ALASKA
Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada
July 2023
I flew from Norfolk to Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada.
O Canadaaa!!!
Vancouver is 3 hours behind East Coast time. Location 49°17'N 123°06'W. It's summer and being at the 49th parallel, the day length is fairly long at just over 16 hours compared to 14.5 hours back home. During my journey, I will be going continuously north and west. As I travel further north, the day length will be getting even longer.
I stayed overnight before the cruise at the Pan Pacific Vancouver hotel which is connected directly to the cruise terminal at Canada Place. My original flights got rescheduled, so I arrived in Vancouver later than originally planned, but after I got to the hotel, I walked around and checked out downtown Vancouver.
July 1 is Canada Day. It's a National holiday which celebrates Canada's formation as a nation. Back on July 1, 1867, three British North American provinces, the Province of Canada, Nova Scotia, and New Brunswick were all united into one federation called the Dominion of Canada. Canada Day is Canada's Independence Day and is celebrated with events but they have now permanently cancelled the fireworks show that was previously part of the festivities due to increased costs. The events in Vancouver are all during the day, so they had just finished by the time I got downtown.
The annual event at Canada Place is sponsored by the Port of Vancouver. For 2023, the theme of the event is “Weaving together the fabric of a nation,” chosen to honor Canada’s diversity and set an intention for the day to gather, celebrate, learn, and share. Weaving is a common activity across many cultures and is a metaphor for the way the beauty, strength, and wisdom from the past can combine through multiple perspectives to create something meaningful for today and tomorrow.
I walked along the waterfront checking out some cool artwork along the downtown seawalk including a sculpture depicting a pixel-art version of a breaching orca called the Digital Orca, a sculpture called The Drop which is a tall and slender sculpture in the form of a gigantic water droplet. There's another one called Lightshed, which is a shed elevated on pilings right on the seawalk. Lightshed looks like it is built from cedar planks, but it is actually created from cast aluminum.
Next to Canada Place is the Vancouver Convention Center. The building hosted the International Broadcast Center for the 2010 Winter Olympics and 2010 Winter Paralympics. The building is LEED Platinum certified. The roof features a 6 acre green roof. It is the largest in Canada and the largest non-industrial living roof in North America. The plaza adjacent to the building has the massive Olympic cauldron built for the 2010 Winter Games. The plaza served as the main broadcast location for the Women's World Cup soccer tournament in 2015 (which was won by the US Women's National Team).
There's also a seaplane port along the waterfront just to the north of the plaza. It's the busiest seaplane port in Canada.
I checked out the Gastown Steam Clock. The clock was built in the 1970s (but it was designed to look much older) and covers a steam grate (part of Vancouver's distributed steam heating system). Being situated this way allows it to harness the steam and also masks the steam vent. The clock plays music on the quarter hour and vents puffs of steam.. The tune is the "Westminster Quarters" which is the same tune as Big Ben in London, although it sounds a bit like the tones from "Close Encounters of the Third Kind" when played with steam whistles instead of bells. :) Spoiler alert: in order to keep the time accurate, it's no longer run by steam. It has an electric motor. Nevertheless, the clock is super cool.
I had an amazing time in Vancouver. I definitely need to come back and spend more time exploring the city further.
Cruises depart Vancouver from Canada Place. Canada Place is an iconic landmark in Vancouver. The design of the structure incorporates five 90 foot tall sails which are made of Teflon coated fiberglass and are lighted at night.
The port terminal handles, on average, 250 cruise ships and a million passengers a year. This year is projected to be a record breaking year for cruises leaving Vancouver as there are 331 cruises scheduled. The cruise port can handle four ships at a time. Two other cruise ships were at the cruise port with our ship. Brilliance of the Seas and Celebrity Eclipse. Cruise ships follow a variety of itineraries, so we won't see Celebrity Eclipse again but will see Brilliance of the Seas in Juneau and Skagway (but not at the other ports).
In the morning, the hotel staff came to my room to pick up my checked luggage to take in to be dropped off on the ship. The luggage will later be delivered to my cabin on the ship. I didn't have to handle it at all.
Passengers embarking a cruise in Vancouver are considered to be entering US jurisdiction once they board the cruise ship, so we had to go through US Customs and Border Protection screening immediately following the initial cruise port screening process. They have Automated Passport Control (APC) kiosks for use by eligible US and Canadian passengers which greatly sped up the process for me. (And yeah, I just went through Canada Border Services yesterday when I arrived at the airport.) But now I will be in the US for the rest of the trip. (... well, except for when I will be going into the Yukon Territory on an excursion ... more on that in a few days ...) The process for getting on the ship is: 1) cruise line check-in (where they verify your passport and take your picture for security on the ship; 2) security check (which is similar to going through security in an airport); 3) US Customs (passport screening); and 4) FINALLY, boarding the ship. All of this takes place within the large assembly halls of Canada Place.
We had to wait a little bit to board the ship because it was not yet ready for us.
We were scheduled to depart from the cruise port at 4pm PDT on Sunday; however, due to delays with loading the ship, we were delayed leaving by about 2.5 hours. But since since we had everything we needed on the ship, it wasn't too big of a deal.
Cruises to and from Vancouver transit under the very cool landmark Lions Gate Bridge. We passed by the scenic and historic Stanley Park just before the bridge. We also passed the Brockton Point Lighthouse and the Point Atkinson Lighthouse flanking Burrard Inlet. After exiting the inlet, we headed up the Strait of Georgia on our way up the coastline through the Inside Passage.
Tomorrow, we will have a full day at sea cruising through the southern end of the Inside Passage, traveling northwest, on the way to our first port stop at Ketchikan, Alaska, where we will arrive on Tuesday morning. We will cover 788 nautical miles between Vancouver and Ketchikan.
HERE WE GOOOOOOOO!!!!
