Live From the Grand Princess, 22-Day Alaska B2B, Apr 30 - May 22

[Ken the cruiser]

Thanks @joydisney and @HaveDogWillTravel for adding your recent experiences to the mix. Sounds like we should stick with our original seating plan and then play it by ear when we make the turn and head back down the mountain. 
 

FWIW we just landed at the SLC airport and got our first glimpse of snow covered mountains! 😁

 

Edited April 29 by Ken the cruiser

[cr8tiv1]

Double post.

Edited April 30 by cr8tiv1

[cr8tiv1]

I was just watching a youtube video today.  Tuber said to sit on the left (I think) side of the train going up.  Conductor will be pointing out lots of stuff to look out for on the way up.  Didn't talk much on the way back down. 

 

Have a wonderful trip.  I will be following.

 

9 hours ago, Ken the cruiser said:

I’m curious about this as well. But if it’s a round trip train ride, you would think some would have the better views going up while the other side would have the views back down the mountain. That is unless it’s a totally different set of tracks heading back down the mountain. The anticipation is really starting to build now for going on this excursion! 😬

 

[Ken the cruiser]

We have arrived at the Fairmont  Vancouver Airport Hotel and were settled in our suite around 11 pm. 
 

One suggestion for those coming to Canada. Make sure you use the ArriveCan app to pre-register your Advanced CBSA Declaration document no earlier than 72 hours before your arrival. In our case we were the only ones on our entire flight that had, which means we were the only ones that got to go in the “Fast Pass” line to get through Customs after finishing the check in process on one of the special CBSA Declaration kiosks. It saved us at least 5-10 minutes getting through Customs! 😁
 

[Ken the cruiser]

We woke up this morning with an overcast view of Vancouver Island off in the distance from our hotel room.

 

  
We'll be hanging out here until around 10:15 am when we will head down to the International Terminal’s arrival area to catch the PCL transfer to the ship, which is currently disembarking passengers at the pier. It won’t be long now! 😁

 

 
The clouds are forecasted to start clearing up this afternoon as we begin our cruise north through the Strait of Georgia.

 

 
Tomorrow we’re scheduled to continue cruising north on our way to Sitka for a scheduled Thursday morning arrival. Out of curiosity I checked the 2-day Northern Lights projections, which are definitely showing potential for tomorrow night …

 

 
and Windy forecasting clear skies! Wouldn’t that be awesome! 🤞

 

Edited April 30 by Ken the cruiser

[Ken the cruiser]

Looks like the hotel has employed a couple of Canadian Geese to patrol the rooftop! Like I said, I can be easily squirreled by wildlife! 😂

 

[Mimi0129]

Looks like fun!  Have a safe trip!

 

[Ken the cruiser]

We finally boarded the ship a little after 2 pm, over 3.5 hours after checking in with the ship transfer POC at the airport. The first part of the adventure took over 90 minutes to go 12 km from the Vancouver airport to the cruise terminal, mostly caused by some serious downtown traffic jams due to ongoing construction along with 3 cruise ships in port today!

 

 
But after creeping along or standing still for over 90 minutes, we finally saw the ship! 
 

 

Then it took another 90 minutes to go through the checkin process. The main cause for this horrendous delay was that the embarking passengers associated with all 3 ships were being processed through the same cruise terminal, where normally there is only 1-2 ships in port on any given day! 😱

 

 

  
But we finally made it to our cabin and all is good, especially after admiring the view from our aft-facing balcony. 😁

 

 

 
And of course how could resist not taking a photo of the not so elusive Vancouver International Airport pigeon while we waited 30 minutes before boarding the ship transfer bus! 😂

  

 

Edited April 30 by Ken the cruiser

[Ken the cruiser]

Some information about the ports we will be visiting on this 8-day leg of the cruise. No tenders, yay!

 

 

 

Edited April 30 by Ken the cruiser

[Ken the cruiser]

Day 1 - April 30 - Vancouver BC (Embarkation Day)

 

 

 

[memoak]

17 hours ago, Ken the cruiser said:

We have arrived at the Fairmont  Vancouver Airport Hotel and were settled in our suite around 11 pm. 
 

One suggestion for those coming to Canada. Make sure you use the ArriveCan app to pre-register your Advanced CBSA Declaration document no earlier than 72 hours before your arrival. In our case we were the only ones on our entire flight that had, which means we were the only ones that got to go in the “Fast Pass” line to get through Customs after finishing the check in process on one of the special CBSA Declaration kiosks. It saved us at least 5-10 minutes getting through Customs! 😁
 

They didn’t hand out declarations on your plane ?  We always train up from Seattle to Vancouver and just have to show passport at the Amtrak station and fill out a declaration on board the change nothin lg in advance. We have not used ArriveCAN in over 2 years

[Ken the cruiser]

1 minute ago, memoak said:

They didn’t hand out declarations on your plane ?  We always train up from Seattle to Vancouver and just have to show passport at the Amtrak station and fill out a declaration on board the change nothin lg in advance. We have not used ArriveCAN in over 2 years

They announced on the flight from SLC to Vancouver that they no longer hand out declarations and folks will have to fill them out using a kiosk once they arrive at the Vancouver airport.

[memoak]

5 minutes ago, Ken the cruiser said:

They announced on the flight from SLC to Vancouver that they no longer hand out declarations and folks will have to fill them out using a kiosk once they arrive at the Vancouver airport.

Glad I use Amtrak. Just off the Ruby today. Looks like 4 ships in port today

[Ken the cruiser]

3 minutes ago, memoak said:

Glad I use Amtrak. Just off the Ruby today. Looks like 4 ships in port today

There were 4 in port, but the Radiance of the Seas was at a totally different location.

 

[memoak]

28 minutes ago, Ken the cruiser said:

There were 4 in port, but the Radiance of the Seas was at a totally different location.

 

Funny when we came on this morning I saw the Noordam behind us and what looked like 2 ships on the other side. Did you just sail a few minutes ago ?

[memoak]

What kind of shape is she in ?  Haven’t sailed the grand since 2012 but will be sailing her in July

[Nattyg1723]

@Ken the cruiseri just love that you are a fellow bird nerd! I thought I was the only one who takes pictures of the local pigeons 😅 i always send them to my dad 🙂

[milogurd]

@Nattyg1723 @Ken the cruiser Have you tried out the Merlin Bird ID app from Cornell University for Apple and Android phones? Lots of Pigeons too! 

https://merlin.allaboutbirds.org

 

Edited May 1 by milogurd

[Nattyg1723]

Just now, milogurd said:

@Nattyg1723 @Ken the cruiser Have you tried out the Merlin Bird ID app from Cornell University for Apple and Android phones? Lots of Pigeons too! 

https://merlin.allaboutbirds.org

 

I have! I have it on my phone and use it often 🙂🙂

[Alaska05]

2 hours ago, Ken the cruiser said:

We finally boarded the ship a little after 2 pm, over 3.5 hours after checking in with the ship transfer POC at the airport. The first part of the adventure took over 90 minutes to go 12 km from the Vancouver airport to the cruise terminal, mostly caused by some serious downtown traffic jams due to ongoing construction along with 3 cruise ships in port today!

 

 
But after creeping along or standing still for over 90 minutes, we finally saw the ship! 
 
 

 

After reading your experience from the airport, we are seriously considering taking the Skytrain from YVR when we arrive about 6:00 pm on a Thursday evening.  We are staying at the Marriott Pinnacle on W. Hastings. 

[HappyWife0505]

This might explain why Radiance was in Vancouver but not at port. Bummer for them! Glad your luck is better! Enjoy the trip!

[abbydancer2003]

On 4/29/2024 at 4:17 PM, HaveDogWillTravel said:

The train turns around at the top.  No need to change seats as the folks on the right side are on the outside rail going down. Also some people don’t like to sit on the outside (left going up and right going down) as there’s some really steep drop offs. If you are not a fan of heights don’t sit next to the window on the scenic side.  
 

I’ve taken the train 5 times and everyone has always been super polite and accommodating.  People share the spaces well in my experiences.  
 

Safe travels and Bon voyage. 

 

And by turn around, it makes a big loop around at the top, so the sides are switched once the loop is completed.  We did the round trip with my mom in 2022.  Last time was around 2007, when they moved the engine (after telling everyone not to leave the train, due to the switch being in Canada).  They did ask everyone to switch sides.  

 

12 minutes ago, Alaska05 said:

After reading your experience from the airport, we are seriously considering taking the Skytrain from YVR when we arrive about 6:00 pm on a Thursday evening.  We are staying at the Marriott Pinnacle on W. Hastings. 

Good plan, but the Waterfront station is a few blocks away from the Marriott. It's a bit of a walk with luggage.   The cab fares are regulated, I think.  

[Ken the cruiser]

After a tasty dinner in the Crown Grill, we headed back to the cabin to take a few scenic shots as we had pushed off from the pier while we were eating.

 

 

 
We then headed to the theater to watch one of the funniest comedians we’ve seen in quite a while, Michael Wilson.

 

 

 
We decided to pass on the evening game show in Explorers Lounge, Musical Bingo, to go watch more of the snow-capped mountains pass by before it got too dark, as well as to look for any wildlife that might be hanging around. Unfortunately, the only wildlife we saw was too small to take any pictures of, as the only thing we saw was their little heads pop up for a few seconds at a time before going back underwater.
 

This was our location around 9 pm when I took these few scenic photos. The Noordam is the yellow ship and we’re leading the way followed by the Ruby about a mile behind us.

 

 
 

 

 

 
This was the Ms Noordam off our starboard side.

 

 

Here are the senior officers on the ship.

 

Edited May 1 by Ken the cruiser

[Ken the cruiser]

Day 2 - May 1 - Sea Day

  

 

 

[Ken the cruiser]

4 hours ago, memoak said:

Funny when we came on this morning I saw the Noordam behind us and what looked like 2 ships on the other side. Did you just sail a few minutes ago ?

 

4 hours ago, memoak said:

What kind of shape is she in ?  Haven’t sailed the grand since 2012 but will be sailing her in July

The Noordam set sail first, then we headed out around 5:15 pm, followed by the Ruby about an hour later. As you can see by my above post, we passed the Noordam a little before 9 pm. I’m guessing they’re getting into single file positioning as the Johnstone Strait we’re heading towards appears to be quite narrower than the waters we’re currently in.

 

As far as what type of shape the Grand is in, not too bad. At least we haven’t run into any issues that were noticeable yet. But then this is only our first day.