Wednesday 14 May, last day of coach tour

An early start again, 5.15, to have bags out at 6. We then headed to breakfast in the same private room as last night's farewell dinner. Back on the coach for 7.30 departure. We were on the coach at 7.25 but were the last to board. Talking to Dale and Randy just before getting on the coach, Dale asked me if I was excited about the cruise. I said that I wasn't as excited as I probably could be as I was going to miss being on the coach tour with her as she was such a great tour director. I said that I had been on a number of tours but she was the best. Jo said the same. So then, Dale has tears in her eyes, Jo has tears in her eyes and so do I when Dale hugs us. Then to top it all, Randy hugs us too! With that, we board the coach. Goodbye Fairmont Empress you grand old lady, and goodbye Victoria, capital of BC. No surprise there had been some rain overnight. I think the city was sad to see us go too. We arrived back at the Ferry terminal in good time for the 9 am ferry. It was amother smooth ride back to Vancouver. The onboard shop had some lovely things and I really wanted a blue and white striped shirt denim jacket but they didn't have it in my size so I consoled myself with getting a patterned pair of 3/4 pants. Back on dry land, and we head towards Canada Place. Took a while, once we were back in the city due to changed traffic conditions, but we got there. Dale introduced us to Jeffrey who is our APT for furriedirector while on the ship. He looks like a younger father Christmas. Not sure exactly what his role is, as the ship had its own team of tour directors, but no doubt I'll find out during the next week on board. Check in is a reasonably efficient process, especially with so many cruisers checking in. there are about 4 cruise ships all in Port right now so it is fairly busy. We get through the initial check in line, then queue again to go through the scanners. Eventually through these 2 lines and then we queue with all the other great unwashed (or aliens as the Americans deem us) to go though Border Control. Getting to the front of the queue to just insert e minutes. Apparently that was good, as others have experienced being in the line for 90 minutes or more. No problems at the counter and I was quickly reserved through however Jo had to give her finger prints on the scanner so I'm not sure why the difference. Anyway, we are now directed onto our ship which is the Zandaam. Having previously been on the Volendaam, I swore I would never go with Holland America again but various APT travel agents I spoke to, prior to booking this trip assured me that the ships are nothing like that any more. I really wasn't 100% convinced and assured those agents that if they had misled me that I had their names and would come back to comment them! Well, I have to eat my words because the ship is 100% nicer than expected. Our cabin 7059 is spacious and actually nicer than the balcony cabins I've recently had on the Princess ships.

We settle into our room and rather than go up top for the sail away we are happy to be in our own balcony and bid fond farewell to Vancouver.

We are on the starboard side of the ship (for the non mariners, that is on the right) and so out view is of the north shore. I didnt realize how spread out the coast line development was.

The weather is fine, the sea is calm and we follow the coast line until we decide to explore the ship and get coffee!

Being so close to the elevator is going to be a big plus even though we are towards the stern (back) of the ship. We have a wander and find the main areas we are likely to head to. We even find the coffee Cafe. Jeffrey had told us all to meet him at 5pm in one of the bars which we all did. Silly me thought that as it was a'Welcome' meeting we would be given a complimentary drink but not so. There were some grumbles from those that don't have the drinks package and even though we have that package, and paid handsomely for it, I thought it was a bit rough too. However Jeffrey then proceeded to go to each table or both and went through the daily itinerary sheet. What a waste of my time as I actually learnt to read in infant school! I still have no idea what his function is as the ship had a first services address, an IT booth and staff wandering all over the ship to assist with any enquiries. When Jo and I had a question about connecting to the internet, Jeffrey wasn't at his desk so a Travelmarvel rep helped us out... I thanked her and told her that she was putting someone else out of a job. She didn't get it, so I didn't bother explaining. We have elected to do the any time dining so head to Deck 4 dining area at 7. Patrice and Ian arrived at around the same time so we sat with them. Setvices was very slow and we initially felt we were being ignored but our orders were eventually taken and did arrive. I had a prawn cocktail entree. I thought I had better eat some red meat (my low iron count means I should eat something like at least 4 red meat meals a week but I don't often achieve that). the strip loin steak was served with fires. I wasn't sure if I could vary what was offered but was pleasantly surprised that I could replace the fried with vegetables. My steak and veg dinner was very nice. No room for dessert.

As we got up from the table to leave, we 4 were discussing whether we were going to the show tonight at 9 pm. Jo was really tired so was going to bed. The show tonight was the ships entertainment group singing songs of the 70s. I said I would be going to tonight's show as the following nights were a magician and a comedian. I said I worksheets be going to them. At that exact moment a fellow stated at the table next to me asked me what tonight's show was so I told him. And with that I realised that I had just told the featured comedian what tonight's show was, and that he had clearly heard me say I wasn't going to the comedian's show! Duh.... Jo headed off to bed and I went to the show which lasted a whole 40 minutes. It was okay but there were no standoffish performers. Back to the cabin and bed. We have ordered breakfast served to our room in the morning so no need to set alarms.