martincath

YYZ has a handy guide to all the steps - for an Air Canada flight from RDU, connecting to a YVR-bound flight, here you go!

Specific expectations for Immigration/Customs here (Kiosk info, Advance Declarations - your connection time should be enough, but I would recommend always doing all things in advance that you can to expedite your way through the steps in case your incoming flight is running late and your Enough Time becomes Worryingly Short)

On 3/14/2024 at 9:06 AM, Yo Adrienne said:

...Thanks for any suggestions you might have...! 🙂 

I just found a definitely-fancy Brunch option for you, with availability, on Mothers Day!

Bacchus (the Wedgewood's in house resto) has always been on our secondary rotation - it's one of the very few quiet fine restos in Vancouver, off the radar enough to be always bookable and also literally quiet with lots of heavy fabric - but I only just found out that the normal far-too-overpriced hotel breakfast has been supplemented by a Bavarian Brunch starting this weekend, helmed by ex-Michelin Star winning Chef Stefan Hartmann himself for a ludicrously low price considering (as in, half the price of the hotel's regular 'bacon/sausage/2 eggs' American brekkie plate!!!)

They're also offering specific extra-fancy Mother's Day Brunch and Afternoon Tea service - and actually have availability right now for both! They're way pricier than the regular brunch menu, but the same ballpark as the PP/Fairmont brunches. If you haven't already decided on something else to do, go have a shufty at menus on the Events page and get booked ASAP if they look good.

Ordinarily I'd never recommend a resto experience I have not had myself at least a couple of times, but the combination of the impossible timing to sample before your visit and my total faith in any Hartmann kitchen he's actually working in make me feel this is worth the risk for once (long story short, our first Hartmann meal was in Berlin almost 20 years ago before he got his first Star; we were super pumped when he got hired by Uwe Boll of all people to come head up Bauhaus in Vancouver in 2015; he's not just a good cook, he runs a super-tight kitchen - I fully expect Bacchus to move up from the Recommended list to an actual star in the next edition of the Michelin guide this Fall, and when it does I'll be annoyed because getting a table will be much harder!!!)

22 minutes ago, Coral said:

... They just were boring and not doing anything fun.

Elon Musk has extended his project to Alaska and hired whales now...!? 😉 

6 hours ago, wolfie11 said:

Gray whales migrate along the outer coast on their way further north.  They are almost never seen in SE Alaska.

In the context of a Juneau whalewatch it probably was a bit silly of me to mention Grays given how few of them would be near that port, with just a handful of sightings over the years, but they're a lot more common in SE Alaskan waters - especially April/May - than you seem to think. As soon as they hit the tip of Vancouver Island it's back in toward the mainland, all the info on Grays out of Haida Gwaii I've seen has them being consistently east of the islands there, and Chatham Sound is a major feeding ground for them with their preferred shallow, muddy bottomed terrain. Prince Rupert based tours see Grays regularly, and it's hard to head north from Prince Rupert without crossing into SE Alaskan waters; the AMHS isn't visiting this year for some sort of issue related to a lack of internationally-licensed crew, but whales don't need to worry about legislation! 😉

Even if we're talking US ports regularly visited by cruise ships, rather than just general SE Alaskan water, Sitka has seen their Gray numbers spike massively in the last 7 or 8 years - a mainstream news article last year indicated 700 Grays hanging out in Sitka Sound last May, not just feeding but even breeding - up from the typically-still-over-a-hundred of the prior few years.

Mostly I'm familiar with the Coastal Pacific Feeding Group though, rather than the ones which continue to follow the full migration up to Bering/Chukchi Seas - and they've been moving both further into Inside waters over the years. Most of these 'summer residents' still hang around on the outside of Vancouver Island, 200+ have been tracked around Pacific Rim park waters between Tofino and Sooke, but right in this neck of the woods Howe Sound is also a regular summer haunt for a small group of them: some of those guys visit Stanley Park - every two or three years since I've been living here, one even made it right up False Creek just after the 2010 Olympics.

Other pockets up the BC Inside Passage are also known, all the way to Chatham Sound - indeed, there are even a very small number of year-round sightings out of Prince Rupert now although that's anecdotal, I haven't seen any formal research or long-term 'citizen science' pics to confirm the same whale(s) are remaining consistently local.

4 hours ago, reeinaz said:

Thanks so much. This was definitely helpful. One of the reasons I enjoy cruising so much is that I don’t have to do any of this planning. Most times I just stay in my hotel and order room service pre cruise LOL. But I don’t know how often I will get to visit Vancouver. 

No worries - well, except having added more stuff to your shortlist, expanded other areas, and not really told you not to go anywhere you were thinking about doing!!! So sorry for that - but if you do firm up a 'definitely X, Y, Z' and want further 'do this first evening, embarkation morning, possibly a better time on your full middle day' logistical help just ask away. As an example - if you do wake up early, that's a great time to visit New Town as they open at 6:30am and some of the popular pastries sell out by lunchtime! Not a great time to connect it with anything ticketed unfortunately, almost nothing opens before 9am because everyone wants to be up a mountain doing yoga before work... at least, based on most Insta feeds in these parts! 😉

From your other posts @DShier1a you're on Noordam out of Vancouver? If so, you could whalewatch here before boarding - for less money AND a guarantee (local vendors remain May-Sep in this neck of the woods, although it is in the form of 'free rides for life until you see one' rather than 'here's a crisp hundo, never darken our gangplank again'!)

Not sure what the issue is with the Juneau trips, as already mentioned they have resident whales, I know for a fact the Gray migration looks to be already long underway as usual (there's an active whale count along coastal oregon sites at Xmas and easter for south and northbound respectively) and the Mexican humpies tend to head up about the same time as the Grays. Unless someone's heard about issues with the Hawaiian population not leaving until later, I can't imagine May not already having ample whales to go look at...

On 4/15/2024 at 11:45 AM, pfloyd2576 said:

Thank you for posting this question, I wondered myself.

 

Does anyone recall seeing taxis at the port that can accommodate 6 people?

 

I might have to convince my in-laws to take a cab over the shuttle. Does the shuttle accept U.S. dollars as payment?

If memory serves there are the same literal handful of six-seater vans in Vic as there are here in Van - for the same reason (taxi rules that mandate a minimum % of Accessible vehicles per fleet, much higher cost to run those vans, so virtually every van has had middle seats removed and wheelchair/scooter strapdown points installed to meet their legal requirements while every other car is a Prius).

This would be a situation where I'd be looking at Uberlyfts big vehicles to ensure you can fit 6 pax!

As to the shuttle - if you want to just burn money, sure, book it! Per person it's more expensive than a cab if they charged in CAD - but in fact they already price it in USD so it's even worse value at nearly double cab fare... only a solo who would otherwise take a cab both ways to and from the drop point saves money, 2+ people are already throwing money away and 6? As a Scotsman I'm virtually in tears here just thinking about all the beer you could buy instead if you like to p*ss money down the drain!!! 😉 

If the weather is crappy enough that you would not enjoy walking around outside for a couple of hours, skip Butchart - and since you're already clued in enough to have found Pendray, do that instead of the Fairmont. I cannot think of a single person who has taken tea at the Empress and also elsewhere without sharing the same opinion - certainly nice, but far too gosh durn expensive for what you get at the Empress!

In general though when it comes to temps, if you could survive a visit to a garden or other outdoor space in Portland in April, Butchart should be fine unless it just happens to be bucketing down on the day you visit - the quarry makes for a much less windy microclimate, all the trees left intact around the perimeter likewise, so even though it's a bitty further north we find the temps much more Portlandy than Vancouvery in spring and fall. The gardeners do a sterling job of ensuring there's things to look at all year round, there's force-grown smaller plants from greenhouses that get put out, and April is peak tulip season which povides plenty of colour.

The most factual answer is to check statistical sites tracking many years of data (I like Weatherspark)

The most sensible answer is that it's irrelevant! If you have already packed sufficient layers for Alaska, you have automatically packed clothing that will handle Seattle weather as is basically the same just slightly warmer!

What you need for AK is sufficient layers to handle the coldest likely weather minus an extra 10C/15F or so to account for windchill on a moving ship/being parked next to a glacier for a while. Plus thin gloves and a toque - ears and fingers get nippy with wind or nearby ice - that you can pick up in a Dollar Store (the 'one size fits none' thin stretchy fleecy jobs are perfect, virtually weightless and roll up into a tiny bundle you can stuff in a jacket pocket).

But 5 days in Seattle... no temptation for a side-trip? Get out onto the Olympic Peninsula? Nip up or down the coast to Vancouver or Portland by train?

59 minutes ago, reeinaz said:

Hi.

I will be in Vancouver pre-cruise, arriving 11AM 6/22 and my cruise departs 6/24. I'm staying at the St Regis hotel ...

General logistics - transit is definitely going to be useful, but don't bother with Translinks own app as they now use Google to drive it so it's far better to simply load Google Maps and get ALL the options in one place for walking, transit, bike, and car (to compare speed of Taxi/Uber routing since you won't be driving yourself). Make use of Streetview to 'walk' a route in advance, see the landmarks as you will see them in person - we have had several visits by the google camera car, as well as bike and even 'guy walking with a rididculously big multicamera backpack' so some of the park trails and definitely the Seawall have recorded snaps. For almost all of your locations, buses are the only real transit option - while not as good as SkyTrain as they still have to fight traffic, there are plenty of bus lanes and you can get a decent idea of actual times simply by adjusting the Gmap settings ('Depart At' your specific date and potential time to see how normal traffic patterns impact drive time).

The two best 'tourist buses' are the 50 and 19 - the former will get you up to Queen Lizzie Park as well as Granville Island and various parts in between, and the latter runs from literally inside Stanley Park through downtown, Chinatown, and out along Kingsway (get off at the first stop after this turn and you'll be very close to Burdock) for access to some much less touristy pockets of good local dining. It even goes all the way out to Burnaby, in case you wanted to check out Metrotown or Crystal Mall (although SkyTrain is definitely quicker to these!)

Also a very handy hint for your travel - whatever you do, no matter how long your travel day has been on the 22nd, stay awake until 9pm local time! The 3 hour time diff from EST is actually pretty easy to overcome if you eat an extra meal at normal PST dinner time and stay up until at least 9 - ideally get outside, watch the sunset (around 9:30pm when you visit!) and only go to bed after that.

Locavore Western food - honestly, I'd send you to Burdock myself if you have the budget for it! Andrea is almost criminally unknown, she's not just an excellent chef but one of the hardest-working in the city (she's not one of those a**holes like Gordon Ramsey who owns a ton of places but rarely shows up to cook, often she's running the kitchen in Harvest during the day then up at Burdock for dinner service, even helps in Gobo when staff need vaycay), and the entire concept of the resto is seasonality (except for the fried chicken - that's on all year round, or regulars would burn the place to the ground...)

Sun Yat-Sen garden - just walk over, hit up New Town for your pie then maybe come back to the free park side to eat it in the gazebo (the proper garden doesn't like food and drink being consumed within except in their tea room), compare and contrast the less authentic side!

Hand-pulled noodles are also available elsewhere (we are a very, very noodley town!) but Peaceful also ticks off a hard-to-find Chinese cuisine box in it's Xi'an food influenced by Uighur and middle eastern flavours. Logistically, now that the downtown branches closed, Broadway is the only practical one to visit (SkyTrain to Broadway-City Hall) from downtown, or Kitsilano (any bus along 4th Avenue) if you are out at UBC. Personally I'd order the (smaller) cumin-lamb-on-noodles as opposed to the full portion versions of both individually, and then depending on your appetite you might also manage to fit in a Beef Roll!

Granville Island (not just the market - it's an interesting place, and most of the good craft shops are elsewhere - but for picnic foods, lunch, a great option) you can do by bus most cheaply (the 50 runs around several touristy parts of town) but the wee water taxis are worth the convenience if you are already on the Seawall anywhere near their routes (e.g. Yaletown, English Bay, Athletes Village).

Indigenous Art - if it's for purchase, then the gallery on the ground floor of Skwachays Lodge should be your first stop. Just to look at, also worth visiting here as lots on display, and their current artist-in-residence might be working in the studio to meet. There are other galleries, especially along Water St, but this is the only entirely indigenous-owned one. If it's all about seeing rather than buying, MOA will hopefully be open again by your visit - there's an insane number of rooms, packed with all sorts of artefacts from all over the world, but just sticking to local peoples you can still easily fill an hour or more looking without even doing any of the voice recordings or films (and if you are really interested, the firsthand accounts in the audio and video library are where all of the 'normal folks' data lives, rather than work by artists).

UBC just for the botanic garden probably isn't a good use of time - it's a bit of a schlep by transit, only buses, absolute minimum an hour from downtown and more likely 75+mins each way even if you take an Express bus to reduce the number of stops. If you're going to do MOA, the Japanese garden, Beaty Museum, etc. then UBC campus is well worth a lot of hours - but if your only interest is the botanic I'd honestly consider Capilano for your Treewalk instead because you also get the bridge itself, the cliffside glass floor walk, and a conveniently-packaged shuttle from downtown; and if you didn't want to do a Treewalk then frankly Stanley Park already has a crapton of trees, Queen Elizabeth another arboretum plus quarry gardens and the best views of Vancouver from inside the city, Van Dusen a better botanic garden (with an actual hedge maze), and only VD even costs anything of this trio!

Indigenous Food - realistically you have the choice of either a frankly not-super-interesting food truck Bannock (toppings tend to be very similiar to Beavertail/Elephant Ears for the fried ones, very sugary, or else split and filled with occasionaly something savoury like chili if a traditional baked style) or else a sit-down dinner at Salmon & Bannock. The latter is 100% my recommendation, you'll get some first-hand info from the staff as well as a selection of food that leans heavily toward game meat and fish - not just salmon, the best dishes here IMO are the seasonal fish like oolichan (smelt; by June no fresh ones, but the most interesting preparations are the preserved ones anyway, either smoked like kippers or pressed for their grease which is used like Italians do olive oil, dipping your bannock in) and herring roe (fresh has already been and gone, and that's how I like it best, but again you can have the eggs preserved in brine). A dinner here one of your nights and Burdock the other is definitely a great way to dine for traditional and modern locavore food!

The Seawall - without a bike it's a big time commitment unless you're in good enough shape to run it rather than walk. In theory it's also one-way around the park even for pedestrians - and once you are on it there are very few opportunities to leave it, no real shortcuts around the western end. If you can budget for 5 miles of walking time plus photostops, it's definitely a nice experience though! Adult trikes are still available from at least JV rentals, but with eBikes dominating the rental market most places only offer two wheelers - personally I'd say that riding a bike is, well, proverbially like itself in that the skill once learned really does not ever disappear 😉

eBikes also have better stability thanks to the weight of the batteries - any chance you have a friend you could borrow a bike from just to make sure you're happy riding? Failing that, Search here and you'll find some recent posts with suggested routes - but long story short if you just walk the first bit to the Totem Poles and lighthouse, then cut back through the middle via Lumberman's Arch you can see the harbour and cruise dock looking back toward the city and the views from English Bay give you a westward ocean, sunsets, big queue of ships waiting for their slot in the industrial port that's not far off what you'd see on out outside of the park (exception, Siwash Rock, this is really only visible from a short bit of Park Drive above and the Seawall itself).

In combination with a short walk of the eastern parts, a fairly quick taxi/uberlyft trip that you pay wait time for would let you hit Prospect Point for views over the top of Lions Gate bridge, then another at the viewing point for Siwash, perhaps another at the Hollow Tree, in a single loop around the roadway - maybe $50 depending how long you spend taking pics which isn't bad compared to multiple-hour eBike rental or the carriage ride!

Other Things Not Mentioned By You Already - MOA I noted already; since you're already considering a visit to Mount Pleasant for Burdock it's an interesting 'hood in its own right. The oldest Vancouver suburb, Muralfest has packed tons of building walls with art, the return of 'Brewery Creek', the juxtaposition of shiny new mid- and high-rise buildings with heritage homes and even a native longhouse, light industrial businesses, artist studios, bakeries and restos  just yards apart, virtually no chain stores, and right nextdoor on the bottom of the hill is the newest downtown 'hood of the Athletes Village. My most popular 'off the beaten track' half-day walking tour is basically to hit up this neck of the woods for all these reasons, then leave folks at the water taxi pier so they can get to Granville Island.

Speaking of - as a solo traveler I would strongly recommend trying to book a free walk with Stroll Buddies here so you have a local to show you around. There aren't many of us Buddies, but since your dates are on a weekend there's a better chance of the ones who still work being available! For a grounding in the more tourist-friendly downtown area, the Toonie Tours freebie covers the bases well (big groups of up to 30, but multiple departures daily in summer, and while these guys do expect a tip it's still a low-cost option to get some entertaining tales of yore). If architecture is of interest, I can't praise AIBCs walks enough but they may not be running yet - but you can send them an email to get on the distro list of when they will begin this summer.

There's a lot more stuff to potentially add, but given your limited time and what you've already flagged as things you are interested in I won't throw out any further ideas unless you specifically ask! It's already shaping up to be a potentially long day on the 23rd for you, even if you sensibly delay some walkable downtown stuff to embarkation morning.

2 hours ago, alainciao said:

Can you book with YVR Express the day before?

Definitely - if there are slots remaining, you can even do it when you arrive at YVR! The cutoffs are no more than 72hrs in advance, no less than 90mins for Int'l (including US), no less than 45mins for Domestic. Just double-checked the FAQs to make sure I got the numbers correct - so note that my 'book it 75mins before' advice actually doesn't work for US-bound flight, min 90 on those.

Edit - if you can't get online on the ship the day before, I'd make use of your downtime while traveling (SkyTrain has free Wifi, works even in tunnels) or while waiting for a cab (the pier itself has their own free Wifi, and city-provided #VanWiFi should also get a signal if you're at street level e.g. trying to get an Uberlyft).

28 minutes ago, 2012_Alaska_bound said:

Thank you for the correction.

No worries - as we recovered staffing levels post-covid there may have been tighter restrictions, and some airlines differ in how long preflight they open their desks for old-school in-person check-in (and then blame CBP, or YVR, or Anyone But Them when folks complain despite it being entirely down to airline choice to save cash by only staffing desks for 2 hours - budget airlines in the UK are a nightmare for this kind of weaseling)...  so you may be accurately remembering a 2hr period being mentioned to you!

If it's not too busy, the 3 hours can sometimes stretch longer too - CBP have limited holding space for bags, so it's all down to how many bags per hour they can scan plus do they have enough room to hold them while pax work their way through Security (CATSA staffing) and Prescreening (CBP staffing) - until you are cleared, your bag doesn't get released for transfer to the plane, as every bag needs to be available for inspection at the time you are speaking with CBP agents. Min 1, max 3 is a pretty safe general rule though.

12:30pm for a two ship day should be fine, even if you are having your bags taken off to be collected at the pier. If you are physically capable of self-disembarking though, that's always better - not just quicker but also a risk removed of your bags going astray.

If you can carry your own bags off, you can also easily use SkyTrain to YVR which removes any wait time for cabs, or finding where Uberlyft are allowed to pick you up (no longer inside the pier so you have to walk at least a block away on the street outside; so why not walk three and then have a dirt-cheap, 26 minute ride to YVR with no traffic worries?)

The Canada Line is best accessed from the main Waterfront Station on Cordova Street - ignore the entryway on Howe, that leads directly onto the Expo line platform and navigating the station interior with a suitcase is much more hassle than just walking the sidewalks - turn left outside the pier, first left onto Cordova, <300 yards and you're there. Note that the sidewalk on Howe just outside the pier is being resurfaced - it should be done in theory by early May, but there's a coned-off bit of roadway right now for pedestrians which makes Uberlyft access to near the pier much more hassle (taxis have a dediated queuing lane to enter the pier, which cuts the street down to a single lane for everyone else including rideshares right now).

YVR bag check is rather different, unless you've flown from Canada to the US before - with Prescreening there is a single, centralized bag drop for all flights to the US during CBP operational hours (4:30am-8:30pm daily). CBP are the ones who put a hard cap on the timing - which is max 3 hours before, min 1 hour. With Global Entry you will get quicker Security as well as a dedicated set of kiosks inside the preclearance area - so as long as you get there before the 1hr cutoff for checked bags, you will definitely get through security and CBP in time to board.

Do take the physical GE card with you if you have it - CATSA, our equivalent of TSA, do not have access to the database at the security queue so the only way to tell if you have membership is to show them the card. If you don't have one (I've heard a few long-time members of GE say that back in the day they could choose just to get a sticker in their passport instead!), don't worry - simply use YVR Express to book your security timeslot instead which gives you access to the same short queue as GE/NEXUS. It's free - and given your timeline, choose a slot 75mins ahead of your flight. If you're more than 90mins early (there's a 15min grace period either side) you won't need the short queue, and if you're less than 60mins early you're rebooking a flight anyway or abandoning your checked bags!!!

Hopefully you'll get some QC locals responding to your questions - but for general logistics like this nothing much has changed since my last visit! You could manage to use transit both there and back, but you'd save significant time driving - it's almost an hour from the falls to the cathedral by bus, vs. <20mins driving if traffic isn't too bad. Google maps is your friend for any other such route planning.

Edit - from your other car rental question, not sure if you meant the downtown Cathedral (Notre-dame) or St Anne's in this question... if it's the latter, you definitely want to rent a car as transit won't get you there at all...

30 minutes ago, cruizingOmi said:

Does this Jones Act Rule apply to all Nationalities or only to USCitizens/Residents? 

Neither Jones Act, nor the actually-relevant-to-cruisers PVSA, give a proverbial cr*p where the cargo or pax are from; they are both written about the vessels moving the cargo or pax. Ditto for any other equivalent law, like our own Coastwise Trading Act in Canada.

Yup, just keep your eyes peeled for events - Canada Place itself always gives a pretty detailed breakdown of performers, usually at least a couple of stages involved, face-painting for kiddies and whatnot. The parade is almost certainly not coming back this year - we'd have heard something about it by now if anyone was looking to get it running - but something fireworksy, or maybe a drone show, might happen after dark: lessons have been learned about operational frequencies since the last time drones failed to deploy!

If the lying <insert preferred pejorative here> running Port of Vancouver claim it's too pricey again despite record profits, pretty much guaranteed at least one of our suburban sibling cities will step up and put on a firework show you could take transit to - New Westminster for example is on SkyTrain and has been really pushing themselves as a tourist destination lately (a guy on Jeopardy failed to win the prize of a free trip, so they gave him one anyway and their social media people have been really trying to keep that momentum going!), they don't do fireworks every year but they have had them in the past.

Steveston in Richmond, Cloverdale in Surrey, Port Coquitlam - there are several places in the ballpark 90mins by transit range who reliably put on fireworks even when Vancouver cheaps out, but they're all honestly much easier to visit by car. Steveston even does a parade, it's a whole day themed around salmon annually for those guys - and you could take a whalewatching trip in the afternoon to fill time between parade and dinner? If you did decide on a car, White Rock and Langley also become plausible visits.

Just google fireworks and canada day - as we get nearer, all the local news outlets and popular bloggers will produce their usual 'what is happening where and when around the Lower Mainland on Canada Day', and a quick search for directions between those locations and your hotel will give you an idea of the time needed to get to the shows by transit or driving.

23 hours ago, doone said:

...Do you need to make a reservation for your bags at the Pan Pacific or is it just leave them when you get off the ship???? 

No resos needed - I'm sure at some point they'd run out of space if everyone and their granny all wanted to stash bags there, but given how few cruisers read CC and that there's an official pier storage with signage that you walk past it's probably a very, very small % of pax who will end up using their services.

On the airport transportation front, unless you're a 'limo or nothing!' kinda person it's utterly pre-pointless booking a car service - the hotel bell staff will call you a cab if there isn't one there already, and Lyftuber both operate in town now. It's less than 10 miles to YVR, late afternoon you'll have no trouble getting a cab quickly (peak demand is for evening events and mornings through early afternoon on cruise days).

SkyTrain also does it faster for a fraction of the cost (~US$2-4pp), you can even fit a big suitcase each with no problem on the Canada Line - you don't even have to figure out the ticket machines any more if you have a Visa, MC, or Smartphone with NFC payments loaded, simple tap on the fare gates when you enter and leave and it does all the math about Zones and bills you at Interbank exchange rate.

20 hours ago, mattR said:

LOL  Thanks for the additional info.  Another great Canadian tv show that I watched all the time was of course "The Beachcombers" 

Getting up to Gibsons and back would be really tight on embarkation day unfortunately!!!

Yes - two choices literally at the pier (pan pacific hotel bell staff at street level will hold bags for $10 a day per bag; official pier storage charges much more, $13-15 depending on bag size this year, and closes at 5pm so you have to come back by 4:30 to ensure that you collect them... but that actually works OK for your flight, and they give discounts if you book a bus tours with them which includes the HOHO...)

Plus multiple other options if you book online in advance - google Vancouver BC Luggage Storage, you'll find Bounce, Luggage Hero and others have 'gig economy' deals with various stores and hotels. Prices start as low as $6 with these services, and include insurance - I can't give a personal recco for any particular location as I just walk home with my bags!

There are a lot of options, even if you are sticking to places within walking distance to play it very safe for getting back to the pier - any other TV shows you're enough of a fan of you might enjoy seeing where they were filmed? I usually point out a few when I'm showing folks around, there's a raft of popular spots for camera angles to make Vancouver look like <Insert American City Here>

On the more traditionally touristy fare front, the Harbour Centre lookout is pretty reasonable for tickets, good views on a clear day; there's the main Vancouver Art Gallery, plus the Bill Reid (much smaller, Indigenous art focused) for indoor arty things; a big list of public art locations and some suggested walking routes for outdoor stuff; a free walking tour with Toonie (usually goes 10am daily, but often add a 9:30 and/or 10:30 in summer too if lots of folks sign up); Roedde House museum is a bit off the beaten path, but nicely curated to appear how the house would have been back in the day when it was just trees and other mansions nearby, and while the blocks around it are very sketchy the Police Museum is only a mile on foot (see a real morgue and cold case files, kids can dress up in tactical gear and hit each other with nightsticks!); Dr Sun Yat-Sen is the most authentic Chinese Scholars Garden outside China, entry includes a docent-led tour to explain the ridiculous details in the design (the free park nextdoor shares the same koi pond and a similar vibe, just without the authenticity - rocks are human-carved rather than naturally shaped by the currents of Lake Tai, stones underfoot pebbles or bricks rather than broken teapot shards hand-laid in a mosaic; still a very nice gazebo to eat a picnic lunch in!); maybe the Sports Hall of Fame at BC Place if you won't be too upset at all the reminders how much better than Alberta we are at sportsball? 😉

3 hours ago, mattR said:

Why don't people recommend using the waterfront station on Howe St rather then Cordova St to catch the sky train to YVR? 

Right station, wrong platform; since the lines were added years apart at different depths into an already very old building... it's much more hassle to move between the platforms inside the station with luggage than it is to just walk around the corner and use the main Cordova Street station entrance, where the correct platform (Canada Line) is just inside (or walk slightly less far, but uphill, to the Granville entrance - the escalator & elevator here conveniently come right up to the street.

Fixed fare cabs are up again - $37 to almost every downtown hotel now except the fancy ones by the pier like the PP which now run $41. No hotels with both airport and port shuttles, never have been. No hotels with port shuttles at all unless you include a couple of hotels fancy enough to have towncars that will drive you anywhere you like for 'free' - the Hampton Inn was the only budget one with a bus, it did not return after Covid. Given how close every downtown hotel is to the pier though, allow US$10 per cab (assume worst case that 3 adults and lots of suitcases will fit - we do have some vans that handle a ton of luggage but 80%+ of all cab fleets are Priuses that may fit 4 bums on seats but might struggle to handle cruise bags for 4) and that should cover the meter AND a tip easily from most hotels!

YWCA Hotel is always my recco for anyone who doesn't want to blow a fortune on a hotel - great location, designed as a hotel from day 1 so good soundproofing, an entire new wing added and the original one renovated right about when Covid hit so it's in better condition than most hotels in the city at any price. No dorms - they do have 5 bed family rooms and single rooms, as well as regular en suite and paired 'Jack & Jill' rooms that share a bathroom which makes it probably the most efficient hotel for groups that may or may not include couples, kids, friends as you can have a variety of room formats to suit, and large shared kitchens can save even more cash compared to dining out (laundries too, but if you've just flown in iI doubt you'll need to do a wash before boarding!)

But for folks who just can't bring themselves to 'stay at the Y' regardless of how well-reviewed it is, the Condo hotels usually work well for groups - as well as Times Sq mentioned above look at Sunset and Rosedale, all of which have at least 1 and 2 bedroom units.

Flyover is a whopping 8 minutes ride time - but there's a whole program that shuffles you from room to room, so the total experience is at least 30mins (plus wait time if you don't make a reso). I'd consider prebooking a timeslot an hour before you plan to go check in, that way if all goes smoothly you'll have a bit of extra padding (booking 45mins before really doesn't allow for anything to go wrong!)

Bag drop you might be able to do at 9am - I've never been earlier than 9:30 myself, but the longshoremen did look bored out of their gourds already as if they'd been guarding the luggage cages for quite a while! Just look for signage, and it will help you greatly if you print bag tags at home and bring them with you, then swap them out for the plane tags on the SkyTrain ride into town to save pfaffing around with blank tags and no pens available to write on them with!

The Aquarium is pretty quick to get to or from by bus - the 19 has a stop only three blocks from the pier, maybe 700metres, and goes right into the park (the bus loop is an even shorter walk to the Aquarium). Depending how many 'speak to the keeper at Xam' shows you do, and how much reading of bumph at exhibits, you might kill anywhere from an hour to three at the Aquarium - so you probably have time to walk one way along the Seawall (budget an hour - it's silly not to at least go as far out as the Totem Poles if you're already at the Aquarium!) rather than bussing both ways.

I would not prebook tickets for the Aquarium though, in case your flight is delayed and you need to change plans on the fly!

I think you've got just about every possible option listed (other than even more expensive ones like a one-way Whalewatch or chartering your own floatplane)!

In short - if you schlep your own bags onto SkyTrain, then 620 transit bus to the ferry, then another transit bus on the other end into Victoria you'll pay only <$30 each and in theory because you can leave immediately you will be at the ferry terminal earlier than the BCFConnector coach service... ditto if you rent a car quickly (some offices downtown open 8am, you could be on the road by 8:30 and at the ferry terminal maybe an hour later - except that morning traffic flow through the tunnel is ALWAYS 3 lanes into town, 1 lane out and delays can get ridiculous).

All-in-all there's a decent chance, but no guarantees, than you could make the 10am ferry going DIY - which does run on Sunday Aug 4th assuming no staffing or repair issues, both of which have been impacting BC Ferries ever since Covid - so transiting or rental car-driving to it would get you into Vic maybe an hour earlier than the coach... but I agree with Andy that all things considered, best to just book Wilsons unless you have Island plans which involve your own car. If you do need a rental, there's a LOT more competition here than in Vic so odds are you'll find a better rental price if you're returning to the mainland to fly home...

Too slow to edit, curses. Just to reiterate that it was good of OP to provide a warning, in case my overly-detailed response comes across as snarky in any way!

TL;DR - the decals have been normal for 2 full seasons now, no reports of major issues in '22/23, so folks going later in the season should expect an easier time getting cabs... but walking the short distance out onto Dallas Road or even over to Helijet will open up more options, especially rideshare drivers for whom the decals are more personal hassle to acquire.

22 hours ago, Piperpals said:

The Bliss was in Port in Vancouver on Friday, I go through there on my way home and there were definitely people boarding.  

 

The 'empty' cruises can be filled with employees without any CBP/PVSA issues, I think also professional 'freebies' for travel agents to let them experience the ship. Plus there might have been a bunch of new crew flown into YVR to start their contracts.

So seeing even quite a large number of people going up the gangplank, it could still easily be a 'non revenue' cruise. As Dennis says, persuading people to pay for a one night cruise is probably tricky if tide timings prevent port (in/e)gress during civilized hours, but employees and freebie-getters won't complain!!!! 😉