You’ll never get me on a cruise. Unless it’s to ALASKA! Recap and New PTR Link! 2/1

[tinacaplan]

I'm in!

 

[eandesmom]

You might be surprised by your DH. I was sold within minutes of walking onto the ship. DH by the end of the 4 day cruise. This will be our 7th cruise in 4 years. DH loves it.

We will see. I hope so, the last thing I want to deal with is a bored DH! he is excited for it but far less interested in most of the other itineraries out there with the exception of maybe something in the Mediterranean. For Alaska, for him, I think it will be perfect.

Sorry, no suggestions other than the Old Spaghetti Factory in Gastown for dining out in downtown Vancouver. We mainly dine out in the Richmond/Stevenston area as that is where my sister lives.

Oh well, thanks anyways! We have Milestones as a backup if we can't figure out whatever restaurant Jeff thinks he remembers. And maybe it will come to him between now and then.

Joining in for all of the fun!

Jennifer! so happy you are here

Here!!!

Jackie's here!

Oh that would be sooo cool!!

Your wish is my command, something for your Christmas trip? or if you'd rather a T shirt image I can do that too

I'm in!

Tina!

 

[Mndisneygirl]

I'm in and really excited! We have tentative plans to do an Alaskan cruise for DH's 50th in two years so I'm really eager to hear about how your trip goes. Of course depending on $$$$, we may not go with DCL. It's a ways off yet.
And we have a couple other trips on the agenda too! We'll see how mich is left in the budget.

Your plans look great! I doubt Jeff will get bored. There's always something going on on the ship. Maybe a galley tour or wine tasting if they have one?

 

[smeecanada]

Oh well, thanks anyways! We have Milestones as a backup if we can't figure out whatever restaurant Jeff thinks he remembers. And maybe it will come to him between now and then.

A local one is White Spot. Started out in Vancouver by Nat Bailey. Famous for their legendary burger platter and milkshakes. The kid's meals come in a pirate ship. There are a couple of locations on West Georgia. West Georgia and Seymour (2nd floor - near the terminal), and West Georgia and Cardero (near Stanely Park). Not super fancy, but good food. Google for the menu.

 

[Happydog]

HEY I MADE IT!!
But I have an excuse I am in the LAX airport !!! Lol! I just know you are going to love the cruise! We had a great time and I know we liked it most because we had family together and family on our own time! The kids got to do their own thing too, which they liked. Can't wait to hear all about your FE fun! Ours was a blast!!!

 

[manntra]

Driving by for a quick hello and subscribe Hope all is well....I'll be back later to read

Tracy

 

[eandesmom]

I'm in and really excited! We have tentative plans to do an Alaskan cruise for DH's 50th in two years so I'm really eager to hear about how your trip goes. Of course depending on $$$$, we may not go with DCL. It's a ways off yet.
And we have a couple other trips on the agenda too! We'll see how mich is left in the budget.

Sheree!

You can definitely do it cheaper not going with DCL. As all I have to compare it to will be that eons ago Carnival, it's not a fair comparison but for us it feels like the right line to start with, a little less "unknown" if you know what I mean.

Your plans look great! I doubt Jeff will get bored. There's always something going on on the ship. Maybe a galley tour or wine tasting if they have one?

I'm sure we will find something! Even if it's just reading a book on our verandah!

A local one is White Spot. Started out in Vancouver by Nat Bailey. Famous for their legendary burger platter and milkshakes. The kid's meals come in a pirate ship. There are a couple of locations on West Georgia. West Georgia and Seymour (2nd floor - near the terminal), and West Georgia and Cardero (near Stanely Park). Not super fancy, but good food. Google for the menu.

Ding! The restaurant he is thinking of is Cardero's.

I've seen White Spot but have never been in, I didn't realize it was a burger place. I will keep that in mind as well. Thanks!!!

HEY I MADE IT!!
But I have an excuse I am in the LAX airport !!! Lol! I just know you are going to love the cruise! We had a great time and I know we liked it most because we had family together and family on our own time! The kids got to do their own thing too, which they liked. Can't wait to hear all about your FE fun! Ours was a blast!!!

Welcome Jennifer! Honestly the fact that your DH likes it so much puts my mind at ease as they seem similar in some ways. What are you doing in LAX? DL? Is that now or something else???

I'm not sure the kids quite get the FE, I think they will love it! I am doing pillowcases as well, which they don't know about.

 

[smeecanada]

I'm sure we will find something! Even if it's just reading a book on our verandah!

No, no, no. Head to Deck 4 with your book and read there. Much more fun and interesting than the verandah. Plus, wooden padded deck chairs. One of DH and my favoriate spots.

Ding! The restaurant he is thinking of is Cardero's.

I've seen White Spot but have never been in, I didn't realize it was a burger place. I will keep that in mind as well. Thanks!!!

White Spot is much more than a burger place now. Started out a car hop, much like A&W way back when. Now, it's a wonderful restaurant that still makes great burgers, along with a lot of other offerings. Haven't heard about Cardero's, need to ask my sister about that one.

 

[MAGICFOR2]

You might be surprised by your DH. I was sold within minutes of walking onto the ship. DH by the end of the 4 day cruise. This will be our 7th cruise in 4 years. DH loves it.

Sorry, no suggestions other than the Old Spaghetti Factory in Gastown for dining out in downtown Vancouver. We mainly dine out in the Richmond/Stevenston area as that is where my sister lives.

See, like I said in my TR - they don't eat in Vancouver!

I think Cardero's was the steak place near the water that a local recommended to us.

 

[Poolrat]

I'm in. Hoping to cruise to alaska next summer if I can get the time off work.

 

[brookelizabeth]

I'm here! Loving all the plans - it sounds just amazing. I saw a tilt shift video from the Alaska cruise a while back on the Disney Parks Blog-it was beautiful!

 

[glennbo123]

Subbing!

 

[eandesmom]

No, no, no. Head to Deck 4 with your book and read there. Much more fun and interesting than the verandah. Plus, wooden padded deck chairs. One of DH and my favoriate spots.

Much more interesting than the verandah? Why? (Besides the padded chairs)

White Spot is much more than a burger place now. Started out a car hop, much like A&W way back when. Now, it's a wonderful restaurant that still makes great burgers, along with a lot of other offerings. Haven't heard about Cardero's, need to ask my sister about that one.

Here's the menu, apparently they do the teahouse as well which I have been to. White Spot may well be a better lunch spot! I'll see what Jeff says but I really didn't plan on a big lunch like this, was thinking more casual.

http://www.vancouverdine.com/carderos0menus.aspx?PageName=Lunch

I A&W. We might need to check out White Spot, sounds a little like Steak & Shake, which I adore (not that we have any in Seattle).

See, like I said in my TR - they don't eat in Vancouver!

I think Cardero's was the steak place near the water that a local recommended to us.

LOL Tammie. Looks like Steak and Seafood and more of a dinner place than lunch. This is the lunch menu

http://www.vancouverdine.com/carderos0menus.aspx?PageName=Lunch

After looking at the menu I'm not sure it's what we want for lunch though it does look lovely.

I'm in. Hoping to cruise to alaska next summer if I can get the time off work.

Oh very cool Pat, I didn't know that. Are you looking at DCL or other lines as well?

!

I'm here! Loving all the plans - it sounds just amazing. I saw a tilt shift video from the Alaska cruise a while back on the Disney Parks Blog-it was beautiful!

Tilt Shift?

not a clue what that means!

Brook!

Subbing!

Glenn!

 

[Shanny145]

We are sailing with you!!! Can't wait to read more...great start!

 

[eandesmom]

We are sailing with you!!! Can't wait to read more...great start!

Hey Shanny! Happy to have you along for the ride

 

[mom3sonstt]

Joining in! All caught up right now - but will be behind shortly....have a little thing like a Disney trip starting on WEdnesday. But am looking forward to hearing all about the cruise. We have never gone on one, but I think I would like an Alaska cruise more than I would a tropical one.....

 

[eandesmom]

Joining in! All caught up right now - but will be behind shortly....have a little thing like a Disney trip starting on WEdnesday. But am looking forward to hearing all about the cruise. We have never gone on one, but I think I would like an Alaska cruise more than I would a tropical one.....

Tanya! so happy to have you here

for 5 days!!!!!!!!!! (4 by the time you read this)

oh dear, I see you have a contest question link? I must see what that's all about.

 

[eandesmom]

I am lucky enough to live in the beautiful Pacific Northwest. As a result, I have spent a fair amount of time in BC. From the Victoria parade in High School (which I'm happy to say the HS the E's will go to won their slot in 4 different categories this year...yes I was a band geek) to Vancouver in college (where the drinking age was 19) to adult getaways to Tofino, Nanaimo and Whistler, to family trips in...Whistler.

I adore Whistler, as does my family. I've been there 7 times now, with winter still winning at 4 trips and summer at 3. Interestingly enough I've only been there in the summer with my family and never in the winter with kids. Not sure what that means.

It is a wonderful place year round and we've seriously looked into doing a time share up there and may well do one, one of these days. As some of my cruise mates and other '11 AK cruisers plan side trips to Whistler it seems appropriate to start this TR off with a pre trip trip report to Whistler.
Last weekend I needed to go to Whistler for a work function, an annual conference of some key clients. My company is a sponsor of this organization and the event would mean some trade show type time, some networking social time and also some down time. It is a family focused annual event with many clients, and peers/competitors (aka other sponsors) bringing their families or significant others. I decided to do the same this year and extend the trip by a day to have one full vacation day with my family. We’d hoped it would be all 4 kids but Kendall ended up at a UW soccer camp that was the live on campus all week full meal college recruiting deal. We didn’t want her to miss that, it was a great exposure opportunity but…bummed us out. Taylor respectfully declined, not wanting to miss work ($$) which also bummed us out but…having been 18, we get it. It’s about the last thing I’d have been interested in, during the summer before college. As we thought it might be 6, I’d booked a condo, a place we’d stayed at before versus the Fairmont, which is where my event would be. 4 of us would fit in a hotel room, 6 not so much. It was walking distance to the Fairmont, we knew the lay of the land, a perfect fit. My only regret was that we weren’t booking the exact same unit as our last summer trip, simply b/c I couldn’t find the info (I’ve now found it after a weekend long office paperwork purge while Jeff and Eric were at Cub Scout camp). It sounded similar, so good enough and, at the price the 4 nights in the condo matched what 3 would have been at the hotel so…company would cover!

My event was scheduled to go Thursday evening-Saturday evening. I’d originally hoped ot head up on Wednesday and have a full day with the family on Thursday before set up and social events. Instead I had an all day/evening event on Wednesday to attend as well. That meant I’d have to head into the office Thursday morning to unload and reload as the 2 events would require different things, then load up my family and hit the road. Ideally we wanted to be in Whistler by 4. If we were on the road by 10, including a stop for lunch, that was doable. Later than that, not so much.
I got up at 5. I had to pack, finish up work stuff and get to the office. Then I needed to get gas, hit Costco and the vet for pet food. A 10am departure was doable but….not probable. It meant only being at the office until 9 and then really being efficient about the rest of it. A impromptu meeting at work shot that all to you know what and I left the office at about 9:45. Home at 11 we still had to unload costco and pack up the food/drinks and load the car. One more stop after we were loaded and we were on the road at….12;30.

Not what I’d been hoping for but it was what it was. The weather…sucked. Driving north we went through squall after squall and some sucky traffic. We were all hungry but given the time, decided to just power through and get through Vancouver and try to minimize chances of commuting traffic. It took us a solid 2.5 hours to get to Vancouver, 30 of it at the border. Which was far longer than usual given the short lines? Though we sailed through we watched both cars in front of us get inspected. More on the border later.

For any of my cruise mates who are flying into SEA and driving up I highly recommend getting a good map. I’ve done this drive I don’t know how many times and am still amazed at how poorly marked it is. To get to Whistler from Seattle or Downtown Vancouver for that matter, you end up driving on city streets, through the heart of things and it’s very very easy to miss a turn. Add to the fact you have international roaming charges, GPS’s that may or may not work depending on your service (mine doesn’t, turns to a big green screen the minute you cross the border) and it can be a recipe for disaster.

At a minimum it meant I had to put down my book and pay attention so Jeff didn’t get off track!

Before we hit the border it occurred to us that we hadn’t planned on where to eat. Typically we stop at Granville Island but we wanted to get through the city. I’d tried, a bit desperately, to look up things via my phone but given that I didn’t start looking until Bellingham, I ran out of non roaming time sooner rather than later. Though you can see where places are on the google map on an Android phone…it’s so small it’s next to impossible to get your bearings on distance. We’d originally been shooting to find something in West or North Vancouver but quickly gave up and settled on Horseshoe Bay. Which certainly got us well past the city but eating later than we'd planned. For those of you that know me, and my habits, yes, that means I hadn't eaten yet...at all.

I’d found 2 options that looked good for lunchish things. Troller Pub and Troll’s restaurant. After parking (and driving down down down to the actual waterfront) we quickly found that Troller Pub was adult only. Bummer as they seemed to have the better beer selection (aka and IPA that we wanted to try). So…Troll’s it became. It had some mixed reviews online but we were hungry, menu looked good and hey…we could sit outside.

I’ll admit, I didn’t take a picture of our table, or the restaurant, only of our view. Apologies in advance, my photobucket upload setting must have been changed for something and as a result, these are a bit large! It was very hazy and bright and I clearly didn't adjust any of my settings (or try to edit lol) so they are bit overexposed, sorry about that!

Which didn’t suck

I had an OUTSTANDING meal. Jeff and I each had a Granville Lager and I had a fish wrap that was a fascinating mix of whitefish (probably cod), salmon and veggies with cumin, served with chips. It was delicious! We all had fun referring to our fries as “chips” and they were chip like, very different from many of the fries we have at home, with a wonderful potatoeyness (is that a word?) to them. After our meal we strolled, just a bit.

Oh, and there’s our restaurant

Now this place gets high marks

But it was a bit fancier, more of a dinner spot, than what we were looking for.

And with that, we hopped back on the road. By the time we got to the condo, unloaded and I headed to the Fairmont to do my own set up… it was 6:30. There was a reception that was scheduled from 6-9. My hope had been to set up, go back and shower, and then hit the reception. As it was I set up, hit the reception around 7:30 feeling a bit grubbier than I’d have liked but given that it was Whistler most everyone was super causal and headed back to the condo. They'd swum, Jeff had made dinner, fed the kids and they were watching a movie. I walked in to find all the makings of a lovely soft taco and a nice cold beer which was the perfect ending to a long day.

Up next. A trip before a trip continues.
Cheeserolling??????

 

[mom3sonstt]

Tanya! so happy to have you here

for 5 days!!!!!!!!!! (4 by the time you read this)

oh dear, I see you have a contest question link? I must see what that's all about.

The ticker is actually off a little. I made it based on our original arrival date of Saturday, but somewhere along the way we decided that I could fly down early I actually get there the day after tomorrow! The guys are driving down and won't get there until Saturday.....what ever will I do with all that free time

 

[eandesmom]

The ticker is actually off a little. I made it based on our original arrival date of Saturday, but somewhere along the way we decided that I could fly down early I actually get there the day after tomorrow! The guys are driving down and won't get there until Saturday.....what ever will I do with all that free time

Oh how cool is that! Solo time is rather lovely, I forget, have you done it before?