I'm staying in the Pan Pacific in Vancouver in September before boarding the Volendam to Tokyo. Can anybody tell me what to expect ? Are there any nice sights near the hotel ? Is there a Mc Donalds ? Thank you very much.

Yes there is a McDonald's near the Pan Pacific in the building complex (Waterfront Hotel) across the street. Vancouver is very civilized these day.

The Pan Pacific is in an admirable location - within walking distance of just about everything you might want to see in Vancouver. And - it is adjacent to the Canada Place terminal, if you are lucky you can look out of the window of your Pan Pacific room and into that of your cruise ship cabin !

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Originally posted by Nautical Nigel:
Bernard,

I am so jealous. Not only is the Pan Pacific in the centre of one of the most beautiful cities in the world but you will be able to roll out of bed straight into your cabin. Plus travelling HAL means you should have a great cruise. Enjoy yourself.

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Yes, to those Vancouverites on here, your city is wonderful... I was there for a few days before my Alaska cruise and I was very impressed.

http://www.vancouverview.com/

Bernard - why would you come all the way to Canada and want McDonald's?
Vancouver has great restaurants and wonderful fresh seafood - I love the salmon and dungeness crab. In Toronto we can't get "fresh" seafood - it's all been frozen or packed in ice and a couple of days old. I like the food in Chinatown as it is so different from what we get in TO.

[ 08-03-2002: Message edited by: sympatico ]

[ 08-03-2002: Message edited by: sympatico ]

Clicked on the "vancouver.hm" link and it happened to mention Whistler - very nice town also.

I agree that a McDonald's is not needed in Vancouver. I find that food in general in Canada is very good and Vancouver is no exception.

I imagine that a Zagat Survey would come in handy as in any major city or region but you can also look in travel guides, get recommendations from people, or, most obviously, walk around and go into a place you like!

Sympatico - that was the cam I was looking for too, not sure what's happened to it.

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Originally posted by Vancouver is Beautiful:
Enjoy Vancouver! Try www.portvancouver.com for some great webcams.

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Originally posted by Vancouver is Beautiful:
Enjoy Vancouver! Try www.portvancouver.com for some great webcams.

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Great site - If you have any influence perhaps we could have the CAM at Canada Place reinstated..

They provide endless vistas of beautiful asphalt pavement, chain-link fences, and containers.

Now, for the pavement, chain-link fence, and container enthusiasts out there, this is fine. I have no reason to ask for them to be denied these fine views pavement, chain-link fences, and containers. But why can't we have a cam that will show cruise ships? Surely there are more people interested in cruise ships than pavement, etc... And cruise ships are less common. It's hard to go somewhere where on can't see pavement, etc... Cruise ships aren't a dime a dozen.

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Originally posted by gohaze:
If enough people E-mailed them they might put one in to show Canada Place - they're very publicity conscious.

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Sounds like it's time to start an e-mail campaign .

I can't say that I have much of an image of the Port, the terminal at Canada Place was quite fine, it served its purpose... And everything worked as it should, so I suppose they're in good standing with me...

I don't think much about Port Authorities (except of course ours).

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Originally posted by Cruiseny:

I can't say that I have much of an image of the Port, the terminal at Canada Place was quite fine, it served its purpose... And everything worked as it should, so I suppose they're in good standing with me....

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Canada Place has been extended to accomodate three large ships. It's ironic that when it opened in 1986, it was billed as being able to handle five (vastly smaller) cruise ships.

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Originally posted by empressport:
I found the NY Passenger Ship Terminal very underwhelming. No sense of "occasion" when boarding and lots of drab brown tile circa 1970! To top it off, when we asked the cab driver to take us to the Passenger Ship Terminal, he didn't seem to know where it was, and the Cunard documents didn't give an address.

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LOL, it's pretty horrible, I agree. Certainly Canada Place is better!

Of course you have to realize that there has not been any motivation to do anything to these terminals for many years (since the 1970s when they were refurbished to the current standard), and I doubt that we will see anything changing for a long time.

So long as they serve the purpose, nobody of any importance is going to venture to suggest spending money on it.

This is the same way with our roads, airports, power plants, whatever. Only when they literally don't provide the basic functions does anyone give a bit of thought to replacing them or refurbishing them, and even then they can stay stagnant for decades.