Aloha Hawaii! Our 10 Day Cruise to Hawaii on the Disney Wonder, September 7, 2015 Trip Report completed 07/31/2016 - Page 7 - PassPorter - A Community of Walt Disney World, Disneyland, Disney Cruise Line, and General Travel Forums
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Oh my goodness, I would have freaked out about the train being on a Saturday schedule! Good thing you stayed calm and figured out what to do! Great scenery from the train!
My husband is usually calm under pressure. I try to be, but his calmness helps me get it together. (Or I'd be freaking out!)
Looks like a lovely train ride. At least the views were really cool. Sorry about the mix-up with the transportation. At 5-6 AM I think you handled it quite well. I would have been a mess.
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What a panicky moment there! So crazy after all your planning. I can see how easily that could happen. It's a Monday-- weekday schedule, right? And Labor Day was late this year, too. Whew! Glad you made it and the train ride looks very comfortable and pleasant. I love those old train stations.
Great pictures from the station! I'm with Laurie - I train stations! At least the ones that look like that. And if they aren't too smelly.....
What a rotten thing to learn, after being so proud of your on-time arrival to the station - that they weren't running the right train schedule! Glad it all worked out without too much extra angst.
Whoa! What a rocky start to your well planned morning! My DH would have been no help at all if I had made that mistake. He would just be blaming me for not doing it right to begin with. Glad everything worked out in the long run and the train looked like a neat ride into Vancouver.
Oh wow, thank goodness you made it Ok into Seattle - I bet you were freaking out when they said it was a weekend service!
What beautiful views from your journey.
Yes. Totally freaking out! But I had to keep it together, as I was the ad hoc travel agent/tour guide.
Quote:
Originally Posted by stardust190
Looks like a lovely train ride. At least the views were really cool. Sorry about the mix-up with the transportation. At 5-6 AM I think you handled it quite well. I would have been a mess.
It was so nice and I'm glad we did it. The confusion only lasted about 30 minutes, but it was stressful!
Quote:
Originally Posted by lauriep
What a panicky moment there! So crazy after all your planning. I can see how easily that could happen. It's a Monday-- weekday schedule, right? And Labor Day was late this year, too. Whew! Glad you made it and the train ride looks very comfortable and pleasant. I love those old train stations.
I try to plan cushions of time when traveling just for goofy mishaps. This was a totally new experience and I wasn't familiar with the area so I didn't know travel times. It turned out fine because even though we were pretty close to Seattle, there was no traffic because of the holiday and the time of morning.
Quote:
Originally Posted by cubfancolleen
Great pictures from the station! I'm with Laurie - I train stations! At least the ones that look like that. And if they aren't too smelly.....
What a rotten thing to learn, after being so proud of your on-time arrival to the station - that they weren't running the right train schedule! Glad it all worked out without too much extra angst.
Lol, I know what you mean about the smell. Overall, I was very impressed with how clean the public transportation was in Seattle.
Quote:
Originally Posted by MayraLR
Glad you were able to get to the station! I would've panicked, big time.
Nice pictures of the scenery!
I was panicking a little, lol. I wouldn't have been so stressed out if we didn't have to be there exactly one hour ahead of time because of crossing the border. If weren't able to get taxis, then we would've arrived too late.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Pris
Whoa! What a rocky start to your well planned morning! My DH would have been no help at all if I had made that mistake. He would just be blaming me for not doing it right to begin with. Glad everything worked out in the long run and the train looked like a neat ride into Vancouver.
It all worked out - none of the four adults in the party realized that it was a holiday It was a lovely ride and a beautiful day.
Quote:
Originally Posted by jandsdennis
Wow a pretty stressful start to the morning. Glad you were able to get it all straightened out and made it in time.
I'm so thankful it all worked out. We may have had to rent a car and then drive to Vancouver!
Quote:
Originally Posted by xwewhisper
What a lovely train ride!
It was much more relaxing and "vacation-y" than driving from Seattle to Vancouver. (We briefly considered that earlier in the year.)
Getting off of the train at Pacific Central Station was definitely not as easy as getting on it. When we arrived at the station, we had to wait a few minutes before deboarding (is that a word?) so that they could unload the luggage. When all of the passengers got off, we had to search up and down the platform to find our bags. They seemed to be just haphazardly lined up in random order. It took us a while and we found them all, but by that time, we had been separated into two groups. The kids were with me and the ladies were with Dh, way behind us. I had Dh's passport (I kept them all together) so we had to wait for him before we could go through customs. They finally caught up with us and we could go through (no stamp ) I'm sure the train station was interesting to see, but we walked right through it, in a hurry to get to the boat. Actually we made a restroom stop - it's a little tricky going on a rocking train!
Previously, we had debated whether to take the SkyTrain to the port or take a taxi. We decided to just leave it to how we felt when we got there. After the mishap that morning with the light rail schedule and the 4 hour train ride, we unanimously chose to take a taxi to Canada Place. If it was just the four of us, maybe we would have taken another train, but I was worried about bothering Anne's knee with too much walking. It was okay, but she had had some problems with it in August so I didn't want to push it - we had 17 more days to go!
I can't remember if it was a PassPorter or Charles, or the internet that told me there were no taxi vans in Vancouver, but they were right, only little "econo" cars, that were perfect for zipping around a city, but not good for cramming luggage and large Americans into. (Like the Prius taxi in Seattle.) We would have to take two again, and at that point, I didn't care how much it cost (ok within reason!) I just wanted to get to my, I mean, the ship. As we were dividing into two groups again, I noticed that Titus didn't have his carry on. "Titus where is your backpack?" "Ummmm... I don't know."
"Are you kidding me?!", I said loudly in my head. At least I think so. I dashed back into the station with Titus in tow, desperately looking around for his teal colored backpack. He swore up and down that he had it when we all stopped at the restrooms. We looked all around and in the restroom, retracing his steps with no luck. We enlisted the help of a station worker, but as nice as he was, he was basically like, "That's life in the big city." I pleaded with Titus to think back to when he was last wearing it and suddenly he remembered: he had taken it off while waiting in line for customs. That's it, it must be on the platform. We quickly went back to the custom's exit, where of course we couldn't get back through. I asked the security agent to please check if there was a lost bag and she had someone go and look. They were clearing the train, getting ready for passengers going back to Washington. While waiting, I was weighing the pros and cons of just leaving without checking. There wasn't anything really of value in it, just a change of clothes and stuff boys take on trips The new JanSport backpack itself was really what we wanted back. He had his iPod in his pocket, of course. We didn't have to wait long because a worker soon brought out his bag, yay! We thanked everyone who helped us profusely and now we were ready to leave. I didn't get mad at my baby boy. I know what it's like to lose things on a trip , and I told him about the time I left my brand new SLR camera on a chair at the airport. It was gone almost instantly. I knew what that sickening feeling feels like, and he looked like he was really sorry for leaving it. On with the show!
Once again, we were shoehorned into two taxis and headed off to Canada Place (thus "hello/goodbye"). Boy it sure looked like a nice city to visit one day...
Getting close now! (Hey! Those look like vans to me Yes, but those still would've been too small with all of our luggage. Oh.)
It didn't take us very long to get to the port. We paid the drivers in American dollars and our luggage was whisked away to the ship. We followed the signs to the check in desk. Once we were all checked in (showing our passports again), we headed to the walkway to board. We had to show our passports one more time, then finally, were allowed to walk outside to see the Wonder. (After taking a family photo first )
We had to go back inside for some reason, maybe to take the group photo? Show our passports again? I have no idea. Coming on board was as fun as usual, but the ladies didn't know that Disney announced boarding passengers. I told Anne to introduce herself as Queen Anne. (hee hee!) The cast member merely blinked and then announced "Queen Anne" to the ship. They enjoyed that It was already about 1:45pm and the rooms were ready. We wanted to drop off our stuff before heading up to Beach Blanket Buffet for lunch. We were in room 7562 and the ladies were across the hall and down one in room 7565. I always attempt to argue that getting an inside stateroom would save some money, but Dh never gives in. Part of the reason he loves DCL is because of the space in the staterooms but mostly because of the veranda. I admit, I love it too.
This is from our room (I tried to make a panoramic shot, but with my iPhone 5s, if I'm too close, the photo "bends".)
I'm loving your TR so far! Thanks for sharing your adventure. We have contemplated a cruise to Hawaii but I'm just not convinced that I would like cruising - so I'm interested in hearing how your days at sea goes Btw - as a Vancouverite, I have to say that Vancouver is a great city! We are lucky to have the mountains and the ocean so close
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I was going to say that they definitely do have taxi vans in Vancouver, as we ended up in one to take us to the car rental place - funnily enough that same day! We were coming off as you were boarding and we must've taken one of those taxis around 8:00 - 8:30am.
Thank goodness you found Titus' bag and I hope that's an end to the various problems for this trip, as you certainly encountered your fair share of "challenges" on this day!
I'm loving your TR so far! Thanks for sharing your adventure. We have contemplated a cruise to Hawaii but I'm just not convinced that I would like cruising - so I'm interested in hearing how your days at sea goes Btw - as a Vancouverite, I have to say that Vancouver is a great city! We are lucky to have the mountains and the ocean so close
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It would be so great to get out there again and spend some time exploring. I read cubfancolleen's Alaska cruise TR and her family really enjoyed Vancouver. I hope you get to try a cruise some day. We felt the same as you and now we can't get enough! Actually, when we compare going to Disney World and taking a Disney cruise, it's a toss up for us now - the kids LOVE cruising! Of course doing both on the same trip is totally awesome
Quote:
Originally Posted by chezp
I was going to say that they definitely do have taxi vans in Vancouver, as we ended up in one to take us to the car rental place - funnily enough that same day! We were coming off as you were boarding and we must've taken one of those taxis around 8:00 - 8:30am.
Thank goodness you found Titus' bag and I hope that's an end to the various problems for this trip, as you certainly encountered your fair share of "challenges" on this day!
I thought that it was strange when I heard that they don't have larger taxis, I mean it's a big city with lots of tourists right? I'm sure if we could have waited a while, a taxi van should have pulled up eventually.
Your Alaska TR is next on my list! I saw that you would be coming off as we were boarding, that's pretty cool
Glad the backpack wasn't lost! Tell Titus not to feel bad - I left Bose headphones on an airport shuttle once. (In my defense, it was o'dark thirty) I realized as soon as I got inside, but of course they were never found....
Love that your picture entering Vancouver shows BC Stadium - home of the Womens World Cup!!
I'm sure you were all feeling more relaxed and like vacation had REALLY started once you were on board the ship! Looking forward to the sail away!
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train stations! At least the ones that look like that. And if they aren't too smelly.....
My DH would have been no help at all if I had made that mistake. He would just be blaming me for not doing it right to begin with. 
Glad everything worked out in the long run and the train looked like a neat ride into Vancouver.
It was a lovely ride and a beautiful day.
) I'm sure the train station was interesting to see, but we walked right through it, in a hurry to get to the boat. Actually we made a restroom stop - it's a little tricky going on a rocking train! 
(Like the Prius taxi in Seattle.) We would have to take two again, and at that point, I didn't care how much it cost (ok within reason!) I just wanted to get to my, I mean, the ship. As we were dividing into two groups again, I noticed that Titus didn't have his carry on. "Titus where is your backpack?" "Ummmm... I don't know." 
We enlisted the help of a station worker, but as nice as he was, he was basically like, "That's life in the big city." 
I pleaded with Titus to think back to when he was last wearing it and suddenly he remembered: he had taken it off while waiting in line for customs. That's it, it must be on the platform. We quickly went back to the custom's exit, where of course we couldn't get back through. I asked the security agent to please check if there was a lost bag and she had someone go and look. They were clearing the train, getting ready for passengers going back to Washington. While waiting, I was weighing the pros and cons of just leaving without checking. There wasn't anything really of value in it, just a change of clothes and stuff boys take on trips 
The new JanSport backpack itself was really what we wanted back. He had his iPod in his pocket, of course. We didn't have to wait long because a worker soon brought out his bag, yay! 
We thanked 
everyone who helped us profusely and now we were ready to leave. I didn't get mad at my baby boy. I know what it's like to lose things on a trip 
On with the show!
) 
I have no idea. Coming on board was as fun as usual, but the ladies didn't know that Disney announced boarding passengers. I told Anne to introduce herself as Queen Anne. (hee hee!) The cast member merely blinked and then announced "Queen Anne" to the ship. They enjoyed that 
It was already about 1:45pm and the rooms were ready. We wanted to drop off our stuff before heading up to Beach Blanket Buffet for lunch. We were in room 7562 and the ladies were across the hall and down one in room 7565. I always attempt to argue that getting an inside stateroom would save some money, but Dh never gives in. Part of the reason he loves DCL is because of the space in the staterooms but mostly because of the veranda. I admit, I love it too. 
Btw - as a Vancouverite, I have to say that Vancouver is a great city! We are lucky to have the mountains and the ocean so close 
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