ceilidh1

I wasn't initially planning on doing a Live for this sailing, since I'm only on for a 2 day "cruise fix". However, there are many on CC that are staying on to do the various other legs of this journey, so I figured I could start this and have everyone else onboard to join in/continue! For my portion, this is a 2 day Seattle to Vancouver trip, that will reposition the Royal to do her journey over to Hawaii and on the Australia/New Zealand. I admit to feeling just a little jealous of all those making that journey onward. For me, this is simply a fun little "staycation" to get in my fix while I await my next big cruise in December... Background I have taken over 30 Princess cruises and also enjoy Virgin and NCL. Usually I sail with my two kids, but this time it's just me and my bestie on a girls weekend. I live in Vancouver, so we are taking Amtrak down to Seattle and cruising back home. The timing is perfect as we go down Saturday morning and return Monday morning, so no time off work required. Pre Cruise We decided to book two rooms at the lowest guarantee rate. There wasn't any deal for solos on this time, but the price was decent so we went for it. We both added the premier package as we will definitely be drinking, and had planned on specialty dining so for the extra $40 it was a no-brainer. We only got our cabins assigned a few days ago and I'm already shaking my head at the thought process that goes into this. Firstly, I get that you roll the dice with guarantees - I couldn't care less what room I'm in. However, our bookings are linked so we are obviously sailing together. When we got the cabin assignments, I have been given an inside on Riviera all the way aft (I actually think I might be the only person on these boards that didn't get an upgrade). My bestie got a free upgrade to an deluxe obstructed balcony on Emerald all the way forward. Let that sink in. We literally could not be further away from one another. I was debating calling and asking if there may be something a little closer together, but for 2 days we will be just fine. Since this is such a short sailing and we have two dining credits to use, I wanted to be sure to make reservations ahead of time. Those that have dealt with the app know that this is no easy task. Firstly, the packages didn't show on the app so it wanted us to pay to reserve. Nope. After a few days, the packages showed and I successfully booked us into Crown Grill on night one and Sabatinis on night two. All smooth. A few weeks later, those reservations had disappeared. I rebooked and it wanted to charge me. GAH. I got on a chat with a Princess agent and she told me that both venues were full for all times both nights. Um, no they aren't as I have them in my cart right now...She suggested I cancel the bookings so that they would open back up and she would book them. I did as she suggested. The restaurants still showed as not available. GAH. Needless to say I was frustrated. After ending the chat, I opened up the app and saw that the agent had, indeed, somehow managed to book the restaurants and apply the credits. Since we live in Canada, medallion shipping was not available so we are both in blue lane, despite having everything completed ahead of time. This was actually the first time that there were no "glitches" in completing the check-in portion on the app, so maybe things are improving. The journeyview activities finally showed up about three weeks ago - it's tough booking dinner times when you don't know what may be on in terms of activities. There is nothing on there that jumps out to me - we will likely go to the comedy show and some trivia but I've seen the production shows enough times that I don't need to go again. We booked the Amtrak down to Seattle on Saturday morning (I'm not a "day of cruise" person ordinarily, but have done this several times without stress. Keep everything crossed). The train leaves around 6:30am and gets into Seattle around 11am. We will hop in a cab to the ship and will hopefully be onboard in time for lunch! If you haven't done the train between Vancouver/Seattle I highly recommend it. While it does take a little longer than the bus and can be a little more expensive, it's 100% worth it as you don't need to get off at the border. The agents simply come on the train, look at your passports, and wave you away! The scenery is also pretty nice. When we arrive back to Vancouver on Monday, I will simply walk off the ship and walk home. Easy Peasy.

So will only the Valiant sailings after December be affected? I'm on her in December and it looks as if that one should be ok?

While I have never booked air through NCL, I do book it with Princess all the time. It's a little different as they allow you to choose the flights you want. That being said, when we use their air on our December cruise, our outgoing flight was cancelled by Air Canada - the only flight available that Princess could switch us to had a 45 minute connection in Toronto. I protested and mentioned that the short time was next to impossible, but there are specific time guidelines in place as to what is allowed, and I was told that this fell within the guidelines. Since it was the only flight available, I took it and stressed the entire time. We were fortunate that everything went without a hitch and we actually got into Toronto early. It was late evening so no lines for customs - we still had to run, but we made it. Not saying what NCL did was right, but it's certainly within the air/connection guidelines (which are dumb).

Do you actually have a confirmed flight now or are you standby? The "no seat number" has me a little concerned as that's how AC usually deal with standby folks...

THIS!!! There are so few places that you can fly direct from Vancouver for some reason...but wherever I'm flying in the US, I hands down refuse to connect in Toronto unless there is at least 3 hours connection time. In the past, not only did you have to clear customs there, but you had to actually collect luggage and re-drop it as well. I missed way too many connections and learned the hard way!

It’s only one zone because it’s a holiday! It’s actually two zones weekdays before 6pm!

In reality I’m home eating Icelandic chocolate from @YVRteacher

For all he knows, I’m sitting next to him at the bar…

Living on the edge! You’re lucky I’m not a psycho stalker…

Is this part of your “never post a picture the same time you’re in a place” thing? Pretty sure I saw this baby sail past my window a little while back… 😝

Immediately opposite across the plaza (next to cactus club) you can check out the living roof of the new convention centre!

That’s my local!

Yup

This is the main building for waterfront station

You can go in the entrance in your picture but it’s harder to find and no elevator. If you go in main building it’s on the left as you enter

Yup! Waterfront. Just past the RCMP store. Take Canada line

Tribe members always welcome!

After you pass the RCMP store, you will see a set of steps - if you want a good view of the ship, take the steps up to a courtyard for great pics! This was a couple days ago:

It’s a 5-8 minute walk from gastown to Canada place

My bus literally just came over the Granville Bridge. But it only cost me $3 😂 Just got off work and transiting home! You walked and rode my running route in the park! I run around the sea wall to the totems, cut through to the other side and double back past the gun and Deadman’s island, then around the lagoon and back along the seawall to home. 10k

My house stores bags free…lol

I see my house!!!!

THAT's where Tap and Barrel is...

Grab a beer at Steamworks

Vancouver Triathalon today, plus it's a holiday so no traffic...