So all good things must come to an end which brings us to disembarkation.
Feb cruise – A few days before disembarkation, we received our paperwork that gave us the options to disembark. Part of that paperwork was a form to complete for Luggage Direct, if you wanted. HAL partners with Luggage Direct from Fort Lauderdale.
I thought it would be nice to try. We could put our two large suitcases in the hall and not have to deal with them until we reached our destination.
The paperwork does say that HAL has no control over whether or not TSA approves your application to use the service. When we got the paperwork back, Chuck’s letter said “Congratulations! Your request to use Luggage Direct has been approved and enclosed are the special tags to complete and place on your luggage. My letter said “We regret to inform you that your application to use Luggage Direct has been denied. Enclosed are your regular luggage tags.” WTH?
Even though the letter said Guest Services could not help us with the rejection, we went down there anyway. I just wanted to know if we would still be able to leave at the same time or would Chuck’s number be called before mine. They said we could leave together. I just needed to claim my luggage at the port baggage claim; his would be automatically forwarded to the airport.
Since we both have TSA precheck, I just could not understand why I got rejected. The only thing I can think of is that the form asked for first and last name, but my passport has my first name, maiden name and last name. If I ever try it again, I will include both on the first name line.
When our disembarkation time came, we found my luggage and took a taxi to the airport. We used the outside airline porters to check my bag. There were several ships in port today, but CLEAR and TSA precheck got us in a shorter security line. We heard a commotion behind us and there was a family of 5 (two adults, 2 small children, and a baby) frantically trying to get to the front of the line before their plane left. Everyone was kind and let them go on. At the security point, the father told the mother – “take the children and go on through, head for the gate – I will handle the luggage”. He was sweating and wrestling the backpacks, baby carrier, and carry-ons. I hoped they made it.
Our flight was mid-afternoon, so we had time for a sandwich before boarding. The flight was uneventful. However, we were delayed on the tarmac upon arriving, so we ended up being late. We got to the baggage claim and all of our bags came off the belt quickly except …. you guessed it … the one we sent by Luggage Direct. Chuck was not happy as he was certain his bag never made it to the plane. The conveyor belt stopped and the light was blinking. People were wandering around the conveyor belt so I knew that all the bags hadn’t been off-loaded but we didn’t know what the problem was. Suddenly we heard gears grinding and the belt started again. Chuck’s bag was the second one to come out. Whew!
We hurried out to the regional transportation area which keeps moving locations because of all the airport construction going on. You just have to follow the signs and hope for the best. Just as we arrived at the area, our shuttle pulled up. Thank goodness we didn’t miss it.
Lots of traffic back to our destination but I dozed. I could feel myself coming down with the cold that Chuck had picked up a couple of days ago, so I was happy I was not the one fighting the traffic. It was dark by the time we arrived home, and Pumpkin yowled at us on and off all night. I was glad I did not have to go to work the next day (or the day after).
April cruise – The last time we flew out of Vancouver, we had to take a red-eye flight very late that evening. The day did not go well. Red-eye flights were all that was offered this time too. I vowed to do something different.
This time, I signed us up for the HAL bus transfer to the Seattle airport. We received our special luggage tags, and our group was the second one called. We found our luggage with no problem. However, there was nobody who could tell us where the line for the transfer bus was. We got – “Just wait – Mary will be here.” Really? All the workers who were standing around and only one person knows what is supposed to happen? Finally, Mary showed up and directed everyone to the correct line. You definitely wanted to be in the correct line because there were lots of buses going in different directions.
We had to stand in line for a long time before finally getting on the bus. Chuck’s back was killing him from all the standing. It was a relief finally to sit down. The bus was very comfortable. We had a short tour of Vancouver before we got to the highway.
We had to stop at the border and go through Customs. It was also a bathroom stop. I should have purchased some snacks as my Lido breakfast had already worn off.
According to the instructions, our driver would only drop-off at the airport. I didn’t have a problem with that because I booked us the Hilton airport hotel right across the street. However, the driver offered to take those of us who were going to airport hotels directly to each hotel once he dropped off the people needing to go straight to the airport. Okay, worked for us. And, more tips for him.
However, there were 3 women who were frantically trying to get him to drive them to the Seattle port because they were going to embark on another cruise that day. He said he could not do that as it was too far from the airport. They were going to have to get off at the airport and find transportation to the port.
What were they thinking? If I had wanted to do a cruise on the same day as disembarkation at a different port, I would have arranged for private transportation. I wonder if they made it because we didn’t get to the airport until 2:00 and they had to be onboard by 3:00. Dumb.
I don’t know how the driver planned the route to each hotel but even though our hotel was right across the street, we were the second to the last drop-off. Our room was ready and it was very nice. We ordered sandwiches from Subway for dinner and had an early night.
We had a very early flight the next morning, so we were on the very first hotel shuttle to the airport. So early, that the outside baggage check was not open. Uh oh. I am embarrassed to say that I have never used the self-service baggage check-in. I tried and couldn’t get it to read our boarding passes on my phone.
We asked for help from the only person who looked official and he said we’d have to go try customer service. I just went back to the kiosks and played the old lady card – got a 30-something year old to show me that I had to brighten my phone to max so the scanner could read it. Got the tags and took our bags to the check-in.
We looked for the CLEAR-TSA precheck line and a nice young man with a CLEAR jacket said to follow him. We walked and walked and took an escalator down and went through the security line. I thought we would be close to our gate. Nope. We had to take another escalator up and walk and walk down another passage way. By the time we got to our gate, I realized that a plain TSA-precheck line was just across from it. Damn. At least we got our steps in.
The plane was already there and the boarding went smoothly. Chuck slept most of the way home. I watched some TV. We got to our destination early, the baggage off-loaded quickly, so we got to our pick-up place early (which had moved locations again). Since we were so early, I had hoped we could get on an earlier shuttle than the one I had booked, but the driver only had one open seat. Bummer. I went back into the airport and bought us a sandwich and drinks to have as we waited for our scheduled ride.
Our shuttle arrived on time and the trip went smoothly. Pumpkin, as always, yowled at us at the top of his lungs and then ran outside. Even though it was getting dark, I was still on West Coast time and wasn’t sleepy. Ended up finally falling asleep on the couch at some point. Not sure what time it was when I roused up and went to bed. Took me a few days to get back on Eastern time.
Final Thoughts –
Despite some bumps in the road, we made good friends, had a lot of laughs, saw some great sites, and ate very good food. I would do both trips again. But, if we ever repeat the Panama Canal trip, I think I would only go as far as San Diego. The change in weather from San Diego to Vancouver was not great and the sea days were rough.
For now, it’s home sweet home. Thank you for following along.
“Not all those who wander are lost.” – J.R.R. Tolkien
