Year 4 Day 138 “Living the Dream”. Sunday, 9/15/2024. Day 5 of 25-day Alaska to Las Vegas trip. Day 1 of 13-night cruise Alaska and Los Angeles- Boarding Brilliance of the Seas in Vancouver, Canada. First thought of the day. Happy 25th birthday to Reina. We did our usual birthday call and song. It was so nice to talk to her.
Then it was time for a video of room 1403 at the Hilton Vancouver Metrotown. Total cost was $888.98. We have been here two nights and would highly recommend this hotel. Here in this Burnaby hotel, you will find good service, nice views, clean big rooms, good selection of food, and it is an easy walk to anything in the area or to the train.
Then we had nice fresh omelets and packed up to get ready to board the Brilliance of the Seas.
Uber took us to the Canada Place to board. Traveling from Burnaby to the Cruise port in Vancouver took about 25 minutes. Burnaby area was really nice and clean. We did travel through the six blocks of East Hastings Street in Vancouver which is a home or encampment of homelessness and it’s also one of the poorest neighborhoods in Vancouver. It was really sad. Makes me feel so fortunate to be warm and safe off the streets.
We noticed there are more Cannabis shops than liquor stores in this area. British Columbia has both private-sector and government-operated cannabis stores. Vancouver has 78 Cannabis stores. Traffic is horrendous pulling into the parking garage. From the time we were dropped off till the time we boarded the ship it was a little over an hour. This port was loading three ships at the same time (Celebrity Soltice, Holland American Noordam, and Royal Caribbean Brilliance of the Seas).
We boarded, checked into our assembly station in the Schooner bar and headed to the Windjammer for lunch.
After a great lunch we headed to our room by 1:30pm.
We have a huge party balcony, but it is cold outside. Hey lookie here – We have a tea pot. You don’t find tea pots in your room on Royal Caribbean ships that depart from the United States. Harbor Air seaplanes are taking off and landing all afternoon. As much as we entertain ourselves by looking out and watching the seaplanes, there are huge seagulls looking back in at us for their entertainment. They are big enough for Thanksgiving dinner.
They hustled getting the luggage onboard. At 1:45pm our luggage is sitting outside our stateroom door.
Check out the bed in the room. Think this ship needs new beds? Did we get the wine so we wouldn’t notice the sagging bed
The Noordam pulled out at 4:20pm. We are scheduled to depart at 5pm.
Here are some assorted papers that were left in our room including our excursion tickets. I thought everything was paperless now. I guess not on these older ships. Maybe these papers about win, win, win at the Casino will make us look at something other than that bed.
Cruise Compass:
Things to ponder today! Have to leave you thinking.
Womens Fashion Orthotic Flip Flops: https://amzn.to/4efeh5w These are the most comfortable flip flops I have ever owned. You can wear them all day and your feet and legs feel great. They come in lots of different colors. Currently, I own one pair. I plan to buy a few more after vacation. They also work great as slippers.
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To view the complete daily diary, click here – This starts at Year 1 Day 1: Living the Dream – Deestimes – Make every step of the journey count