2019 Camping Season is Upon Us. Time for New Adventures
All life is an experiment. The more experiments you make the better.
~Ralph Waldo Emerson
So with 2019 upon us, the Profil came out of storage and got de-winterized, some post-winter love, and prepped for our new camping season.
Stemwinder Provincial Park. May long weekend. An amazing backdrop of the Similkameen River, our site had a lovely 20 foot drop off that had us worried about Jacob all weekend – lol. We celebrated Maddy’s 6th birthday and promptly took off for our 2019 camping season. A beautiful park east of Princeton, it lacked a few things we would look for in a family campground – a playground or beach, open fields, or safe running areas for the kids. The Similkameen River runs on the south side of the park, and the Crowsnest Highway immediately to the north. While an amazing park, it is definitely suited to adult couples looking for adventure (kayaking, hiking), or those with older kids who can run and adventure without fear of being swept away.
Tip: for those RVing at Stemwinder, there is no suitable water connection here, get your freshwater filled at Manning Provincial Park about 45 minutes to the west or find somewhere with good potable water in Princeton.
We quickly realized one thing, with Jacob now 21 months, he was ready and wanting to rip and roar to his own adventure, and utilize his growing desire for independence. While working, we found him in our feet, climbing up and down, in and out, and generally just impeding us in any way that he could. While not having many kid-friendly amenities, I would still give this campground a solid 8 out of 10 for overall activities, location, views, ease-of-access, and privacy.
Alice Lake Provincial Park – What can I say here, I’ve loved this campground and provincial park since my teen days as a cadet. Many fond memories of adventure expeditions here and it is as amazing as the first time I rolled in as a teen. Alice Lake has serviced campsites, many of them, which makes RVing much more convenient. It is also one of few provincial campgrounds in the coastal region with electrical hookups. A great network of hiking trails, a (summertime) warm lake suitable for swimming, along with a network of mountain biking trails and easy access to area attractions make for a great base for adventure seekers. The Chief, Sea-to-Sky gondola, Whistler, and many more attractions make this campground a cheap alternative to expensive hotels.
Adventure playground with rock climbing feature
This campground has something for all ages! A nice adventure playground, to expansive campsites, the kids were able to run, climb, and play, without constant supervision – yes, even Jacob! We truly felt that there were few to no neighbours around us. The older kids were climbing up the backside of the campsite, with toddlers in tow as well. Electrical hookup meant we could utilize our microwave to heat up the evening milk quickly, and while not needed this time, could have made use of the fans and heater without fearing of killing our 12V battery.
Overall, I would give this campground a solid 10 out of 10, it continues to wow and impress after many years. An abundance of nearby, world-class attractions, kid-friendly amenities, space, privacy, convenience of on-site sani-dump, available electrical hookup, and location proximity make it a great choice for those looking for coastal family adventures!
Flight Segment: YYZ-FLL Aircraft Flown: Airbus A321-200 (C-GJWO Leg 2) Distance Travelled: 5,333 kilometers (3,314 miles) total (YYJ-YYZ-FLL) Cost: $443.50 each, $0.083/km, or $0.33/km for the four of us Class of Service: Economy Comfort Fare
Thanks for coming back! This blog covers part two of our flight to Fort Lauderdale and took place in late March, 2023 and starts at YYZ.
YYZ Transit
After a short redeye flight, we arrived in Toronto International Airport (YYZ) rather exhausted. Transiting Canadian airports is usually pretty seamless, except when you are transiting to transborder flights. That is because you’ll have to pre-clear US customs before going back airside. This involves possibly having to collect checked bags if you’re flagged, fortunately we didn’t, then clearing US Customs and Border Protection (CBP) agents before going through transit security and heading back airside.
Not a single charging port in side, come with juice! Or a portable battery.
Air Canada uses the newer terminal 1 at YYZ, it seems they got their Star Alliance partners teamed up there and bullied all non-alliance or partner airlines to the older terminal 3.
There is a major advantage to the pre-clearance process though, you land in the USA as a domestic passenger, as you’re essentially on US soil when you clear US CBP. Those massive lines you hear about at airports like LAX, JFK, etc.? Doesn’t apply to you. Only a handful of airports globally have pre-clearance, and the majority are in Canada. Keep that in mind for transit times though and fluff it a bit to avoid missing your next flight because of lines.
YYZ offers amazing plane spotting including this Emirates A380 on taxi out.
Once airside, YYZ has number of contract lounges scattered in terminals 1 and 3, and there are lounges to access should you be in an economy class ticket but holding Priority or Dragon Pass cards. This is much more restrictive if you’re in the transborder concourse. For Air Canada, if you have the Reserve or Infinite Privilege line of cards, you can access the Maple Leaf Lounge if it’s not at capacity, otherwise there is a priority pass lounge in the transborder area. The waiting area at the gate was bland, there wasn’t even power readily available so have your devices charged before plopping yourself down.
YYZ Gates offer some plane spotting opportunity, here’s our ride parked at the gate.
Boarding for Fort Lauderdale
Boarding for AC918 began on time. We boarded our 20-year old Airbus A321-200 (C-GJWO) and found our way back to our seats. 30A/B and 31A/B. Again, with our Comfort fare, we were able to pick whatever seats we wanted. 30A for me was an exit row seat, and this afforded me unlimited legroom.
Boarding a long single-aisle like the A321 can take quite a long time. Pack patience as the A321 is set to become a dominant aircraft over the next few years.
As I noted, 30A was an exit row seat, well, kind of, row 29 is the actual exit row but is only with B/C. So my Alpha seat behind is technically an exit row seat and I was included in the emergency exit brief by the crew. This was a 20-year old aircraft, and well, it felt as old as it physically is.
Good pick! My seat was immediately next to the exit row and afforded unlimited legroom.
Air Canada hasn’t updated the seats since the aircraft came into service but here’s a seat tour. First off, can I say again, look at the legroom! My seat had a fixed armrest with the inflight entertainment folded down, Maddy’s inflight entertainment was located on the seatback in front. This screen was old, slow, and frustrating, Maddy had to offset her touch by quite a bit as the screen was sensing her finger in a totally different area.
Maddy was pretty frustrated with this screen, it sensed touch about an inch to the left of where you were touching and was incredibly slow to respond.
The seat cushion was thicker then current slimline seats, but you could feel how old it was, my seat cushion was literally lose and if I shifted forward, the whole cushion would come with me. The seats have your standard seat recline, about 3 whole inches. We had an excellent view just behind the wing. We had a beautiful take off from YYZ, affording us a beautiful view of downtown Toronto and Billy Bishop Airport as we began our southerly track down to Florida.
The crew began the inflight service once we were above 10,000 feet, buy onboard was available. We ordered a mac and cheese for the kids to share, and Alyssa and I had a wrap. I also took advantage of a Comfort fare perk, a free drink, and I went with a whiskey and Coke.
Drink combo was included with our Comfort Fare ticket.
There was a non-interactive flight map to track our progress, and because of the quality of the screen, I just kept it on the flight map for the duration.
No use trying to change anything, the slow low-resolution screen was really frustrating.
A common complaint of single-aisle aircraft is getting trapped an unable to use the bathroom during services. One of the nice things about this layout of A321’s is that it has a mid-cabin lavatory, which makes it so much easier to get to the bathroom if the cabin service is ongoing. The lavatory was reasonably clean but showing its age and I never saw it get tended to. It also had a baby changing table, which I cringe at the memory of using when the kids were younger, and was thankful to be past that stage.
Row 30 is in a perfect position just behind the mid-cabin bathroom. I was able to sneak out to it via Row 29 and nobody needed to be disturbed.
Tip for changing babies, bring just what you need and have it readily laid out for when you start changing, less fussing around trying to find something will have you less likely being peed on while looking for the diaper in the bag.
Don’t be fumbling around for diaper supplies once you’re in the bathroom, unless you’re okay being peed on, space is tight so come prepared.
The approach and landing was completely uneventful and smooth, we approached from the east coming over Fort Lauderdale from the water, then made a 180 degree turn to the left to line up and land on runway 10L.
Beautiful approach from the east into FLL.Flying past and making a 180 to land on 10L.
Taxiing in, I got a glimpse of a few usual and few unusual aircraft for us as West Coast Canadians. Collecting baggage took about 45 minutes, one of the perks of flying in from a Canadian hub airport? We landed as domestic passengers not needing to queue up for immigration and were at baggage claim within 10 minutes of deplaning.
Now there’s an airline I haven’t seen in a while!
Final Thoughts
Air Canada got us down to Fort Lauderdale on time, and for the best price. Imagine that! The Comfort fare gave us 115% SQM and points, so we earned over 12,000 Aeroplan (on top of credit card earn) on these two flights. Comfort fare also allowed us to pick any seat in economy we wanted, and that added to the comfort we experienced on these flights, and an alcoholic drink to wake up to.
Airbus and formerly Bombardier make an amazing aircraft. Both the A220 and A321 afford wider seats then Boeing due to it’s wider cabin. The A220’s modern cabin, large windows, and up-to-date inflight entertainment was an excellent addition, although the redeye flight meant we didn’t make much use of it.
Shockingly, AC completed this journey on time AND cheaper then LCC competitor, WestJet.
The A321’s on the other hand are really getting on in age. The A320 family series are among the oldest aircraft in the fleet, and the cabins are really showing their age. The A220’s and Boeing 737-8’s are meant to replace a good portion of them. Air Canada also has A321XLR’s on order set for delivery starting in around 2025 which should open up new routes and hopefully see some of the last A321CEO series fly into the sunset.
AC’s A320 family CEO fleet are old and dated, but do the job well.
I know they have a bed rep here in Canada. I was impressed with the service of the Air Canada crew, both in the air and on the ground. The work they do isn’t easy, I’ve seen so many trashy attitudes from passengers and that’s just from when we fly, so seeing how hard their crews worked on our flights was really impressive. I will absolutely book us on Air Canada when the budget allows, especially considering Air Canada is our only A220 operator, I hope to see more of them fly out of Victoria and Vancouver in the future.
Thanks for reading! I would really appreciate your support by signing up to be notified when new blogs are posted, and follow us on Instagram at Go.FamilyTravel. I’ll be posting part one of our cruise on November 3rd, onboard Odyssey of the Seas.
Cost: $443.50 each, $0.083/km, or $0.33/km for the four of us
Class of Service: Economy Comfort Fare
This will be the first of several blogs from our trip aboard Royal Caribbean’s Odyssey of the Seas and adventure down to Peru and Colombia. This blog with both flights combined came out to be quite long, so this initial flight review was one of two flights getting us down to Fort Lauderdale.
Preface
We booked an 8-night cruise in Spring of 2022, for Spring Break 2023 with cruise fares at the time being very compelling. We started looking at and booking airfare soon after, as we were booking our return leg on points (blog on that flight to come, too). The outbound flight was actually our last flight we needed to book for this trip, and I was somewhat satisfied with pricing during a seat sale in mid-November 2022.
Tonight’s flight would eventually equipment swap to a 3-year old A220-300.
There was actually special offers on Flex and Comfort fares, and for a few dollars more, we got all the perks of an Air Canada Comfort fare. It worked out to about $150 more for the all of us for Comfort fare, and you get a few perks that you’ll see really make it worth it.
Remember to always review your safety cards, numerous incidents since the restart of travel show how quickly a routine flight can quickly turn into an emergency.
First off, you earn 115% SQM and aeroplan points on the booking, compared to the 50% of standard economy fare. Everyone knows I’m pretty particular with where we sit, and seat selection with Air Canada comes with a cost per person per the norm these days, Comfort fare includes standard AND preferred seat selection, meaning we can pick from any economy seat included. The fare is also fully refundable and changeable with no fees, so should we have found a cheaper fare, we could easily have cancelled and jumped on a better deal. (Hint: that didn’t happen and fares kept going up). Finally, you also get a free alcoholic beverage onboard, an extra perk I didn’t actually know about until our second leg.
Legroom in preferred seats is fantastic!
Considering this was only 4 months away at time of booking, I was pretty surprised at the amount of changes over the next few months. First, flight times were changed which had us alter our second leg too. Then it went from a daytime eastbound flight to a completely red eye flight, and changed from an Air Canada Rouge, to an Air Canada mainline A220, the latter change I was pretty excited about though. So while we were now arriving a day later then planned because of the change to a red-eye, it did save us an extra night of hotel before our cruise so I took it.
The A220 boasts amazing performance and economics and was specifically designed by Bombardier to make these thinner long routes profitable and affordable.
Check In and Airport Experience
I do want to note, for all the complaints about Air Canada, their app is probably one of the best out there, and I have WestJet, Flair, Emirates, Turkish, Lufthansa, JetBlue, Qatar, and more on my phone. The functionality and features are really nice, and it helped make the online check in process smooth and easy, and nice provides the electronic boarding pass. I’m looking at you WestJet, why do I need to download each boarding pass individually when checking in on the app?
Some of the features I best love about the Air Canada app: you get a plethora of information related to your flight like seat map showing how full it is, standby lists for upgrades, the menu, what entertainment will be on board and WiFi availability, and you can easily see the inbound flight status, especially useful if your flight is delayed (I use that combined with Flightradar for tracking).
I won’t go into too much detail about our home airport of Victoria International (YYJ) as I’ve reviewed it on a number of occasions already. Arriving was smooth and easy, and we had bags dropped off and we were airside fairly quickly. One of the major drawbacks of our little airport though is that for evening flights after say 1700hrs, Tim Horton’s closes and your only option is the rather expensive Spinnakers airside.
Spinnakers has good but expensive options.
One of the things that really makes air travel with kids easier is teaching them and involving them in the security process. By this point, the kids are fairly accustomed to what they need to do at security: all electronics out and into a family electronics bin, bags up and onto the bins for x-ray, nothing in pockets and sweaters generally into the bins too. Maddy in particular is really helpful with getting things organized airside so we can move on.
The upstairs waiting area is comfortable with lots of charging ports. There’s also a small kids play area.
YYJ currently has 4 jet bridges, and usually you board turboprops via the ground level gates and jets on the upper level overhead jet bridges. There is a planned expansion to the terminal in the near and mid-future which would include adding additional overhead jet bridges, extending runway 09/27, and expanding the baggage collection area.
Our A220 pulling up to stand after its inbound flight from Toronto. A sleek looking jet with huge Pratt and Whitney GTF engines.
Boarding
Our aircraft, an Airbus A220-300 (Reg C-GJXY) arrived on time. For those not aware, the A220 was formerly known as the C-Series, a program that nearly ended up bankrupting Bombardier after a trade dispute launched by Boeing. The program sold to Airbus who renamed it the A220, and has revived into an incredibly popular aircraft type.
Air Canada is the only Canadian operator of the A220, most are based at YYZ and YUL so we don’t see many out west.
Marketed as a regional jet, this designed and built in Canada is hailed as a super-efficient short-medium haul aircraft. Indeed, the A220 is capable of a max range of 6,000 kms and designed to serve thin routes that wouldn’t otherwise be profitable, it has amazing performance that was designed specifically to meet the challenges of markets like Canada’s aviation sector.
I really like AC’s safety video, it showcases various locations around Canada and is really nicely put together.
Air Canada boards by zones like many other airlines, with pre-boarding, then zone 1 (business class and super elites), followed by zones 2 to whatever. We boarded with the call for children 5 and under, and found our way to our seats 20A/C and 21A/C.
I really appreciate that AC keeps inflight entertainment screens on most of their aircraft.
Cabin Impressions
Stepping onboard we were greeted by Air Canada’s latest cabin, a 12 seat business class cabin in a 2-2 configuration with recliner-style seats, and a 120-seat economy class laid out in a family-friendly 2-3 configuration. The side we sat on was the two abreast, and so no middle seat or seat stranger to contend with.
Really nice initial impression like massive legroom in our preferred seats.
Jacob was with me for the first flight. We have to have the kids alternate who sits with who otherwise he’ll never give up sitting with mom. As we normally do, we had two rows of seats, which worked great with this seating configuration. It’s a bit randomly placed halfway down the plane, but rows 20 and 21 are non-exit row preferred seats, which offer more legroom, over 34 inches in our case. The A220 seats are among the widest in the industry with 18 inches of width. All seats come with seatback entertainment screens which were high-definition and highly responsive. Paired with the seatback entertainment is a USB-A and C, along with your headphone jack.
The windows are huge on the A220.Jacob fell asleep before we even took off.USB-A, C, and headphone jacks are under your IFE screen.The interactive moving map is really nice.
The overhead bins are large and fit lots of luggage, being able to hold roller bags on their side. LED mood lights fill the space, and the A220 windows are huge, allowing lots of natural light in. All-in-all, the A220 instantly became my favourite aircraft, and that’s not just the biased Canadian in me speaking, and was an incredibly comfortable.
The cabin feels spacious and mood lighting is a really nice touch.
Departure and Inflight Service
Departure was more or less on time, the late night take off while wet, was quite a nice climb out over Metro Vancouver. Once we were above 10,000 feet, the crew was quickly in the cabin to provide a drink and snack service. While there was a buy-on-board menu available, they didn’t ask if we wanted items from it. Aside from extra legroom, there is no further perks to preferred seats compared to Delta Comfort plus. We didn’t want anything anyways, and Jacob had actually fallen asleep between the short taxi time and take off.
The A220 seats are the widest in its class and Jacob was swimming in that space.
The lights were soon turned off for passengers to rest. However, and I commend the crew for their dedication to hydration, on this short 4.5 hour redeye flight, the crew came around twice offering water. Each time, they increased the cabin lighting in a deep blue colour, so while not overly disturbing, you’d definitely notice and wake up if you’re a light sleeper like me (of note though, Jacob slept through until landing).
I enjoyed playing around with the IFE moving map, I did this for too long rather then sleep!
I’d prefer to avoid short redeye flights with the kids, however, this worked well for our itinerary, but be forewarned, we were very jet-lagged when we arrived at our hotel in Fort Lauderdale in the afternoon later that day.
None of these menu options were avaliable from YYJ-YYZ.
YYZ Arrival and Final Thoughts
We came in for an uneventful landing into Toronto’s Pearson International Airport. I really enjoyed this flight but being such a short red-eye, I definitely wouldn’t recommend it, especially if your kids don’t take jetlag very well. Fortunately, our kids aren’t the cranky sleepy type so we lucked out, but that didn’t change how tired we all were.
View out our window as the sun rises on our approach into YYZ.
The crew were lovely, attentive, and definitely hardworking. They were frequently in the cabin checking in if anyone wanted water. For our first time on the Canadian built A220, I really enjoyed it, the 2-3 configuration is way nicer way to fly, the seats are among the widest in class, and the windows are massive. The composite materials allow for better pressurization and humidity, and thus reduces jetlag a bit. It’s disappointing Air Canada is the only Canadian carrier that flies the A220, but I would love to try out the A220 on a daytime flight to better try out the onboard amenities.
Once in the air, we put the armrest up and let Jacob sleep on me, seatbelt stays buckled up!
Thanks for reading! I would really appreciate your support by signing up to be notified when new blogs are posted, and follow us on Instagram at Go.FamilyTravel. Stay tuned for part two of this flight, connecting down to Fort Lauderdale on an Air Canada A321-200! I’ll post that Oct 20th and plan on posting blogs from this trip every one to two weeks.
With travel returning in 2022 and the Boeing 737 Max series aircraft back in the air, we had the opportunity to fly on the 737 Max aircraft of WestJet, Air Canada, and Flair. I’ve decided to pit the three airlines and compare them against each other. In addition to them, Lynx and Swoop (a subsidiary of WestJet that won’t be around for much longer) also fly the 737 Max series. Without a doubt this “controversial” aircraft is poised to be the most common site in Canadian skies in the coming decade.
A WestJet 737NG (left) and Max (right) parked side-by-side at YEG. Notice the much larger diameter engine on the Max compared to the previous generation NG.
For those that are newer to the Canadian aviation scene, Flair is an ultra low-cost carrier (ULCC) based now in Edmonton. They operate an all Boeing fleet of mostly 737-8 Max and a few 737-800NG.
Love the engine views on the 737Max. The CFM Leap engines have significantly higher bypass ratios then the 737NG engines making them up to 15% more fuel efficient.
WestJet is a low-cost carrier (LCC) that started operations in 1996 and is today Canada’s second-largest carrier and is based in Calgary. It too flies an all Boeing fleet of various 737-series aircraft and the 787-9 widebody.
An Air Canada 737-8Max that just parked at the gate at Toronto Pearson International Airport.
Air Canada on the other hand is the Goliath of the pack. It is Canada’s flag carrier based in Montreal, Quebec. It flies a large, diverse fleet, including Bombardier regional planes, Boeing wide bodies, and Airbus Narrow and wide body aircraft. Prior to the Boeing 737-8Max, it flew Airbus for many years as their narrow-body manufacturer of choice.
Background
The current series was announced originally in 2011 to replace the next-generation series 737’s. First delivery was in May 2017. In late 2018 and early 2019, the series was involved in two fatal accidents due to a failure in its Maneuvering Characteristics Augmentation System (MCAS) due, in part, to the failure of the single angle-of-attack sensor that lacked redundancy. I won’t allow politics into this discussion, but a failure of the flight crews to identify the problem and shut it down was also cited as contributing factors to the crashes.
Prior to recertification being granted, Boeing provided a software update along with adding redundancy to the angle-of-attack sensor to prevent a recurrence of these accidents from happening again. In the coming years once the -10 variant is certified, Boeing must also update the cockpit crew alerting system as well.
WestJet’s Max fleet is set to grow as Max’s like this from Swoop will integrate back into the mainline fleet this fall.
Since being reintroduced back into service, the type has safely flown millions of flight hours and is recertified in every major market globally. I have heard many say they will never step foot on a 737 Max ever again, which will be less possible as Air Canada retires their A320-series aircraft. However, what is now the most scrutinized aircraft in the sky, I have the utmost confidence in it and the crews that shuttle us from A to B. You see, aviation is as safe as it is because of lessons learnt from these unfortunate accidents, and the most dangerous part of flying is your trip to and from, the airport.
Unfortunately, I wasn’t planning on blogging as much back when we took these flights, so my available photos of the aircraft and interiors are limited.
Initial Impressions – Seats and Storage
Aside from individual liveries, the exteriors are all identical. 737 Max aircraft are easily identified from others by the “shark teeth” at the rear of the engine cover combined with the split symmetry winglets. On all the airlines, they had the same seatback pockets and seat width is pretty well the same too. Seat pitch in standard legroom is about 30″ on all three airlines which is pretty standard across many carriers. Extra legroom seats have about 34″ of pitch.
Legroom is surprisingly decent on Flair, for a ULCC.The bulkhead seat on the AC Max might not be the best if you have long legs.
Stepping aboard WestJet (WS) aircraft, you’ll pass a 12-seat Premium class before entering the economy class. WS aircraft seat 174 in total, the 12 in Premium and 162 in economy class. The Boeing Sky Interior is installed, along with the new overhead bins that fit significantly more carry-on bags then previous generation aircraft, this is because it allows carry on rollers to sit on their side rather then flat.
The seats are upholstered in leather (pleather?) and have adequate legroom for the segments they fly, but for those who want a bit more, the first few rows are extra legroom seats that can be selected in advance for a fee. There are adjustable headrests and the seats recline about 3inches.
Leather upholstery on the WestJet 737 Max.12-seat Premium cabin.The leather isn’t the nicest feeling material on the WestJet 737’s.
When boarding a Flair flight, you’re greeted with a 189-seat all economy layout. Interestingly, there are extra-legroom seats down just the right side of the first 9 or so rows, but on the left it is standard legroom seats. Not sure why the cabin was laid out this way, nothing wrong but it’s just odd the rows end up offset. The seats are upholstered in a comfortable blue fabric that I much prefer over the leather on WS. The seats have surprisingly good legroom from a ULCC, an unexpected fact that made the flight to 5hr Ottawa more comfortable.
You’ll notice there are no headrests, and the seats do not recline at all. While the Flair aircraft have the Boeing Sky Interior and the overhead lockers look the same, they are shorter and fit only what previous gen bins fit, roller bags flipped sideways will rotate, prevent the bin from closing.
Blue fabric on the Flair 737 Max. Note: kids never have legroom issues=)
The clear winner in this category is Air Canada (AC). As you board, you’re greeted by 16 recliner-style business class seats, and 153 economy class seats for a total of 169 seats, the least dense of the 3 carriers. Black leather adorns the seats, equipped with seatback entertainment screens and fully adjustable headrests. The economy section is in your typical 3-3 configuration found on all carriers. At the front of the cabin, preferred seats are available for an extra fee that come with extra legroom and earlier deplaning. The overhead bins are very similar to WS, featuring Boeing’s Sky Interior with the larger bins, there’s even instructions to insert your roller bag and then flip it upright to get more bags in.
All Max’s feature slimline seats, AC is upholstered with black leather and feature inflight entertainment screens.
Comfort
For economy class, they’re pretty stock standard. All have approximately the same legroom and all use a slimline seat which is not the best for longer segments (some flights are over 6 hours). They also all feature individual air nozzles, and the cabin noise is noticeably reduced by the CFM Leap engines they utilize.
AC and WS Max’s fit more carry on luggage as you can sit them up vertically after sliding them in. Flair overhead lockers are not big enough to do this.
The slight edge here will have to go to AC as their slightly less-dense configuration combined with seats that can recline and the distraction of seatback IFE, all combine to make longer flights onboard a bit more comfortable.
Inflight Entertainment
WS’s app-based inflight entertainment works reasonably well, but I just personally prefer not being forced to use my own device for entertainment, especially given how much battery it uses. There are USB charging ports and shared 120v outlets, but they don’t always work well enough to keep a charge.
WestJet advertises they offer over 700 hours of content onboard.
While Flair is developing an app-based inflight entertainment streaming program, it was not available on this or any Flair flight we’ve been on yet. So Flair will have to lose a point on this one.
Flair is going to have app-based IFE soon, but was not yet working on our flights. Nor did the timeline update.
Your IFE on Flair aircraft. Kidding! Download movies from your favourite streaming app, but bring a portable battery as there is no onboard power.
While WS also offers free inflight WiFi for those who hold the WestJet World Elite Mastercard, on a flight down to LA though, it was rather slow with a download speed of only 2-3mb/s, the edge here will have to go to Air Canada.
All seats have universal power outlet and USB-A ports which is a nice touch. Note: I was using my power bank as the ports were still turned off at the gate and I was quite low on battery.
Air Canada’s seatback (or in our case bulkhead-mounted) IFE system is amazing. It has a tonne of choices, games, kids content, and is responsive and easy to use. Apparently the new systems are similar to an Android phone where the software can be easily updated, it’ll be interesting how this system ages compared to other Panasonic systems used on roughly 10-year old widebody aircraft or their 20-something year old Airbus’s.
AC’s seatback IFE screen is crisp, responsive, and has a large variety of content.
Inflight Experience
This will be a bit controversial and very subjective. The crews on all three airlines were overall good. I will note though that the Flair crew was a bit frosty to start, especially compared to the warm welcomes we received on WS and AC aircraft.
Stunning view from our seat on final approach into Victoria International Airport runway 09.
WS comes around with a buy on board service along with a drink service. I appreciate being able to have a few teas to choose from, or just getting a gingerale with a snack. I have found the buy on board to be quite inconsistent, but our flight lengths usually mean I easily survive without anything substantial. On our flight from Vancouver to Cancun though, only a beverage service was available with no buy on board at all, a 6-hour flight with soda and pretzels.
WS reliably comes around after takeoff for a beverage service, I like the choice of teas with the pretzels.
Everything on Flair is buy-on-board, not complaining, we knew, but be prepared and bring your own snacks and water or be ready to fork out some money for everything. Oddly, flying out of Victoria, we ended up settling for instant noodles and water, as they had run out of a lot of food onboard from the flight over from Ottawa.
Flair’s onboard cheese pizza on the way to YYJ from YOW. They sold out just a few rows back, and we were only in row 9.
AC, like WS, also does a buy on board and free drink service. However, you don’t get a snack. One extra that AC offers which is a good concept is through the Air Canada bistro, you can buy leftover business class meals if you need something more substantial, act fast though as there are only so many extra meals.
AC’s onboard service, tip: you get a free alcoholic drink when you’re flying on a Comfort fare. (Not on a Max)Maddy eating her portion of a shared mac & cheese we bought onboard. (Not on a Max)
I’ll have to give this one to WestJet. I can usually survive on free beverages and pretzels/cookies along with whatever I brought onboard. As a full-service carrier, I find it incredibly cheap of AC to charge more and not even include a light snack with your fare.
I think AC’s black on white livery is the best of the 3 in the comparison. What do you think?
…And the winner is…!?
I’m going to have to give the crown to Air Canada here. Overall, the AC experience is the best on the 737 Max. The large overhead bins prevent the need for gate-checked bags, while the seatback IFE helps occupy your time. The cabins are just a hair less dense then WS, and more appealing in appearance and comfort.
I really love the Boeing Sky Interiors and the mood lighting.
The Boeing Sky Interior makes the cabin really airy when the bins are closed, but I will note there are complaints about cabin crew having to lift the bins up to close for the flight.
Closing Thoughts
Many were shocked that AC moved away from Airbus to replace the aging A320 series, and personally I also would have preferred to see AC fly the A320NEO series. However, I have enjoyed our flights on the Canadian 737 Max in service on all carriers. Ultimately, they’re all very similar and who you fly with will come down to price, personal preference, brand loyalty, and/or comfort.
I think I’ll have to do a ULCC 737 Max showdown between Lynx and Flair next time as I feel Flair had quite the disadvantage here. When going from the 737NG to a 737Max, you will definitely notice the better cabin comfort on the Max series, its quieter cabin and nicer amenities overall.
Have you flown on any of these airlines’ Max aircraft? Share your thoughts by leaving a comment.
Stay tuned for my next blog coming October 20th! This will be the first in a series covering our trip to the Caribbean and South America in Spring 2023.
Back in 2020, we had a Halloween cruise booked for the Caribbean with my sister. Unfortunately due to the pandemic, this trip had to be cancelled. Royal Caribbean Cruise Lines (RCCL) was really great with this, they moved our non-refundable deposit into a cruise credit to apply to a future booking. Over time, they extended the expiry date of this as the pandemic dragged on. Finally, with restrictions lifting, the final extension had been announced.
Shipside at the Los Angeles World Cruise Centre
With travel restrictions easing, vaccines received, and an itch to travel, we used some remaining vacations days, savings, and travel credits to book a long weekend getaway for Thanksgiving, October 2022.
USS Iowa, WW2 Battleship Museum is prominently on display on arrival to the cruise port.
Booking
I was hoping to do a 4-night long weekend cruise, but that didn’t line up with Navigator of the Seas itineraries. The 3-night itinerary departs on Fridays, with the 4-night on Mondays. That was fine and we booked an extra night on the debarkation end to spend a day exploring LA. Both itineraries visit Ensenada, Mexico, just across the boarder on the Baja Peninsula, but the 4-night also visits Catalina Island which is still a part of Mexico but a place I enjoyed visiting back in 2001.
Gentle gangway making our way onboard.
With the more budget-friendly 4-night, we also found the junior suite to be quite affordable, allowing us more space for the 3-night sailing. With military-discount applied, we paid just over $1800 CAD for this 3 night trip, less our cruise credit and we were only out of pocket $800 on the cruise portion. Not a bad deal for accommodations and all-you-can-eat food, including (Canadian) Thanksgiving dinner onboard.
First family photo onboard.
We also opted for a Refreshment Package for drinks for Alyssa and myself. The kids still really prefer water so at this time it wasn’t worth it to get it for them too. This worked out really well though that RCCL doesn’t force all room occupants to have the drink package if it’s not needed.
Checking out South LA from the top deck.
My sister ended up coming along as well to use up her cruise credits, and they got a combo of a balcony stateroom and inside stateroom for the kids, just down the hall from us.
Stunning views of LA from the pool deck. So flat!
Embarkation and First Looks Around
At check in, we noticed that the terminal didn’t seem to be too busy really, and even if we didn’t have a suite-class, check in would have been pretty quick. Nonetheless, we were checked in and on board in less than half an hour. There’s a quick security check you go through as well, RCCL does allow you to bring 2 bottles of wine per stateroom onboard in your carry on, declare it as you go through security. We had no issues at all with this.
Checking out the views from our balcony.
Rooms are ready usually in the early afternoon, so we had some time just to explore the ship when we boarded and get acquainted, we also completed our pre-cruise safety brief.
Aside from the artwork and decorated carpet, the hallways are pretty basic.Art on display in various parts of the ship, this was down the hall from our room.
It’s really nice and we really suggest exploring the ship and getting the safety brief out of the way when you board. Especially on these short voyages, you don’t want to waste time trying to find where what is.
Exploring the pool deck, there are covered and colourful cabanas for rent, albeit at quite a steep price.
Pro-tip: pack bathing suites, footwear for the pool in your carry on. Larger checked bags left at bag drop might not get to you until the evening.
Navigator of the Seas was launched in 2002 as part of their now older Voyager-class vessels, and has a capacity for 3,386 passengers at double occupancy. She’s 1,020 feet long with 139,999 gross tonnage. While being an older ship, Navigator has gone through a few refurbishments, notably in 2014 which added more staterooms, and in 2019, she underwent a major refit worth over $115 million USD. This has her in the configuration we sailed on and as an “amped” ship, she had a lot of wow factors onboard.
Entering our Junior Suite, I was pleasantly surprised by the space afforded to us. (Note our carry on in the bottom right corner to get the fun started!)
Our Junior Suite class room was roughly 1.5 times the size of a standard balcony stateroom. You don’t get all the suite-class amenities, but it’s a nice bridge, and what you do get is the double night credit to your Crown and Anchor account, so for this 3 night sailing we got 6 nights of loyalty credit.
Jacob immediately loved the armchair.
On entry, you’re greeted by the bathroom on the right, closet on the left, and a nicely carpeted, larger-room. On the left is the desk and TV, with lots of drawers and a cooler. The King-sized bed was very comfortable, and the pullout sofa big enough for the two kids comfortably. The room also has a desk space, coffee table, and ottoman with foot rest. The balcony is large, running end to end of the suite. There is also an in-suite coffee maker, and for those traveling with all the additional stuff that comes with having kids, there is also a large closet to unpack or store belongings in. Another perk when travelling with kids, the junior suites have actual bathtubs for bathing the kids.
The full bathroom with tub is a nice addition when traveling with kids.
The Ship – The Fun
Since the 2019 refurbishment, Navigator was “amped” up to the latest standards. For a 3-night sailing, there was an endless round of activities to have fun with. The main pool deck and pool was adequate for the number of passengers on this sailing, but I also estimate that it was only about 80% occupied. The hot tubs were nice but often crowded, this was probably due to the fact that it was quite cool as an October sailing, I thought Southern California would still be decently warm that time of year, I was wrong! There is a kids waterpark area but again, was often too cold for the kids to want to use.
Nice in the sun but in the evening it cooled off quite a bit and the kids would jump between the pool and hot tub.Stage located just above the main pool, the live music was loads of fun when soaking in some sun on deck.
Just above the pool deck, there is a small stage where there was often music being performed live, a very fun and interactive way to spend time soaking up some sun.
I wasn’t totally sure what was happening here, but there was lots of cheering and hollering.
Moving further back is where a lot of money was spent during the refurbishment, at the time of re-launch, Navigator had the longest waterslide at sea, a unique slide coaster with water jets to propel two-person rafts back up hills for the next drop.
Alyssa and Maddy launched up the final hill before coming to the end. That part of the slide actually hang off the edge of the ship.
Maddy LOVED this slide, and on a morning run with no lines, she got through about 5 times before a small line started to form.
FlowRider with the Coast Slide in the background.
The crew were great and allowed us to enter the offload area for photos.
There is also a surf-simulator that was installed in the 2014 refit, rock climbing wall that the kids enjoyed, and a sport court that runs different events/games throughout the day.
Sport court surrounded by the Coaster Slide.
Maddy really enjoys rock climbing, and so when she can find a new wall to conquer, you’ll definitely find her up there!
Easy-peasy, Maddy did all three tracks without a problem.
Moving to the front of that deck you’ll find the adventure golf course where we did a couple “rounds” with the kids.
The final base of the Coaster Slide is actually off the side of the ship!
On an evening walk, Alyssa and I discovered on this ship, you can go to the front where the helipad is and have a nice, quiet hangout. You can also pull off the front of the ship pose like in the Titanic, without the risk of striking an iceberg a few days later. On that note, you’ll also be pleased to know all cruise ships have lifeboat capacity for all persons onboard plus space to spare these days.
Front of ship helipad, a cool secluded hangout.
Moving below decks, for the kids, there is the Adventure Ocean. This is normally a kids club divided by age groups, and on previous RCCL cruises, the kids loved the Adventure Ocean. However, on this one, all kids from 5-teen were in one group and when we picked them up after an evening of play, the kids begged not to be taken back. Apparently some of the older kids were pretty rough and mean and appears staff may not have intervened. The Adventure Ocean is included during regular operating hours, and gives parents time to do adult-only activities. Only late night care has an extra-charge.
The Adventure Ocean on this ship wasn’t the kids favourite venue by any means but a fun place to find new hidey holes.
There is also an arcade, but in my mind it’s a bit useless as it costs extra and, just, why would you want to pay for an arcade on a cruise ship? I don’t know how much RCCL gains in revenue from it, but we often saw it sitting empty. Lower down, the Royal Promenade featured the shopping district for the ship, filled with duty-free shops, a neat retro car, and evening performances. The evening performance we watched was fun and the kids enjoyed dancing along.
Bars and shops on the Royal Promenade.
Art on display paying homage to the ships name.
A fun and energetic evening performance on the promenade.
There is also a small casino, which is a feature on pretty much every cruise ship, we spent a bit of time there but after losing a few bucks we decided to cut our losses. We didn’t attend shows in the main theatre, we simply didn’t have time on the short 3-day cruise, but we have never been disappointed with the Broadway-style shows on RCCL.
The Food – The Yum
Oh, my, god. The food was simply amazing, and hats of to the chef. Since this sailing, RCCL is trialing a new menu format, but that appears to not be very popular among their loyalists. Onboard this sailing though, I thoroughly enjoyed the menu AND the food. Just take a look at the roast I had one evening, perfect-O!
The rare prime rib was AMAZING.
One of the things I love about cruising is the dining, it complete removes the stress of where to eat, or what to eat, as everyone just eats what they want. Sure, you can go to a specialty restaurant and pay extra, but the main dining room and buffet were both amazing places to fill up on. On top of that, the white fish on another night was great. The main dining room can also accommodate groups big and small, and getting 10 of us dining together was easy.
Pro-tip: for different cruise reservations like ours wanting to dine together, ensure you don’t book MyTime dining, and instead opt for the set time. Then on the RCCL app, you can group yourselves together to dine together.
The buffet had a huge selection to please all tastes, including all-you-can-eat desserts, because why not? VACAY!
For breakfast and lunch, we dined at the buffet. There was an endless selection of options, and you are sure to find something to enjoy, from vegetarian, to gluten-free, to the carnivores. I really appreciate and can’t say enough how easy dining is on a cruise when you are travelling with kids. We never have challenges keeping the kids’ tummy filled on these vacations.
Buffet options include gluten-free choices.
Port of Call – Ensenada
For our one and only port day, we chose to do an RCCL shore excursion. For those who have never cruised, you never have to use the cruise lines excursions, sometimes they’re more expensive, and options can be limited like in our case. However, it guarantees you’ll get back on the ship in case of a delayed return (as was the case in our 2018 cruise where our group was a bit delayed returning but no stress of missing the departure.
Family photo as we get ready to go on our booked excursion.
It was challenging to find a shore excursion that was okay to book with the two under 6-year old kids. We ended up booking a cheese farm excursion, La Cava de Marcelo, about an hour away. These trips are normally well-organized and easy to navigate and this was no exception. We quickly found the meeting point, had our tickets verified, and loaded up into the tour van and off we went.
The van was large and comfy.Found the KFC just outside the cruise terminal.
While a long drive, we had all day at this port of call so there was no rush. It took us through the countryside outside Ensenada and into a place we’ve never seen before. The Baja Peninsula is simply breathtaking. The ten of us occupied most of the comfortable van, but there was also a couple others with us as well.
So hard to get photos with the kids, this is success!
We were warmly welcomed on arrival, and taken to wear the cows are milked, and walked through the pasteurization process. We were then taken over to the creamery to sample some fresh-made ice cream.
This excursion has us sampling a variety of cheeses and touring the cheese cellar, some aged cheeses were almost as long as Jacob was! The kids were surprisingly adventurous and sampled each of the cheeses, Maddy even liked one of the aged cheeses, a 2 year old cheese if I recall. It paired very nicely with the included glass of Mexican wine for the adults, and fresh juice for the kids.
The Service – The Crew
The staff were amazing, our sailing definitely wasn’t at capacity, but we noticed there seemed to be less crew-passenger ratio then on previous sailings. Nevertheless, the crew was attentive and very service-oriented. I particularly want to give a shout out to our room attendant, whose towel animal skills is better then my ability to draw stickmen.
I struggle to draw stick people, and our room attendant can do this! Amazing!
I also want to give a shout out to the our two table attendants at our suppers, they were patient, friendly, had amazing memories, and absolutely spoiled the kids. We didn’t come across a crew member who wasn’t ready and willing to provide assistance. These crews sacrifice so much being away from their families for months on end catering to the needs of travelers like us, yet suffered so greatly during the pandemic and associated lockdowns.
Amazing service by the crew and beautifully presented meals.
Final Thoughts
Disembarkation day came fast, after only 3 nights it was time to get off. We thoroughly enjoyed spending our Thanksgiving onboard Navigator of the Seas. While one of the older ships, its amped refurbishment in 2019 made it a modern ship with lots of family/kid pleasing amenities. We loved the crew, the service, the food, and the short weekend itinerary was perfect for our Thanksgiving weekend getaway. I wish RCCL still had its partnership with Dreamworks but it didn’t take away from the cruise.
View of Navigator of the Seas from the Ensenada Cruise Port.
For the right price, in warmer weather, I’d happily do it again in any class of stateroom as it makes for a nice long weekend getaway from our Vancouver Island-based base of operations. Stay tuned for a blog on the Odyssey of the Seas!
Have you sailed on Navigator of the Seas, pre or post refurbishments? Share your experiences in the comments!
Flight Segment: LAX-YYC-YYJ Aircraft Flown: Boeing 737Max8 (C-FFLZ) Distance Travelled: 2,656 kilometers (1,660 miles) Cost: $375.94 each, $0.142/km, or $0.57/km for the four of us Class of Service: Premium Economy
Background
So for October 2022, we decided to book a short weekend getaway using up the last of our vacation days for the year to extend our long weekend during the Canadian Thanksgiving. We found an amazing fare for Royal Caribbean’s Navigator of the Seas (review to come soon), for a 3 night Ensenada getaway out of Los Angeles. At the time of booking all of this during the spring 2022, travel prices were still quite reasonable, and for only a minimal cost difference, we booked our return flight on WestJet’s (WS) Premium class, their version of North American domestic business class, or domestic first class if you’re American.
Ready for boarding? Not quite.
Check In and Airport Experience
We arrived at LAX bright and early, just after 6am to check in for our 9am flight. The majority of our check in was already done online, and we were only doing a bag drop at the counter. WS Premium gives you a priority line, and our bags were dropped off and physical boarding passes in hand within 5 minutes.
Now, LAX is a very scattered airport to fly out of, WS shares the terminal it uses at LAX with Delta, which makes sense as that Skyteam airline is a close codeshare partner of WS. We checked in at the WS counter in terminal 3, but flew out of terminal 2, which isn’t too bad actually. However, we didn’t have a priority pass lounge to access during our time there, the Centurion lounge wasn’t worth trudging over to at Terminal B.
The terminal itself is quite crowded, the terminals are essentially piers, and the bulges at the end host even more gates meaning there is nowhere near enough seating in the terminal at the pier ends. Without any lounges, we had Starbucks (which took 20 minutes to get drinks) and this expensive breakfast sandwich shop.
Expensive but tasty breakfast sandwiches.
I think calling it Premium versus business class for WS is fitting, as you get the enhanced seat, but that’s about it. There is no lounge access, no seatback entertainment screen, no increased award earns or loyalty credit, you essentially get a nicer seat, priority check in and boarding, and baggage handling. I hope you get what they promise meal-wide post COVID. I’ll let you decide if that’s worth the extra money.
Onboard
We boarded relatively on time for our departure out of LAX and headed to Calgary (YYC). After an operational pause in the jetway, aka, they weren’t ready for us onboard, we were greeted warmly by the Calgary-based crew and quickly found our seats, spread across row 2.
Jacob sat with me on the first leg, the kids swim in these seats and there was plenty of room to buckle in Teddy, too.
A bit of background about WS’s Premium class, for a number of years, it was called Plus fare, and for a bit extra, you’d get a seat at the front of the plane with a blocked middle seat, a la Euro-business class. A few years back, WS refitted their older 737NG’s with new North American business class-style recliner seats that you’ll see on most carriers such as Air Canada and United and changed the name to Premium.
Plenty of space to get comfortable with about 38″ of pitch.
WS’s Premium class itself is quite basic. It has your standard North American recliner-style business class seat, universal outlet, and a USB-A charging port, but that’s it. All of WS inflight entertainment is via the WestJet Connect app. There is a decent selection though and more then enough for this medium-haul flight. The seat itself is wide, with ample legroom, and as you can see from the photos, the kids were swimming in it!
No breakfast was served but we did get drinks served in WestJet branded glassware.
I wrongly assumed we’d get some breakfast onboard. You see, scanning WS own website shows that on flights over 2.5 hours, a hot meal should be served, this was a 3 hour flight. It might be because the aircraft had overnighted at LAX and perhaps WS doesn’t have a catering contract at LAX, but we were woefully disappointed to only receive a snack box on board. To be fair, this was the larger snack box, not the small triangle ones, and it was quite filling, but I was expecting their signature pancakes for breakfast. The kids were happy though, and the seat was extremely comfortable for both flights.
We filled up surprisingly well with these snack boxes.
This was a 3-hour and 1.25 hour flight, the crew were absolutely lovely, and especially accommodating and attentive towards the kids. I found that the FA was frequently coming around to see if we wanted a top up on drinks.
I had a lot of caffeine from the early start to the morning. The FA did a great job keeping me topped up.
Transborder to Domestic Connection – YYC
Clearing customs and connecting our bags through to our flight to Victoria (YYJ) was pretty straight forward in YYC. There are many electronic customs kiosks, and gone now is the need to fill a customs declaration on the plane (no need to scramble for that pen now!). You have to pickup and recheck your bag at a special connection bag drop, then carry on into the domestic terminal. We had enough time to head into the WestJet Elevation Lounge by concourse B.
WestJet’s Elevation lounge has a nice hangout for families where kids can be kids and burn off energy before the flight.
Again, lounge access is not included on the Premium fares, only on business class fares and those are only found on the 787 Dreamliners. We entered by virtue of the priority pass that came with our Amex Platinum card. The kids really like the Elevation Lounge which has a separate room for families where the kids can play games and let loose before a flight, the ordering is still done via QR code and they bring your items to your table. A recent visit showed this is still the case, and only non-alcoholic drinks are self-serve.
The food was amazing, the menu has changed each time we’ve gone and this apple crumble with ice cream went down nicely.
Our flight from YYC to YYJ was equally uneventful. It is just a short 1-hour 15-minute hop, and a light snack box (the triangle shaped one) was provided. Again, totally sufficient for the short flight. Again, the onboard flight crew was very friendly and attentive, and very welcoming to the kids. We landed, and our bags were among the first off the plane and onto the carousel, win for priority bag handling.
Kids played games and stretched out in the family zone of the lounge.Bathrooms were clean and have shower rooms.
Final Thoughts
WS Premium was a comfortable way to get home from LAX via YYC. The crew, from check in, gate, and onboard were all lovely, we felt welcomed and that the kids were well taken care of. In this case, the fare was significantly cheaper then Air Canada’s business class, and only marginally more then economy to justify the splurge.
Plenty of space to stretch out and good recline offered a nice nap are on the second leg. Premium is only separated from economy by a small ceiling-mounted partition.
As I noted earlier though, WS Premium is often on par fare wise with Air Canada’s North American business class. A cheap upgrade would be a fun splurge, but the cost at the time of booking isn’t really worth it. In addition, the ability to earn extra Aeroplan points, lounge access, additional priority benefits, and the onboard service including IFE and onboard meals is a much better proposition from Air Canada. Just the additional Aeroplan points alone is worth much more as Aeroplan is one of the most valuable frequent flyer programs globally.
Maddy really enjoyed her space, as well as the included WiFi supplied through our WestJet World Elite Mastercard.
I appreciated and felt highly priviliged to be able to fly at the front of the plane, and the criticism is only there based on my opinion of the value-proposition on the product we paid for and received. All that being said, for the right fare, I’d do it again, but I wouldn’t go out of my way to, and I found way more value in the extra legroom seats we had on the way down to LAX.
Have you flown on WS Premium before? What did you think? Let me know your thoughts in the comments.
Let’s face it, Edmonton isn’t normally a holiday weekend destination. I mean, I’ll be honest, we have family there, and that’s why we go there. To be fair though, there can be quite a few opportunities for a fun family weekend in Edmonton. Now, in the fall of 2022, we travelled to Edmonton twice, for Labour Day long weekend and again at the end of November. This blog will cover both weekends that we were there.
A variety of aircraft fly YYJ-YEG for eg. Q400-Dash8 and Boeing 737 varients.Air Canada serves YYJ-YEG via YVR. YYJ-YEG is served directly by Flair and WestJet.
Between Victoria and Edmonton, you’ll find direct flights from WestJet and Flair airlines, although it was served by Swoop before as well, those flights have since stopped. You can also fly with a quick stopover in Vancouver on Air Canada. More often, Flair and WestJet compete quite fiercely and frequent sales have brought the price down where its affordable for us to do a weekend in Edmonton.
ZzzZZzz…
Hotel stays in Edmonton can be found pretty affordably. Edmonton does have a good range though of limit-service hotels such as Courtyard by Marriott, Elements, Hyatt Place, and Hampton Inn. I covered off big three hotel chains just now, with Marriott, Hilton, and Hyatt being major hotel chains. For us, I often prefer Marriott hotels, and they are one of Canada’s dominant hotel brands.
Elements West Edmonton upgraded suite came with a king bed and pullout couch for the kids. A full kitchen is also available.
Elements West Edmonton Kitchen
For our September trip, we stayed at the Elements Edmonton West. We were upgraded to a slightly nicer suite; this had a separate sleeping area with a king-sized bed and a pullout couch in the living room for the kids. It also had a small kitchenette with everything you needed to cook your own meals. Breakfast is included here along with free parking. The bathroom was nice, and the hotel overall is newer, with an attractive modern finish. We had a safe, comfortable place to spend the weekend, although sleep quality and bed comfort left a lot to be desired.
Standard 2 queen beds at the Fairfield Inn and Suites Edmonton North.
For November, we opted for the Fairfield Inn and Suites Edmonton North, another Marriott brand. We found this other limited-service brand to be a lot more comfortable than the Elements. Free breakfast is also included here, and the spread was quite nice with something delicious easily found by everyone. A decent pool with a water slide and a small fitness centre are also available here, although there is no hot tub; the kids greatly enjoyed the water slide. The room was nicely appointed, we were in a room with 2 queen-sized beds, a typical bathroom, and a microwave was available. Having the microwave is nice with the kids so we can warm up milk for the little guy in the evenings.
Fairfield Inn bathroom is pretty nice.A microwave is always nice to have with the kids.Totally acceptable breakfast spread at the Fairfield Inn.
Let’s get to activities. What can you do with kids in Edmonton? We have a membership with the Telus World of Science in Vancouver, you’ll need your membership card, but if offers reciprocal access to the Edmonton Science World. With the changing feature exhibit, a simple $6 add on was all we paid for access to the entire space. The kids always love the interactive exhibits and games.
Science World’s prehistoric exhibit.
West Ed – Classic Family Fun
From there, there is the world-famous West Edmonton Mall. Galaxyland and World Waterpark. At the time of opening, these two were some of the biggest indoor amusement parks in the world, and Galaxyland at one point hosted the world’s longest indoor roller coaster. The mall also has tons of shops and dozens of eateries, along with indoor go-carting!
The famous pirate ship inside West Edmonton Mall.
There’s a good variety of rides at West Edmonton to suit the whole family. First family roller coaster ride!
More of a Wild Side
Other activities we did during the weekend included the Edmonton Valley Zoo, a nice little zoo that’s quite affordable for entry and features some cool creatures. Something we haven’t done yet is the Edmonton Aviation Museum, but with trips to Edmonton at least once a year, it is on our list to visit. The Royal Alberta Museum is also located in Edmonton and is on our list of must-see attractions. Rogers Place also plays host to a number of events on top of professional hockey, and Edmonton is known as the festival capital of Canada, and in the spring and summer months you’ll find Edmonton host to a number of different festivals. Let’s also not forget the quick drive to Jasper where you can enjoy all the wonders of the Canadian Rockies.
Mmmm Food…
For the foodies! Edmonton has some spectacular eateries. For the Labour Day weekend, we discovered a cool hot pot restaurant that was one of those hole-in-the-wall type places. However, the online reviews were great. For those unaware of what hot pot is, you’ll all get your own stove and soup base, and you cook your own meals. What makes hot pot amazing is the sauces, and this place’s sauce buffet was endless! Unoriginally, it is called Chinese Hot Pot Buffet. Luckily we made reservations, as arriving at 8pm, the place was absolutely jam packed, and our table for 12 was seated in no time. There is an all-you-can-eat menu, but at that time, there’s a special where you pick your soup base + 5 items, we went with that. Pro tip if you go, mix and match among the table and share, the true spirit of hot pot.
Hot pot was a hit with the kids, they had so much fun and were able to cook their own meals.
Another cool hot pot restaurant was the Chili Hot Pot Chinese Restaurant. Here, the affordable all-you-can-eat restaurant has a robotic cat that brings dishes out to tables. Again, the kids loved making their own meals, apparently it tastes better when they make their own meals, go figure!
Robotic cat server at Chili Hot Pot Chinese Restaurant that brings you dishes.
Final Thoughts
A lot of Canadians have never explored Canada. While we aspire to travel the world with our kids, its also important to explore our own backyard, and all points across Canada have so much to offer for exciting family getaways. With family locally, we will continue to return to Edmonton regularly, once or twice per year. While we have our staple of activities we return to, there is still plenty for us to explore and discover, and happily look forward to our trips to Edmonton. Thanks for reading and we look forward to exploring more of Canada in the coming years. Have a favorite activity we should try in Edmonton? Leave a comment and let us know!
Across the Country for 96 Hours!? Yes, yes we did.
We travelled from Victoria to Ottawa on the August long weekend in 2022 from July 30 to August 2. What transpired was a fast, but easy-going, long weekend full of activities in the nation’s capital. This trip was only booked within 9 weeks of the trip happening which for us is quite a short window, and in total secrecy. That’s right, I booked a trip on the other side of the country unbeknownst to the family. Why did I do this? It was our 10th wedding anniversary, and while COVID had put a damper on a lot of other activities, I was intent on making this anniversary a fun post-COVID family trip.
2 Queen Beds Room at the Fairfield Inn Ottawa Airport
We landed late in the evening on July 30th, having departed Victoria an hour late. You can see the review of our round-trip flight on my last blog. Due to the late arrival of our plane, even without the delay, the car rental counters were already closed at Ottawa International Airport (YOW). For this reason, we had two different hotels booked so that I could zip back to the airport and grab our car rental first thing in the morning.
Beautiful tarmac views available from the Fairfield Inn YOW.
Tarmac Views and Breakfast Included!? Yes, Please!
Our first hotel was just a quick drive minutes from Ottawa Airport, the Fairfield Inn Ottawa Airport. This hotel offers a free shuttle to the airport at relatively set times, so plan accordingly if you intend on using it. I’m an avid user of Marriott Hotels and Resorts, and a Gold Elite member. What this gives you Is priority late checkout of 2pm subject to availability and enhanced room upgrades on arrival, subject to availability. Our room was large and comfortable, we had 2 queen beds, a separate sitting area with TV and sofa, and room to really spread out, excuse the mess, I didn’t get a chance to get photos before we unpacked for bed. The room had an amazing view of the tarmac and the active runway at YOW. The Fairfield brand also offers free breakfast and basic Wi-Fi, Marriott Gold Elite members also have access to high-speed Wi-Fi where available.
History and Heat
For those who haven’t been to Ottawa, summers are hot and humid, so plan accordingly. We ensured we packed lots of water as we took off into the city. It wasn’t actually as hot as Ottawa can get, so we got lucky. Our first activity was parking downtown and exploring the downtown area on foot, heading over to the National War Memorial. This provided an opportunity to discuss Canada’s wartime contributions with the kids and highlight the importance of the memorial.
National War MemorialWar of 1812 Monument
From there, we headed over to the Parliament buildings and toured around the exterior, talking with the kids about the history and importance of our parliament buildings. Noon came around and we headed back towards the car, stopping for lunch on the way. We came across a street market on Sparks Street, picked up some food, and fresh squeezed lemonade from one of those lemon-shaped stands. The lemonade was exactly what we needed to help with the extreme humidity and heat, something us West Coasters are not used to!
Lots of cranes due to ongoing upgradesView of Ottawa River from Parliament HillNational RCMP Memorial
Our next stop was the Canadian War Museum. The last time I was in Ottawa was 2005, and the museum wasn’t open in all its current glory yet. This was a bucket list item of mine that the kids also really enjoyed. All the jeeps, tanks, galleries, and models were really educational for the kids and quite interactive. After a few hours here, we headed to our next hotel to check in and relax before our next activity.
Our next hotel was the Four Points by Sheraton on the Gatineau-side of the Ottawa River. This was really special for Alyssa as it was her first time being in Quebec. On check in, it was clear though that the Fairfield was leaps and bounds nicer then the Four Points hotel. While also under the Marriott Banner, Four Points are a lower-cost brand for Marriott, and don’t offer free breakfast. The room was also much smaller, featuring 2 double beds, and no room for anything else. There was a small mini-fridge as is standard but no microwave.
Bus? Boat? How ’bout Both! It Floats!
We had one more scheduled activity for the day, a ride on the Amphibus on the Lady Drive 4. What is this? Well, as the name suggests, it was an amphibious bus. It was a fun ride, and what made it more fun was that we didn’t tell the kids it was a floating bus. So as the bus rolled down the boat launch and into the water, we just enjoyed the kids’ reaction. Later in the evening, we entered the ByWard market and found an amazing 70’s-era diner called Zak’s Diner, and enjoyed a yummy dinner with milkshakes at a retro-coloured outdoor booth.
Boarding Amphibus from the rear stairsKids were so shocked we drove into the Ottawa River!Oh look! It’s a boat-us!
After an exhausting day, we returned to the Four Points for the night. For our next day, I had not planned activities for this day, so we decided what to do when we came back from the ByWard market.
So, what did we do on our next day? Well looking up activities in the area, we found a really cool thought an hour east, in Montebello, Quebec. Called Parc Omega, this was a drive-thru nature safari.
OH DEER!!
Caribou, white-tailed deer, moose, elk, various other animals including wolves, bison, and so much more! Best of all, this drive-thru nature reserve allowed you to bring or buy bags of carrots, and feed the deer as you wind your way through the reserve. Don’t want to do it? No problem, these habituated animals just moved along to the next car. Plan for about 3 hours, you can do it faster but why would you want to? The kids loved it! The slow drive allowed the kids to safely unbuckle and really get up close to these beautiful animals. I’m curious if the rental company was wondering why there was drool all over the windows when we returned the car!
Our final activity of the day was back into the downtown area, a leisurely river cruise/tour of the Rideau Canal. While the kids found it to be more on the boring side, the history lesson and relaxation was a nice way to cap off a fun-filled weekend. After the canal tour, we grabbed dinner and relaxed back at the hotel.
Our flight home on August 2nd was at a humane time in the early afternoon and allowed us to do a bit more exploring before flying home. Again, that flight review is available.
Beautiful departure out of YOW.
Final Thoughts…
Was it worth it? Absolutely! With low cost airfare direct from Victoria, it was a relatively affordable weekend, that’s the magic of ULCC that I hope isn’t lost with Canadians. Add well-priced hotels at the time we travelled, and a bit of overtime easily covered this trip. I hadn’t been to Ottawa since 2005 and it was the first time for Alyssa and the kids, so it was a great way to explore a new area for them. We kept the time there busy, but at no time did we feel rushed or pressured that we had taken on too much. The kids loved the new adventures and activities, along with the sites of the Ottawa Valley. At some point, we’ll plan trips further east to explore more of Canada, Montreal, Quebec City, Halifax, Charlottetown, are all on the list for future travels. Thanks for reading!
Have you been to Ottawa? What are some activities you’d recommend if we go back through? Please leave a comment and follow (the blog and instragram, Go.FamilyTravel)! It would help grow my passion for family travel blogs. I appreciate you taking the time today.
Flair Airlines During COVID Reopening – Extra Legroom and Front of Cabin Seats Flight Segment: YYJ-YOW Round-Trip Aircraft Flown: Boeing 737Max8 (C-FFLZ) Distance Travelled: 7,142 kilometers roundtrip (4,464 miles) Cost: $1,593.48 for all 4 tickets, including 2 carry on bags and seat selection. Only $0.06/km each!
Back for another flight review, and our first flight since travelling to Mexico back in March. I was extra excited about this trip because I had booked it and kept it as a surprise trip for the family; I told Alyssa about the trip a week before we left. The kids literally found out at the airport!
Now, I meant to put this blog up way sooner than Spring 2023, but you know life happens. As an avid traveler, I want to travel and post as much as I can; but as a nurse and father, well, I will post as often as time permits, I promise!
If you aren’t aware, Flair went through some drama in 2022 about whether they were Canadian enough to operate in Canada, and when the Canadian Transportation Agency ruled in favour of the airline on June 1, 2022, I immediately jumped on and booked the tickets.
Considering the latest drama of four of Flair’s jets being very publicly repossessed, I felt compelled to post this as there seems to be a lot of misunderstanding about Flair’s role within the Canadian aviation industry. This would be our very first flight on Edmonton-based ultra-low-cost carrier (ULCC) Flair Airlines. Our previous experience with ULCC’s here in Canada has been on Swoop, WestJet’s lost cost subsidiary. Back in 2020, it was fine, although the hours long delays on flights home, on two occasions, really left a sour taste in my mouth. Flair’s non-stop flight from Victoria to Ottawa at the time of booking happens twice weekly and fit perfectly for an extended weekend in Canada’s capital.
So here’s a review of our trip to Ottawa onboard Flair Airlines for the August long weekend in 2022, and I’ll share some thoughts on why Flair and other ULCC’s are so important to the Canadian aviation industry.
Before Boarding
Maddy relaxed and ready for our 4+ hour hop to Ottawa (YOW)
Booking the flight on Flair’s website was easy and straightforward. Flair offers point-to-point bookings, and any connections must be booked separately. One thing I’ve noted playing around with their website, there is no discount or advantage to book round-trip routing. Indeed, if it works to your advantage, it likely gives you more flexibility to book two one-way segments just in case. In terms of pricing, as you see above, I paid a total of $1,593 round-trip for all 4 of us as a round trip booking. When you break it down, the 7,142km trip cost per person was a mere 5.6 CENTS per kilometer from Victoria to Ottawa return!
The booking process was easy, but watch for upsells for bundles, if you don’t need most of those things included and you’ll find better value grabbing add-ons individually. Things seemed to fall apart from the customer service experience after booking. A company that relies heavily on automation/electronic service, they really need to invest in more communication and customer agent training. Days before the flight, they did an equipment change, which happens, no problem. However, this swap booted out my seat selection, but when I went back in to select my seats, the system charged me a second time. After 2 frustrating hour-long attempts to get through to Flair on their chat bot, I ended up calling in and after another frustrating 2 hour wait, got a refund on my double charged seats.
The biggest frustration was the agent was making me prove I had paid twice, which I had all the receipts for. In the end, she sent me a confirmation of the refund, the summary showed the double charge. In other words, she could see the double charge the whole time but wanted to make sure I’d go through the process for the refund, like how insurance companies drag out claims hoping you’ll walk away from the process, shameful! Check-in was nice and easy. Keep in mind, they charge you $15 per person if you want to check in at the counter at the airport, so make sure you’re set up to check-in online. Pro-tip, screenshot your boarding passes once you have them as the Flair app is also riddled with bugs. The check-in counters at the airport were quite busy, we just had Jacob’s car seat to gate check, and they told us we could get it tagged at the gate too.
Flight experience – YYJ to YOW
For this flight, I selected extra-legroom seats to make the 5-hour flight more comfortable, more for me then the others, of course. Our plane today was a 2-year-old Boeing 737 Max 8 (Reg C-FFLZ). Flair allows passengers flying with children under 12 to board with priority boarding, we quickly stowed our carry on and found our seats in 3 and 4 E/F. The Flair 737Max overhead bins are different than other carriers though, being a little smaller, roller cases can’t fit in on their side like the WestJet and Air Canada overhead bins. The crew member who told me this was rather rude, but I quickly brushed this off and looked forward to how the flight would go. The legroom was amazing, if I had to hazard a guess, I’d say we had about 35-36 inches of pitch. The seats are a comfortable fabric rather the pleather of other airlines *ahem, WestJet*. I know WestJet will claim it’s easier to clean, but this aircraft was clean and in good shape.
View from 4F, a great wing/engine view from up front.Extra Legroom Seats on the Flair 737-8 Max.
Flair doesn’t advertise what the legroom is even in the standard seats, but the extra legroom was fantastic. Keep in mind for evening flights, Flair’s seats do not recline at all! Zero. Which some may appreciate and prefer. There are also no headrests or anything. I did bring a travel pillow but that was poached by my amazing daughter who fit the seat like sitting on a throne!
Amazing views of the beautiful south coast on takeoff from YYJ.
We boarded just a few minutes late, but soon after, the captain came on and let us know we’d be about 30-mintues delayed due to a technical issue that flight engineers were just correcting. We pushed back at about 20-minutes late, but sat on the tarmac for about 10-minutes, when the captain came back on and informed us, we unfortunately had to return to the gate as the problem wasn’t yet corrected. Better safe than sorry, and I appreciated the honesty. We ended up taking off just over an hour late.
The flight itself was fine, the crew were quite friendly and came around a couple times with the buy-on-board service. Of note, this is an ULCC after all, there is nothing included with the service, including water. We were prepared and had our own water and snacks. We wanted a light dinner on board and the menu items aren’t too horribly priced, you can combo a couple items for a small discount too, but they unfortunately had no pizzas, so we had to make do with a couple of vegetable Mr. Noodles. We bought the last two (a few rows back I heard the FA mention they were out) and shared with the kids. Turns out, Flair doesn’t reload the galley in Victoria, so they sold most of their buy-on-board products on the flight to Victoria. Not the best approach for an airline that relies on ancillary revenue to turn a profit.
The kids were a bit hungry but got by with the trail mix and other snacks we had packed. There are no special touches for the kids, activity kits, etc. They had their backpacks with them and kept busy with their tablets and toys they brought. Jacob slept for a bit as well. One of the best things about flying with younger children is with the armrest up, we parents get a bit more elbow room. This was nice considering Alyssa’s aisle seat mate was rather intrusive on the armrest space. We always give them the window seat but it’s easy enough for me to peer over them, for now anyways.
Flair is slowly getting their app-based inflight entertainment up and running and is available on some flights, but alas, there was nothing available on one of their longest transcontinental flights. We were also prepared for this, with lots of downloaded games and videos. Despite this, the evening flight felt much longer than the just over 5 hours allotted. We landed and disembarked from the plane at just before 1am Ottawa local time.
Our nation’s capital, Ottawa, lit up for a night landing into YOW.
The Return – YOW to YYJ
Guess what? For our return flight, the same thing happened as on the outbound. When I booked the tickets, we were scheduled on a Boeing 737-800, but again we were swapped to a Boeing 737-8 Max. While both aircraft are identical in size, the Max 8 has extra legroom seats down the ride side for the first several rows. Again, our prepaid seats were kicked out and I had to spend another 2 hours on the phone with Flair customer service to correct this error and reselect seats. The agent promised a refund on the seat selection for this time spent, but it never did come.
Standard legroom in row 9 of Flair’s 737-8Max. Like some airlines, Flair avoids labelling the -8Max as a 737Max.
We spent about an hour at the Aspire Lounge which was lovely. Don’t be kidding, Flair definitely doesn’t include lounge access. We got in with our Amex Platinum Card and it was a nice way to relax and enjoy a drink and a meal before the flight. The staff were friendly and attentive, the food selection was okay for a small lounge, the drinks were good and self-serve, and it was a nice, quiet place to relax with the kids while we waited to board. There were even decent apron views but for a smaller airport, there wasn’t much to spot. Considering we wouldn’t have any food on the flight, it was nice to be able to grab a bite and some beverages before boarding our return flight to Victoria.
Variety of seating at YOW’s Aspire Lounge. Views from YOW’s Aspire Lounge
The flight back was considerably more comfortable, I had chosen seats that appeared to have an empty aisle seat and continued to look up until check-in, and we lucked out with having two entire rows to ourselves, 9 and 10 A and B (as well as C!). This made for a very comfortable flight home, and Jacob got his first experience at a lie flat seat for a nap! Lucky kid considering the seats don’t recline.
The flight was perfectly on time, we started boarding about 10 minutes earlier than expected and pushed back right on schedule. I mean, given all the travel chaos that marked summer 2022, this was completely standard. However, on arrival at Victoria International, an outbound Flair flight to Toronto was quite behind schedule, and so we had to sit on the tarmac for 30 minutes to wait for the gate to become available as there wasn’t enough ground crew to handle both flights concurrently.
View of the wing and engine on take off from YOW, as seen from seat 9A.
The crew on the flight was mostly the same as our outbound flight, a couple flight attendants were different. As we boarded, the cockpit door was open, and the crew let the kids have a look inside which they loved. We did purchase 2 pizza combos on this flight, the buy-on-board service was fully stocked flying out of Ottawa confirming my suspicions they don’t restock in Victoria. The pizzas reminded me of the 90’s personal pizzas that McDonald’s used to sell and were decent for the price. Alyssa and I enjoyed the pop that came with the combo.
With an entire row to ourselves, this lucky little man got a lie flat nap, still safely buckled in of course!
Final Thoughts
Flair and Swoop have abysmal ratings, like worst airlines in Canada bad. You’d think they’re the worst in the world reading through reviews. Canadians however, aren’t used to the likes of SouthWest and Ryan Airlines. These airlines play a significant role in connecting smaller cities, and lowering airfares in one of the most expensive markets in the world. By comparison, return airfare on Canada’s “big two” for this trip was $3200 plus, or approximately double the cost with stops, and for a 3-night trip I would not have done it. What Flair, Swoop, and now Lynx are doing is allowing Canadians new travel connections, new, affordable opportunities to explore our own country or new places. This is also opening a segment of the population that would want to travel but can’t afford the big 2.
Aside from my issues with customer service rectifying the double charge for seat selection, it was a good experience. My suggestion is to call in and speak directly with customer service if you need something dealt with, the online chat agents were just awful.
Flair doesn’t make a lot of money from the base seats you pay for. So, their job is to sell as many add-ons as possible, and that is where they make money, this is known as unbundled fares. If you are savvy enough, you can get away with the barebones costs which can make for quite an affordable weekend getaway to say Las Vegas, or Edmonton! Some people will pay double or triple the price just to avoid Flair, but you’re still paying for an unbundled experience, at least domestically. On “full-service” or “hybrid service” Air Canada and WestJet respectfully, you’re still paying for snacks and seats. Is that price tag worth it to bring a carry-on for free? Let’s not even bring up lost checked luggage…
However, Canadian aviation is cutthroat and has had lots of casualties, the unfortunate reality is that Canada can most likely only support one of two of the ULCC’s on top of the legacy carriers. I do wish and hope for the best for Flair though. Would I fly them again? Well, we already did, on a trip to Edmonton in September, and we got to experience the 737 Max again. I really enjoyed the passenger experience on the Max and felt completely safe. One of the biggest risks of ULCC’s is with smaller fleets and less frequency, rebooking can be a significant challenge when there is a cancellation, and we’ve seen that numerous times now, but that’s not to say AC and WJ have been immune to significant network problems.
Stay tuned for my flight review of our flight to Edmonton. Stay tuned and thanks for reading! Please follow my blog for more family travel reviews. Have you flown on Flair? Leave a comment on your experience.
Location: Fort Langley Selling Feature: FVRD owned campground and rates reflect this Price per night: $61 + GST, plus site lock fee of $25 Hookups: Full service with 30amp power
Booking and Getting There
Fort Camping is conveniently located at Brae Island Regional Park, a quaint community about an hour east of Vancouver. We booked this site back in early-January for our Canada Day weekend trip. At the time of booking, about 75% of the sites were already occupied. The site is easy to navigate with list and map view for easy reference.
For us, it involved a ferry reservation, so even though we were booked to arrive June 30th, we opted to avoid an evening setup at 9:30pm, instead, we booked ourselves on the 8am sailing going from Swartz Bay to Tsawwassen ferry terminal. From there, it is an approximately 50-minute drive to Fort Camping taking Highway 17 and connecting in at Hwy 1.
The sunrise over the coast is always a beautiful site no matter how often we sail this route.
A word of caution as driving through Fort Langley can be busy, with lots of pedestrian traffic on the narrow town roads, keep to the posted limit or slower and watch for wanderers. And for those who need to arrive via ferry, it is highly suggested to have a ferry reservation for your over height vehicle.
The Campground
The campground sits on Brae Island, and at times during the spring melt can be closed due to flooding risk. There are 156 sites available. The sites vary from pull-thru to back in sites, inner and outer ring, 30 and 50 amp, full-service to tenting. There are also 5 glamping sites for those more inclined to be on a bed while camping but don’t have a camper. You do have to bring your own bedding but they’re pretty neat accommodations. Most sites are open and exposed with minimal privacy. Because this is a public campground, there are limits in place during the summer months on how long people can be there for. There are some folks that set up their sites for the mid-term and get pretty comfortable there. With the location though, can you blame them?
Good old-fashioned fun. Our friends setup a rope swing for the kids.
A work of caution for the biting-bug adverse camper, Fort Camping has mosquitoes, and they can sometimes have A LOT of mosquitoes. Bring the spray and citronella lamps.
Checking In and Setting Up
The staff upon checking in were friendly and attentive. On checking in, we got a map with the best route to our site, along with a brochure of activities for the Canada Day long weekend. We had two side-by-side sites booked to be next to friends. The sites themselves are open and flat. The hookups are conveniently located along the side of the site midway down. Our 30-amp hookup had no problems as confirmed by my Camco Dogbone Circuit Analyzer with surge protection. The sites are flat and have plenty of space to back into, and they are angled for easy back-in on the one-way roads.
Side-by-Side locked sites cost an extra $25 each but was well worth it.
To secure our side-by-side sites, we paid an additional $25 plus GST lock fee. This guaranteed us our chosen locations.
Things to Do – On and Offsite
Fort Camping thrives at family-friendly camping. There is a nice playground, lots of child-friendly activities, ice cream sold on site, and they rent these cool little peddle cars that the kids greatly enjoyed, and for a pretty reasonable price too! For the Canada Day long weekend, there were extra activities planned, including a giant inflatable slide that the kids spent a good hour at two days in a row, and was no extra charge. There used to be a pool but that was filled in a few years ago. There are trails located around that are part of the regional park, these are nice easy hikes and bike rides to do with the kids. There are normally an abundance of mosquitoes here too so you’ve been duly warned.
Watch for kids zipping around in these pedal cars
There is a small general store with the usual RV parts/items and this is where ice cream along with other snack and drink items are sold. Nearby, the small community of Fort Langley is easy walk/bike access and gives you the feeling of having left the hustle of Vancouver and into the small towns that, well, anywhere else in BC is more known for. Fort Langley National Historic Site is also within a 10-minute bike ride. For a small fee, you can travel back in time complete with era-specific actors and walking through homes and workshops from the gold-rush and fur-trade era.
Hay rides as part of the Canada Day festivities.
Final Words
We have returned to Fort Camping pretty much every year since we’ve had a travel trailer. This includes when we lived a mere 15-mintues away in Yorkson Creek. The family-friendly amenities and atmosphere keep us returning year after year. We are consistently happy to be here, including years like this year where there seems to be more mosquito activity. The staff are friendly and so are the other campers. The kids love exploring the Fort and going for bike rides into town for ice cream. We will likely return next year as well and look forward to the many activities and to see what they’ll offer next year.
Have you been to Fort Camping? Share your thoughts in the comments below. Have questions? Please post them and I will do my best to answer.
Selling Feature: Large private sites, on-site boat and fishing gear rentals, proximity to trails
Price per night: $62.40 + GST + $5 per child over 5 beyond 2 guests
Hookups: Full service with 30amp power
No campfires are allowed at this RV resort but propane firepits are permitted.
Getting There
Pedder Bay is a convenient short drive from our home. This made is perfect for a quick, short weekend getaway with the trailer. While close to home, its location made us feel like we had completely left the area without breaking the bank on fuel costs. Access is easy from Victoria, coming down Rocky Point Road, turn onto Pedder Bay Drive (there is a rather steep hill when towing just before the turnoff), and coming down Pedder Bay Drive you come across a check in booth with phone over to the office to check in. From there, you just proceed to your site and get setup. Staff interaction can be pretty minimal here.
Check-In and Site Access
The staff at the resort are friendly when you interact though. They are well-informed and educated with regards to the marine conditions and boat rentals. Maneuvering was easy into our large booked site and I was backed in and unhooked in no time. As usual, I plugged in my surge protector plug and it showed the electrical was not a problem. I can’t stress enough and recommended to use some form of surge protection, I use a Camco Dogbone RV Circuit Analyzer as some campgrounds are known to haphazardly install more electrical sites without permit which can cause problems with the sensitive circuits in the trailers. We were in site # 26 which was large and flat. The sites here are shielded from each other with cedar hedges that are tall and mature; this gives you a great sense of privacy.
Activities and Amenities
Pedder Bay is a beautiful RV resort, as the name suggests, it sits on the edge of Pedder Bay. It has on site boat rentals through the Oak Bay Marine Group at a reasonable price on a 2-hour minimum. They don’t take reservations though and are first-come-first serve. The staff are aware of marine conditions and won’t allow rentals when conditions aren’t safe for these small craft to go out. It can be deceiving as Pedder Bay is quite sheltered, but as soon as you leave the bay, you’re at the mercy of converging currents and can get quite rough.
For kids, there isn’t really anything to mention for on site activities. We usually have our own set of toys for the kids to play with. The walk down the dock and hilltop overlooking the bay is quite nice and my daughter loved doing her gymnastics up there. The kids also enjoyed clamoring down the rocks to the water and explore the shore edge. The RV Resort is in close proximity to local trails and activities offsite though.
There is also WiFi available throughout much of the resort, and the speeds were decent as well with a download of 21.2Mbps and upload of 18Mbps. I was able to stream YouTube content in at least 720p with no lag. Our Telus networked cellphones also had full reception here.
Boat launch and dock available for an additional fee
Campground
The “campground” itself is advertised as an RV Resort. The main roads are paved with gravel sites. This means scooters and solid-tire toys like kids balance bikes can be played with. There were loads of kids and families around as well and the kids quickly make and interact with new friends. There is a general store on site, because of the attached boat and fishing gear rental, this store is quite well stocked, and there is also a licensed café on site too. For those with your own boats, there is a nice boat launch that you can use, I believe there is an additional fee attached and prior to using you have to park and speak with the staff inside the office/general store prior to launching.
There are a variety of sites here, back in, waterfront, pull-thru, etc. Along with a variety of power options, depending on the site, 15 amp, 30 amp, and 50 amp. This resort easily accommodates big rigs.
A nice gazebo on a hill overlooking the bay.Stunning views and nice calm bay. This is a popular launch point for fishing trips.
Conclusion
This was our second time at this RV Resort. It was again nice, with the biggest benefit for us being its proximity to home, but being secluded, we felt like we had left Greater Victoria altogether. We didn’t get to rent a boat and go out this time, but we will definitely be returning in future seasons and if conditions are right, will take a boat out to try our luck fishing as well. For the price, friendly staff, and nicely setup pads, Pedder Bay RV Resort offers good value for money for a full service location, and there are also sometimes last minute sites to book even getting into busier weekends.
Adventures of the Nguyen Family 