Live Mariner Tokyo to Vancouver April 27 to May16 2019

[crusin7]

11 minutes ago, Travelcat2 said:

 

Yes, our thoughts and prayers go out to the victims and their families.  Such a tragic thing

One of the shopkeepers knew the pilot who was killed.  She said he had an excellent reputation.  She said it was a crystal clear day.  It’s horrible.

 

 

[Gilly]

3 hours ago, LynnRuns said:

Interestingly, the guides offered no such help. There would often be a large gap between the guide and the slowest hiker.

 

in which case I count ourselves very fortunate in our guide Shelby and our fellow guests, for we all stuck together and felt she was always well connected with us.  I can see how problematic it would be were that not the case.

[Gilly]

Chrisy, you missed a treat with the crab feast - not only in the yummy crab but also a surprise performance from a humpback whale too. 

 

(For reference Cruise George Inlet and Crab Feast - good fun and far more than we anticipated in every respect.  Highly recommend)

 

Thanks so much for stamps - you are sweet!  (I just waved to Jim)

Edited May 15, 2019 by Gilly

[crusin7]

We have done the crab for the last 3 times we were here.  Give the whale my room number so he can swim by!  I love whales. xoxo 

[liptastic]

11 hours ago, Gilly said:

@liptastic would you like to drop me an email/get in touch via my blog before you sail, please?

G x

 Hi Gilly here in Vancouver how do I email you? I am very basic in the IT skills but if you explain how I get in touch my husband will keep me right , thanks Jean x

[Gilly]

Jean, leave me an email address on my blog and i'll get right back to you and delete the address.

G x

[Boatmans Lady]

Crusin 7 and Gilly, thank you for letting me tag along, It has been much appreciated.

All your photos have whetted my appetite to cruise in this part of the world as they really capture the essence of the areas you visited.

[Gilly]

It's been a fantastic cruise and the landscape has been magnificent.  Of course, our incredible luck with the weather (once we'd got through the Bering Sea!) has made all the difference.  @Boatmans Lady I think it's a great itinerary and would recommend it wholeheartedly.

[1985rz1]

22 minutes ago, Gilly said:

 I think it's a great itinerary and would recommend it wholeheartedly.

That's great to hear.  We're booked in 2021 and were feeling a bit uneasy after reading about the Russia cancellations and the resulting 6 sea days at less than smooth sailing.

Edited May 15, 2019 by 1985rz1

[crusin7]

Today’s weather is spectacular.  We are so lucky.  The seas are like glass.  We came back from lunch to find the dreaded suitcase on the bed. What Horror!

I could live on this island!

 

 

[crusin7]

15 minutes ago, 1985rz1 said:

That's great to hear.  We're booked in 2021 and were feeling a bit uneasy after reading about the Russia cancellations and the resulting 6 sea days at less than smooth sailing.

Even with the rolling seas this was our second best cruise. First was the Norwegian Fjords.  We had a fantastic time.  It also helped that for the most part all the passengers were “normal”!  Ha that doesn’t happen all the time. We had a good group.  

 

Pilot through Inside Passage

 

[liptastic]

Chrissy thanks very much for your daily posts and photographs from your cruise, really enjoyed following along . Thanks to Gilly too for the great blog too.

Safe travels home,

Jean.

[Travelcat2]

Thank you for taking us along on your cruise!  Really enjoyed it.

[Gilly]

We knew about the sea days when we booked of course and although the cancellation of Petropavlovsk was disappointing, we were just saying how we were happy to trade that port for all the sparkling weather we've had through Alaska.  One of the attractions of this cruise was to be able to sail the Alaskan itinerary without doing "an Alaskan cruise", if you get my drift.  Being here early in the season meant that we were either the only ship in port or perhaps one of two at the most.  The disadvantage of being early in the season meant we didn't get a chance to see bears 😞   Never mind - hope there will be other opportunities and of course, there's always the memories of last time we were here when we made it to a salmon hatchery where they were in abundance.  We can't have everything...

I agree about there being a good bunch of people on board, Chrisy.  I think this has been our most sociable cruise yet.   (And thank you for the ephemera yesterday too - Rajib came in and said he'd found "these pieces of paper on the door....I don't know what they are, maybe bookmarks or something"!  🤣 )

@liptastic  I hope you have as wonderful a time as we have had!

[vegasdriven]

Thanks for taking us along🙂

[bissel]

Such fun virtual cruising with you all!

[Hambagahle]

Your photos and commentary have been great!   Safe journey home.

[crusin7]

Thank you all for your very kind comments.  We are at the airport waiting for our flight.  I can’t get over having real WiFi. It’s like lightning.

Getting off the ship was a breeze (even though I tried to stowaway in the closet).  The Vancouver Port is so organized.  They had many helpful people on hand to guide you outside.  We jumped into a waiting Taxi and arrived at the airport in about 25 minutes.  Going through airport security was another matter. They flagged Jim so he had extra security.  He had to remove his cell phone case...which took 2 agents 10 minutes to take off the otter case.  

Customs took about 10 minutes.  Funny that my latte is not as good as Coffee Connection. Thank you all for following along.  I will be happy to answer any questions.  

I miss Mariner already!

 

 

 

[Travelcat2]

Really enjoyed your posts and photos and hope that you have/had a safe trip home!

 

You may be the only person that has ever felt that the terminal at Vancouver Port is organized.  Due to the chaos that we typically find at that port, we now avoid it whenever possible.  In my opinion, it is a nightmare (in some ways worse than Miami -- not that you have to wait forever to get off of the ship but you may wait 3 hours to get onto the ship while you join the lines of mainstream, premium and luxury cruise lines (together until you finally get into the Regent line).  Sounds as if disembarking is easier ....... have not done a disembarkation in Vancouver for a while.  

[Gilly]

Crisy is correct - disembarkation was a breeze and we were amongst the last to leave as we don't fly home till tomorrow.  No queues, no passport control (surprisingly) and plenty of people directing us to where we needed to be.  I don't think we stopped walking in between leaving the ship and getting into the car to our hotel.

 

We decided to take the easy option of the HOHO bus in Vancouver today and couldn't believe that someone waiting at our bus stop was still moaning about the "two extra sea days".   We missed one, single port.  What didn't they understand about the date line and the two May 4 entries in our itinerary?!  *sigh*   One would hope that all the other amazing times we have had would have overwritten that one, small disappointment, but no....

[Hambagahle]

I cannot understand why someone would moan about extra sea days!  One of the reasons I love TA crossings is I just love sea days.  And often we create our own by simply not getting off the ship in a port!

 

 

[travelwell]

Oh my, We have said no more big cruises after 2021 WC but after following this trip think we have to find a away to do it down the road. Pictures were stunning! Thanks for taking us along.

[crusin7]

Thank you!  I would definitely recommend this itinerary.  For us it was the perfect amount of sea days versus ports.  I’m already having withdrawals.  It was great to get home with 1 suitcase filled with beautifully folded clean clothes. 

[merlot101]

On 5/15/2019 at 4:04 PM, 1985rz1 said:

That's great to hear.  We're booked in 2021 and were feeling a bit uneasy after reading about the Russia cancellations and the resulting 6 sea days at less than smooth sailing.

We will be on the 2021 Grand Voyage that includes this segment.  We have taken over 30 cruises and many of those have tickled the sailing season.  We have only experienced rough seas on one voyage and that was only for a couple of days.  So I can ALMOST promise you clear skies and smooth sailing.  Also the cruise will be on the Explorer.  Hope to see you on board.  We enjoyed this blog and photos and looking forward to our trip.

[crusin7]

Thank you Gill.  I hope you had a safe journey home.  It was very nice meeting you. 

 

Edited May 18, 2019 by crusin7
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