The trip began smoothly. We had prepared with ArriveCan filling out all the required documentation in that application, and we had taken our Covid test on the Thursday before our Sunday boarding plus we had filled out everything on Air Canada for boarding, and lastly completed all of the Holland America Navigator that we could.
The shuttle ride to the airport was uneventful — thank you Laura for taking us so early to catch it— and the checkin at Air Canada was swift and easy—luggage tagged and sent off and in 30 seconds we were headed toward our Gate. The plane ride was uneventful if barebones with only one drink service (water or any of three juices) for the entire 2.5 hours and not a free cookie, peanut, or snack to be found.
Eventful is the watchword after the plane sat down in Canada. It is a huge airport in Vancouver and we walked our elderly tired feet off to collect our luggage and find out how to exit the airport. We were tired, being 75 and 76. The last thing we thought of was to check emails to see if we were the unlucky random person selected for a Covid test. But Lizzie was.
She didn’t see the email until she was in the hotel room after a $40 taxi ride to our hotel. Taxis in Vancouver charge by increments of both distance AND time. So, in rush hour stopping at red lights everywhere, you watch the meter tick up ever 9.92 seconds! And you are not moving. The taxi tariff sign is pictured above.
We settled into our room at the Holiday Inn on Broadway (and yes, both elevators were working this year). It was smoky in Vancouver from Frasier River canyon fires. Lizzie and I were so glad to get settled and begin to relax. So, Liz checked her email….
Despite having a negative Covid PCR test in the past 72 hours, this 76-year old grandmother had been randomly selected to have another test by ArriveCan’s App, and the “free” testing location was back past the airport in Richmond…another likely $40 and two hours round trip away. We couldn’t face it, especially since we would be in Canada less than 24 hours as we boarded the cruise ship at 10:00 the next morning.
However, as early risers we woke the next morning and decided we had better comply as Canada kept sending Liz reminders to go test or face penalties. So, once again we took a $35 taxi ride to the “free” test location in Richmond. After 30 minutes Liz had completed the test collection and we were again in a taxi for another $35 ride to the Cruise ship embarkation center. Thank you Mr. Trudeau for the warm welcome to your country.
From there it should have been better as we were a priority ship boarding party, but it continued to go downhill. Three large cruise ships had arrived in port Sunday morning and all three were disembarking thousands of passengers trying to leave the facility just as thousands more were arriving to embark on those same three ships. We stood in an unmoving line for 45 minutes because they needed to clear the outbound passengers before the incoming passengers could begin to be processed. Then we began to
move, snaking through a queue to show our passport and negative Covid test results (from our Thursday planned testing) for our boarding pass, then snaking through a much larger queue to show passport and boarding pass for our carry on and passenger security screens, then into another queue for passing thru US customs as our first port of call was Kodiak AK, finally hustled to another crammed seating area to wait for nearly 90 minutes until we could actually board. Everyone began to have frayed tempers as they began the final queue to lead to the boarding ramp and show passport and boarding pass one last time as we entered the last security checkpoint onboard ship before taking the elevators to our deck and stateroom. We had made it.
Once onboard we awaited the arrival of our luggage, unpacked, and went up to the Lido deck to await sail away. There we watched the takeoff and landings of several sea planes (me sipping a well deserved margarita) before finally hearing the engines start, then slowly departing Vancouver as we sailed away under the famed Lion’s Gate bridge.
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