Managed to get up reasonably expeditiously to be greeted by a nice sunny morning in Vancouver.

Then there was a lot of waiting around on board – about two and a half hours! There was a problem delivering luggage to the terminal and an announcement over the PA system told us to await further instructions. The deadline for being called forward was well and truly passed, so we tried to check on what was happening. We then got another announcement – final call for the group we were in. System failure somewhere – nobody had heard any earlier calls. Hmmmm…..

Finally disembarked and took the long walk through the terminal to collect our bags. Then through Customs. I was expecting a grilling, but as we handed in our declaration, he asked what our plans were. We just said we were travelling around and he bade us good day. That was it. We were now in Canada on dry land.

Next thing was to find our hotel. Luckily, it was only about 300 yards away on the Vancouver waterfront. Checked in, but as it was around 10 a.m., our room wasn’t ready. We left our luggage there and found a coffee in a waterfront café. The weather had turned cloudy, but it was reasonably warm.

We then wandered along the waterfront. There’s a really nice vibe to this place.

Found a pub and settled down with a glass of wine and some pizza and nachos. Made a decent fist of it, but couldn’t finish the nachos.

Got a message from the hotel that our room was ready, so off we trooped. Nice large room with a view marred by the Celebrity Millennium in port – it’s been following us around for most of our trip on the Orion.

We only have three nights here, and were both knackered, so didn’t unpack a huge amount. We’re going to have to get used to living out of suitcases from now on.

There are plenty of eateries around here, but we really couldn’t be arsed to go out of the hotel. A table in the hotel restaurant was duly booked and a delicious meal was partaken of (chicken for Jean and halibut for me, accompanied by a nice bottle of Soave). Bloody expensive, though, and we had to wait a long time for it to arrive.

Went to the hotel concierge and booked a bus trip around Vancouver for tomorrow, just to get more of a feel for the place.

We both need a good night’s kip, so went back to our room to settle in for the night.

More to report about Vancouver tomorrow, hopefully.