Goodbye Killarney, Hello longer bus ride!

Viking's description of the plan for today:

Day 4 - Toronto

This morning, set out in a kayak to explore the striking beauty of Georgian Bay. Admire your pristine surroundings and learn about the area's history as you paddle across the crystal clear waters. Later, depending on the weather, you will enjoy lunch at the lodge or at a picnic in the beautiful Muskoka Lakes region. Then, continue to Toronto and board your awaiting ship to begin your cruise. (B, L)

Leading up to the trip, we reached out to Viking to ask about this description because at the time, neither of us felt comfortable using a kayak. We were concerned that this meant we'd not only be missing out on an included picnic lunch but also missing out on the transportation if the bus transport left from wherever the kayak trip ended. As silly as it may seem, we weren't even sure with the above description whether the kayak activity came back to the lodge or somehow met up with the bus who had been carting the luggage. Our only land tour experience was a cruise tour with Princess in Alaska where we had an experience riding a glass dome topped train while our luggage traveled to our next lodge via bus or truck/trailer. The Viking customer service rep advised to ask our guide once on the trip about an alternative bus tour for those who didn't or couldn't kayak. 

As it turned out, other than the walking and boat tours we signed up for on day one with the intent to be held on day 2 of our lodge stay, no other formal tours for everyone as a group were offered. Kayaks were available for you to rent from the lodge if you so chose. Those in our group that chose to do so said they enjoyed it. Thanks to Tina taking our proposal to the lodge manager, we were able to reschedule the boat tour for this morning when the weather was better. We fit in a quick breakfast using our last voucher card. Almost everyone in our group chose to go on the boat ride and enjoyed viewing the scenery and wildlife. 

While Dad was on the boat ride, I took the time to wander the lodge grounds and explore. 

I was glad that one of us was on the boat ride because it was only there that group members learned about a change in plans for our departure. Originally, the plan announced to everyone was that the boat ride was an option this morning but everyone regardless of what activity you chose was to be ready to leave the lodge around noon. Dad found me after the boat ride and informed me that we needed to get back to our room and gather our things because we'd be heading out at 10:30AM instead. A few of our kind group members got the lodge employees' help to figure out which rooms the other people were staying in and alert them to the soon approaching new departure time. While we all were frantically repacking and wheeling our suitcases back to the bus, the lodge manager stopped everybody as they passed to collect our room keys and the clear pouch lanyard our vouchers had been in. As soon as we approached her, the lodge's activity director Amanda offered to take our suitcases the rest of the way to the bus. In my haste of packing in the room, I threw the lanyard in the front pocket of my suitcase which was now being led away to the bus. I explained this to the manager and she reluctantly agreed to let me keep the lanyard because she didn't want to have to come to the bus with me to retrieve it. Never had someone actually expect to get the lanyard pouch back. Felt like I got away with bringing home stolen contraband, split side from trying to force out the meal voucher cards and all! I did happily hand over the room key that I'd spent the last few days fighting to close my crossbody bag around the old fashioned real key and keychain.

The new plan to get us from the lodge to the ship was that we would make one bathroom stop and drive straight through while everyone partook of their box lunches chosen on the first day.

Our coach bus:

After the bathroom stop that was thankfully at a large rest stop with facilities that even got us ladies in and out quickly, we all reboarded the bus picking up our chosen boxed lunch as we headed back to our seats. 

I was glad to see that the lodge had chosen to freeze the water bottles before adding them to the boxes. Our guide Tina told us how shocked she was picturing soggy sandwiches when the lodge told her they'd made the lunches last night to be sure they were ready. Then they explained that they meant they assembled everything but the sandwich which was made fresh this morning. Even a couple hours into the drive, the bottles were still physically cold but liquid and served as natural ice packs to keep everything else fresh. I'm sure whomever chose the tuna salad sandwich option appreciated this foresight. 

My chosen box was the turkey sandwich option. The sandwich was on white bread with lettuce and tomato. Tons of turkey slices. Little packets of mustard and mayo were included leaving you to dress the sandwich as you wished. In addition to the cold water bottle, each box had a whole apple, an orange juice drink box, a pack of hummus dip and crackers, a snack sample of cheddar cheese to go with the snack pack of saltines, and a fresh baked cookie. We all got a good chuckle when group members started jokingly lobbying for anyone's "unwanted" cookies like elementary kids bargaining at the lunch table. Not even us big kids were interested in trading for apples or hummus. However, as far as boxed lunches go, this one was one of the top few I've experienced.

After a bus ride totaling about 6 hours (a few took advantage of the working bathroom on the bus as well), we finally reached the port of Toronto and our waiting Viking Octantis around 4:30PM. Several luggage handlers came out to greet the bus refusing our attempt to tip the gentleman who collected our suitcases. At this point, we were long since past our cabin's priority embarkation and access of 11AM but we still asked about whether there was any sort of priority embarkation line for check in. Instead we were directed into the flow with the rest of our group and the crowds still arriving that weren't on the pre-cruise extension. The port employees working to check people in at each step were all kind and friendly. One asked if we were arriving so late because it was a long flight to get here. I explained that we were on the Georgian Bay pre-cruise extension and was glad to finally be off the bus. That prompted a politely toned reprimand on how I shouldn't be bothered by the effort since Ontario is such a big province. 

We started out being directed to a table that checked our identification and boarding passes. She then told us to proceed to the next table in line. As we moved over to that next table, another woman who seemed to be more about keeping the flow of people moving along insisted that we follow her to another table further down the line. We mentioned the previous person's instruction but she insisted that our next stop was the table for adding payment. Since we were planning to use our Mastercard, yes that same one from the hotel and the lodge, Viking's website had not been able to store our onboard account payment source pre-cruise. We both held our breath when this port employee started off saying everything worked fine the first time and then said "whoop, hold on a minute." She stared intently at something on the screen of her card reader for 30 seconds and then pronounced, "No, it's all good!" The woman working on crowd control then quickly ushered us away from the tables to head up the gangway. 

The final joke of our credit card saga came several days into the cruise when I received a call in the cabin from guest services insisting I come down and give them something to cover my onboard account. I explained that we had already given our credit card information at check-in but the guest services crew member would simply reply that they don't have anything on file. When we headed down to guest services to once again try to give them our Mastercard, the crew member couldn't get it to load to the system using their scanners. Unlike the lodge employees, when this crew member asked her colleague for help, she immediately received that assistance with instructions on how to enter the card information manually. Once everything was inputted by hand through the computer's keyboard, it finally saved to our account and stayed saved for the rest of the cruise. 

Once we made it on board this first day, we were immediately directed to sit for a muster drill presentation. Several of us joked with our fellow group members as we gathered for this presentation "long time no see!" While we were all exhausted, I appreciate Viking's technique of forcing you into attending the muster drill upon boarding. It was also nice to sit for the duration inside with air conditioning. Muster drill post COVID winner still goes to Princess who not only picks up the signal of your personal medallion to show you've watched the video on your cabin TV (or registers when watched via your app account on your device), but then only requires you to scan the medallion at your assigned muster station to prove you know where it is located. No sitting and waiting for a presentation or the rest of the cruisers to show up. And then the even better aspect - no fighting an entire ship worth of crowds leaving at the same time dragging life jacket straps all wanting elevators to get back to their cabins to put away said life jackets. 

After our presentation here on Viking, the crew member who had directed us to stop and sit in front of the screen, then tried to urge everyone to go get "lunch" in the World Cafe. We opted instead to head for our cabin to drop off our carry on bags. At this point, it was fast approaching our pre-cruise reserved time for dinner tonight of 6:30PM in The Restaurant. Thankfully our luggage had arrived. We barely put down our carry on bags when our steward stopped by offering to show us all the features of the cabin. Unfortunately, we felt rushed to get changed for dinner and turned down the offer. This resulted in spending a lot of time trying to figure out buttons and switches through trial and error throughout the week. 

Disclaimer: While we did fill out the surveys both left in paper form in our cabin and on the app during the cruise, we along with several members of our pre-cruise extension group did share our frustrations and disappointments about this Georgian Bay itinerary with Viking upon returning home. Viking followed up promptly with personal conversations on a recorded phone line giving us the chance to relay our concerns. We made sure to also include mentions of all the good experiences that followed once onboard the ship and the few outstanding crew members we wanted to give special mention. To make up for the less than stellar pre-cruise time, we accepted Viking's gracious offer of a partial credit voucher for us to use on a future cruise on either the river, ocean, or expedition sailings they offer.

A whole day in Killarney - Day 3

Here is Viking's description for our one full day at the Killarney Mountain Lodge:

Day 3 - Killarney

After breakfast, admire the windswept pines, exposed pink granite bedrock and the clear waters of Georgian Bay as you cruise by boat to Fox Island. Upon arrival, enjoy free time to explore on your own. You may choose to relax on board or set off to explore the shoreline. Alternatively, you can go swimming or kayaking. Later, hike along the rugged Georgian Bay coastline through a mixed forest of pine, red maple, and spruce for sweeping views over the bay at the Killarney Lighthouse. (B, L, D)

Unfortunately, by the time we woke up this morning, it was pouring rain. The rain got heavier as the morning wore on with occasional thunder and lightning leading to the lodge's management to cancel the lighthouse walk and boat ride we had signed up for the day before. Obviously weather is a factor no one can control. 

Dad and I headed into the main restaurant within the same building as the check in desk to redeem our breakfast vouchers. Our guide Tina came in for her breakfast so we invited her to dine with us. I had to sample the eggs benedict of course and we all had a good laugh when Dad's order of some kind of sampler platter came with enough food to feed four people. Service did seem to go a lot smoother when the wait staff only had a couple tables of small groups each. Or perhaps it was that being breakfast time, not many people came to eat at the same time. 

 

I applaud the lodge employees for having guest safety in mind when they defended the option of not trying the walk when the rain eased off in the mid afternoon because it meant having to walk through muddy woods over slippery wet rocks. I also commend the lodge's activity director Amanda for doing what she could to throw together an impromptu trivia game for us. The funny thing is that I ended up winning the trivia simply because I was young enough to be familiar with some of the name that tune themed questions. The unfortunate thing is that there was no easy way to let the guests not currently gathered in the lobby to know that the trivia game was planned. Several of our group chose to do their own thing like work out in the gym or try the walk on their own.

For lunch, several of our group gathered in the main restaurant at a long table to dine together. Dad and I both ordered the soft pretzel appetizer with beer cheese dipping sauce. The pretzels were overcooked and tough. The cheese sauce was good and I kept it to enjoy with my burger and fries.

 

During lunch, Amanda checked in with Tina to suggest offering a painting class since she was going to school for art. They settled on a mid afternoon time and several of our group took them up on the offer. Dad and I wandered into the lodge's game room which housed a uniquely shaped slightly warped pool table, a ping pong table, and a bookcase full of toys/board games. When we tried to start a game of pool, we could only find cues with broken tips. Amanda searched for another cue herself and sent her assistant to try to find one in storage. Coming up empty, she discovered a broken cue with a good tip in the trash and jury rigged the good tip from that one onto one of the cues that was fine except for the broken tip. We played a fairly wobbly game of pool sharing a cue that wouldn't shoot in any direction we intended. We soon gave up and moved on to trying ping pong which did have all the parts once we found a few decent balls mixed in with the toys on the shelves. There must have been some killer ping pong games at the lodge recently because they had a whole crate on the shelf full of smashed in ping pong balls.

I opted to wander the grounds as the rain had eased off. This is the lighthouse shaped portico that sits out in front of the main lobby building.

Sidney arranged for our group to have a wine tasting and food pairing lesson on a screened in side patio off of the main restaurant. That sweet charismatic young lady ran herself ragged having to fetch bottles and walk through the main room to come back out on the other side of the porch when dispensing each serving. The small patio barely fit us and the two tables. While I don't normally go for wine or drink much at all, I did participate in small sips of each wine offered. It led to a lot of silliness as the tasting went on with several group members cracking us up with their reactions to the food and wine options. By the time we were through with the tasting presentation, we realized it was a little past our scheduled group dinner time in the adjacent restaurant. Sidney assured us that the wait staff knew we were coming and would be ready whenever we were. 

While our table was ready and available, it seemed that the chef and the wait staff were not. Besides our table, the restaurant had a table of 6 and a couple small tables of 2-4 people each dining over the course of our meal. Several times, we had to approach a wait staff member to ask that they stop casually chatting with each other or the other tables and come take our orders. It did not seem specific to us however as over time, we watched the table of 6 give up and leave as well as several small tables not getting served. There was some confusion over whether we could order from the regular menu or stick to another pre-determined menu like the night before. Once it was decided that we could order from the main menu but limit ourselves to one of each course, service seemed to pick up with everyone's order taken. Then the service level went down to zero as the wait staff continued to chat amongst themselves. When we asked about our food, they assured us that the kitchen was definitely working on it. "They're really back there cooking, I swear, haha!" Soon some of our starters would trickle out to the table. Others who ordered some of the same choices were left waiting for long stretches of time. 

My first course was the grilled watermelon. I loved the idea of grilled fruit but this really missed the mark. The grilled was more like charred and I couldn't understand the addition of onions and some sort of granola style crumble on top. No one at our table including myself lasted more than a couple bites before pushing it away.

Time continued to tick and our patience grew thin waiting for the main course to be served. Two of our group members who had chosen to eat light with a salad as their entree opted to give up and leave. Finally two hours after our starters were delivered, our entrees arrived. We had reached the point of speaking up to the management and it helped pick things up a bit. 

My lamb tagliatelle was quite tasty with good consistency and flavor:

Another few members of our group opted to forgo dessert when we hit another lag in service. At this point, I think a lot of us were overtired and full of more wine than food because we'd moved on from irritation to cracking jokes over the situation. "Is dessert going to become breakfast?" "Should we put in our breakfast orders now so they'll be ready before we leave tomorrow afternoon?"

We were finally served our chocolate cake slices for dessert shortly before midnight. I'm not normally into eating a lot of chocolate at once so this chocolate cake with chocolate frosting and chocolate shavings was too much for me to finish. Otherwise it was quite tasty. 

We bid our few remaining group members a good night as they vowed to finish the entire slice after waiting so long to get it. During dinner, it was announced to the group that Tina had helped facilitate doing the boat ride before we left the next day. The option of being driven on the paved road for a quick lighthouse visit was proposed. Those of us interested opted out when a fellow group member who'd done it on her own told us that it takes walking on an uncleared muddy stretch just to get to the path and paved road that runs along the path. Exhausted bodies and finally full bellies made for a slow walk as we tried to find our cabin in the pitch dark.

Toronto to Georgian Bay - Day 2 continued

We headed over to the main lodge for dinner and was told that no in fact, your group's dinner was to be held in the other venue known as The Ranch House. During the chaos of signing up, we had each been given a lanyard with a plastic pouch containing voucher cards for our meals at the lodge. We started wandering the grounds trying to find this Ranch House and spotted a sign reading "Viking group this way to fish fry" which angered Dad to think we were stuck having to eat seafood. We stumbled upon a much more helpful lodge employee named Sidney who explained that the fish fry sign was for the other Viking itinerary that visits the lodge as a port excursion visit, not us. She personally led us to the Ranch House and told us not to take what our group host says at face value since he'd only been on the job for 15 days. 

Pro tip: As this was our first Viking Cruises experience, I was not familiar with the use of terms like "Jon Viking" and "JonView." When we asked Killarney Mountain Lodge employees questions it was always "Are you part of the JonView group?" I'd reply, "Well, we're part of the Viking group" and they'd just nod. Wasn't until I saw JonView listed as the header on tonight's dinner menu that I realized that's how our group was booked.

The Ranch House is a venue that I would liken to a steakhouse. Tonight's dinner was to be altogether at a long table. Thanks to Sidney's help, we were the first to arrive. Soon after, the rest of our group found their way and joined our table. Our waiter, who really should have had some assistance for a large group, kept walking around assuring us that a welcome cocktail would be coming soon. When we questioned what was in the cocktail, he had to go ask. When this Raspberry Gin Fizz arrived, our attempts to say no thanks fell on deaf ears so we left it sitting there while we drank water. Those who ordered additional alcoholic drinks and coffees were given a check to sign.

For this dinner, we had a preset menu of limited choices. 

For starters, we both went with the Kale Caesar Salad - kale, bacon crumb, parmesan tuille, and poached egg. This had very little dressing and tasted more like two giant kale chips. Took a lot of coaxing to get Dad to try it since it didn't look like the typical Caesar Salad. Definitely reminded me of a typical "fancy" salad presentation common at steakhouses but I'm not sure this visual of baby kale being made was the intent.

We both chose the Ribeye 12 oz for our entree. The menu says all of their steaks come with mashed potatoes and seasonal vegetables. I ordered my steak medium while Dad ordered medium well. The service level during dinner dropped off to the point that several people were getting next courses while others were left waiting for starters. When the waiter arrived with a ribeye steak, Dad immediately spoke up to claim it. I was left to wait a while longer for my steak to arrive. In the meantime, Dad started eating about half the steak complaining that it wasn't cooked medium well. When mine finally arrived, I realized in the first couple very tough bites what mix up had occurred. Dad was so tired of waiting he didn't give the waiter a chance to finish saying "steak cooked medium." When I pointed it out, Dad offered to swap plates. A 2/3rds eaten medium cooked steak in exchange for a well done steak I gave up trying to eat after 3 bites, umm no thanks. I offered the rest of my steak to him without the trade. He was too full from my steak and busy protesting that the seasonal vegetable turned out to be broccoli to accept the offer. I never did understand why the sauce seemed like they used the leftover beets from the Beet Risotto entree choice.

The sole dessert option for everyone was strawberry shortcake. Dad told the waiter that he can't have strawberries so the waiter said he would go "ask the chef if it was okay to serve something else." He came back with the option to bring Dad the chocolate pavlova that was on the normal restaurant menu. Dad loved it and there was no way a bowl of whipped chocolate placed in front of Dad was lasting long enough to get a picture.

The strawberry shortcake the rest of us had was the one dish of which I enjoyed every bite. The shortcake was presented as cut up cubes that were slightly fried so they had a crisp bite without being crunchy.

We asked our waiter about our meal voucher cards. We asked whether he would be collecting them or should we just leave them on the table. Our waiter had no idea about the vouchers and kept assuring us throughout the meal that he would find out. We never got an answer and opted to leave them sitting at our plates when we finished. No other wait staff seemed to know either during the rest of our meals at this lodge so we kept following the pattern of leaving them behind at our place settings. No one ever asked us to sign a check or give our room number either. I choose to believe that it was more that one of us at the table was most likely wearing the lanyard at any given time and the staff knew not to charge any of us.

Note how our meal voucher lists the Ranch House and the instruction for "Please provide your server with this ticket upon ordering." Something I only noticed after we'd finished this first dinner. I also noted how someone had stacked up these vouchers so they were in everyone's lanyard pouch in order of occurrence. The next ticket in the stack was always going to be the one for the current meal. I say that the lodge should give the person responsible for this aspect a leadership position so they can train the rest of the staff. 

After dinner we headed back to our individual rooms to get some rest. We made a plan to get up early enough for breakfast before our signed up time for the morning lighthouse walk. Before heading to bed, Dad took the time to call our credit card company and verify that our card was fine. The customer service rep looked up the account and gave us the real explanation of what had happened. The inexperienced employee checking us in at the front desk kept adding extra zeroes to the total to charge our card. A $300 hold was inputted as $3,000, then again at $30,000. Then when it didn't work, she continued trying to push the charge through. Our credit card company flagged it as fraud and blocked the charge. We were assured by the company that our card was fine to use for any further purchases in Canada. We confirmed upon returning home after the cruise that the hold dropped off our debit card as expected.

Toronto to Georgian Bay - An Exhausting Effort - Day 2 - Part 1

Viking Cruises description of our first full day and our second official day of the Georgian Bay pre-cruise extension:

Day 2 - Killarney

This morning, take a scenic drive through Toronto, passing iconic landmarks such as the CN Tower, as well as the Entertainment District, Chinatown, Queen's Park, the Ontario Legislative Building and more. Leave the commotion of the city behind as you head to the Killarney Mountain Lodge. Stop for photos at Penetanguishene, the "Gateway to Georgian Bay," and lunch en route. After a welcome reception and check-in, savor a delicious dinner at the lodge's restaurant. (B, L, D)

For reference, if anyone is not familiar with land based scheduled tour companies, the (B, L, D) listed at the bottom of today's description means that breakfast, lunch, and dinner will be provided for you in some shape or fashion. Some days, it might only say B if it's a travel day between places or only say B, D when the day is spent exploring on your own.

This morning, we made a point of getting up early enough to have our bags repacked and ready for inside the room pickup. We also budgeted a good bit of time to partake of breakfast in the hotel's restaurant. Viking provided vouchers to cover this meal. Each voucher covered "Any one choice of a breakfast item" and "Any one choice of drip coffee/tea/Tropicana juice." If you chose to order anything beyond that then it would be charged to your room.

I kept it light fueling up with scrambled eggs and juice while Dad opted for the breakfast platter with an omelette, potatoes, and an english muffin with juice.

We could easily see from our table where Tina and our group were gathering. Once we joined them, we noticed that Tina seemed frustrated and spent time dealing with an issue on the phone. Each time she noticed a new person arrive however, she had them verify that all of their luggage was on the carts waiting to be put on our bus. I took a few minutes during this wait to ask at the check in desk whether we needed to check out of the hotel ourselves. Once it was confirmed that we didn't charge anything to the room, I handed over the card keys to our room. I didn't notice anyone else bothering to do this so I'm not sure if we had to or it was an option on the TV like most hotels these days. Those of us in this pre-cruise group took the time to introduce ourselves and meet everyone. The chance to get to know several fellow cruisers in a smaller setting before everyone gets on the ship to do their own things is one of my favorite parts of doing a land tour before a cruise. Then it becomes like running into an old friend when you spot each other on board. Hello to any of the kind souls we met these first few days if you're reading this! I hope we cross paths again someday on a future cruise.

Once everyone had arrived, Tina explained that our morning plans were delayed because the bus was late. She had been calling the driver and the company to find out what was going on. After an hour or so past when we were scheduled to leave the hotel, our bus showed up. Once we all boarded the bus, Tina learned that fish and chips was also going to be offered as a lunch choice. A few people changed their choices and Tina sent the updated list to the restaurant as our bus driver started driving.

Once that was taken care of, Tina gave us an abbreviated tour of the city of Toronto as our bus delay made us running behind schedule. I was disappointed that there was no ability to stop anywhere and your view/picture taking was limited to where your seat happened to be on the bus. To be fair, the description only refers to a "scenic drive." We did get an overview explanation with some history in addition to a couple extra fun spots that Tina threw in. 

The CN Tower (above) and The Royal York Hotel (below)

Tell me you visited Canada without telling me you visited Canada:

One of the fun stops was a fountain designed to look like the water was spraying out of the sculpted dogs' mouths. Note the golden bone at the top:

And a side trip to view Casa Loma from the street:

After this tour, we doubled back to the Sheraton for a restroom stop. Tina explained her reason for choosing to revert back to the hotel as it was a place she could be sure had nice bathroom facilities. Many of our group felt that we either should have waited for a bathroom break at lunch or done the tour the night before to help us get on the road to the lodge sooner. There did seem to be some wasted time with not only backtracking to use the restrooms but also because we ended up passing everything on the tour a third time on the way to the restaurant. 

Our lunch today was at Pier 21 Restaurant and Bar. The place was fairly small so I was glad to hear that Viking had arranged for this restaurant to open today solely for our group. 

Each table was provided with bread and we were first served small plates of a pre-dressed salad. 

Did you switch to the fish and chips option or is that a breadstick on your plate? Nope, this was the chicken dish I requested. I get the whole feeding a crowd (15 of us including Tina and the bus driver) needing something quick and easy but the hamburger was bigger than this piece of chicken. It did taste good though and the one waitress was great with prompt service. There was coffee and tea set up in self serve pots along with a small assortment of bite size chocolate treats for dessert. 

With full bellies and everyone taking advantage of the restaurant's restrooms, we boarded the bus and took off for the four hour drive to Killarney Mountain Lodge where we were to stay for the rest of our land portion. Along the way, we stopped at a bus depot where we finally learned the reason for the morning delay. Our assigned bus driver who should have been with us from this morning until the ship, had his previous day's shift run longer than expected. Per company rules and for safety, he was required to have a certain number of hours off between shifts. As a result, the company had to scramble and find another driver who still had available drive hours to cover our morning route. This substitute driver had to return us to the bus depot because his limit of hours had now been reached. Our intended driver was now able to take over and we headed back out on the road to the lodge. 

The further we drove north, the area became more and more remote and the only sounds disrupting the reading and sleeping (thankfully not including the driver) was all of our electronic devices beeping and chirping when we drove through the tiniest bit of cell signal. 

When we arrived at the lodge, it was late afternoon/early evening. We were instructed to leave our bags while the bus driver unloaded them from the bus. I later learned that the hotel staff was completely confused at what to do with our bags until Tina pointed out that the names should be matched up to the rooms assigned in the lodge's system. While that was going on, we were all made to line up at the reception desk to check in so we could get room keys and put a credit card on file for a hold. At the time we arrived, there was one employee working the desk and she spent an extended period of time talking to another guest about the amenity and tour options. When Tina asked her to get some help to get our group checked in, the employee told her that she couldn't because they were too short staffed. She then went back to chatting with the other guest. Granted, I've never worked at a hotel but if I saw a large crowd come in that only needed two minutes each to check in, I'd have politely asked the first guest to hold on or come back in a little while so that I could clear out this group that was now creating a bottleneck in the entrance area waiting in line. 

Soon another employee came out from the back and started checking us in. Unfortunately, this employee was unfamiliar with the system and had trouble getting our credit card to work. She tried asking the first employee to help but the employee brushed her off in favor of continuing to talk to the other guest. After multiple tries of incorrect steps, the employee checking us in declared that our credit card was the problem. We pointed out that we had just used the same exact credit card at the Toronto hotel with no issue but she continued to insist that it was a refusal by our credit card company because we were Americans using a credit card in Canada. We asked her to get a manager to help but she stalled instead pushing for another card. Thankfully we had a debit card on hand that she was able to enter only after the first employee finally agreed to help her. When the employee assigned to host our group at the lodge showed up, we explained the issue to him. The employee at the desk quickly defended herself by insisting that there isn't any issue since the second card worked. The group host simply parroted her "but the second card worked!" response. Knowing that the charges were only a hold, we gave up trying to make our point and stepped into the main lodge room. By the time we finished at the desk, the first employee finally started taking people from our group and the line moved quicker.

We all filtered in to the main room as we finished checking in waiting to hear from the lodge's group host what our agenda was going to be. The group host seemed very flustered and confused and spent a lot of time going back and forth checking with other employees about what he should be doing for us. Then when we started asking questions, he encouraged us to keep waiting by promising a welcome cocktail was on the way. Telling a group of tired travelers who have just gone from four hours on a bus to an hour standing in line to just keep waiting was not the best response. Then he tried to make up for this cocktail that never came by fetching a tray of cups with water. Better move however, would have been to know that you have 14 people in your group and not bring over only five cups of water. 

He finally got a couple sign up sheets printed out and explained that we needed to sign up for whether we wanted to do the walking tour to a lighthouse and a separate boat ride tour either in the morning session or the afternoon session the next day. The second sheet was us choosing what flavor sandwich we wanted in our boxed lunch for our final day of traveling from the lodge to the ship. The boxed lunch sheet did have a column to note if you had any food allergies. It was a bit chaotic as he would give an explanation and then get twenty questions from those in our group who had only just finished checking in. I began to wonder if part of his job training was how to evasively answer questions because when we had questions about the tour specifics such as length of walking and how difficult was the hike, he gave the most non committal answers I've heard since my days of working with children. 

Once everyone had signed up on those sheets, he wanted to lead us on a welcome tour of the grounds with a promise that at the end he would show us where we would be having dinner. After about 10-15 minutes of this walking tour, someone in our group spoke up to ask when dinner was scheduled. We had yet to be given any sort of paperwork for our time here that related to a schedule of events. Tina asked both our group host and a manager for it this evening and was assured they would have something written up for us by morning. When the group host answered that dinner was scheduled for 30 minutes from now, several of our group insisted that the welcome tour be abandoned in favor of having time to visit our rooms and freshen up. Our group host seemed taken aback at having his plan altered and referred to the main lodge building's restaurant as our dinner venue before gesturing at where our rooms were. 

We all headed to find our rooms which were decorated in the rustic mountain lodge theme with doors that opened to the outside. This row of rooms were all on the bottom level and required stepping up via a few steps onto a wrap around deck. I walked the grounds during some downtime later and did not see very much in the way of handicap accessibility to these rooms. Our room had two double beds, air conditioning, a mini fridge, a desk, and a dresser. The bathroom was average sized with a single sink and shower stall. There was no TV or phone in the rooms. We were told also that the wi-fi, while included, did not extend beyond the main lodge building. 

To be continued...