I survived Black Sunday, the peak cruise ship day for Vancouver for the 2010 Cruising Season, without getting the appropriate t-shirt.
16,000 people debarking/embarking from six ships, trying to catch taxis, some to the wrong pier (changes to overflow Ballantyne Commercial Pier were not communicated to Passengers until day of departure), and buses lined up for blocks made downtown Vancouver a place to avoid - if possible. Terry Fox Run participants plugged the hinterland, and film crew trucks plugged the immediate vicinity of the waterfront.
At Ballantyne Commercial Pier - dock for two ships and my departure pier - bedlam ruled. A couple of make shift tents served as preliminary check in and luggage drop off centre after the numerous vehicles disgorged their loaded passengers. Of course, being Vancouver it started to rain, and line ups of soggy people waited their turn through the port limits chicken wire fence to climb onto a shuttle bus, which delivered them to another 'open to the elements' pier, where Rotterdam was docked. Through more make shift tents for check-in, security screening, and the obligatory embarkation-photo barrier, then onto an embarkation ramp straight out of 'Raiders of the Lost Ark' and onto the ship and into the cabin. That ramp must have been half a mile long, first leading up, then leading down, then leading up again to the entrance hatch in the hull, the ramp being a veritable Iron Man test for the ships crew who were in charge of pushing the wheelchair bound up and down this obstacle course.
Some of these friendly helpers had to stop half way through to catch their breath and get ready for the next ardurous stretch of ramp. But - their pockets were growing bulkier with collected tips, which they had to extract from said pockets for each pass through security check.
The ground support staff at Ballantyne's for Holland America - many of which middle aged women - had worked since dawn to help erect tents, place and man check-in tables, arrange some chairs etc etc for the invasion of passengers. Some of these kind ladies were not going to see either food, drink or rest for hours. There are NO facilities anywhere on that huge container pier.
Ballantyne Pier is no Canada Pier, which was 'processing' its own load of four of the larger cruise ships with the majority of that day's passengers. However, Canada Pier is set up to do boarding and embarkation in relative comfort, and under the iconic canopy of picturesque fake sails, whereas Ballantyne is fit for containers but not much else.
Docking and cast off for six vessels had to be staggered to give a limited number of stevedores sufficient time to load and unload the non human cargo, water, waste, oil, food, luggage, spare parts - the usual assortment of stuff any ship needs to head off into the Blue.
And who wants to see six floating behemoth backing out of their berths into Vancouver Harbour at the same time - that would be a photo op with all those near misses!
Aboard - the ususal race for lunch, followed by the ususal treck to the deck bar for a departure cocktail concoction to drown the 'exciting' embarkation adventure and send it's memory off into The Deep.
Music, cheers, toasts - and we are off, rain and all, towards the Lion's Gate Bridge, through English Bay and into the Strait of Georgia. By dinner time Ogden Pier in Victoria (filled with cruise ships as well) passed by, and by midnight we were well into Juan de Fuca Strait, introducing us to the first little bouncy swells of the Pacific.
Today, 21. September, with two days at sea under our belts, things have quietened down, the sun is out, the seas are moderate, and San Diego is a couple of hundred nautical miles away.
Quite a number of passengers are only aboard between Vancouver and San Diego (at a rate cheaper than a ferry ticket from Vancouver to Victoria) and combine this little interlude with a leisurely trip back home - via Las Vegas.
More about the ship later - there are some interesting 'changes' aboard, all called enhancements, improvements and every other marketing-friendly description - but, not all that glitters etc etc etc...
First Formal Night (this one classified as 'optional') was last night, the dining room was filled with an interesting mix of people dressed in crocs and scruffy jeans and others dolled up in tux and glitter. Here is to diversity.
The food is great, the crew warm and considerate, the ship is relatively 'small', the sea mysterious and the sky endless - that has stayed unchanged.
Sending these blogs via ship internet e-mail has some restrictions, therefore format is e-mail bound, and timing is subject to the benevolence of whatever satellite takes out signals. And the spell checkers checks against a Spanish dictionary.....hmm, gotta fix that.
...I must go down to the sea again...
