Review of Air Canada flight from Taipei to Vancouver in Business

(7 of 8)
Every year we go on an annual trip to Asia, this time we decided to visit family in Taipei before returning to Thailand. We were planning on heading to Bali but due to the volcanic activity we redirected to Phuket/Ko Phi Phi.
This flight report covers the following trips:
SFO - YVR in Business on Air Canada - Here
Maple Leaf Lounge / YVR - TPE in Business on Air Canada - Here
TPE - BKK in Business on Thai Airways - Here
BKK - HKT in Economy on Thai Airways - Here
HKT - BKK in Business on Thai Airways - Here
BKK - TPE in Business on Thai Airways - Here
TPE - YVR in Business on Air Canada - YOU ARE HERE
YVR - SFO in Business on Air Canada - Here
We arrived into TPE from our connecting flight with about 5 hours to connect before our next flight to Canada. However, upon landing we found out that our inbound aircraft from Vancouver was delayed thus delaying our departure by about two hours therefore causing us to miss our connecting flight to SFO. The crazy thing was that we were traveling with another friend who got rebooked onto the later SFO flight. However, the two of us got put on a flight out to Calgary with an overnight and flight out early the next morning to SFO. We think the reason for the flight out was that there were two seats in business on both those legs. Obviously, we didn't want to do this routing and get home a day later just for business class. We walked over to the EVA desk, unfortunately, they were unable to help so we called Air Canada. We were on hold for 45 minutes and the agent was finally able to switch the both of us on the later flight to SFO, getting home roughly 5 hours later but home none the less.
We had a LOT of time to kill, so we checked out the EVA lounge (both the Star and Infinity), the Singapore Airlines lounge and the Priority Pass Lounge (where we got a shower).
Boarding was finally called roughly at 7:20 PM and we were eager to get on board and on our way.

The door of the 787-9 (in the old livery) that would take us across the ocean.

C-FRSA which was a 1-year old 787-9 would be taking us to Vancouver and we benefitted from a rather short 10:09 flight duration.

For the return leg, my partner and I decided to sit in the middle seats of the cabin which were next to each other in the 1-2-1 configuration. At our seats were a pillow, blanket, amenity kit, bottle of water, over ear headphones and in-ear headphones.

The menu for the flight, I went with the pork loin.

One interesting feature of the middle seats was the divider. It didn't lower, which was a disappointment. However, there was a light you could control that created a really nice effect. I thought this was a real thoughtful touch.

To kick-off the meal service I had the champagne along with the warm nuts on offer.

I found the seafood appetizer good although lacking in some flavor.

Salad was alright, I wish it was something other than balsamic vinaigrette for the dressing.

The pork loin arrived and it was a disappointment. It was drowning in pretty heavy, salty sauce. The vegetables were soggy and kind of thrown on top of the food.

My partner had the chicken and he wasn't very pleased with it either. Here is a picture of the meal.

To finish off the meal I had fruit, chocolate cake and ice cream for dessert. The fruit and cheese were served from a cart along with the other desserts. The cake was rich and hit the spot along with the ice cream.

I managed to get around 5 hours of sleep. I woke up in the middle of the flight sweating, even when I had two of the vents open fully. I went up to the FA in the forward galley and asked to see if they could turn down the temperature. It was set to 24 C / 75 F! She apologized for the heat and mentioned to me that there was a pregnant woman seated in business who was freezing and there were no extra blankets to offer her. I offered her mine (which was unused) and she said it would be alright. She lowered it 1 C / 2 F which wasn't much but you could tell a difference in temperature. I walked back to my seat and noticed most people bundled up… I was bewildered since my partner then woke up complaining how hot it was.
I managed more sleep before the arrival meal was served roughly 90 minutes to arrival.
I went with the dim sum and it was alright, a bit on the small side in terms of portion size.

We arrived roughly 2 hours late into a rainy and wet Vancouver.
I found the Air Canada crew not as great as the YVR-TPE, service wasn't super warm but not cold and the crew were attentive to any needs. They didn't come through offering any snacks when they saw someone up from a nap like they did to TPE.