martincath

Vancabs make up ~17% of the fleets of all the cab companies - so expect on average one in every 5 or 6 cabs in the 'first come, first served' queue at Canada Place (or at YVR) to be a van. With an obvious need for a van (the scooter) I know that at the YVR end it's the norm for us locals and many of the tourists to have a check behind us in the queue when a van rolls in - me and the missus never need a big vehicle, so if we see someone with a mobility device we invite them to take 'our' van and take the next wee Prius. Since the pier tends to run luggage heavy though, and there is no rule about prioritizing vans, I would expect that you are more likely to have to wait a little longer unless you get lucky and have several couples without excessive baggage just ahead of you... but you will get a van, just perhaps 5 mins longer wait than if any car would work for you. If you want a firmer idea of timing, then use the LyftUber XL (or local Kabu Plus which offers similar big vehicle rideshare) but I would advise walking away from the pier a little - just a block down the street to the right, same side of the road, is the 'other half' of the conference centre which has a large swathe of sidewalk that's totally covered from rain. A pickup here has the benefit of avoiding Howe St bottleneck for access to the pier proper, but is still busy (the floatplane terminal is just beyond it) so odds of getting a trip accepted quickly by a nearby vehicle are probably better than right at the pier. Other good option when specific vehicle needed is to use hotel bell staff - the Pan Pacific is right above the pier, and with a scooter you'll be taking an elevator or the walking ramp to get to street level rather than escalators. The former may bring you out literally inside the hotel lobby depending which bank you use, the latter you just turn right and go past Starbucks and there's the hotel door. Asking a bellman to call you a cab means they can specifically ask for an Accessible vehicle - and usually there's less wait time here or the Fairmont across the street than down under the pier, for both the reason of quicker access for the cars and also that they don't want to jeopardise relations with hotel staff... if Cab Company X fails to arrive promptly, or brings a Prius when a Van was requested, then maybe the hotel start calling Cab Company Y instead for all their guests...?

+1 to what Scott said - NB: tap an individual card, not your wallet, to ensure that the same card is picked up by the system when entering and leaving... you are billed the maximum possible fare if you don't tap back out, so random wallet waving can mean two separate 3 Zone charges to two different cards! For Concession fares, the ticket vending machines (CVMs - the C stands for Compass, the name of our reloadable card system) are easy to use, just always slower even if there's nobody in front of you as you need to tap the screen at least a couple of times plus then make payment compared to a single tap of the gate - the only additional difficulty is now you need to know about Zoned fares on weekdays instead of letting the system figure it out for you. I think I already mentioned above that Airport into town means you need to pay for 2 Zones; all discounted tickets whether for fogeys (65+), kiddies (<14), disabled etc. are all just categorized as Concession Fares - no need to prove to the machine how old you are, only in the very rare manual fare inspections would you need to show some ID as well. Cabbies - and in general in Canada - expect basically the same tips as in the US in case you're familiar with there. Any less than 15% and you're definitely seen as being cheap these days - and while resto staff, and especially bar staff, actually gained a massive hike in hourly pay pre-Pandemic when minimum wage differentials were eliminated (although any hope of this causing a rational nationwide reassessment of tipping fell apart in the pandemic, so continue to expect to pay 18-20% extra on even a single drink unless you modify the default amount at payment!) cabbies rates are set by law and have not increased recently. Personally, any cabbie who doesn't try to stiff me (still having a Scottish accent, now and again a driver 'forgets' about fixed fare zones and fires up the meter because he thinks I'm a tourist) and doesn't make me scared I'm going to die in a fiery crash I round up to $40 in the $34 Downtown Zone. As soon as they 'forget' the zone fare though, that tip drops to zero along with a succinct but sweary reminder not to screw over folks with funny accents...

UberXL, LyftXL, or local rideshare Kabu Plus should give you a single vehicle big enough without paying Limo rates (although NO legit local limo service has a per-person charge - that's unlawful! Pricing is strictly by vehicle, with standardized rate ranges defined by local bylaws, and enough competition you should easily find a legal-minimum-rate charging company - meeting you with a sign is an extra fee that is not set by law, always used to be $50 at the airport, but could be more now so legit rates for 5pax SUV could be close to $200 without being fake). There's a designated waiting area for rideshares, and you should get free WiFi as soon as you land via YVRs network so even if you don't have a decent roaming rate over here - but unless there's a car close by and the taxi rank has a long queue you may not save any time, although you should save money compared to two cabs at $34ea + tip... Note though that because it's a terminus station, you have literally zero rushhour commuters in any direction at any time of day from YVR SkyTrain - you will always get seats, and since 5pm is peak southbound the trains shouldn't even get that busy for you guys heading north so you might even be able to sit some bags in the aisle without inconveniencing anyone, especially if you snag the front or back seats. Stretching your legs with the very-slightly-downhill 8min walk along W Georgia from City Centre Station might also be nice after umpteen hours on a plane! Inbound it doesn't save as much cash for a group due to the extra $5pp charge, but if you're all >65 you can save ~$7 total buying Concession tickets (2 zone = $3.05 instead of $4.45pp) for barely over CAD$40 total, probably not saving more than a few bucks over a big rideshare but unless one of those is available quickly the train is going to be the fastest way downtown (runs every 7 mins or less that time of day, <25mins to City Centre, 8min walk, no traffic unlike cars). Not familiar with the upgrade cost of the bigger vehicles, but regular size rideshares all cost about 10% less into town than the taxi fixed fare zones so I'm fairly confident that one big rideshare will be cheaper than 2 cabs, possibly even as cheap as SkyTrain if you're paying regular Adult fares.

The pier's right in the heart of downtown, with many popular tourist attractions a very easy walk away. Get stuck into Tripadvisor - as well as individual site reviews there are various 'things to do in Vancouver in one day' type lists. Google Maps has our transit system fully-integrated, bike routes, elevation changes etc. etc. and free city wifi (broadcasts as #VanWiFi) means even without a phone data package you can use live maps to avoid getting lost or message other folks in your party if you all want to see different stuff but get back together for lunch etc. With only a few hours at most, it's crucial to figure out the stuff that's most likely to be enjoyed by you, not what Rando McGee deems a 'Must See' - especially since we've got more stuff to do than all the AK ports you'll have visited on the way down put together! Next time, skip one of the cruise legs and hang out here for a week! 😉

There are a few options here - depending whether you want to actually get out and about in Vancouver a lot, a little, or none at all. No interest whatsoever in seeing one of the best cities on earth? Personally I think that's a horrible mistake, but you do you! Stay onboard as late as possible by requesting the last possible 'take my bags off for me' disembarkation slot, enjoy a leisurely brekkie onboard, disembark after 9am, find your bags, then take them straight downstairs to the bag drop for your next cruise (make sure that you put the new tags on!!!!). Head back upstairs to check-in (usually in Hall C), and be prepared to wait until somewhere in the ballpark of 11am before you are invited to move out of this room through Security, probably CBP (if your cruise hits Victoria right after Vancouver you won't need to do this, but most cruises to the USA screen pax at the port before boarding), then sit around again in a a lounge until the ship is ready to let you onboard. If you have high Status you might get snacks here! Want to do some sightseeing? Same as above until Bag Drop, then just leave the pier - go see some stuff for a few hours, maybe take a bus tour if you've never been before and want a general overview, but be sure to come back at least 2 hours before your ship is scheduled to leave to do check-in etc. The Post-Cruise trips are pretty good for this - they usually leave the pier at 10am, last 4 hours, and drop folks at downtown hotels (like the Pan Pacific right on top of the pier!) or take them out to the airport - while not as flexible as HOHOs, with a short time they ensure you're not standing around at a HOHO stop only to find the next bus is full. Be aware that any time you choose to check-in between 11am and as late as 2pm on even a two ship day there's a good chance you will face long queues, shuffling around and randomly stopping, with no chance to sit down at all until you get onboard - so bus tours that drop you back at the pier approx 2pm usually mean the queues have declined to board. Want to squeeze every possible minute out of Vancouver, you very smart and attractive person you? Self-disembark as early as possible, pay a few bucks to stash your bag at the Pan Pacific hotel bell desk (literally on top of the pier) as bag drop officially starts no earlier than 10am (in practise there's an early bag drop somewhere down in the parking levels from at least 9:30am, but since you can Self-Disembark as early as 7:15am with a bit of luck that's still no good to you!). Run around madly (or rent a bike, book a tour, etc. etc.) and enjoy fabulous views, excellent dining, loads of parks and gardens and museums etc. etc. etc. for most of your day, then ensure that ~3 hours before your ship is due to leave you are back near the pier - spend an hour e.g. exploring Gastown or Coal Harbour, the 'hoods an easy walk away, or even ride FlyOverCanada on the pier itself. This ensures that as your hard deadline approaches for boarding you have no worries about traffic, finding a cab etc. but know that you can walk back to the pier in minutes. Grab your stored bags, head downstairs to bag drop, continue as above - but this time you will have no waiting whatsoever, expect to be constantly moving except when you have to actually interact with staff or kiosks. 20 minutes curb to cabin is the norm when you are sensibly-late - compared to two hours+ if you just move straight from ship to check-in!

ArriveCAN is actually still around for inbound air travel - entirely optional, but it saves a couple of minutes at the airport. Since you're arriving by sea though you couldn't complete it even if you wanted to OP! Optional US gov't things you might want to consider for flying home: if you have Global Entry, great, you'll save time in both Security and CBP Preclearance queues due to dedicated lines; and anyone with a US passport can use Mobile Passport Control to expedite your way through the CBP part, if not Security. But neither of these are required, you can just show up and join the Regular Joe long queues with your passport - unless you're looking at an early flight on disembarkation day a few extra minutes in this queue and that one won't kill you if you don't want to do any advance prep while on the ship!

Nowt wrong with White Spot now and again! Ubering you'll actually save a few bucks and avoid a bottleneck bridge from the airport on the way downtown next day; if you don't have time to sightsee and you're happy with the Spot, this hotel location should work better for you than the Richmond ones.

Glad to be of service; also glad you're already on top of booking help for your person. As to the last question I've never booked such aid so I cannot be 100% sure - I think that the disabled cruising board here on CC is likely to be your best bet for finding someone who can give an experiential answer about exactly who does what for wheelchair transfers here in Vancouver. The accessibility dept SHOULD be on top of this, they know who provides their pier services at every port and should be informing them of your requirements... but if you want to be 'belt & braces' sure you could reach out to Canada Place's cruise services and/or the local NCL service agent, SMS, contact details for both can be found on this handy FAQ page for cruisers!

We certainly hear about them - plus wolves that savage beach sleepers on the islands, coyotes attacking people in Stanley Park (and more pet cats than you can shake a stick at throughout the city), raccoons attack several people annually in Vancouver (usually when trying to defend their 'handbag' dogs from being eaten), polar bears all across our arctic settlements are the reason nobody locks their cars up there (so anyone on the street can jump into the nearest vehicle if they see a bear) and of course we'll see your Bunyips and raise you Sasquatch! We've even got rattlesnakes and scorpions here in BC, though Black Widows mostly stay over in Ontario. Cougars have attacked mountain bikers and hikers here on the mainland too, there's just more of them on the Island - my favourite story is about the pensioner who killed a cougar with a spear after it mauled his missus... I'm sure Crocodile Dundee would have just gone after it with a knife! 😉 The most dangerous beastie in Canada though, with over 200 annual attacks on humans recorded by Parks Canada during their last available chunk of data (2299 during 2010-2021)? Though don't worry, the overwhelming majority happen in Alberta and nobody cruises out of there... . . . . Elk! So do your bit when you visit, help us eat as many of these vicious-but-delicious predators as possible!!!!! 😉

Never stayed, but drive past it frequently. I would concur that a north side room is absolutely a good idea - massive traffic volumes for Vancouver pass right outside as it's slap bang in the area where the multiple 'highway' routes into and out of downtown merge, with virtually every single vehicle heading to the airport from Vancouver proper or vice versa driving past! My issue is that unless it was a buttload of cash less than other 'airport' hotels, even if the hotel itself is totally fine it's in a worse location for both choice of dining and access to SkyTrain than the ones in Richmond. It's over a mile on foot to Marine Gateway (which does have dining and shops since the condo towers went up, although all are soulless big chain type places) along a very industrial road - even the Denny's nearby has folded! There are some nice enough little local spots, several small parks, not too far to the Fraser riverside walkway - but even when we first moved here and went to the Scottish Cultural Centre in hopes of hooking up with some haggis connections, I just did not like the vibe of the area, a super-weird mix of very parochial single family homes just north of the hotel, straight into light industrial, and just soooooo many cars constantly trundling past. I honestly feel safer here, in the worst part of downtown, than in the weirdly empty sidewalks around there after dark - although get just a few blocks north, say 70th Ave, and it's a completely different vibe. I'd choose any of the Richmond area hotels - despite their similarly industrial blocks you are much closer to big malls, multiple dining options including some really good ones, and more likely to be within an easy walk of SkyTrain. Hotel shuttles here will drop you at the SkyTrain too - it's on the way - whereas for that BW+ they need to backtrack you to one of the Sea Island stations to avoid going two miles+ out of their way so you'll get hit with an extra $5pp AddFare. All the Richmond hotels avoid this, with at least one of Aberdeen, Lansdowne, or Bridgeport conveniently on their driving routes between YVR and hotel - no AddFares from these!

You're already in the best position possible by leaving from a hotel - don't book a cab yourself, have the hotel do it for you. Even weaselly cabbies know that they cannot afford to p*ss off hotel staff - if a given company don't show up promptly a few times, then the hotel will stop calling them! Ensure that the hotel staff request one accessible cab, which even if you have a person in a wheelchair who needs strapped down in it you'll find has more generous luggage room in both trunk (right up to roofline level) and very probably some floor space too (without a chair in place, the missing bench seat basically doubles the available luggage volume). So given you will obviously send the mobility challenged person with some of your other folks, I'd be inclined to stuff as many bags as will fit in the van with 4 of you - leaving just 3 folks who even with a big bag and a carry on each worst case should fit into any Prius cab. You could call yourself, or use a cab app, but ever since eCab folded there hasn't been a reliable multiple-company app available, so you have to take a chance of contacting one company - if they're really busy that day, might take a long time! Basically once Uber are embedded, cab firms go back to hating each other with a burning passion - only in trying to keep Uber etc. out of town and complaining to the PTB about how they can't make enough money so please do not add any new cab licenses do they work together! They're just like my folk, the Scots, who only stop fighting among ourselves when the English invade!!! 😉 One further note - if your mobility challenged person cannot handle a two block walk from SkyTrain to pier, with the rest of you able-bodied types handling the bags, they WILL need help at both airport and pier. There's a longer walk from most US gates to the taxi rank, and from curb to cabin, than the walk from Waterfront to pier! If your person is actually wheelchair bound, SkyTrain remains absolutely viable - the gaps are so small even wee suitcase wheels don't get caught so even small travel chairs can be rolled on and off. If however your person is more in the 'I should be OK, I can stop and rest a bit, I've got my sticks/frame/folding seat so as long as you young'uns take my suitcase I don't want to bother anyone so do not ask for a wheelchair for me' camp, give them a firm slap upside the head with the Reality Bat about the distances and the fact that once in one of the many queues at Canada Place there are no seats, just lots of walking and standing - and book assistance at airport and pier ASAP!

A one-way from the AK end, or RT from Seattle, would both be totes legit and many Victorians do exactly that. I think they're actually scared of the mainland, really 😉 Every example I can recall where someone said 'but what about X' in relation to coastwise rules having been broken for them ended up being "Oh, yeah, we bought a CRUISE from San Diego but they actually bussed us to Ensenada to embark" or similar...

Europe is... complicated! Many 'European' routes incorporate countries that are not part of the EU, or are but are not part of Schengen, or are in Schengen-compatible EFTA but not in the EU, or used to be in the mix but threw a hissy fit and took their ball home (looking at you, my original home UK!!!!), or really hate seeing passport stamps from their "Evil Neighbours" once you get around to sailing the Asian/African sides of the Med... it all makes the WHTI rules look incredibly simple 😉

Our Coasting Trade act is fundamentally the same as a combo of Jones and PVSA - in that very similar rules apply to both passengers and goods in a single piece of legislation. We're efficient that way up here - since we have to write everything twice (French and English) it's already twice the work!!! We have different specific exemptions but similar 'common sense' exemptions in principle - e.g. many of the small coastal/island towns and villages need supplied by air or water, so if something happened to a regular Canadian-run 'lifeline route' a foreign vessel could step in they'd be allowed to until a Canadian boat was able to operate it again. The same basic principles apply to the vast majority of developed countries - Nobody wants foreigners stealing their jobs basically, especially if there's a potential 'race to the bottom' on safety standards for passenger transportation! Someone boarding a cruise ship in Van would absolutely be denied disembarking in Vic 100% of the time unless it was an unscheduled emergency, just like someone boarding in LA would not be allowed off in Seattle unless it was a trip that include a Distant Foreign Port; but cutting short a loop that started in the US by getting off in Vic is no problem legally - a cruise between two different countries is never the subject of coastwise trade, by definition!

Just to add that without details of exactly what crime was committed in Canadian terms, even with felonies there's still a chance that your group member might be allowed in - the general rule of thumb for being 'deemed rehabilitated' at the border is 5 to 10 years after all sentences, fines, parole etc. end depending on the crime. Serious crimes - 10+ year sentences by Canadian standards, which includes DUIs these days - you need to fill the paperwork and pay the fees for a 'pardon' or else have a very strong reason for a short visit (things like funerals, dying family members, coming up to retrieve a minor family member because someone else got sick or died get sympathetic treatment - "I fancy a vaycay in the Great White North" not so much!!!) So I would certainly PLAN for their entry to be denied - but with as you say their 'debt paid' 20+ years ago, even if it was a serious crime just keeping them on the ship seems by far the most likely action taken by CBSA. If they are interviewed with the potential of being allowed in just be honest and polite and they just may be able to join the rest of you in Victoria to enjoy the delights of civilized-temperature beer and Kinder Surprise Eggs (though for <insert preferred Deity>'s sake, don't try bringing any back onboard and end up with further offences on their file!!!!!)

My condolences on the death and illnesses, and no worries about the delay - plenty folks don't reply at all, so even a much-belated thank you is greatly appreciated, especially under the circumstances! Ask any time about PDX dining - having been unable to cross the border for a chunk of time, then Covid restrictions for ages on top of the many closed restos we're slowly working our way back to prior familiarity levels, but almost all the really historic restos that did survive didn't change much (exceptions being Besaw's - which to be fair changed significantly already during the 2016 relocation, but with Cara's cancer diagnosis and stepping back as now co-owner with a new chef it's literally nothing like it used to be since reopening this year... and until Fullers reopens post-fire, hopefully this month, I can't tell how badly the decor/vibe will be altered there - but Urban group didn't change it much after taking over in 2019).

SkyTrain travel time rarely varies more than a minute end to end as traisn are fully automated, so work backwards from how early you plan to be at the airport pre-flight: actual travel time should take ~26mins; worst case if you just miss an airport-bound train 10-12mins until the next one (weekend morning frequency not as high as peak commuter rush 7min, but much better than late night 20min); assume ~10mins for a leisurely walk from hotel to station and the same mins for airport station to check-in desks in case you're at the furthest away one. All-in-all, leaving the hotel 1 hour before your comfortable airport arrival time is going to be more padding for travel than you will need over 99% of the time. Hard cap for checked bags on any route is no more than 1 hour pre-flight at YVR, so even if you have Global Entry or NEXUS and are very comfortable showing up close to the wire I would strongly recommend being out of the PP by 8am at the absolute latest; for US-bound or Int'l flights 7am should be fine for any but the most nervous travelers on a Saturday morning, giving you something in the 2hr-2hr20min ballpark time pre-flight. Domestic Canadian flights (or first legs to elsewhere that go to another Canadian airport for a layover) you could push it to 7:30am very safely.

Or even better Julia - an EARLY checkout from hotel, go drop bags at the pier, then spend another 5 or 6 hours shopping, sightseeing, visiting a local spa to pay a smaller number in a weaker currency (for savings of about 50% overall...) and a much better lunch than you could possibly get onboard (use those spa savings!) before boarding at 3pm and sauntering casually through all the lines while pretending to be Lisa Simpson ("Velvet ropes....") until you arrive in your cabin to find your bags are most definitely there waiting for you. Far preferable to waiting, walking, waiting, walking, waiting, then boarding only to find that your bags still aren't there and you forgot to pack your cozzie in your carryon so you can't even camp out in the hot tub while they're empty and more sanitary than any other time in the whole cruise dagnabbit!!!

Canada does not require original bottles - technically we demand original labels attached to the container the pills are in! So you could carefully peel off labels, or simply ask the pharmacy to print extras to stick onto your smaller containers, or if you have any renewals to do before cruising try asking the pharmacy to simply split the supply into more than one bottle - even on a one week cruise undoubtedly you'll be bringing some extra supplies just in case...? Unless they have literally run out of the right size of pill bottle I've never had a problem getting smaller ones - indeed, often they run out of the bigger bottles so I get my meds split in two without even having to ask! If you travel at all often though, and your pharmacy is not set up to make custom blisterpacks of multiple meds split into times/days to take them, consider changing to a service that does - e.g. Pillpack specializes in exactly this for no extra charge over regular Co-pays by mail order (they even include non-prescription pills that you regularly take, and with Amazons buying power behind them now those probably work out pretty cheap), but I expect most if not all US chains can do it for in-person collection too (I've seen this service offered at Costco, CVS, and even Walmart pharmacies in the US). Then you can easily bring original containers, with labels, exactly as they arrive from the pharmacy - that only cover the timeframe you need when you're away. US folks coming to visit us aren't generally an issue for prescription medication smuggling - virtually everything is cheaper up here so it's in the other direction that the border gets snoopier! As long as your meds are legal here - we do have some differences in pharmaceutical codes, just as we have different criminal codes that cause problems for folks with DUIs - and you can prove you were prescribed them if asked you should be fine regardless of original labels or not... but personally I'd never recommend a course of action that's non-compliant with what any border control agency says you should do 😉

Probably both an earlier choice of slot, plus alternate queues... but neither actually guarantee avoiding the biggest source of the delays that all the folks complain about! HAL can give you priority - but only over other HAL pax... they will have multiple lines for check-in, so if you arrive at the worst time (depends on pax load, but generally 11am-1pm is always busy) you might have a short first queue while others are stuck in a longer one... but frankly so many people have 4*+ status on HAL that I've lost count of how many reports I've read along the lines of 'my priority queue was longer than the Regular Joe queue!' on HAL (and Princess, where I've cruised on ships that are 75% Platinum pax!) When lots of pax are 4* Mariners that also get 'priority' then any priority queue that is shared with high status folks becomes pretty meaningless! Someone else who's cruised more recently with HAL may be able to share specific info about whether Club Orange get a separate, even higher priority, queue... or have to share with the many hundreds of other priority people 😉 Regardless though, at least your priority MIGHT be useful at this stage - but after that HAL have zero control: Security and CBP Preclearance at the pier are is shared by everyone embarking that day. CBP 'rule the roost' for AK cruises - NOBODY gets to start embarking until they say they're ready to start prescreening boarding pax. Once CBP say they're good to go, it's up to HAL which of their pax get to leave the HAL area first - but maybe Princess, Celebrity, Royal etc. are more organized with emptying their vessels, so even the very first HAL pax might have some or all the priority people from other lines in front of them! And if the CBP room gets too full, nobody else is allowed in until they say so again - which means that the line back to Security stops moving, and so on like reverse dominos. Unsurprisingly, it's the sudden stopping of a line (for no visible reason unless you are caught just outside CBPs area) that really causes frustration... If you arrive early (say before 10:30am) you probably won't wait too long in security and CBP, but then the ships are generally still not ready to accept folks actually boarding so you lurk in yet another part of the pier - a ship-specific lounge area, which will at least have chairs - until the ship is ready for you. There may be another chance for your priority to kick in here, snacks and drink the plebs don't get offered for example! In short - show up early and you are guaranteed to wait a long time, probably 90-120mins total, before you get onboard with, ironically, the earliest of the early people waiting the longest. Still, better to wait sitting down then to show up at Peak Pax Time (noonish) when you may wait just as long to board, but while standing in queues which seem to randomly just stop for a time before shuffling forward again... Regardless of Status, class of room booked etc. though - show up among the last pax to board and you won't wait for anything, plus you get to hang out in one of the best cities on the planet for several extra hours - more than enough time to take a tour, visit a large site or several smaller ones, get some cheaper shopping done etc. Don't cut it too close though! CBP take a hard line with late arrivers - you should be at the pier 2 full hours before the planned sailaway time of your ship. I suggest saving Gastown or Coal Harbour sightseeing, or perhaps the FlyOverCanada ride right on the pier, for the last hour or so before you plan to board so there's no risk of traffic delays etc. causing you a problem.

Whoops - too late to edit! Middle paragraph: Botanist is in the Fairmont Pacific Rim - given I also mentioned the similarly-named Pan Pacific hotel, best to clarify (they too have a swank resto - Five Sails - but unlike with the Fairmont restos that is run by a third party, the Glowbal chain these days; their brunch however is done by in-house staff at Oceans 999 who are a step down from the fine dining brigades).

Nightingale is superb, especially for happy hour (same portions, lower prices!) - I actually visit it more often than the fancier Hawksworth as the menu is much broader with more nibbly options, so we can sample more plates! While there's a more casual vibe, the kitchen retains a crisp attention to detail, same dish on multiple visits near-identical. Arc shouldn't disappoint - all the Fairmont restos are generally well-run and consistent, although I do have to say this is my least favourite of them all (both Notch8 in the Vancouver and especially Botanist in the Pan Pacific are significantly better), although as a caveat I have never done brunch (simply far, far too expensive considering I can get the best brunch in the city at Medina for a significant discount) nor have I dined since the new head chef came on board last year. If you want an unlimited brunch buffet style, there aren't really many other options these days though except here and the Pan Pacific over the road - and their food has never been quite as good as the Fairmonts in the hotel-run restos so if you really want to drop $65pp to stuff yourselves I'd stick to Arc rather than changing to over the road. OTOH, if you want to have a cheaper but almost-certainly-better brunch, with plenty-generous portions and best waffles in the city - book a reso in Medina ASAP!

Not that company, but other cabs in Seattle and 80%+ of Vancouver cabs are Prius models. Even the oldest ones have ample room for three large bums to sit (front passenger and two in the back if you're all as wide in the seat as I am!) and the trunks should handle 3 regular-big or at least 2 'pay extra to the airlines big' suitcases plus a 2 or 3 carryons. Where there's an issue with Prius cabs is when you have 4 people on vacation rather than just pootling around town to a resto without luggage - there may be a seat and belt for 4 pax, but the trunks can rarely manage to hold 4 regular-big suitcases and any carryons at all, so folks end up with their small bags on laps... but even then, some of the later models with the near-vertical hatchback rear, rather than the 'fastback' gently sloping glass, have a much more practical boxy trunk - I've seen 4 people pop out of those with a big and small bag each like clowns going on a cruise 😉

If they're way bigger than life size, look like they're laughing, and you can also see some palm trees around then it's the installation A-maze-ing Laughter (not modeled accurately on a real person) in English Bay. If you actually load the map already linked above on your mobile device, it will immediately geolocate to where you are... and show the nearby art so you can learn all about it!

Yup, this is me - my wife's more into cameras and packs her DSLR, manual settings across the board, but I'm good with a decent-zoom Point'n'Shoot and choosing the most appropriate 'auto' mode then just firing off a bunch of shots and weeding out the bad ones afterward! Even if you're not at all interested in learning how to do it manually, just rotating the wheel/tapping the buttons to a more-specific auto setting for what you're shooting makes a big difference - especially if you learn how to enable 'burst mode' to fire off a whole bunch of shots for those whale tails or calving glaciers, sooooo much more likely to get at least one decent shot in a rapid burst! For example - see attached (cropped to make smaller file size and coverted to .jpg for upload, otherwise no edits whatsoever). This was taken from a small moving boat, one-handed, camera elevated above the guy in front of me as the whale popped up unexpectedly and just button held down until the memory buffer filled. Several others blurrier shots, but this one you can clearly see the barnacles, tangled fishing line, droplets of water, scars, the whole shebang - and all I had to do was set the camera to Sport Mode and have it in my hand! Heard splash, jumped up, lifted camera and pressed button!