Vancouver - Day 13

Shortly thereafter we had a welcoming visit from a grey gull on a lifeboat cover just below our balcony:

I really don't know why this day is counted as part of the cruise.  The ship docked in Vancouver at 5:30a and we spent the balance of the day simply getting home.  For us, the cruise ended last night as we said goodbye to those we knew among the excellent staff.

The Celebrity employees with whom we dealt were unfailingly friendly, cheerful and helpful.  There was, of course, the "Tower of Babel" thing that you encounter on a cruise ship.  I think there were thirty nationalities and a dozen languages represented -- but everyone did a great job.

From our butler Gene, to our waiter Lance, assistant waiter Manuel, wine steward Kara and our Maitre'd Chardy -- everyone was simply perfect at his job.

And then...

We had the only imperfect episode of the whole two weeks.  Luggage handling between us, the ship and the airport was a mess.

First, we were told to tag our bags with color-coded tags (we were Yellow 1), have them outside the stateroom by midnight, and then to gather by 7:50a in the Martini Bar to be grouped for our bus ride to Vancouver International Airport.  I never did find out what the various colors and numbers meant as everyone in Yellow 1 had different flights and departure times.

This part went great (though the bar in the Martini Bar was closed, dammit!) and we were told that we and our luggage would be together on the same bus.  Yes and no.

It's a 45 minute ride to the airport through Vancouver; my camera was packed, so no pix. Today was our bus driver's first experience with a manual transmission..

When we arrived, an airport rep came onto the bus and announced that Yellow 1 bags would be claimed at a roped off area inside the terminal.  Hmmm.  Thought they were supposed to be on the bus?  OK; things change..

We de-bused and there on the sidewalk were dozens of bags from the bus -- three of them were ours.  I thought they weren't on the bus?  Oh well -- but wait! One, two, three -- but we're supposed to have four.  I ran down the airport lady and asked where our fourth bag might be.  She said that all Yellow 1 bags were coming on the truck as she'd announced.  I pointed out three of our bags (with Yellow 1 tags) and she asked where we'd gotten them.  I showed her several dozen other such tagged bags there on the sidewalk.  Oh, she said: "They're not supposed to be here." The fact that they were, indeed, here puzzled her; she just couldn't accept the paradigm shift. The bags weren't supposed to be there, but there they (some of them) were; what to do?.

We grabbed a luggage cart (in Vancouver as in most aiports except Atlanta they are free) and loaded up our three bags, took them inside and made our way 300 yards to the "roped off area" where another airport rep said that the Yellow 1 bags were on their way to the airport by truck and would be here in a half-hour or so. I asked why, since the bags had NINE HOURS to get there, we were still awaiting them. Blank look.

We (along with dozens of other Yellow 1 people who had some of their luggage) sat around for more than an hour when the truck arrived with the rest of our bags.  We waited and watched, our bags tantalizingly just out of reach, while they sorted them into rows and then brought them to us one at a time.  Another hour slogged by and we finally had our fourth bag.  The time delay wasn't a big deal to us as our flight was at 1:00p; the problem was the uncertainty and disorganization of it all.  SWMBO was not pleased..

The procedure then was to go through Canadian Customs and Immigration.  Apparently Canada is either unaware or disinterested in the "transit" methodology where, if you are only touching Canadian soil on the way FROM the US TO the US they skip this unnecessary step/time/hordes of people.  The only reason we were in Canada is that's where the freakin' airport is!

All the time we're shoving the cart around with our four giant bags.  After clearing Canadian Customs we successfully checked in with Delta and shoved the cart through US Customs before relinquishing the bags to the baggage handlers.

We've cruised before and, each time before this one, we put the bags outside the stateroom and didn't see them again until we claimed them at baggage claim in Atlanta.

I suppose that some/all of this may be post-9/11 changes but it surely took the edge off what was a wonderful trip.  No harm, no foul, just unnecesarily clumsy.

We arrived uneventfully in Atlanta and were met at the gate by friend Winston.  As a Delta employee he was able to be there at the gate with his brand new Nikon D70 clicking merrily away:

At the luggage carousel we were met by Cathleen Blumberg (who had acquired one of the lovely "fee" carts) and, in due time all four bags arrived.  Joe had been circling and we packed the car with four people and four BIIIIG bags and were home by 11pm.

What a wonderful trip! Be sure to check out the summary page.

Thanks for riding along with us; hope you enjoyed the travelogue!