Cruise Dreams

We'll be in Vancouver for one day pre-cruise in a couple of weeks. I noticed that the Fringe Festival will be taking place at the same time on Granville Island. How much more crowded will it be during the festival? Should we avoid the Island all together?

Also, we arrive mid-morning (9:30ish) on a Friday. How long should we expect it to take us to get through customs, get our luggage, find transportation, and get to our hotel in the west end? Is noon-time, being too optimistic?? We're hoping to go to both Stanley Park and Granville Island after we check in at our hotel.

Thanks in advance.

Thanks so much for your reply, Urban Trekker!! You've been an enormous help. I can't wait to explore your city.

I was so pleased to come across this thread about Vancouver. Thanks, Shoppie for starting it. You, Ell52 and others are so generous to share your information with us. I'm hoping my questions are not repeats.

We'll be in Vancouver for a night's stay pre-cruise in September. We'll arrive late morning, and are hoping to see both Granville Island and Stanley Park. With only having the one day, (and not even a full day), will it be do-able to visit both?

We're considering the Sunset Inn and Suites. Is this a good location for what we want to do? It looks like it would be an easy to walk to where we would catch a water taxi. Is the area fairly safe? Are there any nearby restaurants within walking distance of the hotel? And would it be safe to walk to them in the evening? How far of a walk would it be from the hotel to Stanley Park?

Also, we'd like to check out the dessert place, Death by Chocolate. Is it as good as it sounds??? It looks like there are a couple of locations. Which one would you recommend?

Thanks so much for your time!