Many of you are considering a Alaska cruise. Most cruises leave from Canada Place.

One of the questions I get often where is the best place to stay prior to my cruise. I have often...

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Phil,

A $500 credit ? Wow ? Or do the rooms usually run very, very high ?

For that amount you should get a huge room with jacczi or something...
hot and cold running maids ?

It would be worth it just to see how you are treated this time.

I would like to report back after having just taken the Pan Pacific up on their offer to stay with them again this past Saturday April 8th.

I called the Executive Assistant Lori as was requested by the Pan in the letter they sent me about 1 week prior to make this reservation. This in itself concerned me because this would mean my reservation would be "flagged" and I had no doubt that my room would be perfect within a inch of it's life. I had thought of changing my room upon check-in just to throw a wrench into the works. I did not do this when I checked in.

I asked exactly what my $500.00 voucher included, I was told just the room. I was a little unhappy with this because this past week they are offering rooms for $225.00 with a $25 voucher for food. I was told the $500.00 was for the "rack rate". This would mean we would not be offered dinner like the last time to see if things had in fact changed in the Pacifica Restaurant. I choose to not make dinner plans in the Pan Pacific. As their website says this "Café Pacifica changes into an authentic Italian bistro on Friday and Saturday nights, featuring an Italian Opera Buffet." At $45.00 per person, I was not going to chance another bad meal.

We arrived at about 4:30 PM to check-in and check-in was very short. This time we were offered a free pass to their fitness centre, something we were not the first time. I was also asked to make dinner reservations and told them we were not sure at this point.

We went up to the room and were surprised to find our room was about 1/3 the size of our last room. Not exactly sure why the difference but their was. Our understanding it was to be the same type of room just higher up. It was nice to be on the 19th floor looking over Stanley Park and the inner Harbour. This room offered something different in the bathroom. The bathroom had a tub/shower with a window on the overlooking Stanley Park from the top edge of the tub to the ceiling. While they did offer a blind to pull down there was no point as who the heck was going to see you from Stanley park. The room also offered almost floor to ceiling windows on the 2 walls surrounding the king size bed.
There was also a very small box of chocolates on the desk welcoming us back along with a letter to us. This made it very clear to us that this room in fact had been prepared within a inch of it's life.

We left about 7:15 and headed to Gastown to find dinner. We choose our old favourite of the Steamworks Pub. Steamworks had the Hockey game on the TV and we managed to get a table near a TV. We paced our dinner to last till the end of the game. For those of you that enjoy beer Steamworks brews their own brand on site in the basement. One can go downstairs and see the beer brewing.

As we left for dinner we ran onto the maid who was just arriving to turn down our bed, something that was not done during our last visit. We were also left 2 chocolates on the bed as well.

We checked out about 11:00 AM on Sunday and all went quickly. The only complaint I would have was the Valet didn't help load our luggage like the previous time.

Upon reflection I have mixed thoughts on this stay. Was this a true picture of the Pan Pacific and what to expect? I have no idea because of the vast difference in the service we received from one stay to the next. Because of this room being pre set-up for our stay was this normal? While yes we did enjoy our stay this time, I truly hope this is the way the Pan Pacific would treat all it's guests. After all they are rated 5 Stars. We did comment on how our room would have been perfect if we were going on a cruise and able to watch our ship sail under Lions Gate Bridge and into Canada Place. It is knowing which side of Canada Place your ship will dock and if it is docking there at all.

When we left we noticed the first cruise ship of the season docked at Canada Place. Cruise West's Spirit of Endeavour was docked on the east side.

Please note there is still a lot of construction going on around Canada Place. The new bridge is not finished on the Burrard Street entrance and upon asking at the hotel they have no idea when it is slated to open. Also the new convention Centre is 3 months behind on pile driving on the inner harbour. This is a problem for those taking a harbour view room because they start pile driving at 7:00 AM 6 days a week Monday to Saturday.

Any questions?

Phil
Seacruise

Phil,

I think they could have given you the special that included dinner.

Almost nobody pays Rack Rate.

I always look on back of room door ( or wherever ) to see the Rack Rate.

It is usually laughable.

Maybe they were trying to impress you by charging $500.00 for the room.

But I think you would have been more impressed with the special rate and a bottle of bubbly thrown in.

Managers have so much discretion in offering the WOW factor in customer service. So few choose to use it.