ultimatemaniaccruiser

Enterprise rental car now allows one way rental bookings on their website from airports to neighborhood locations so it's possible to do one way rentals from IAH to their seabrook location for ~$70.

Tabayana is west bay beach. The cruise lines call it Tabayana to confuse people into thinking they have some kind of exclusive thing. Banarama is a two minute walk to the spot to enter the reef.

Just thought I'd post my experience with Rony's tours. I booked a shuttle to west bay beach through Rony and ended up with a driver for the day! It was great and the driver stayed with us and helped us out. Great service and good prices and you pay at the end.

I was also on this cruise! The service was great and the food was good too I thought. I ate in the MDR every night. In the Coral one of the waiters sang during dinner a couple of nights. I thought the entertainment was really good too, especially the Hawley Magic show. My experience with embarkation was different than the op. I got there around 12:30pm and got on the ship at about 3:30 after a series of long lineups.

Last Saturday we arrived at Bayport at about 12:30 pm and got on-board around 3:30! We've sailed out of port everglades before and it was a quick easy 20 minute process. When we disembarked one of our bags was missing and my wife tried to get help from one of the staff who I could tell right away had no idea what she was doing and sure enough she just hummed and hawed while I left to go find the bag. Luckily I found the lost and found area and got the bag (tag had fallen off) and went through customs. I think I'll stick with port everglades next time!

Our flight gets into Houston a day early. Therefore, I am looking to rent a car at IAH and drop it off at the cruise terminal or somewhere close by where the rental company will take me to the pier or I can get a taxi. Does anyone know what my best options are?

I saw one suggestion of using Budget and dropping off at Webster. Cost is about $100 for 24 hours. Are there any other options?

Check out costco.com rentals. I've got an SUV for $40 one way IAH to webster. Just book and keep checking, prices fluctuate all the time and you can cancel anytime.

Priceline

Doubletree Hotel Seattle Airport

Three star

1 room for 1 night

1/20/07

$50 (with tax and $64.59)

Best price on hotel web site $87 plus tax

Best western downtown Vancouver is a decent hotel. I've stayed there on business before check out http://www.worldexecutive.com/ ymmv but I got a good deal on a kitchenette. Granville street where this hotel is located is kind of dumpy looking but perfectly safe although your car will be broken into if you leave stuff visible (applies to all areas of Vancouver).

The Howard Johnson on Granville street is ok as well but beware that it's closer to some of the bars on Granville which can be noisy. The best wester and the comfort inn are better in terms of decore.

The comfort inn on Nelson st has been renovated recently and has decent rates. Again this hotel is near the bar district which can be noisy but most downtown vancouver hotels can be.

Keep in mind these three hotels are all more on the south side of town away from the waterfront. It's at least a 15 minute walk to the waterfront from this area.

The mariott pinacle is a good hotel but is pricey. I get a corporate rate here so I stay for $130 a night. Just so you know how low you might be able to get on priceline :) The pinacle's rooms are a little small but the beds and room in general are very nice and clean and newer.

The Rennaisance Vancouver Hotel harbourside is a nice hotel but is older than the pinacle. I haven't stayed in any of the water side rooms but it's a good hotel.

Restaurants in Vancouver :

Chains

Cactus Club is a trendy local chain that has pretty good food. I haven't had a bad meal here. It's middle of the road price wise. The waitresses dress a little racy though.

White Spot is ok mediocre family restaurant fare. Service is always just ok to downright bad. Food is fine.

Must go places

Sun Sui Wah Restaurant has great dim sum. Dim sum is kind of like a chinese brunch. The servers push carts around and you pick what dishes you'd like. Most of the servers cannot speak english all that well so speak slowly to them to find out what they have!

The Banana leaf restaurant is out of this world good. They serve malaysian food which can be spicy so watch out! Try the green beans with prawns.

I like La Bodega restaurant (near the Best Western and HoJo). It's a tapas place with real jugs of Sangria.

If you stay in a hotel with a kitchen I would consider buying some crab at granville island and cooking it in your room! IMHO west coast dungeness crab is the best in the world. Of course I get it for free because I catch it myself!