Woke up early because of the noise of the ship’s engines and shaft. Grey damp day – what a disappointment! My view of the Inside Passage was not going to match the beautiful photos of it on the web.
I have been on many ro-ro (roll on – roll off) ferries in my life in many part of the world but this ferry was different. It’s the first ro-ro ferry I have been on where you roll off the same end as you rolled on! It only opened at one end and when I drove on I was directed all the way to the back of the ship where I went round the “horseshoe” as the crew called it and so was then facing the correct way to get off again. You can see this in the video and photos.
And since the vessel was calling in to more than one ferry terminal, vehicles were loaded in a set sequence and sent to different decks/levels according to the order in which they would be getting off.
Although I had a four-berth cabin, it was quite small, with only just enough room to stand between the two double bunk beds. There was a porthole, but since I was down on Deck 5, it wasn’t so far above the waterline and the view wasn’t terrific.
I did go on deck for a while to video some of the surroundings, as week as taking some panoramas, but it was cold. Cloudy and often raining.
Frankly, although the Inside Passage was quite spectacular, I was too disappointed in the weather to enjoy it, especially as there had been so much sunshine in the two days beforehand. I was glad when we finally docked.
I stayed at the Pacific Inn in Prince Rupert, which was just a short drive from the ferry terminal. It was also clean, the room was quite large and I could finally lie down on a normal bed and rest.
You can see the stills and video form today here.
