sprez

By local, I meant non-tourist good food, good value places.

Again, thanks.

Sounds like you could do everything you list above in your timeframe as well as one of Whistler or Victoria. From your arrival date, I'm guessing it's the Millie you're on, so no stop in Victoria en route, correct?

 

For me I'd prioritize a day in Victoria over one in Whistler - unless you really, *really* love mountains. Butchart Gardens has fireworks on Sat 31st Aug.

 

Local events happening over your time here include Taiwan Fest, Gastown BBQ/Chili Fest, and Food Cart Fest.

 

If you're doing a HOHO, you can probably skip an in-town tour - there may be a couple of extra sights as the HOHOs don't get outside the downtown core, but most of a 4 hour tour would be redundant.

 

Granville Island can easily eat up a half day if you wander the public market, watch some buskers, shop a bit, have lunch or dinner. Late afternoons tend to be quieter, and if you time it right you can still see all the public market & shops, then grab dinner (Edible Canada is excellent) and finish up with a mini-cruise on False Creek on the Aquabus or False Creek Ferries when the light's at its best for photography (sunset will be just before 8pm when you're in town - the ferries usually stop just around then).

 

You might want to have some bad weather alternatives - tours/HOHO and aquarium are all-weather, but Grouse & Capilano are much more outdoorsy and a big part of visiting Grouse is the view of Vancouver (low cloud/fog/heavy rain = no view). Would an Art Gallery or Museum would be of interest to your group?

Yes, we are on the Millie, I hope that the repairs that they had to do on her are all done and she is on her way, making up time to meet us on time on the 23rd.

I love all your suggestions. The public markets and shops are right up our alley. I did not know about the aquabus or the False Creek area. We will most assuredly do that. The casino in that area would make a good rainy day activity for us. Perhaps the Museum would be a nice time as well.

I need to ask, what are the buskers mentioned above?

The gaslight chili fest and the food cart fests look very interesting to us. Is it a total mob scene? Is it near our hotel area?

If we have any energy left in us we may do Victoria on Monday. Sorry I would miss the fireworks, I love fireworks!

Is there a good "local" eatery or drinkery near our hotel you might recommend?

Thank you very much for all your help. I spent tons of time planning our pre-cruise and cruise activities and have just run out of time for planning our 4 days in Vancouver. I hope most of the things we choose to do can be easily booked through the hotel without a ton of advanced reservations required.

Thanks for the report back. It's always nice to hear what visitors end up doing and how things worked out for them.

All your information is so helpful. We leave on Aug. 19 for a land /cruise and arrive in Vancouver on Friday the 30th early in the am. We (4 of us, all retired) are booked in the Holiday Inn on Howe. We leave on Tuesday afternoon the 3rd so really do have 4 full days to explore.

None of us have been to Vancouver before. I am having trouble deciding if we should take the time to go to Whistler or Victoria (both would take basically 1 whole day each) or just stay in and around "town". I would love to hear everyone's thoughts.

Also, are there any Labor Day activities, fireworks etc. we might see on Sunday or Monday?

Things I am interested in so far are the two trips mentioned above, a 4 or 5 hour city tour, the hop on hop off troffy, the suspension bridge, the harbor, the aquarium, Grouse Mt. I love markets and the food cart gathering sound like they are fun as well. We need day and evening activities. ( we are not late night people)

Love to hear what good places are near our hotel. Thanks for your help one and all.

PS Getting very, very excited for this trip!

Dear Debbie,

I have gone to bed 2 hours later than I should for the last 3 nights reading your wonderful review and all the questions you are so kind to answer since your posting.

My husband and I are going on the Celebrity Century the 23rd of March 2012. We are flying in on the 20th from New York. We are staying at the Aston Wikiki Beach for 3 nights. Many of your pictures are right in that area. Hearing how much you enjoyed this area has made me very happy with our choice. Our cruise than stays in Honolulu overnight the 1st night we board, goes to the other islands with another overnight in Maui. it is 7 days in Hawaii and then 6 sea days to San Diego. I think I will be very happy to rest and relax on the sea days which I love since husband learned his vacation style studing Sherman's March to the Sea!

I feel like I have found a kindered spirit in you! I have already downloaded the packing app to my I-touch.

Thank you so much for all this wonderful information.

S&S Cruiser