dnl_in_Illinois

As I mentioned in our roll call thread, get off at the Waterfront Station stop (terminus/last stop). If you were to get off at the Vancouver City Center stop, you will have a much longer walk, albeit downhill, to the Pan Pacific. You're right not to take the tunnel, use either the elevator or escalator to take you to street level.

Whew! I finally have this understood. It is good that I now understand that we go to the end of the line as I did not have that clear in my mind. Thanks again Tweedy and the others who have been so generous with your knowledge.

Buy the 10 pack of one-zone faresavers (C$21, but they will take US$) at the airport 7-11 or Pharmasave. The 7-11 is located one level below DOMESTIC luggage claim and simple to get to. Exit the international arrivals onto the street, turn right, walk about 50 yards, then re-enter the airport again on your right. The pack is a a book of ten tear out tickets, just tear one out for each member of your party, and remember to validate them in the silver box by the ticket machines before getting on the platform and on the train.

 

Hold onto that ticket as Translink/Skytrain is still a proof of purchase system. There are new faregates going in, but aren't in use yet. I'm sure that a visitor to Vancouver/infrequent rider of Skytrain probably hasn't experienced all the faregate construction (and confusion because it's not in use yet).

 

Also, Granville isn't a stop on the [Canada] line from the airport, the closest would be "Vancouver - City Centre". Granville is a station on the older Expo and Millennium lines. Where are you trying to get to ? You'll likely need to get off a "Vancouver - City Centre", or "Waterfront", and for the latter, there are two exits from the station, and picking the wrong one might add a couple of blocks to your walk.

 

If you have any more questions, please feel free to ask, there are a few locals on this board that ride Skytrain daily

Another finding --

I just looked at a SkyTrain route map and it does appear that the actual exit I want is Vancouver City Centre. And you're right, the Granville stop is NOT on the Canada line. Now if I knew what the streets were above the City Centre stop I can navigate to the Pan Pacific from there.

Buy the 10 pack of one-zone faresavers (C$21, but they will take US$) at the airport 7-11 or Pharmasave. The 7-11 is located one level below DOMESTIC luggage claim and simple to get to. Exit the international arrivals onto the street, turn right, walk about 50 yards, then re-enter the airport again on your right. The pack is a a book of ten tear out tickets, just tear one out for each member of your party, and remember to validate them in the silver box by the ticket machines before getting on the platform and on the train.

 

Hold onto that ticket as Translink/Skytrain is still a proof of purchase system. There are new faregates going in, but aren't in use yet. I'm sure that a visitor to Vancouver/infrequent rider of Skytrain probably hasn't experienced all the faregate construction (and confusion because it's not in use yet).

 

Also, Granville isn't a stop on the [Canada] line from the airport, the closest would be "Vancouver - City Centre". Granville is a station on the older Expo and Millennium lines. Where are you trying to get to ? You'll likely need to get off a "Vancouver - City Centre", or "Waterfront", and for the latter, there are two exits from the station, and picking the wrong one might add a couple of blocks to your walk.

 

If you have any more questions, please feel free to ask, there are a few locals on this board that ride Skytrain daily

Thanks for your information and comments. What I thought we could do may not be possible given your comments. We are going to the Pan Pacific hotel at the Canada Center. I thought there was a stop at Granville coming from the airport or Granville St @ Hastings St stop where we can exit to the street. From there it is about a 3 block walk to the hotel. I was also told not to take the tunnel but rather before the tunnel look for an elevator to the street, again as Granville and Hastings.

Does this sound right? Thanks again for catching this especially if I am wrong about the stop. I understand that we could go to the end of the line at Waterfront Station - but that is a little longer walk to the hotel.

Putterdude - I hope your patience does not run out with what seems to be endless questions. Your information and advice has been excellent.

Do I have this right? A family of 5 of us arrive at YVR after 6:30 PM on a Wednesday. We want to take the SkyTrain to the Granville stop. It seems to me we should buy a Fare Saver Book of 10 tickets at a cost of $21.00. Each of us can use one of the 10 tickets for the ride. The $5 YVR upcharge does not apply to Fare Saver tickets.

Alternatively, we could purchase single fare tickets for $2.75 (after 6:30 price) plus the $5 YVR upcharge for a total cost of $38.75 for the 5 of us.

Will the former, Fare Saver approach work for us in this way? Or have I missed something as to how Fare Saver tickets may be used?

Thanks so much for your information.

You will be taking the train to Waterfront Station then leaving the station via the Granville St. exit. Any day pass will expire per the transit wording it is not a 24 hour pass. If you have plans to use transit in the evening then the pass will have some value to you otherwise just pay the discounted fare which from YVR station will be $7.75.

Thanks much. You have been very helpful. We will buy the discounted fare.

We plan to take the SkyTrain from the Vancouver airport to the waterfront exit at Granville St. Since we arrive after 6:30pm I understand we can buy discounted or off-prime hour tickets.

My question is whether a Day Pass would be useful to us? The way I read the expiration time for the Day Pass it appears that it will expire at midnight on the day of purchase. From the SkyTrain website:

>>A DayPass provides unlimited transit use on all buses, SkyTrain and SeaBus for one day from the start of the first transit service to the end of the service day.<<

Am I correct, does the DayPass end at midnight on the day purchased OR is it good for 24 hours? I would pay up for the DayPass if I thought we could use the pass on the day following our arrival.

Since it has stopped raining I took a little stroll down by the Convention center and here is what I found.

 

No sign of Seawall Adventures - there was a place with a neon sign saying Ezee Ryders but it showed leased - so don't know if they are moving in or out - there is a web site for a place with a similiar name on Robson - do know if they are connected - one more thing to check out.

 

Club 16 definitely has bike rentals - $12.00 an hour but I couldn't find a link on the Club's web sites - the bikes in blue or yellow were outside the club so they do exist.

 

And yes the reference to train refers to the Canada Line from the airport.

Hope this helps

 

Cheers

 

Dennis

THANKS! And yes it does help. You're a valuable resource! Much appreciated.

Take the train to waterfront, and exit using the elevators right on the platform marked "WAY OUT - GRANVILLE ST" (don't go down the tunnel). That puts you on the street at Granville/W.Hastings. Turn left, walk one block along W.Hastings, turn right, two blocks on Howe. Can't miss it..

Does the reference to the train mean the SkyTrain that can be boarded at the airport?

From your knowledge, would the walk from the SkyTrain Waterfront Station exit (coming from the airport) to the Pan Pacific hotel be reasonable? I'm sure my daughter and grand kids will walk it easily from what I can tell. Thinking of myself here - the grandfather. It looks to me that once on the street it is downhill, only a few blocks and no stairs (perhaps escalator). And then I see on the SkyTrain maps an underground passage that appears to end, street level, close to the hotel.

Can anyone help me on this?

I discovered this website earlier today ... it's loaded with information about the ports.

 

http://www.cruiseportinsider.com/vancouver.html#.UWB6zFc92dw

 

I know we are planning to go to the Aquarium at Stanley Park.

http://www.vanaqua.org/

Thanks! You're right about the cruiseportinsider having a lot of good information. Already sent the aquarium site to my daughter for comments. These are helpful and get me started with planning.

We will be staying 2 nights pre-cruise in Vancouver. We have not yet made hotel reservations thinking we should investigate and decide on tourist activities first and the locate our hotel accordingly.

We would appreciate suggestions for tourist activities in Vancouver. Our first thought would be a guided tour of the city that would visit the most relevant venues. That may or may not be a good idea. Since I am traveling with my daughter's family that includes 2 teen girls ages 14 and 13 - finding a tour or activities that would appeal to them is most important.

Any and all suggestions will be welcomed. Thanks.

We were there last February on the Noordam. The ship will dock right in front of the town. It is basic and easy to walk around without getting lost.

 

When we were there it was the first day of Carnival, so we walked around during the morning, then hung out to see the parade.

 

I don't think you'll find much shopping. In 4 stops there we never have.

 

Love the Noordam. She is a great ship:).

Thanks for this! You likely figured out that we'll be on the Nordam as well - second time on her for us. It is a great ship and we look forward to our trip in Feb. I hope that we too dock in the front of town. We are the only ship in port so there is a good chance it will dock there. I am sure we can entertiain ourselves just walking around town. Shopping isn't all that important, just something to do. Or find a place to sip a cocktail outside and watch the world walk by!

Thanks again for your thoughts.

This board has been quiet for a while. Does anyone have recent experiences in Martinique that you could offer? Positive or otherwise -- any information would be helpful. The ships tours are few (only 6), expensive and not too interesting. How about getting into the center of town for some shopping and looking around.

Will appreciate thoughts.

Does this also mean it can come out of your on-board credit? That would be great!!!

As long as the shipboard credit is from your TA (and not NCL) --- yes it can come out of those credit funds.

The Epic has yet to tender at any port so far. I shudder to think about it! :eek:

 

If they indeed do tender at those ports than I suggest you ask the concierge they will defiantly provide priority tender tickets and most likely escort you there.

I'm positive that they tender at the Cannes port. Not as sure about Marseile or our first port of Naples.

I've tendered off large ships in the past and it is not a pleasant process unless the tenders are provided by the port authority and carry upwards of 200 people per trip. While the Pearl is a smaller ship (about 3000 vs. 5000), we tendered in Cayman in early Feb and it went smoothly with the very large tenders operated by the port.

Let's see what others say.

The Epic does not tender so not an issue.

We are sailing in the Mediterranean in July and there is at least two tender ports, Cannes and Marseile. Agree that there are no tender ports in the Caribbean as we've sailed the Epic there.

Can anyone verify that suite guests in the Haven have the opportunity too use priorty tender boarding on the Epic. We were offered same on the Pearl in Jan/Feb. Not sure if the Epic has the same policy.

Thanks for any help you can offer.

I have read about -- but didn't focus on the subject of vouchers. Do I understand it right that you can attain these vouchers to provide extra tips, for example, to your room steward? Or to tip your butler or concierge? Just what are these vouchers otherwise used for?

Royal doesn't escort all suites, just the Royal and Presidential Family. We were in an Aqua Theatre suite on the Allure in October and there was no escort.

 

The Aqua Theatre suite was a great suite, I just wish Royal could come closer to NCL in Amenities!

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=964001&highlight=ncl+to+royal+suite+comparison

About the only perq of real value on RCCL are the free cocktails in the concierge each afternoon. The times I've sailed on RCCL I have been with my young teen grand daughters who are not permitted in the area during cocktail hour - so it made our use somewhat infrequent. But we did enjoy the ATS and would not hesitate to book that again.

Yes, last time we did a GV out of Miami the scanners were BEFORE the registration check in and prior to being met by the escort.

 

Last few times we were on Royal the scanners were before check-in. But that was in Fort Lauderdale not Miami. And with Royal the escorts for suites didn't meet you until after you checked in, went through the scanners, etc.

Okay, thanks Bobbye. That is helpful. You're right. RCCL, our August cruise was out of Ft Lauderdale. I think I'll evaluate this as we arrive and will go with the flow as they say. At least with this conversation we know what to expect and that is always helpful - and for me preferred. I don't recall having escorts on RCCL. We were in one of the Aqua Theater Suites in August which was wonderful -- but no escort. But then most of the suites are in another area of the ship so perhaps that is why. That was on the Oasis.

The scanner is before you get to the suites and villas check-in. Everyone has to go through the scanner, being escorted will not help pass that.

Thanks for that -- and I do understand that. But if we are being escorted by the concierge I don't think the security people will give us any hassle about bringing more that just our carry-on bags. That was my point.

OR -- are you saying the scanners are BEFORE the registration check in and prior to being met by the escort? I was just there in August - and I thought the scanners were after the registration -- but then that was RCCL not NCL.

I don't want to make a big deal out of it -- just want to do it if we can.

Thanks Robin and thanks Rich & Loretta!

I think we will see if we can't just take our bags on with us. You're right about the scanner -- I forgot about that. Supposedly we will be escorted to the GV and that may help us get through the scanning process. It would just be nice for once not to have to wait for the bags to be delivered.

Great information once again.

This may be a silly question -- but given the circumstances things are different this time. When cruising in the past we are have always been delivered to the cruise port via public transportaiton (hired van or taxi) and upon arrival you turn your bags over to one of the porters, give him a tip, the bags get piled onto the carts and later they are delivered to your stateroom.

THIS TIME - we are driving and parking in the Miami port lot and will walk to the port building presumably along with our bags. Therein lies my question. Will we appear at the check-in with bags in hand? Is that even an option?

We are in the GVS on the Pearl - so supposedly we will be escorted to our room and there will be an area to secure our bags until the room is ready. It would be nice to not have to wait for our bags to be delievered.

Any thoughts will be appreciated.

If you are in the Haven (or Courtyard - GV's and CV's) your guests will have no way to get to your suite without your key card. To get to the Haven floor, you need to either insert your key into the slot in the elevator or use it to open the door in the stairway between decks (please don't just leave this door blocked open - you would be surprised how many people just come up into the Haven uninvited). When we hosted our parties in the GV, we had a set meeting time for one of us to escort them up. For late arrivals, we had them phone our GV from the floor below, and then went to meet them and escort them up.

 

Robin

Robin,

VERY helpful and thoughtful. I'm familiar with the use of the key-card as that was the process on the Epic. This is easily enough corrected as I must give people a specific time rather than have it open ended. And as you suggest, early or late arrivers can just phone us. Thanks for sharing you experience.

Dave K.

As far as inviting non-suite guests to the GV, you just have to meet them somewhere so you can use your card to get the elevator up to the GV deck. You can have your butler bring snacks if you want but otherwise do not need to involve the butler or concierge. You can only entertain them in your GV, not in the Haven aka Courtyard.

Can anyone verify whether this is accurate?: We are inviting about 6 couples who will arrive at various times for a pre-dinner cocktail party. I can't see myself standing by the elevator just to escort them up and past the concierge for as much as an hour as people arrive at different times. If this is the case, then I must give people exact times to show up which I have not done at this point. Help if you can.