Day 14 Back in Vancouver

After disembarking the ship following our final buffet breakfast, we reunited with our fellow tour travellers for a bus tour of Vancouver. Although we had bumped into various group members throughout the cruise, it was wonderful to have everyone together again for one last excursion. The tour took us through the vibrant streets of Chinatown, historic Gastown, and into the lush expanse of Stanley Park, wrapping up with spectacular views from the Lions Gate Bridge lookout.
Eighteen of us had booked a few additional days to explore Vancouver, while the rest of the group were heading straight to the airport for their flights home. Unfortunately, our journey to the hotel took an unexpected turn. En route, our coach clipped a car, and moments later, a van struck our coach, nearly knocking the wing mirror clean off. Our poor driver certainly had a rough afternoon dealing with the chaos.
Once we finally arrived and bid the departing travellers farewell, we checked into our hotel—the Sheraton Wall Centre. It is a fabulous hotel, especially compared to where we stayed during our previous stop in Vancouver!
After unpacking, we went for a wander and stopped at a Tim Hortons for a quick coffee and lunch. However, as we sat by the window watching the world go by, the mood shifted. We were deeply saddened to realise just how severe the homelessness crisis is in this area. We watched a young woman searching through the bins, while others nearby stood doubled over, clearly under the influence of drugs. It was a heartbreaking sight—such a tragic state of affairs in this day and age.

That evening, we found a lovely little Italian restaurant just around the corner from the hotel called Pacifico Pizzeria & Ristorante. We all opted for pizza, which felt like a wonderfully simple, welcome change after a solid week of heavy fine dining on the ship! To top off the evening, Jo ordered the Tartufo for dessert, a caramel gelato encased in a hard chocolate dome shell—Jo happily declared it the absolute best dessert of the entire holiday!Read more