Quantum & Ovation Plus - 30 Day Live (hopefully)

[screwsmcernst]

Happy Birthday Micheline!

[jmh2006]

Happy birthday to Micheline!

[CanuckCruizer]

Hope Micheline is having a wonderful birthday and feeling much better.  I would recommend enjoying one of the great restaurants downtown, instead of traipsing all the way to Burnaby, but that is just my opinion.  Cardero's or Lift Bar & Grill, are both on the water, not too far away.  Cardero's has nightly music in their Coal Harbour Marina side Pub, starts at 8pm.  Either a longer stroll or a very short cab ride.  But if you guys did the Capilano Suspension Bridge - you can walk it.😁

Wherever you end up, have a great meal.  Have you had a beverage yet at the Coal Harbour Bar in the hotel - any service there? lol

Cheers, 🍾

Canuck

[Tree_skier]

52 minutes ago, CanuckCruizer said:

traipsing all the way to Burnaby,

It is a total 5 miles (8km). I'm not sure that that qualifies as "traipsing all the way". It's not like I'm recommending Chilliwack. 😜

 

Anton's isn't just another Italian restaurant.  I'd have sent him to Commercial Dr. for that.  Anton's is an experience.  Have you ever been?

Edited September 29, 2022 by Tree_skier

[CanuckCruizer]

20 minutes ago, Tree_skier said:

It is a total 5 miles (8km). I'm not sure that that qualifies as "traipsing all the way". It's not like I'm recommending Chilliwack. 😜

 

Anton's isn't just another Italian restaurant.  I'd have sent him to Commercial Dr. for that.  Anton's is an experience.  Have you ever been?

Tree-skier - I was only giving my opinion, as you did yours.  I am well aware where Burnaby is, as I grew up there.  I actually lived in both South and North Burnaby and am well aware of Anton's. You are recommending a restaurant for Bob & Micheline to travel in a fairly expensive cab ride (during rush hour for dinner) from the downtown core to the suburbs.  And, no, I don't have time to google how much Uber or anything else is...In my opinion, with such a short time in Vancouver, there are better options.  I worked in downtown Vancouver for many years and there are a plethora of wonderful restaurants. But again, only my opinion.  Don't really have time for this now as I have got to get packing.

Bob - forgot to mention that the Pan has live music also starting at 8pm in the bar, so maybe you can enjoy that.

Have a great time, wherever you go.😁

Canuck

[Tree_skier]

22 minutes ago, CanuckCruizer said:

Tree-skier - I was only giving my opinion, as you did yours.  I am well aware where Burnaby is, as I grew up there.  I actually lived in both South and North Burnaby and am well aware of Anton's. You are recommending a restaurant for Bob & Micheline to travel in a fairly expensive cab ride (during rush hour for dinner) from the downtown core to the suburbs.  And, no, I don't have time to google how much Uber or anything else is...In my opinion, with such a short time in Vancouver, there are better options.  I worked in downtown Vancouver for many years and there are a plethora of wonderful restaurants. But again, only my opinion.  Don't really have time for this now as I have got to get packing.

Bob - forgot to mention that the Pan has live music also starting at 8pm in the bar, so maybe you can enjoy that.

Have a great time, wherever you go.😁

Canuck

There was no offense intended like you seem to have taken. You challenged my recommendation, I defended it. It was simply an opinion based on my 50 years living in Vancouver, both East Van and the West End.  I have recommended Anton's to dozens of people, all of which have come back and thanked me for the recommendation.  $20 for Uber within the scope of their entire vacation isn't to much to escape the downtown area, where I also spent many many years working.  I agree with you that Vancouver has many great restaurants.  I traveled to Anton's in spite of that because I thought it was worth it.

 

I hope your packing goes well and you enjoy you upcoming trip. Again, I meant no offense or disrespect.

 

 

Edited September 29, 2022 by Tree_skier

[akcruz]

Happy Birthday to Micheline 🥂🎂🎉

[Sea Dog]

6 hours ago, bobmacliberty said:

Today is Micheline’s birthday!

 

Happiest of Birthdays wished to Micheline! I hope she is feeling better and can enjoy her birthday to the fullest. Cheers to you today!

[Momof3gurlz]

Happy Birthday to Micheline.  I imagine shopping for a birthday gift will make her feel that much better!  

[George C]

Happy birthday Micheline love spending birthdays on a cruise or vacation.

[bobmacliberty]

Good morning from Vancouver. IT’S CRUISE DAY!  For those counting, it’s day 15 of our trip. 

 

Ovation of the Seas is docked at the cruise terminal. We can’t see her from our room but Marine Traffic says that she’s there. Who am I to doubt Marine Traffic?  We’ve got 3 hours before we board so we will take our time packing, and grab some breakfast (more Timmies). 
 

More to come…

[Sea Dog]

5 minutes ago, bobmacliberty said:

Good morning from Vancouver. IT’S CRUISE DAY!  For those counting, it’s day 15 of our trip. 

 

Ovation of the Seas is docked at the cruise terminal. We can’t see her from our room but Marine Traffic says that she’s there. Who am I to doubt Marine Traffic?  We’ve got 3 hours before we board so we will take our time packing, and grab some breakfast (more Timmies). 
 

More to come…

How exciting! I think you are doing it the right way by having a a little break in between. Do me a favor? I’m trying to remember the drink mix the Royal bartenders use for frozen drinks. It used to be “Island Oasis” brand but it is something new. Could you check and tell me what brand it is? Of course you may need to order a Kraken Colada to find out. 😋

 

Cheers have a great second trip!

[CanuckCruizer]

1 hour ago, bobmacliberty said:

Good morning from Vancouver. IT’S CRUISE DAY!  For those counting, it’s day 15 of our trip. 

 

Ovation of the Seas is docked at the cruise terminal. We can’t see her from our room but Marine Traffic says that she’s there. Who am I to doubt Marine Traffic?  We’ve got 3 hours before we board so we will take our time packing, and grab some breakfast (more Timmies). 
 

More to come…

Good Morning Bob & Micheline - Timmie's for breakfast - yummy. 

A couple of questions for you, if you don't mind. We have used the luggage transfers to the ship at the hotel many times in the past.  Wondering if you could let us know if everything goes smoothly for you today (there is a sketchy review of a bellman shakedown asking for $55/bag - hoping that is incorrect or perhaps a competing hotel posting the review).  Also, I would love to know your boarding experience at Canada Place to see what we are in for on Monday.  Are there any C & A Level queues, Suite's queues & how it is working.  Any info would be much appreciated.

Hope you have a wonderful 1st day and a great sailaway!😎

Cheers,

Canuck

[bobmacliberty]

1 hour ago, Sea Dog said:

How exciting! I think you are doing it the right way by having a a little break in between. Do me a favor? I’m trying to remember the drink mix the Royal bartenders use for frozen drinks. It used to be “Island Oasis” brand but it is something new. Could you check and tell me what brand it is? Of course you may need to order a Kraken Colada to find out. 😋

 

Cheers have a great second trip!

First reply went poof, so let’s try this again. I’ll definitely check. It would only be hearsay if a bartender told me. I’ll need visual proof by ordering a Kraken Colada, or a Kraken Miami Vice, or a Kraken Lava Flow, or all of the above. 

[bobmacliberty]

4 minutes ago, CanuckCruizer said:

Good Morning Bob & Micheline - Timmie's for breakfast - yummy. 

A couple of questions for you, if you don't mind. We have used the luggage transfers to the ship at the hotel many times in the past.  Wondering if you could let us know if everything goes smoothly for you today (there is a sketchy review of a bellman shakedown asking for $55/bag - hoping that is incorrect or perhaps a competing hotel posting the review).  Also, I would love to know your boarding experience at Canada Place to see what we are in for on Monday.  Are there any C & A Level queues, Suite's queues & how it is working.  Any info would be much appreciated.

Hope you have a wonderful 1st day and a great sailaway!😎

Cheers,

Canuck

I’ll let you know. According to the paper given to us at check in, the luggage service is gratuity based and should not be a per bag charge. 
 

Following up on a previous question that you had…we ended up having drinks and dinner in the Coal Harbour Bar at the hotel last night.  The bar was lively and had a really talented woman singing and playing guitar. The food menu isn’t very extensive but it was decent. I imagine that the crowd in the bar is dependent on what’s happening in the convention center. 

[CanuckCruizer]

22 minutes ago, bobmacliberty said:

I’ll let you know. According to the paper given to us at check in, the luggage service is gratuity based and should not be a per bag charge. 
 

Following up on a previous question that you had…we ended up having drinks and dinner in the Coal Harbour Bar at the hotel last night.  The bar was lively and had a really talented woman singing and playing guitar. The food menu isn’t very extensive but it was decent. I imagine that the crowd in the bar is dependent on what’s happening in the convention center. 

Thanks very much Bob.  Yes, luggage transfer, in the past was for gratuity but when I called to double check - guy said usually $3-5 per bag, but he did use the word "gratuity", so who knows.  I just know that the hotel has changed a lot since pre-pandemic so make sure that the bellman knows it is the Ovation, as there are other ships in port.  We had an incident where 2 longshoreman ended up in the drink, dealing with luggage - 2 more jumped in to save them (this was recent) so hopefully that won't happen again!😵

Canuck 

[bobmacliberty]

6 minutes ago, CanuckCruizer said:

Thanks very much Bob.  Yes, luggage transfer, in the past was for gratuity but when I called to double check - guy said usually $3-5 per bag, but he did use the word "gratuity", so who knows.  I just know that the hotel has changed a lot since pre-pandemic so make sure that the bellman knows it is the Ovation, as there are other ships in port.  We had an incident where 2 longshoreman ended up in the drink, dealing with luggage - 2 more jumped in to save them (this was recent) so hopefully that won't happen again!😵

Canuck 

The bellman just picked up my luggage. So far, so good. Here’s the card that we were given at check in. 
 

I dialed 4898 and the bell desk answered almost immediately. They greeted me by name and had my room number. I don’t recall his exact words, but he also suggested $3-5 per bag. He asked me which ship we were taking. 
 

A friendly bellman knocked on our door about 5

minutes later. He double checked that all of our bags had the right tags and made sure that we had everything we needed like passports. He then gave me directions on how to get to the cruise check in area. I handed him a $20 bill and he gave the typical fake surprise look, as if to say that’s not really necessary, and then gladly took it. So I think it really is gratuity based, but I’d still be generous enough that my bags didn’t accidentally end up in the water. So far, a very professional experience. 

[bobmacliberty]

While we wait to check in for our cruise…we decided to take things easy yesterday. Micheline may have overdone things a bit at the suspension bridge park and woke up a little sore and stiff. We decided to just walk around the water front area a bit and have dinner in the hotel. There were two smaller cruise ships at the terminal yesterday. First was the Ocean Victory. 
 

 

 

On the other side of the terminal was the L’Austral. 

 

 

 

Both appear to be smaller ships focused on unique excursions, as both had many zodiac inflatable boats onboard.  Taking an Antarctic cruise is definitely on my list for the future. 

[bobmacliberty]

One other thought on Vancouver. I’m fascinated by the number of sea planes and helicopters that are constantly taking off and landing. I assume this is services to some of the of the smaller towns in BC that are not otherwise easily reachable. 

 

 

I converted the below video from the native iPhone .mov format to the .mp4 format. Let me know if you non-Apple users are able to view

it. 

 

 

[CanuckCruizer]

16 minutes ago, bobmacliberty said:

The bellman just picked up my luggage. So far, so good. Here’s the card that we were given at check in. 
 

I dialed 4898 and the bell desk answered almost immediately. They greeted me by name and had my room number. I don’t recall his exact words, but he also suggested $3-5 per bag. He asked me which ship we were taking. 
 

A friendly bellman knocked on our door about 5

minutes later. He double checked that all of our bags had the right tags and made sure that we had everything we needed like passports. He then gave me directions on how to get to the cruise check in area. I handed him a $20 bill and he gave the typical fake surprise look, as if to say that’s not really necessary, and then gladly took it. So I think it really is gratuity based, but I’d still be generous enough that my bags didn’t accidentally end up in the water. So far, a very professional experience. 

Bob - you are the best - thank you so much.  That is very interesting that he told you $3-$5 on the phone - never was discussed before - we always just gave a large gratuity as, like you, we don't want our bags to go in the water.😁 It is wonderful not to have to worry about luggage and have them waiting for you onboard.

Canuck

[bobmacliberty]

10 minutes ago, singinalot said:

sorry I’ve been so absent! trying to catch up now!

You’ve had a few other things to worry about. Happy that you made it through relatively unscathed. 

[bobmacliberty]

She’s waiting for us. 
 

[cruising twosome]

Hope everyone has a wonderful time, tested positive and unable to join☹️

[jmh2006]

We finished our Alaskan cruise in Vancouver and did extra days there, staying at the Marriot Harbourfront.  Our room overlooked the harbor and I could have stood there for hours watching the sea planes land and take off!🤣

[CruisinMama2003]

1 hour ago, bobmacliberty said:

One other thought on Vancouver. I’m fascinated by the number of sea planes and helicopters that are constantly taking off and landing. I assume this is services to some of the of the smaller towns in BC that are not otherwise easily reachable. 

 

 

I converted the below video from the native iPhone .mov format to the .mp4 format. Let me know if you non-Apple users are able to view

it. 

IMG_9446.MOV 87.92 MB · 6 downloads  

 

I was able to view it on my android, very cool, thank you for converting that for us non- iphone users 🙂