I cant believe my TR is over already, it went by as quickly as the cruise! Ive compiled a few thoughts, good and bad, about the cruise, ports and Vancouver. Hopefully they may be of some help.
I have also given each of the tour companies a short review along with their contact details.
Thank you for reading along, I hope I havent bored you and that you have enjoyed our photos. I took lots of video footage and really want to compile it all into a short video but I am rubbish with that sort of technology. If you check back in about 3 years I may have one done!
Positives:
1) Elmer stateroom host was wonderful. Very attentive, asked about our day, helped when we felt seasick and cleaned the room to a brilliant standard. We gave him an additional tip.
2) Veranda Im sure people with inside rooms had a wonderful time but I cant imagine this trip without instant access to the outside. Most of our time was spent out here and we saw some of the best whale breaches.
3) Palo AMAZING brunch, worth the money. Dinner is still good but if I had to choose one it would definitely be brunch.
4) The brilliant Disboarders who designed our door magnets thank you! Although we didnt see many doors which were decorated. The one next to us was really good!
5) Hot Chocolate its yummy and FREE make the most of it from the drink station on deck 9
6) Food I know there is a lot of talk about the food on
DCL but I genuinely think it is great. Anyone who expects 5* fine dining in a main restaurant trying to serve 500 people at a time is on the wrong holiday! I would suggest you get out of your comfort zone and try some of the more unusual offerings on the menus. If youre a meat and potatoes type you can always get a burger up on deck!
7) Vancouver is a wonderful city which I truly hope to visit again in the future. It is small enough to navigate easily and without having a car and we felt perfectly safe walking around at night as two young ladies.
Negatives:
1) Spa selling techniques following my treatment I was relaxed and happy but then had to endure 10 minutes of sales pitch from my therapist. She tried to sell me Fat Girl Sleep which I found insulting and I left remembering the sales pitch rather than the treatment. Didnt like that they hovered over me when signing the bill.
2) Smoking on verandas shouldnt be a problem on our next cruise as I believe they are banning it.
3) Dining room staff I didnt feel at all like they got to know us, my drinks were wrong for the first 3 nights and service was extremely slow. All tables around us were always ahead of us. Niti was not personable but was nice and friendly enough. He made a point of waving to us once we disembarked even though he had received his tip (which we didnt add to!)
4) Palo I asked whether I could try the baked Alaska from the MDR on the last night and it was a flat out no. Our server, although wonderful was slammed and was clearly starting to stress out, fortunately we werent in a rush. I was not allowed to take my leftovers from brunch to my room which was a shame. Same with the strawberries. I mentioned how much I loved chocolate covered strawberries but was not allowed to take any back to the room and didnt see any at dinner.