Questions about what time to arrive at Vancouver pier

We are sailing out of Vancouver on Sunday May 27. It looks like only two ships are setting sail that day. We arrive in Vancouver Saturday afternoon. We have never been and would like to sight see as long as possible. Since we are coming from the East Coast we will be up early on Sunday. We are staying at the Best Western Plus Uptown. What is the latest time we should head to the pier? Our plan was to leave the bags at the hotel, go sightseeing, take a cab or uber (do they have uber in Vancouver?) back to the hotel, grab bags and head to the ship. We won't have to go thru customs to get on the ship, right?

My 19 year old daughter will be sailing with us. She wants to go to a bar and order a drink - any fun bars we should hit for lunch?

TIA

Kathy

As late as possible - a 2 shipper shouldn't be too bad, but total time curb to cabin is always the shortest when you shave the margin close. If your ship departs at Xpm, you should aim to arrive at (X-2)pm.

One extra factor - the Uptown does add quite a bit of drive time, traffic immediately outside it flows all day (Kingsway is a busy street) and there is only room for one cab in the official load/unload bay but even that is often filled with a regular car. Plus, cabs don't tend to lurk there - I drive past 5 or 6 times weekly, half of those in early afternoon, and I see a cab sitting maybe once a month. So tell the cabbie you get from downtown to keep the meter running and wait for you - it will save potentially 10 or 20mins over calling another cab.

Since you do have some driving/potential traffic delays, aiming for 2 hours before gives you 30mins of wiggle room (the hard cap is 90mins pre-departure - after that, you'll be forbidden to board).

So many bars in Vancouver... does she already know what kind of drink she wants to have? I'd offer very different recommendations depending if she wants a local beer, wine, or cocktail... but the biggest factor is where you already plan to be at lunch, there's no bar good enough to be worth schlepping across town from somewhere else for one drink! Lunchtime isn't the optimal drinking time either - very few locals, so any open bars will be touristy or more like restaurants. Most real cocktail bars don't open until late afternoon, even if they do food (although some of the good beer/wine options do).

Personally I'd suggest hitting up the Narrow Lounge the night before from your hotel instead. It's an easy walk, is almost 100% tourist-free, very much an East Van institution, and really captures the sleaziness that you want for that first boozing experience;-) It's hidden in a basement just off Main street, behind a plain door, and you can only tell it's open when the light outside the door is lit. Dark & dingy inside; beards, tattoos or both on all the staff; but they also have a little outside beer-garden if you want to experience daylight. Very good mac & cheese!

Downtown there are several Tap & Barrel locations now, all with patios, all serving many local beers & wines, with very decent pub grub menus if you do stick to the lunch plan - so wherever you are sightseeing there's a good chance a T&B will be pretty close. Granville Island would be the exception - and it's restos only, except for the GI Brewing Taproom which is ideal for beer sampling. Otherwise I'd suggest Vancouver Fish Company at lunch - nice patio, might see the seals, good seafood - or Edible Canada if the food is more important (they also have some good custom cocktails) as this is hands-down the best kitchen on GI and they are always open for brunch on weekends.

What time is your sailaway...you will need to be on board 90-120 minutes prior to that.

Yes, as discussed here frequently, you will have US Immigration and Customs as you board the ship.

What time is your sailaway...you will need to be on board 90-120 minutes prior to that.

 

Yes, as discussed here frequently, you will have US Immigration and Customs as you board the ship.

sail away is 430. so if i should be ON the ship at 230 what time should we aim to get at the pier?

As late as possible - a 2 shipper shouldn't be too bad, but total time curb to cabin is always the shortest when you shave the margin close. If your ship departs at Xpm, you should aim to arrive at (X-2)pm.

 

One extra factor - the Uptown does add quite a bit of drive time, traffic immediately outside it flows all day (Kingsway is a busy street) and there is only room for one cab in the official load/unload bay but even that is often filled with a regular car. Plus, cabs don't tend to lurk there - I drive past 5 or 6 times weekly, half of those in early afternoon, and I see a cab sitting maybe once a month. So tell the cabbie you get from downtown to keep the meter running and wait for you - it will save potentially 10 or 20mins over calling another cab.

 

Since you do have some driving/potential traffic delays, aiming for 2 hours before gives you 30mins of wiggle room (the hard cap is 90mins pre-departure - after that, you'll be forbidden to board).

 

So many bars in Vancouver... does she already know what kind of drink she wants to have? I'd offer very different recommendations depending if she wants a local beer, wine, or cocktail... but the biggest factor is where you already plan to be at lunch, there's no bar good enough to be worth schlepping across town from somewhere else for one drink! Lunchtime isn't the optimal drinking time either - very few locals, so any open bars will be touristy or more like restaurants. Most real cocktail bars don't open until late afternoon, even if they do food (although some of the good beer/wine options do).

 

Personally I'd suggest hitting up the Narrow Lounge the night before from your hotel instead. It's an easy walk, is almost 100% tourist-free, very much an East Van institution, and really captures the sleaziness that you want for that first boozing experience;-) It's hidden in a basement just off Main street, behind a plain door, and you can only tell it's open when the light outside the door is lit. Dark & dingy inside; beards, tattoos or both on all the staff; but they also have a little outside beer-garden if you want to experience daylight. Very good mac & cheese!

 

Downtown there are several Tap & Barrel locations now, all with patios, all serving many local beers & wines, with very decent pub grub menus if you do stick to the lunch plan - so wherever you are sightseeing there's a good chance a T&B will be pretty close. Granville Island would be the exception - and it's restos only, except for the GI Brewing Taproom which is ideal for beer sampling. Otherwise I'd suggest Vancouver Fish Company at lunch - nice patio, might see the seals, good seafood - or Edible Canada if the food is more important (they also have some good custom cocktails) as this is hands-down the best kitchen on GI and they are always open for brunch on weekends.

Our ship leaves at 430 pm. Should I be at the pier at 230 or on the ship at 230?

She has spent a lot of time in Europe so it won't be her first bar experience. But I LOVE the sound of the one with the hidden entrance. Walking in an unmarked door will probably freak her out - so that is what I will do! Thank you for the suggestions!

OP, I understand your interest in Vancouver and that you want to do as much as possible before embarking, however a 2:00 pm arrival at Canada Place scares me. I guess I'm just a planner and I like to leave wiggle room in all circumstances (where I can, of course!), and I consider this to be one of them. My feeling is that the first day on board ship is a day you've paid for, so I never want to cut it too close to departure.

The variable may be US Customs and Immigration pre-clearance. It could be a very long line with only a couple of officers or it could be a short line. Two ships' worth of passengers still use the same area to pre-clear.

OK. What I am saying (and others may disagree, that's fine) is that I would not want to get to the pier after 1 or 1:30 at the latest. There is still a lot to navigate on a two-ship day, still many thousands of passengers with you. SO.... 1:00 is my latest. ;)

Have a great cruise.

.

I would be there by 1:30.

Our ship leaves at 430 pm. Should I be at the pier at 230 or on the ship at 230?

 

She has spent a lot of time in Europe so it won't be her first bar experience. But I LOVE the sound of the one with the hidden entrance. Walking in an unmarked door will probably freak her out - so that is what I will do! Thank you for the suggestions!

You have to be at cruise check-in (the first step) by 90mins before. The cruiseline is responsible for giving the list of pax to CBP - so as soon as you see the check-in staff, they know you are present and 'in the system'.

Given the multiple reports of late passengers due to various debacles, if CBP required you to actually be onboard rather than on the list of 'they have arrived at the pier' there would have been half-empty ships sailing on several May departures from Vancouver every year (and thousands of irate pax who showed up at 2pm or earlier and due to delays mostly caused by CBP, did not get to board for 3+ hours - i.e. until after the ship officially should have already left!) Your personal comfort level should of course determine how close you shave that margin though - normally when I recommend this, I'm also telling people to be walking around downtown so there is zero issue with traffic possible - you do have a couple of miles to drive... with 2 ships, 2pm should be late enough to ensure smooth passage with minimal queues, and give you another 30mins comfort zone.

Narrow Lounge is on north side of 3rd Ave, on the east side of Main - the door is usually propped open once the light goes on, but sometimes not (and the opening time of 5pm is very variable - recently they've been just a few minutes either side, but in the past they sometimes just didn't open at all, or were an hour or more late, so I'd aim for dinner somewhere then drinkies afterward!)

VERY good dinner nearby is Burdock - Main St @ 11th Ave. Walk straight across 10th from your hotel, turn left when you hit Main. No resos, so a good place to put on your 'depends if we are done on time or running late' list - excellent locavore cuisine, local organic wines, decent cocktails, and while not cheap you can see every buck on the plate.

If you are still downtown and not getting back until a bit later on Sat pm, you could also hit the 'speakeasy' above Campagnolo on Main St much closer to the core. It's on the 1000 block, just south of Chinatown between Milross & National - next to the restaurant door is a plain black door with an odd sigil burnt onto a scrap of leather. The door opens onto a set of curtains, then stairs up.

Upstairs does have access to the full menu from downstairs, as well as their own quirky cuisine (rather meatatarian, including the finest burger known to man - at least this one!). Doesn't open until 6pm, and all the burgers will be gone in an hour on a weekend they make so few daily. Great whisky selection, some real rarities like Pappy Van Winkle, and a mix of classic and custom cocktails that are the main focus of the bar (but they do have some beers & wines).