Embarking the Koningsdam

Yesterday was our last day in Vancouver - until we return next week. We stayed at the Fairmont Waterfront which is directly across from Canada Place so you can always get a glimpse of whether your ship has come in!!  

We ate lunch at our favorite - Cactus Club Coal Harbor. 

We're sailing with Angie's parents, her aunt and her aunt's boyfriend. We walked over to the terminal at 10:30. At this terminal you have to head down to the parking garage level to drop off any luggage you want to check. We were carrying all our luggage on but we took four pieces down for our fellow travelers. The whole place is used as a conference center so they convert ballrooms into check-in areas for each cruise line. Yesterday there were four ships: Grand Princess, HAL Volendam, HAL Koningsdam and a small expedition ship named Ocean Victory. So probably about nine thousand people trying to board yesterday. Security and Immigration both had long lines and we were onboard by noon.  We left the hotel at 10:30 am and were onboard at 12:00 pm. 

The cabins were ready once we boarded so we headed straight there and unpacked. We're staying in the same cabin we stayed in May 2022!! It felt like home.

 The balcony is just amazing especially for an Alaskan cruise.

 We had quite a bit of laundry since we hadn't been able to do any since we checked out of the Airbnb in Calgary. I put that together into one of the provided bags. The laundry service is generally very good on HAL, so we should get that back Sunday night. 

We headed to lunch in the buffet. I had a delicious strip loin sandwich on a fresh baguette along with a piece of lasagna. I also tried the Hawaiian poke sushi roll. Angie had a salad. HAL has the best salad bar of any cruise line I have sailed. They have a really tasty asian dressing. After lunch we checked into our muster station. They still have the "E-Muster" process where you find your location, a crew member scans your S&S card and you're done!! Very easy!! We then headed to the Crow's Nest where we met the bartenders Edward and Novie. Crow's Nest is a great feature of the HAL ships and a great spot for scenic cruising. It is a forward facing lounge with floor to ceiling windows that is located on the highest deck.  

After a mandatory rest period, at 6 PM we met our fellow travelers at the Ocean Bar for a pre-dinner cocktail. For dinner I had very tasty Mac and cheese as a starter. It had a very cheesy and flavorful sauce. I also had a bowl of the smoked salmon chowder. It was cold, thin and unmemorable so I didn't finish it. Angie and I both had the rockfish for our mains. It was well grilled fish over a deliciously savory risotto - some of the best risotto I have had. The fish had some good flavor but wasn't served warm. Surprisingly the risotto was served warm and apparently was freshly made. But the fish has been sitting awhile.  

Today is a sea day as we head to our first port of call Juneau Alaska on Monday. We have an evening whale watch excursion.