Wasting a day in Vancouver?

Just wanted to represent and say that any time spent in Vancouver is never wasted. :)

1000% agree! I would kill for a day to 'waste' in Vancouver! Hubby and I are from Hamilton, ON and fell in love with your beautiful city within an hour of our first visit. We try to book cruises out of Vancouver as much as possible just so we have an excuse to fly in a few days early and wander around. We had to cancel our Pacific coastal for September due to work obligations and I was more heartbroken at missing out on our two days pre-cruise than I was about missing out on the cruise iteself!

1000% agree! I would kill for a day to 'waste' in Vancouver! Hubby and I are from Hamilton, ON and fell in love with your beautiful city within an hour of our first visit. We try to book cruises out of Vancouver as much as possible just so we have an excuse to fly in a few days early and wander around. We had to cancel our Pacific coastal for September due to work obligations and I was more heartbroken at missing out on our two days pre-cruise than I was about missing out on the cruise iteself!

Great! Love to have you visit.

Ovation is coming in May 2019 to Van. from AU to do Alaska from Seattle and leaving from Van. to go back to AU in Sept. Both repositioning cruises.

MartinCath - have a question about the $10 transit Daypass. Will that work for someone in a wheelchair? We will be 6 people total, and 10-yr old daughter uses a WC. Would a taxi be cheaper for us? Appreciate all the info on the parks, my other 2 kids will love running there and we will all enjoy exploring and taking in the views from QE Park.

MartinCath - have a question about the $10 transit Daypass. Will that work for someone in a wheelchair? We will be 6 people total, and 10-yr old daughter uses a WC. Would a taxi be cheaper for us? Appreciate all the info on the parks, my other 2 kids will love running there and we will all enjoy exploring and taking in the views from QE Park.

Day passes should also work on the HandyDART service if that's what you mean (it takes a regular bus ticket like other services do, but a companion travels free). If you use regular buses and SkyTrain, there's no difference in ticketing - and there are designated wheelchair spots on both, with seats that fold up or a permanent space marked for chairs, and straps & attachments to keep the chair from moving.

Bear in mind though that as a 10-year old, Concession fare rates apply - which does cut the price of a Day Pass to $7.75. This is not as much as the % discount for regular tickets ($1.85 vs $2.85, ~35% off vs. 22.5%), so it's harder to make a Day Pass actually pay for itself as a Concession traveler (if anyone else is <14 or >65 they can also buy Concession tickets, and kids under 5 are totally free on all transit). You need to take 5+ bus (or 1 zone SkyTrain) trips before the Day pass saves money, whereas for regular users the 4th trip is already saving you a little.

As to taxis - with 6 people, you'll always need 2 cabs (even the minivans set up to take a strapped-in wheelchair in only have 4 other seats at most). Depending how far you're going, this could still be cheaper than Transit though - since most folks pay $2.85pp for a transit ticket any cab fare of ~$8 or less is going to cost less than 3 folks taking a bus or SkyTrain. That actually covers most of the downtown core which is barely over a mile wide and two miles long... if you really want to run up some spreadsheets, plug in your potential sites to taxifarefinder here and see what rate comes up (light traffic rates are pretty accurate except heading to the pier on cruise mornings or right in the middle of rush hour - avoid 7-9am and 4-6pm downtown and there's rarely much of a slowdown.)

Edit - whoops! I just remembered about the HandyCard (which allows for discount travel and a free companion on regular transit, and an equivalent cabsaver program) so checked the eligibility criteria. Turns out that even HandyDART has an age limit of 12+ to become a user - as it is the user who can call for buses etc. they have to be deemed sufficiently mature to be allowed to do so I guess. So unless there's an older person traveling who is also eligible for HandyDART you won't actually be able to use that service.

I'm going to leave the info above though, in case anyone else finds this thread when Searching, rather than delete it even though it is unfortunately not applicable in your specific case...

We absolutely love Vancouver. Our first Celebrity cruise was sailing from Vancouver to San Diego. We stayed at the Loden Hotel - they are top notch - they have a car that takes you anywhere you want. We recommend going to Cardero's in Coal Harbor for lunch or dinner - you can see ocean, snow and sun at the same time while enjoying fabulous food. We did the Capialano Suspension Bridge - highly recommended. We also did a hop on hop off bus tour and enjoyed it.

Martincath - THANK YOU very much for the detailed info! With 3 kids ages 10, 10, and 6, plus my 70 year old mom, 4 of the 6 of us would qualify for the Concession Fare. Daughter can transfer from WC to seat if necessary, but we still need a place to store the WC either way. Looks like public transit may be the less expensive option for day trip/sightseeing.

From YVR to our hotel (Lord Stanley Suites on the Park), it appears that we either need two taxis (using the fare finder you posted that would cost about $84 for both, plus tip) OR split the group and do daughter and Nana in a taxi with the luggage and WC (at a cost of about $42) and then SkyTrain for the rest of us. Would Uber/Lyft be comparable in price to either of those? Of course, we would need to accommodate the WC and luggage regardless.

Martincath - THANK YOU very much for the detailed info! With 3 kids ages 10, 10, and 6, plus my 70 year old mom, 4 of the 6 of us would qualify for the Concession Fare. Daughter can transfer from WC to seat if necessary, but we still need a place to store the WC either way. Looks like public transit may be the less expensive option for day trip/sightseeing.

 

From YVR to our hotel (Lord Stanley Suites on the Park), it appears that we either need two taxis (using the fare finder you posted that would cost about $84 for both, plus tip) OR split the group and do daughter and Nana in a taxi with the luggage and WC (at a cost of about $42) and then SkyTrain for the rest of us. Would Uber/Lyft be comparable in price to either of those? Of course, we would need to accommodate the WC and luggage regardless.

No problem.

Answers in order of simplicity:

No Uber or Lyft, so no further comparisons needed except cabs to transit!

YVR to the hotel has fixed price for cabs and limos - Lord Stanley is in one of the priciest zones, $37 per cab, as it is a block past Denman street. These zoned fares only apply for trips FROM the airport - the meter link I gave you applies for everything else.

If you feel you could schlep all the bags that last block, you could cab to Denman & Georgia instead which would drop the fare into the $31 Downtown zone (on both sides of boundary streets, the lowest Zone fare applies for cabs - this intersection actually separates the $35 zone as well so different corners had different prices for the first couple of years until the Lowest Zone rule came in).

SkyTrain doesn't get close to your hotel - a bus transfer would be needed (and included with the SkyTrain ticket for free, up to 90mins from when you buy the ticket) which would definitely mean no big bags (buses have zero room for luggage). NB: that zone fares on SkyTrain are relevant if you are arriving daytime on a weekday - it's $4.10 base ticket price ($2.80 Concession) to get to downtown then.

One last complication - if your cruise is after July 1st, transit fares are going up a little. It doesn't change the math on Day Passes vs tickets, still need 4/5+ a day to save with the former. Full price list is on their website, here, both current and new prices.

Given the inbound Airport AddFare of $5 per ticket would apply to transit, it's a very small saving getting to the hotel by transit. With the hassle of a bus transfer, even if luggage all fits in the cab with DD & DG, I'd just do the two taxi thing myself unless your flight is very early and you plan to use transit again several times later the same day (i.e. you'd get Day Passes at the airport and already 'win' by getting that first inbound trip on the pass).

Hitting a bank soon after you arrive and getting a bunch of local coinage is the most efficient way to pay for bus fares. Also, doing the math in advance so you know the total for your group (e.g. if all traveling before July 1st, 4xConcession and 2xAdult tickets for around downtown would be $12.90 - you can throw $13 in the bus coin collector and pay for all the tickets at once and only waste 10cents instead of parceling out individual payments one at a time and needing way more small change).

SkyTrain stations have ticket vending machines, which you can use with credit cards, but there's none of them near your hotel so all your transit trips will start with a bus which only accepts cash or the local transit card. If you have enough contactless-payment credit cards (the ones with Chips which also have a little WiFi-looking symbol on them) that everyone in your group can have a card each, you can pay with credit on buses too - just tap the Compass Card Reader. The downside is cost - no Concession rates! - as well as the fact that with 3 kids, the odds of you having a spare 3 cards which all have the right chips is very, very slim...

A complication, but also a possible saving/added convenience - if you do have enough transit trips in your plans, acquiring a Compass Card for everyone could offer savings. You will need to buy in-person to get the Concession cards - vending machines do not sell them - but you can do this at the airport from the 7-11 store. You save about 65 cents per trip by using the preloaded card instead of buying a ticket, but the card itself costs $6. So 10 trips total and you definitely save money - but you can also return the cards for a refund by mail or by handing them in at the downtown office beside Chinatown SkyTrain station. If you can manage to return them, they will definitely save money for you! Load them up with as much cash as you think you'll spend (you can go online and add more, or also add funds at ticket vending machines).

Compass means no scrabbling for change, no need to worry about whether you start on a bus or a SkyTrain first (bus tickets do not transfer to SkyTrain or Seabus, but SkyTrain/Seabus tickets do transfer to bus!), you just tap the sensor whenever you see one and the card takes care of the math.

If there is money left on the Compass Card and you wish to get a refund before leaving---

Best would be to use up all the money on the cards before you leave unless coming back to use them again.

https://www.translink.ca/Fares-and-Passes/Refund-Policy.aspx

How to Request a Refund

Requests for refunds can be made the following ways:

• Visit us in person at the Compass Customer Service Centre at Stadium–Chinatown SkyTrain Station or the West Coast Express Office at Waterfront Station.
  
• Complete and mail us a refund request form (if requesting a card deposit refund, remember to include the card).
  
• Registered cardholders can also request product refunds by calling Compass Customer Service at 604.398.2042.