Terry Baker shares this experience with us -
Eastern Mediterranean Cruise, October 2009
Our cruise was with Oceanic Cruise Lines on the MS Insignia. This ship has 684 guests with 400 crew. This cruise line allows you bring your own liquor onboard and they charge USD$20 corkage at your dining table.
Our trip started on Tuesday, October 20th when we caught the mid-afternoon flight from Nanaimo to Vancouver. For our overnight stay at the Accent Hotel, we had a rate of $89.00 plus tax, the Air Canada rate was not available to retirees, but with our $15.00 coupon, picked up from a brochure on a previous ferry trip, the cost was reduced accordingly.
We checked out of the Accent at 08:00 next morning and got the jitney to YVR, had breakfast at Tim Hortons, then visited the observation area for a few hours, reading, doing crosswords, Suduko and watching the ramp vehicles completely ignoring the painted 'roads' and the 'STOP' sign at a junction. We also took turns walking around until it was time to check-in to Lufthansa for our flight due to depart at 14:25. During my walk around I met up with Clarence Ash, an airline retiree, who worked as a 'Green Coat' at YVR; we spent quite some time chatting. Clarence was the Director at Large in the YVR Pionair organization. 