cruise Critic has screwed up something that was working just fine. Now when I select a ship for review it takes me I know not where. Then I have the choice of 'previous' or 'next'. Is 'next' older or newer? Why not say older or newer? How do I land on the most recent review and go from there?