mkkao924

I don't know why people are upset about this post. Vancouver is expensive. Even with the currency difference, the lodging is still significantly higher than other major cities like NYC, SFO, or LAX. I can for sure find mid price ranged hotels in NYC during summer for about $200 USD, and similar level of hotels in Vancouver would be $300+ CAD. 

When reading the policy, it only indicates that 1) 1 bottle of "wine" per guest, and 2) 750 ml.

My questions are: 

1. Is port wine considered wine even though the alcohol content is slightly higher, as long as it is in 750ml bottle?

2. Usually ice wine is less than 750ml per bottle, I assume I can still bring it if I want to?

3. I assume the "per guest" policy only applies to adults? If we have 4 people in a stateroom, 2 adults and 2 minors, we can only bring 2 bottles? 

LGB is a lovely small airport, especially if you have TSA pre-check, the whole process starting from curb to gate should be less than 30 minutes, including luggage drop off.

That being said, our last cruise on Carnival Panorama did not disembark until 1pm due to rough sea / strong headwind all the way from Cabo San Lucas to Long Beach. With that in mind, SW has super lenient refund policy (if you book with points). Maybe you can book both 11:45 LGB AND later LAX flight, and cancel one (at least 10 minutes before take off time) based on your schedule?

I work close by, and one restaurant we constantly go back time after time is Raffaello Ristorante, 457 W 7th St, San Pedro, CA 90731. Check it out, and I think you won't be disappointed. It's within walking distance to Crown Plaza (8 minutes).

Thank you all for the suggestions!

We will disembark at Vancouver (Alaska cruise), and I do have post-cruise excursion in mind. We can either do a private tour (group of 10), or a bus tour.

I asked about the time, was because there are some flexibility (for the private tour), and I know for sure even if we are one of the last group to get off, we can still make that tour and eventually drop off at airport. Just don't want to rush and stuck in line (and don't want to get up at 5:30am to get off).

For our upcoming cruise, our flight home is in the evening so we have a lot of time to kill.

I am wondering what's MDR / buffet's hour on disembarkation day?

I assume we have to clean out our stateroom and bring our carry-on with us to the dining room, is that correct?

Can we just chill in the MDR / buffet until our number is called?

Typically what's the latest time that we have to get off the ship?

Tried search in the forum but could find any information. Wondering if anyone used Canadian Craft Charter in the past? We are thinking about doing a 4.5 hour post cruise tour, but they require 25% non-refundable deposit (fully charged and non-refundable 10 days before) , which seems quite steep to me.

I emailed Landsea tours and they are fully booked for private tour for our date. Is there other alternative that you can recommend?

Thanks @maskew63.ma. I checked Fairmont's website, and their day room end at 8pm (which makes sense), but it probably doesn't suit us well.

Thanks cruiseryyc! I totally missed that, great point!

I checked the airline's instruction, and indeed the check in counter opens 4 hours before departure, so I need to find a place for them to rest for three hours. Originally I naively thought I can just have them relaxed in the lounge after security.

Any recommendations for them to do at airport to kill the time?

After our cruise, my parents will take EVA Airway back to Asia (at midnight), and I will take Air Canada to US (at 6 pm). I am wondering if the security check for US and international departure close to each other that either I can go through security with them, or at least help them go through security check, then I go to the US one? If we need to use different entrance, after security, will we still be able to meet with each other, or we will be in total different terminal? I have Global Entry, so if there is a solution that I can utilize that to speed up the security check process, I would like to utilize that (if that makes sense).

Thank you!

My excursion (July 2024 Celebrity) is still over $400. I am going to pass...

I think it didn’t happen often, but for our March 2023 Panorama cruise, we experienced weather issue (strong headwind) and had to slow down. As a result, we didn’t get to Long Beach until 10 am, and nobody was able to get off until after noon. We are local so it didn’t bother us (more time to enjoy, although the sea was rocky the entire night)

Like I said, it could be one off, but it does happen.

Thank you! After reading your reply, all of a sudden a lot of things make sense now.

If I understand you correctly, SkyTrain will stop at the Waterfront station (Orange circle in the picture), then we will use the underground walkway (red dotted arrow) to the Waterfront Canada line station (Red circle in the picture), and use surface street (solid red arrow) to get to the hotel.

The next day we will just follow the blue arrow to Canada Place.

I was wondering why there are multiple Waterfront stations on the map and weren't sure which one is the real station...

We have 6 people in our group (2 seniors, 2 adults, and 2 kids 12 / 7), and we currently plan to stay in Days Inn downtown Vancouver for one night before our cruise.

Since we have seniors in our group with minor mobility issue, we think door to door transportation is probably better.

What are our options? Taxis? Private van?

Some questions:

1. At YVR, can we request mini van style taxi?

2. Typically how long is the taxi line?

3. For private transportation, is there a recommended company? I recall seeing another post about published rate and some operator may go lower than published rate, but so far my Google search all came back HIGHER than the published hourly rate?

4. Is there any public airport to hotel transportation that worth to check out?

Thank you!

On Celebrity's website (and mobile app), I can only select up to 8 people for making dinner reservation. We have total 10 people in our group, what should I do?

We have young kids in our group, so late dining doesn't really work for us, and early dining is not available right now.

I thought you have to carry the water yourself as carry in? Or that only applies to sodas, and water can be treated as luggage? And isn’t Celebrity banning plastic bottles?

2 hours ago, Coral said:

I have found everything in Celebrity is quite a bit more expensive comparing apples to apples.

Wow! Thanks for confirming. I was preparing for 20% more, did not expect 50%!

Thanks! We do have seniors in our group who are light sleepers. I guess we will pass on Belmont then.

I am planning our July 2024 trip, and I was surprised to see that Celebrity has the Hubbard glacier excursion priced at $500 (with a 10% off to bring down to $450).

From previous posts, I had an impression that this excursion was about $300. Wondering how other lines' 2024 price for Hubbard glacier?

With that price tag, should I look for Tracy Arm small boat tour from Juneau instead?

Vancouver port is under ILWU (International Longshore and Warehouse Union), the same union operates in all North America west coast ports - LA / Long Beach, SF, Seattle, and others.

To say they have "very livable wage" is an UNDERSTATEMENT. You are probably looking at mid to high $100Ks annual salary plus sizable pension.

Wow, the CC community never disappoints! Thank you @martincath and @westcoasttech for the advice. I am particularly interested in Arberni/Bute store since I also plan to visit either Kirin for dim sum or Carlino for Italian, or maybe both.

40 minutes ago, psuboater said:

Wanted to add to look into BC wines if you're from the US. I didnt realize how great they are until we went on a wine tour of the area. The US restricts Canadian wine imports which is why you don't see it here. Backyard Winery Reserve bottles rivaled Napa wines for us. Give it a try when you're there!

That's a great point. I think we will only focus on BC / Canada wines for the exact reason you mentioned. Since I have very limited exposure to Canadian wines, still need to find some good source for Canadian wine rating.

I am wondering what are some good place to get wine in Vancouver? We have a larger group so we will probably get 5-6 wines, and probably sodas.

I checked Google Maps and looks like Costco is not too far away. Does Costco in Canada sell alcohol?

Other than Costco, are there good wine store near Canada Place?

I wonder how does the system work? Let's say if an excursion is sold out, when someone cancels it, does it go back to inventory that's immediately available for rebook, or it takes some time to reflect the inventory?

Thank you for the quick response! My cruise is July 2024, and the one excursion I am particularly interested in is the Hubbard Glacier excursion as it sells out fast. I think my strategy will be book now, and if there is a flash sale on Black Friday, then I can cancel and rebook?