A special birthday, a diamond anniversary and a west coast adventure COMPLETED IN THIS FORUM About This Page:

[chezp]

This is the continuation of the trip report of our California and Alaskan cruise trip, although this section will focus on Vancouver and primarily Victoria.

The previous section, which covered our Alaskan cruise on the Wonder can be found here.

We start off as we're about to disembark from the Wonder....

[chezp]

Monday 7 September – part two: when can we get off?

We made our way sadly back towards the room for the final time…



… and I took the opportunity of some working Internet (why is it that it always seems to not work on the last night when you have credit to use up? ) to get online briefly. I also got some final photos from the room:



Just after 7:30am, we headed down to our table to say goodbye to Tony, Norma, Tom and Rhonda, with everyone saying how much they’d enjoyed the seating. It had worked out really well, even if we deserted them a few times for Palo.

I knew that express walk-off customers, who had their luggage were already being let off, so we got in line for the guests with luggage line, but there was a lot of confusion as to what on earth it was for. Most of us had Minnie tags, but some had Ariel tags. We discovered Ariel was going first, and Minnie may not be going ashore until 8:30am, which was not going to work, given we were due at the ferry terminal to Victoria by 10:30am.

I went to ask if we could get off, at least go and get the car rental, but you couldn’t do that. The officer I spoke to was very abrupt, and basically told me it was my problem, as I should have declared to Disney that I needed to catch a ferry. Perhaps mate, but in our previous seven cruises, this has never been an issue, and that includes the last Alaskan sailing. Everyone’s been pretty much ready to go, not being called out bit by bit. I was a bit annoyed with his attitude, as I doubt Disney would’ve done anything, had I told them that we were taking a day trip to Victoria. They only want to know about early flights, in case you miss them. I can’t see them caring about a day trip.

We went back to stand in the line, and we heard them call express walk-off, which was a joke, as by now, they’d already been leaving the ship for 20 minutes, although the announcement said that they were only allowed off right now. Er, I don’t think so.

In the end, we decided to chance our luck, and go off with the Ariel brigade, and then if our suitcases weren’t there, we could grab them as soon as they were. We thought we were about to be thwarted in that when the guy in front of us, who was also Minnie, was stopped from leaving the ship. It turns out that when his card was scanned, he still had an outstanding balance. Oh boy, now that’s something you don’t hear often, as usually Disney just takes it off your credit card. I guess maybe his credit card was maxed out?

Anyway, we had no such issues, and made our way off slowly, stopping to take photos, as we knew the luggage might not yet be there waiting for us.



Despite being told by Disney that there was nowhere to wait in the terminal and we should stay on board the Wonder, we easily found seats as soon as we entered the terminal. In fairness, they were still putting cases out, including the Minnie ones, but within a couple of minutes, I spotted our first case in an area that was still roped off, but an employee happy got it for me. Then we saw the second one, and he got that too. All the time, they were moving the roped area back, as they got a row done, and shortly afterwards, we found suitcases three and four.

We headed out through Canadian customs with no issue at all, and made our way over to get a taxi. There was no wait at all, and we were immediately loaded up and out on the road, all before 8:15am. Thank goodness we hadn’t taken Disney’s advice and waited on board, as we could’ve ended up being a darned sight later than that.

The first thing we noticed was how dead it was out on the roads, but our driver quickly explained that it was a national holiday. That would explain it then. That meant we were at Dollar and Thrifty car rental in just a few minutes, and Mark went inside with the paperwork, while I stayed outside with the cases, and got some photos. As you can see, it was a beautiful day:



A few minutes later, Mark emerged with everything he needed, and we walked the short distance up to the parking garage where all the cars were located. I told him to go and get the car, and I’d wait with the cases. My goodness, we certainly had a big enough car!



Having said that, the trunk wasn’t great, and we could only fit in three cases, plus our hand luggage, and the fourth case had to go on the back seat. Thank goodness we had time to head to the airport hotel to leave our stuff there. Phew!

The drive out of the city was very pleasant, and it was so nice not to be doing this in either rain or at night, as that’s usually how we’ve done it. Because of the holiday, the roads were nice and quiet as well.



Next: wow, what a great room!

[DMA]

Glad you made it off the ship early enough and that your bags caught up with you soon after. What a beautiful day!

[cubfancolleen]

I feel like the disembarkation process has gotten more chaotic. It was shear bedlam when we returned to Vancouver. Glad you got off and won't have any trouble making that ferry!

[disney_duke]

It's been many, many years but I remember sneaking off with an earlier group as well when we disembarked. Glad you were able to do so!
Looks like the weather is cooperating so far, hopefully it continues for Victoria!

[Pris]

Ugh, I hate that end of the cruise time when you are just waiting around. I'm glad you were able to get off early and that everything seems to be moving smoothly on the roads. When we disembarked in Copenhagen from our Norwegian cruise last summer, everyone was allowed off at the same time with all luggage available for pick up. I suppose it depends on the size of the terminal and the space available for setting out the luggage. I'd never had that happen on other cruises.

The weather looks gorgeous and you were able to get some great pictures.

[chezp]

Originally Posted by cubfancolleen

I feel like the disembarkation process has gotten more chaotic. It was shear bedlam when we returned to Vancouver. Glad you got off and won't have any trouble making that ferry!

I wondered the same thing as you. I wonder if it was just Alaskan cruises, as we had no problem on our cruise in February. It'll be interesting to see what experience we have next September.

[chezp]

Originally Posted by disney_duke

It's been many, many years but I remember sneaking off with an earlier group as well when we disembarked. Glad you were able to do so!
Looks like the weather is cooperating so far, hopefully it continues for Victoria!

Well, it did for the most part... I'll leave it at that.

[chezp]

Originally Posted by Pris

Ugh, I hate that end of the cruise time when you are just waiting around.

We've never honestly experienced that in all our cruises, so this was a bit of a shock to us.

I'm glad you were able to get off early and that everything seems to be moving smoothly on the roads. When we disembarked in Copenhagen from our Norwegian cruise last summer, everyone was allowed off at the same time with all luggage available for pick up. I suppose it depends on the size of the terminal and the space available for setting out the luggage. I'd never had that happen on other cruises.

I think you're right, it varies on the port you're disembarking in. In Port Canaveral, Disney has everything down to a tee.

The weather looks gorgeous and you were able to get some great pictures.

[Cam22]

Thank goodness you didn't lag behind on the ship since everything worked out perfectly to get your bags.

[chezp]

Originally Posted by Cam22

Thank goodness you didn't lag behind on the ship since everything worked out perfectly to get your bags.

After everything the Crew Members told us, I was very surprised that it all worked out so well.

[KMB733]

Glad you were able to get your luggage with no problem and head out to enjoy what looks like a beautiful day in Vancouver.

[SharonK0527]

All caught up. I'm glad you decided not to take the Officer's advice and wait on the ship. In every cruise we have been on (on other cruise lines), there are always people getting off with other groups and I've never seen anyone stopped and told they couldn't leave the ship.

Looks like a beautiful day out! Looking forward to the next update

[chezp]

Originally Posted by SharonK0527

All caught up. I'm glad you decided not to take the Officer's advice and wait on the ship. In every cruise we have been on (on other cruise lines), there are always people getting off with other groups and I've never seen anyone stopped and told they couldn't leave the ship.

I have no idea why he said that to us. We've never experienced anything like this before with being told we couldn't get off the ship, as we'd never tried to disembark this early on - normally we're hanging on as long as we can - so I had no idea what the procedure was.

[manticorjenn]

I am glad that you followed your own common sense instead of what the officer said. I hope we have better luck with our cruise in April. Can't wait to read about your day trip.