Izjezted

I was just reading that the air quality has been affected in metro Vancouver. We were planning to go to Grouse & Capilano on August 11. We were also planning to go up to Squamish on August 19(Landsea Tours) & Victoria(Prince of Whales tour) on August 20.

No MDR on Gala nights? We will probably do those. Is Tamarind open or closed for lunch?

How was the food in the MDR? Did you go to Pinnacle or Tamarind?

We are booked on the Mendenhall & Evening Whale Watch excursion. The excursion ends at 9:00 pm. Should I book a specialty restaurant that night (Tamarind)? Or should we ask the MDR to accommodate us that night? My elderly parents and 9 yo daughter might fill up on the buffet provided on this excursion because 9:00 might be too late for them to eat. We are also doing Tracy Arm one way excursion that morning. I am guessing that we will have to order room service for breakfast and purchase lunch on the morning excursion. I am the one doing all of the planning because my family does not want to know any of the details.

Thanks everyone. It is difficult to pack for this trip because we need dressy clothes. Last year we went to Yellowstone the week after it snowed. The temperatures of course were in the 80's. I told my mother to pack at least one sweater because she bought lightweight long sleeved pant and skirt sets. She has just gotten a windbreaker, but I figure that we might buy one in Juneau or Skagway or on the ship before we get to Glacier Bay.

First time cruiser, first time to Alaska. We are sailing NA on August 12. I would feel strange packing one, but the weather in Juneau, Ketchikan, Skagway & Glacier Bay has been hovering in the 50's. We are also doing the One-Way Tracy Arm excursion and evening whale watch.

Where would you personally stay at in Vancouver?

Well, personally I'd stay at home;-)

 

But of the three options listed, Pinnacle is the best choice IMO. The Chateau Granville is in the heart of party central, surrounded by bars & nightclubs with very late opening hours. It's about as loud a place as you can find downtown, and the street scene late at night is messy (Vancouver concentrates its late night clubs in this area so that policing is easier - most of the drunk idiots from the 'burbs end up here in the wee small hours). The airport - well, since you're not actually touring any of Vancouver if you stayed here you literally wouldn't see any of the city at all except while passing through!

 

Now you've clarified how many are in your party I'll also modify some earlier notes about your initially-planned stay at the airport - you'll need two taxis every time as there are virtually none that seat more than 5 pax, and even those are few and far-between. I've seen only a couple of 6-seaters ever, and ~80% of local cabs are Prius models which are fine for 4 people without luggage, but probably safer to say you'd only get three inside with your full luggage.

 

The best Italian food downtown is open to debate, but Ask For Luigi in Gastown is the one that most of the folks I know in the trade agree is the best. CinCin is very good and very pricey - it's a celebrity hangout - while my personal fave is Cinara (traditional Italian techniques but using locally-sourced ingredients). Campagnolo is a more reasonably-priced 'real' Italian who make their own salumi etc. More recently, Savio Volpe has racked up a ton of good press. It's very reminiscent of a real Osteria rather than the 'mostly pasta & pizza' style of North American Italian food.

 

Dynasty Seafood would likely cost $20-25 by cab from the Pinnacle (x2 cabs of course if you were all going - they do offer fairly 'normal' Cantonese food that will be familiar to you folks as well as more authentic stuff) and all of the other restos above would be in the $15 or less cab range except Savio Volpe, which could be as much as $30 in traffic. However the 19 bus runs right past, and also runs right through downtown to Stanley Park so could be taken conveniently for very low cost. Concession transit tickets cost $1.85 and would apply to everyone except you & hubs, who would cost $2.85pp ($13.10 total per trip - but NB buses only take cash and do not give change...)

 

Closer good Chinese - try Kirin downtown, walkable from Pinnacle and a similar high-end Cantonese resto to Dynasty. Not quite as many awards recently, but a long history of high quality food.

 

Edit - and for more cheap & cheerful Chinese, the downtown Hons branch is also perhaps walkable even for the oldies. Unfortunately the Chinatown branch will be no longer by your visit, but their Robson branch would have been more conveinet to visit anyway. ChongQing (Szechuan) and Dinesty (dumplings - other stuff too, but really it's all about the dumplings!) lso both have downtown branches.

We are going to spend 2 nights in Vancouver after our Holland America cruise. We are a group of myself, dh and dd age 9, my parents ages 70 & 79 with walking problems and an uncle age 80. My parents and uncle do not want to do much walking, but they would enjoy the atmosphere of downtown Vancouver. We are taking 2 tours. Landsea Sea to Sky tour where they will pick us up at the terminal and drop off the baggage for day one. We are taking a Whale Watching tour to Victoria where the return boat departs from a dock at Butchart Gardens. I have reserved tea at the Empress at 1:00, and Prince of Whales said that that would be fine as long as we took the CVS shuttle at 3:00.

I have reserved

Pinnacle Harbourfront harbor view room for $788 USD for two nights including tax.

Best Western Chateau Granville for $617 US including tax for two nights.

Days Inn Vancouver Airport for $446.50 USD including tax for two nights.

I am leaning towards the Pinnacle because we probably will never come back to the Pacific Northwest again.

We will not get back from the tours until 6-7:30. Also, we have an 8:40 flight from Vancouver.

My parents might enjoy Italian food or even try dim sum. I see that there are some very good new Italian restaurants, but my parents enjoy a well made lasagna bolognese or spaghetti vongole (Mom was born and raised in Italy), and dd would enjoy pizza or chicken parm (dd has very selective taste in food). If they tried Chinese, which I have heard is excellent, they might not like what they are used to getting in the Philadelphia Chinatown, i.e. sweet and sour chicken or wonton soup or chicken and cashew nut. DH and I would be willing to try authentic Chinese, though. We probably will have one meal at Tamarind on board the Holland America.

I looked at Dynasty Seafood on Broadway. How much would a cab be from the Pinnacle to that restaurant.

Thanks everyone. I am travelling with older parents who have trouble walking. So, I booked tours with Landsea Tours on Saturday doing the Sea to Sky tour (they transfer luggage to hotel). On Sunday, we have to get down to the Westin Bayshore because we are taking a whale watching trip to Victoria for the day. I booked tea at the Empress because my parents would enjoy that. We are getting a transfer to Butchart gardens at 3:00 because the boat leaves from the dock at the gardens. I had to pick tours that involve little walking.

I was debating about booking a hotel in downtown Vancouver, but the prices are double that of Days Inn ($190), and we have really early flights on Monday-8:40 a.m.

We are staying there two nights post cruise. We are not renting a car, so we will have to walk or take taxi. Any suggestions?

We will probably pay for hotels and restaurants for our Vancouver stay with a card. But, for taxi trips and tips, do you exchange before landing in Canada?

We are really looking forward to riding the Sea to Sky HIghway. The tour also includes a trip to Brittania Mine Museum and a stop at Horseshoe Bay and Shannon Falls. So, Grouse Mountain and Stanley Park would be too much the morning of?

First time cruiser, here. Dh, dd (9yo) myself, My parents (ages 70 &78-Dad has some trouble walking).

We are on Nieuw Amsterdam on Aug 12.

Dh, dd, and I arrive August 10 late at night (10 pm). My parents arrive August 11 at 3:05 pm.

We are staying at the Pan Pacific pre-cruise. We plan to take advantage of the hotel's direct to ship baggage check-in.

I was thinking of the aquarium that Friday morning until my parents get to the hotel. Maybe we can some of see Stanley Park after meeting my parents at the hotel, then get dinner out.

I was thinking of Grouse Mountain the morning of the cruise, and seeing its lumberjack show. Dh does not think that it is worth the money since we are going on the Sea to Sky gondola post cruise. Should we take the shuttle to Grouse Mountain from the Pan Pacific, or rent a car to get back to the cruise ship in time.

We won't have time for Mount Roberts Tramway since are doing the one-way Tracy Arm excursion & evening whale watch with Mendenhall Glacier stop).

Also, any recommendations for seafood restaurants near the Pan Pacific would be greatly appreciated. We are coming from the east coast and are looking forward to fresh crab legs, local salmon & Alaskan oysters.

Also, we are going to be dealing with some major jet lag coming from Eastern time zone.