Day 9.  We overslept today. The alarm clock didn't go off at 7:00 and I didn't wake up until 7:30.  We rushed around getting everything ready and packing the last couple of things (which turned out to be more than I had planned…I forgot about the clothes we were wearing the night before).  I always pack an extra suitcase, though, so we were ok.  If for no other reason, we always buy enough souvenirs and gifts to need another bag so I pack a soft bag that I can fold up and put into another bag.  I still had to go to the guest relation's desk to turn in the extension cord I had gotten so Malissa went to the VIP departure lounge to get some coffee.  Unfortunately, there was a long line at the guest relation's desk and it took quite a while to turn in the cord.  Definitely want to bring my own next time.  By the time I finished, they had already called us to disembark so once I found Malissa we immediately got in line to get off the ship.
   Disembarking in Vancouver was the best experience we've had with getting off a cruise ship.  I think the key was they had us go through customs before we got our luggage so you don't have people trying to carry a dozen bags and get the passport ready at the same time.  It took a while to get to the customs agent, but once we did we were through quickly and we picked up our bags.  Since we were a little late getting off the ship our bags were easy to find.
   Vancouver also has carts for passengers to use to carry their bags (rather than making you pay for a porter) so we were able to get to our bus real quick.  The Quick Shuttle had a good setup too.  We went to the desk and gave our names then they took our bags and we got on the bus and left pretty much on time.
   It only took about an hour to get from Vancouver to the border, but that's where things started to go bad.  There were at least 18 buses in front of us and we sat there for three hours waiting for a customs agent to come on board our bus.  The good news was that there was a duty free shop right by the checkpoint and we were able to get off the bus and walk around, or buy stuff, for a while.  The bad news was the duty free shop didn't sell coffee.  Once we got up to the border, the custom agent was great and got our bus through very quickly.  We then went directly to Seattle, with one stop downtown then to the airport.  We got to the Airport about 4:30.  The driver then offered to drop some of us off at our hotels and we got checked in by 5:00.