Crystal Serenity – LA to Vancouver – Day 11 – Monday, June 19, 2017 (Vancouver to Home)

Ok, so how can you go on a 10-day cruise and be blogging about day 11.  And we never crossed the international date line.  Very tricky, but it is day 11.

Well it is a very sad day.  We did talk about just getting off and getting on the Disney Wonder that arrived in port this morning.  But alas, we don’t have a ticket and the whole stowaway thing seems a bit too complicated.  So, we got up, went to the Lido for breakfast and then hung out until it was time to leave.  Our plane was leaving at 1pm, so we decided to disembark at 8:40 with the plan to be picked up for the airport at 9am.  It all was amazingly smooth.  We went down early and hung out in the Galaxy waiting for our turn.  They called us (Brown 6) and we disembarked for the last time.  Sigh.

Our luggage was downstairs and we grabbed them and went to get to the transportation pickup area.  It wasn’t quite as nuts as it was yesterday, but still kind of crazy with an awful lot of people trying to leave the port at the same time (there were also two other ships disembarking – the Disney Wonder and a Norwegian ship).  The process worked, but it was slow.  They clearly don’t have sufficient room for lots of cars and stuff, so you have to report to a port agent, who calls the car company to let them come down and pick you up.  After we gave them the name of the company and waited about 30 minutes for it to show up.  You definitely need to plan for a delay from the time you get down off the ship to getting on your transportation vehicle in Vancouver.

It turns out that Julie had arranged a stretch limo for our transportation to the airport (it is our anniversary cruise after all).  WOW.  She even kept it a secret from Bob which is maybe even more amazing.  It was so big inside, that it reminded Bob of the party bus (but let’s not bring THAT up).  

The ride was uneventful and we got to the airport in plenty of time.  Going through customs, Bob had to answer the questions YES that we were bringing in some food, seeds, or whatever.  We had the seeds from Butchart Gardens.  They were sealed in a small sack with a stamp certifying saying that they were ok.  We showed them to the customs agent and she checked us through.  So, here we are back in the US having cleared customs, but still physically in Canada.  It must have something to do with being the 11^th day on a 10-day cruise.

We are posting this final day from the Vancouver airport assuming the trip home is uneventful.  It anything interesting happens, we will update it.

It’s been an amazing cruise.  Crystal is absolutely the best.  We can’t wait for our next cruise.