Victoria and Vancouver - May 2024

It has been some time since we took a three day cruise from San Francisco to Vancouver. We had one at-sea day, followed by a port stop in Victoria and a final disembarkation in Vancouver. Not enough time to really get into the cruising ‘spirit.’

San Francisco

Princess Cruises used Pier 80 for embarkation. This industrial port handles containers and roll-on/roll-off  vehicles. We took a 25 minute taxi drive from Fisherman’s Wharf (the drop-off location for our Hertz rental) to pier 80 as public transit wasn't available. Walking would have taken two hours (according to Google Maps).  The typical cruise piers for Princess are 27 and 35 and the even-number piers (up to 96) are south of the Ferry Building. 

The Princess check-in area was in a large empty warehouse and there were long lines (but moving quickly) for check-in and a moderate length walk from the warehouse to the actual boarding area.We didn’t notice the  location for luggage drop-off, so we simply walked our carry-on sized luggage onto the Grand Princess. A separate posting will share our cruise observations. 

Once underway, we were reminded how wonderful it is to view the Golden Gate Bridge as we departed California.

Victoria

After a full day of cruising, the Grand Princess stopped in Victoria from 12noon to 11pm. After lunch on-board, we met our local neighbors that have a second residence in Victoria. Together, we had a nice visit with a walking tour of the attractive downtown area, a stop for tea and a dinner at Finn's Seafood Restaurant before returning to the Grand Princess.  

Vancouver

After departing the following day from the Grand Princess at Canada Place, we had no longer than a three minute walk to the Fairmont Waterfront. Despite showing up at 9am, we were able to be in our room at 11am on the Fairmont Gold floor. This was our first time staying at a room on this executive level floor. We soon found that this area is considered by Fairmont to be a "hotel within a hotel," with a separate registration and concierge desk, full breakfast offering, snacks throughout the day, afternoon canapés and desserts in the evening. There were a variety of drinks available - all without additional charge - except for alcohol.

We particularly enjoyed the friendliness and helpfulness of the Fairmont Gold floor supervisors and managers during our stay. Well done! 

Here's a short run-down of our three day visit:

E-Bike ride in Stanley Park - we walked about 20 minutes to the Spokes Vancouver shop on 1798 West George Street to rent e-bikes to ride along the Park SeaWall. This shop is one of the closest bike rentals near the park. For two e-bikes for about 90 minutes, the cost was about $40 USD.

The six-mile SeaWall bike path around Stanley Park is auto restricted, so it is relatively safe. After being hit by a car while bike riding in 2022, I'm somewhat cautious about riding on streets with vehicular traffic. The views of Vancouver harbour and bay were enjoyable. 

Gastown Area - We walked this area several times as it was only a few minutes from our hotel. An interesting site was the Gastown steam clock. This clock was built in 1977 by Raymond Saunders. It is one of the few steam clocks in operation in the world. It was built to operate from the underground steam lines that clear winter snow and ice from city sidewalks. The clock has a steam whistle to signal the time. I recently read that the clock's backup electric motor now runs the clock as the steam mechanism wasn't sufficiently accurate.  

Gastown has many shops to browse and restaurants to select from. If you're considering a pair of Australian boots, be sure to drop by the Australian Boot Company. This shop offers R.M.Williams Chelsea Boots and Blundstone boots. The store wasn't busy and staff were extremely helpful in fitting a Comfort Classic R.M.Williams boot for me even though I was only 'window shopping.' Perhaps during our next Australia visit, I'll purchase a pair of Chelsea boots.

Granville Island - We spent a half day exploring Granville Island's Public Market and shopping area. After walking about 30 minutes from our hotel we crossed False Creek by small ferry. There were two options available to us, an Aquabus Ferry and False Creek Ferry. The senior rate for two round-trip tickets was about $3.70 USD. The crossing took three minutes at the most.

 

On our arrival, we walked through the Public Market. This indoor market hosts many local vendors offering fruits, vegetables, drinks, art items, candies, and baked items. We purchased donuts from Lee's donuts in the morning and had a light lunch of broccoli quiche and salad. We generally followed a walking tour from the New York Times. 

Flyover Canada - This is an immersive ride attraction in which you sit on a suspended seat and view spectacular IMAX like views of the Canadian Rockies. Occasionally, you feel wind  or mist on your face as you 'soar' through extraordinary scenery. The ride is similar to Disneyland's Soarin' California attraction. The cost for two is about $50 USD. Some detractors report this is rather expensive for a short video and 7-minute ride, but we enjoyed the attraction. We've also been to Flyover Iceland when we were staying in Reykjavik. 

Chinatown - We almost made it here. We started our walk from Gastown to Chinatown via Columbia Street. Unknown to us, the City of Vancouver has been pushing the homeless and drug users into this area from the surrounding business district. After seeing several people passed out on the sidewalk, we turned around. We later learned that the City is providing several services, including needle exchanges, drug and health counseling and housing assistance to those that are in this challenging area. Afterwards, Fairmont Gold staff said Chinatown is well-worth a visit but taking a taxi from the wharf area was advised.

Dining - If you're in Vancouver, we recommend trying Joe Fortes and Miku Vancouver. Reservations are advised as both are very popular and well-known. Joe Fortes is a chops and seafood restaurant that has been offering meals for over 35 years. We shared an excellent Dotty's salad and ordered the Miso Sablefish and the Seafood Cioppino. We were very full after our meal and brought a Carrot Cake back to our room for a later dessert. Note that this cake slice was very generous!

Miku Vancouver is a Michelin Guide restaurant. The menu is noted for its fusion of Italian and French influence on Japanese cuisine. Miku is well-known for its
Aburi Oshi sushi, which has a thin slice of flame-seared fish on a bed of rice. I had the Aburi Oshi sushi sampler (six pieces) for an appetizer and the Kyoto Saikyo Miso Sablefish, with kinoko gohan, miso bernaise and roasted squash puree for dinner. My wife had a Miso soup and Chef's Signature Sushi selection (10 pieces) for dinner. We didn't want to miss out on dessert and ordered a Green Tea Opera, with green tea genoise, matcha buttercream, dark chocolate ganache, Azuki bean cream, hazelnut water and matcha ice cream. We also ordered a Chestnut Pear Mousse, with cocoa sponge, pecan cacao nib tile, caramelized chestnut spiced browned butter ice cream. Note that Miku also offers a Kaiseki dinner - a six or seven course meal - featuring Aburi-style cuisine. Kaiseki dinners were our favorite meal when touring Japan in 2019.

Back to Northern California

On our final morning in Vancouver, we gathered our luggage and walked about five minutes to the Watertown rail station. From this station we took the Canada Line to reach Vancouver airport. This 25 minute ride was very convenient and less expensive (about $4 USD per person) than taking a taxi. There was no need to purchase a ticket as the turnstile reader recognized our credit card. Once reaching San Francisco, we picked up a Hertz rental to drive home. Unfortunately, the major freeway back home was closed in both directions due to police activity. Thus, with traffic congestion, the anticipated 75 minute drive ended up taking 5.5 hours with a long traffic bypass through Napa Valley.