October 22, 2024 disembark in Vancouver

    The ship docked in Vancouver just before 7 a.m. Alex, the cruise and travel director, announced shortly after 7:30 a.m. that Koningsdam was cleared to disembark passengers. The first group to leave were those taking their luggage with them and not needing any assistance. We were allocated between 8:25 a.m. and 9:30 a.m. (Black 3). Others not having the four or five star Mariner were assigned time after 8:30 a.m. at ten minute intervals. This procedure allowed the 4,000+ pieces of passenger luggage to be off loaded from the ship into the terminal and put into groups of 200 or so. You just needed to find you numbered coloured coded section.

   It was raining when we looked out the window and continued for most of the morning. The temperature was 9°C but there was very little wind.

    We went to the dining room for breakfast after 8:00 a.m. and sat with two women from Vancouver. We were not in any hurry and had until 9:30 a.m. to leave the ship. We had cleared everything from the stateroom and took our backpacks and jackets with us to breakfast then walked off the ship when we finished. The Customs form was completed last night. Once we collection our suitcases, we walked through Customs and handed the form to the officer and continued out of the terminal. We made a brief stop to get Cat’s apartment key. Then walked the two kilometres in the light rain to her apartment.

   After checking email, choosing photos and posting to the blog, we went out for lunch into drying streets. After a few blocks we found Elysian Café. With the afternoon unscheduled we decided to walk to a dance accessories store on the other side of the Granville Bridge in South Granville on West Broadway. Claire bought a pair of ballroom dance shoes. As we recrossed the Granville Bridge we could see a park, with colourful trees, near a marina  The round trip walk was just over six kilometres.

    When Cat got home from work we chose to go to dinner at Gurkha Himalayan Kitchen which specializes in Nepalese food. The food was delicious, you could order the degree of spiciness and it was reasonably priced.

    Once back at the apartment we played some games of Five Crowns then called it a night.

Steps 16,086

we were allocated Black 3
a park, with colourful trees, near a marina
water taxis a constant on False Creek


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