Today’s the day — we’re boarding the new Star Princess for a 23‑day cruise from Vancouver to Fort Lauderdale. Even better, we’re travelling with friends. It’s always nicer to sail with people you know.
I’ll blog whenever the ship’s Wi‑Fi cooperates. Satellite internet has come a long way now that most ships run on Starlink, though the speed still depends on how many people are trying to upload their vacation photos at the same time.
One thing I won’t miss is the news. Back home, cities and municipalities across the province are deep into election season. I can’t vote this time in the city election — we’re leaving before absentee ballots are even ready. That’s a first for me; I always vote. We’ll be back in time for the provincial election, though. I’ll catch up on the candidates then. I don’t yet know who I’m voting for, but I definitely know who I’m not voting for.
For now, it’s time to call an Uber to go to Canada Place. There’s something special about starting a trip from your own home city — a little calmer, a little easier, and a lot more fun.
Every so often, you step aboard a ship and immediately sense that it isn’t built for ordinary travel. That was my experience this week when I had the opportunity to tour an HX Expeditions vessel — a ship designed not for mainstream cruising, but for people who feel most alive when the world is at its rawest and most untouched.
HX Expeditions has been sailing for 130 years, and that legacy shows. These are not floating resorts. They are purpose‑built expedition ships created to bring travellers into the planet’s wildest, most awe‑inspiring places — the kind of destinations most cruise lines simply sail past without stopping. HX doesn’t “view from a distance.” They land. They explore. They immerse.
Where Nature Sets the Itinerary
One of the first things you learn about expedition cruising is that nature is in charge. HX itineraries adapt in real time — shifting with sea ice, weather, wildlife sightings, and the ever‑changing conditions of remote environments. There’s no rigid schedule carved in stone. Instead, there’s a promise: you will go where the moment offers the greatest opportunity for discovery.
It’s a refreshing philosophy. Instead of forcing nature to fit a timetable, HX follows nature’s lead.
A Cruise for the Curious
These journeys attract a very specific demographic — people who love science, wildlife, geology, photography, and the quiet thrill of being somewhere few humans have ever stood. Guests aren’t looking for casinos or Broadway shows. They’re looking for knowledge, wonder, and the kind of beauty that doesn’t need embellishment.
On board, you’ll find experts in marine biology, glaciology, ornithology, and climate science. Lectures aren’t entertainment; they’re part of the adventure. Every landing, every zodiac ride, every wildlife encounter becomes richer because you understand what you’re seeing.
Going Where Mainstream Ships Don’t
Most cruise lines pass by Antarctica or the Arctic from a safe distance, offering scenic cruising and photo opportunities from the deck. HX does something entirely different.
They go ashore.
Their fleet of sturdy zodiacs can land on remote beaches, giving guests the chance to step onto the ice, walk among penguins, or stand at the foot of a glacier. For those who want even more immersion, HX offers kayaking in polar waters — and yes, even camping overnight on the Antarctic continent. Imagine waking up to absolute silence, broken only by the crack of distant ice.
It’s not just travel. It’s participation.
A Ship Built for Purpose
Walking through the vessel, I noticed how every space serves the mission. Observation lounges with wide windows. Mudrooms for gearing up before landings. Science centers. Equipment designed for safety in extreme conditions. It’s a ship that invites you to learn, to explore, and to feel part of something larger than yourself.
This isn’t a cruise you take to escape life. It’s a cruise you take to understand the world more deeply.
Why HX Stands Apart
After touring the ship, it’s clear why HX Expeditions has earned such a devoted following. They offer something rare: authentic exploration. Not curated, not staged — real, unpredictable, exhilarating discovery.
For travellers who want to go beyond the postcard and into the heart of the planet’s most remote places, HX delivers an experience that stays with you long after you return home.
One area that no other expedition ship has is the Science Center. Packed with state-of-the-art technology and equipment, the Science Center is at the heart of the onboard experience. This is where guests and staff/crew meet, mingle and create a deeper understanding of the areas you explore. You’ll have advanced microscopes to analyse rock, fossil and biological samples you would have collected earlier in the field. The flexible venue features lecture spaces, a small library, and speciality areas for workshops in photography, biology, and more.
Boot storage
Boot cleaner which is necessary not to take anything onto the continent
Outer wear for everyone
Different types of Kayaks
Tent for a sleep out in Antarctica
Typical Ocean View Stateroom
The staterooms are larger than most. The balcony cabin is the same floorplan as this and the balcony is large! I took pictures of the suites. They were gorgeous. The aft suites have hot pools on the decks! I can't post all the pictures.
HX is 130 years old and here is the original cabin:
There are 3 restaurants onboard. All were very nice. We had a lovely lunch in the dining room.
An aft infinity pool and two hot tubs at the aft
It's impossible to capture the entire ship. It's so unique. Here is a a video ship tour:
At 33, Eleanor Roosevelt opened her husband's suitcase and found something that would change her marriage — and, eventually, the entire course of her life.
Inside was a bundle of love letters from Lucy Mercer, Eleanor's own social secretary — a woman she had trusted and welcomed into her home. The discovery devastated her.
Eleanor offered Franklin a divorce. But it was more complicated than the feelings of two people. Franklin's family strongly opposed it, warning that a divorce would destroy his political future. So they stayed married. Their relationship, though, was never quite the same. And for Eleanor, something inside had shifted.
Until then, she had spent much of her life trying to be whoever she thought others wanted her to be. Born in 1884, she lost both parents while still a child. Her father, whom she adored, struggled with alcoholism and died when she was young; her mother had often been critical of her looks, even nicknaming her "Granny." Orphaned before she was ten and raised by a stern grandmother in a home short on warmth, Eleanor had grown up believing love was something she had to earn. She hoped marriage would finally give her the security she'd always wanted, and she poured herself into being a devoted wife, mother, and political partner.
Then she found the letters. And slowly, she began to understand something that would reshape everything: she could not build her whole identity around being loved by someone else.
A few years later, another crisis struck. Franklin was diagnosed with polio and lost the ability to walk unaided. Many assumed his political career was over. Eleanor didn't. She began going out on his behalf — attending meetings he couldn't reach, meeting voters, gathering information from communities he couldn't visit. And in doing so, she discovered something she hadn't fully known: she could stand on her own.
When Franklin became president in 1933, Eleanor transformed what it meant to be First Lady. She didn't just host dinners and cut ribbons. She traveled constantly, visiting factories, coal mines, hospitals, migrant camps, and poor communities, because she wanted to see for herself how ordinary Americans were really living. She held press conferences open only to female reporters, forcing newsrooms to keep women on staff at a time when they were routinely shut out.
Then came one of her most famous stands. In 1939, the great singer Marian Anderson was refused permission to perform at Constitution Hall in Washington because she was Black. Eleanor resigned from the organization that owned the hall in protest — and helped arrange for Anderson to sing instead at the Lincoln Memorial. On Easter Sunday, Marian Anderson stood on those steps and sang to a crowd of some 75,000 people, with millions more listening on the radio. A private act of conscience had become a national moment.
Eleanor faced criticism, threats, and relentless political attacks. She kept going.
When Franklin died in 1945, many assumed her public life would end with his. Instead, she stepped into one of its most important chapters. President Harry Truman appointed her a U.S. delegate to the brand-new United Nations, where she chaired the Human Rights Commission and steered the painstaking negotiations behind the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. On December 10, 1948, the UN adopted it — a document affirming the dignity and rights of every human being on earth, shaped in no small part by the woman who had once struggled to believe she was enough.
Her life was not defined by the betrayal she found in a suitcase, nor by losing her parents, nor by her own deep insecurities. Those things shaped her. But they did not decide who she became. Eleanor Roosevelt didn't get the life she first imagined — so she built a different one, and used her pain, her independence, and her voice to make the world larger for millions of people.
Just before noon on December 30, 2024, a man disguised as a delivery driver entered a downtown luxury retailer and approached staff. He demanded they fill a box with luxury handbags, threatening to shoot them if they refused. When staff declined and contacted security, the suspect fled the store.
Ejiofor Louis, a loss prevention officer, responded to the call and followed the suspect outside. He was quickly joined by fellow loss prevention officer Aaron Wong, who was on the phone with 911 providing real-time updates.
When the suspect entered a truck parked in a nearby alley, Louis and Wong intervened to prevent him from leaving. During the struggle to remove him from the vehicle, the suspect repeatedly reached for a shotgun on the passenger seat, threatening to kill them.
Police arrived to find the suspect on the ground and in handcuffs, with two seized weapons nearby. A subsequent search of the truck revealed improvised explosive devices, as well as a fully loaded shotgun.
For their courage and decisive actions, placing themselves in harm’s way to prevent serious injury or loss of life, Mr. Ejiofor Louis and Mr. Aaron Wong were awarded the Vancouver Police Board’s highest award for civilian bravery, the Award of Merit.
Every now and again there is a long obituary. I am always interested in what this person did in their life. This is one is so interesting, it got me interested with "family-style dinner with lots of gravy"!
Arthur Edward ‘Art’ BatesJune 5, 1921 – October 19, 2014
We’ll celebrate Art’s life on Sunday, November 2, 2014 at an old-fashioned family-style dinner (with lots of gravy) from 6 to 9 pm at the Royal Canadian Legion Crescent Branch 240, 2643 128 Street, Surrey, BC V4A 3W6. Please advise if you plan to attend by emailing info@margobates.com by noon on Oct 29.
Arthur Edward Bates was born on June 5, 1921 in Ogema, Saskatchewan, Canada. Parents: Arthur and Ada Myrtle Bates. Moved to Hazelton, BC in 1937. Moved to Telkwa, BC in 1939. Served as an AB (Able Bodied) Seaman with the Royal Canadian Navy during WWII. Moved back to Telkwa after the War. Moved to Terrace, BC in 1960. Moved to White Rock, BC in 1971. Moved to Surrey, BC. First, the Peninsula Retirement Residence in 2007, and then to Westminster House in 2012.
Brother to Robert, George, Beryl, Richard, Gordon and Gerald. Husband to Frankie. Son-in-Law to William & Annie Noonan. Brother-in-Law to Doe, Bette, Art, Edie, Debbie and Jewel, Molly & Stan, Frank & Lou. Uncle to Bob Jr. (Judy) & Leanna (Bev), Joanne (Ray), Lynne (Larry), George Jr. (Janeen) & Jay (Shelley), Susan & Sandra (Brian), Steve (Carol) & Wendy (Leonard), Vera (Peter) & Art (Pauline), Bill (Pauline|Judy), Liz (Dave), Ann, Jeanne (Bud) & Judy (Rick). Father to Margo. Father-in-law to Russ. Grandfather to Rachael (Tommaso) & Joel (Emma), Honorary Grandfather to Tyson, Corina (Davan) & Ana (Karim) and Inaara. Great Grandfather to Damian, Anna & Miss Maggie.
Art was: A sign painter. Oil painter. Watercolourist. Inventor. TV weatherman. Politician. Ski jumper. Skier. Draughtsman. Personnel manager. Radio announcer. Sailor. Marksman. His father was a Northwest Mounted Policeman and an RCMP. General & Drill instructor in Royal Canadian Navy. Parade Float designer. Jersey cow herder. Made leather crafts. Prospector. Bus driver. Carpenter. House designer. Writer. Drummer. Trumpet player. Ukulele player in the key of ‘F’. Member of 1930’s Dance Band, The Rhythm Rollers. Graduate of H. Faulkner Smith Academy of Fine Art in Vancouver. Car salesman. Private pilot. Air show organizer. Fireman. Fire chief. Town councillor. Lay minister for the United Church. Restaurant owner. Hiker. Senior citizen. Dog owner. Stockbroker. Hospital patient. Housing development project superintendent. Newsletter editor. Newspaper columnist. Advertising Salesman. Sales Manager. Commercial artist. Railroad rider in the dirty thirties. Dairy farmer. Hawaiian tour guide. Game show host. Owner of the world’s only Banana Belt. Limerick writer. Lived in Victoria. Lived in Vancouver. Pipe smoker. Amethyst Miner. Molybdenum Miner. Forester. Short order cook. Timber Cruiser. Square Dancer (not his best feat). Nonagenarian. Loved to eat. Once weighed 137 pounds. Poet. Read the complete Oxford Dictionary. Charter President of Telkwa Kinsmen. Charter President of Terrace Kiwanis. Founding member of the Lower Mainland Yacht Co-op. Designed and helped to build Cenotaph at Terrace City Hall. Walked forty miles from Kitimat to Terrace in a walk-a-thon. Had a cabin at Lakelse Lake. Fell in a cesspool while at the cabin. Was chased by a grizzly. Killed a bear. Was chased by a wolverine. Knocked himself out when a wolf spider jumped on his chest. Allergic to horses. Allergic to cats. Owned a second-hand antique store. Received personal Christmas cards from Prime Minister Pierre Elliott Trudeau. Married to Frankie for 66 years. Hospitalized for two years due to lung condition during WWII. Mountain climber. Dreamed of opening the Seven Sisters Trail system. Learned the computer when he was 72. Owned a Honda named Fenry. A natural-born cusser. Invented a logging game called ‘Timber.’ Designed his team’s winning sandcastle, ‘Paul Bunyan & his ox Babe.’ Was right handed. Wrote like a doctor. Best hand-lettering sign painter in the family. Read the adventures of Tom Sawyer, and the adventures of Huckleberry Finn on his KOBO Reader. Loved Cheese Whiz. Had all his own teeth. Named his walker ‘Johnny.’ Invented Tru-Kut Saw Guide. Designed and produced a gold pan kit. Designed and produced commemorative Last Spike for Engine 374. In the late 1950s, invented, and in the late 1960s, patented, Action Roll System for rolling and laying forestry fire hose. The ‘hose roller’ is still in use today by forest services around North America. Saved the White Rock Pier in the 1970s. Honoured by the City of White Rock and BC Government for saving the White Rock Pier in 2013. At age 90 he worked on a patent application for a new invention.
Art died peacefully on Sunday, October 19, 2014 at Westminster House after a life well-lived. His daughter, son-in-law, nephew and niece were with him.
Thanks and love from our family to the caring staff at Westminster House for their support, kindness and friendship, and to our family doctor, Dr. David Anderson. His best medicine was laughing at Dad’s jokes. If you want to honour Art, his wishes were that you hug a loved one, say hello to someone new, or make a donation to your favourite charity. (Allergies run in the family … no floral tributes, please.)
For seventeen years, I’ve had the joy of helping people book cruises. I started with Expedia Cruises, learning the ropes one sailing at a time, and eventually moved to Maritime Travel, where I could offer full‑service planning. I’ve always loved it — not just the bookings, but the people. Many of my clients stay in touch on Facebook and Instagram, and I get to follow along as they share their sunsets, glacier photos, and celebratory cocktails. It’s a lovely way to see the world through their eyes.
Last spring, I got a call from someone retiring early. “I want to go to Alaska on the Star Princess. Book the cheapest inside cabin — but make sure I get the premium beverage package.”
I knew this couple enjoyed fine wine and good scotch, so that request made perfect sense. Easy enough. Done.
Two weeks later, an email arrived: two more couples wanted to join them. One wanted the cheapest inside cabin, and the other preferred a balcony. All three couples wanted the premium alcohol package. They were longtime colleagues, close friends, and — as I would soon learn — enthusiastic partiers.
The second couple asked about bidding for an upgrade from the cheapest inside to a balcony. I told her, “Put in the lowest bid plus four dollars and hope for the best.” She laughed and said she’d try it.
Then came the surprise: they added me to their group WhatsApp chat.
Their group name? Cruisin’ Retired Bitches.
They all worked together, all heading into retirement together, and all absolutely thrilled about this trip. They have t-shirts for the cruise!
For the last three months, I’ve been part of their chatter — the jokes, the planning, the excitement, the countdowns, and the daily “What are you packing?” debates. It’s been delightful watching their energy build as the cruise gets closer.
And yesterday, the best news arrived:
The couple who booked the inside guarantee had their upgrade bid accepted. Not just any balcony — a deluxe mid‑ship balcony on the bump‑out, which means a huge private space with an incredible view. They were over the moon. The upgrade price was a total of $1,130.00 much cheaper than booking a balcony at the time they did but she took a chance and it worked for her. Then she showed a copy of her bottle return. She almost had enough bottles to pay for the upgrade. The post said "we party a lot"! I'm sure they will make good use of the Premium Alcohol Package!
That's one huge bottle refund!
I saw this online and thought they would love "Bar" bingo. I gave it to them with their tickets
Moments like this remind me why I love what I do. Cruises aren’t just itineraries and cabin categories. They’re celebrations, friendships, new chapters, and shared joy. And sometimes, if you’re lucky, you get invited along for the ride — even if it’s only through a WhatsApp group full of retired cruisers who know how to have fun.
