Early in to Vancouver...have ??

[sueandkent]

We are experienced cruisers but this will be our first experience with Alaska and using Vancouver as a departure port. Our flight to YVR is short but we do arrive at 7am PDT. I figure by the time we get our luggage and grab a cab it will be around 8am. We would like to have the opportunity to stop at a store, could be a grocery store and also a liquor store for some wine. Does anyone know these two things:

1. How early the port will take our luggage? (we're sailing Princess)

2. Is there any grocery stores and a liquor store close to Canada Place?

We will have lots of time. My thought is if the port will take our bags we could always get another cab or the bus (or train) to a store/liquor store.

Also, as we do have much time to kill, boarding isn't until noon is there much to see at Canada Place? Hopefully it won't be raining.

Thanks for the help.

[martincath]

Edmontonian experienced cruisers who've never departed from Vancouver!? Glad you're getting around to it at last!

 

Earliest to drop bags is *officially* (per port website) from 10:30am, but bags seem to be consistently accepted from 9:30ish.

 

You'll find both grocery and liquor stores nearby, but not both in the same store (we're still in the throes of Prohibition-era thinking on booze here in BC). Since you want both booze and groceries, the closest proper supermarket/liquor store combo would be this Urban Fare and this BC Liquor (or if you plan to hit Gastown and do the Gassy Jack Statue/Steam Clock combo, then Nesters in the Woodwards block and then back to CP via the Harbour Centre BC Liquor store would be the most efficient).

 

If your grocery needs are minimalist (water/regular brands of pop) then you could walk much less by heading to the Harbour Centre BC Liquor and the Rexall Pharmacy at Granville & Pender.

 

Aside from the Water Street attractions I mentioned above, or general wandering around Gastown reading historical plaques, Canada Place itself has several things worth a look...

[sueandkent]

Thank you for your reply, this is exactly the information we were looking for. Very helpful. The Rexall and BC Liquor store will be just fine for us. We're glad we're finally sailing out of Vancouver at last, up till now I could never bring myself to take a summer vacation where I may need my winter coat and mitts. We already live through 8 months of winter as it is :)

[karen s]

martincath,

 

We're just the opposite - will be arriving early to Vancouver post-cruise and spending the night prior to departure the day after arriving in Vancouver. So we have practically a whole day to spend there, any recommended tours/sight-seeing/private tour company for the day? We're staying at the Hilton near the Airport. Our group of 9 is from ages 71-9yrs all with excellent mobility. Thanks for any insight!

 

Karen

[Putterdude]

martincath,

 

We're just the opposite - will be arriving early to Vancouver post-cruise and spending the night prior to departure the day after arriving in Vancouver. So we have practically a whole day to spend there, any recommended tours/sight-seeing/private tour company for the day? We're staying at the Hilton near the Airport. Our group of 9 is from ages 71-9yrs all with excellent mobility. Thanks for any insight!

 

Karen

 

If I understand you itinerary correctly, I would be inclined to check my luggage at Priority Baggage Services at Canada Place or take it to a nearby hotel like the Pan Pacific or Fairmont's Waterfront Hotel and give the bell desk a nice tip to hold it in their lock up for you. The I would then catch the Vancouver Trolley which is a HOHO tour...it is a great way to see a lot of the city in a short period of time. Failing that you can purchase an all day transit pass for $9.75 ($7.50 for those under 13 and over 65) which are good on all transit buses, SkyTrain, the Canada Line and the SeaBus....the downside is that you really need to spend time researching what you really want to see, reading maps and schedules and you will obviously have no narration and not have any idea what you are seeing along the way...it is not a tour.

 

http://www.translink.ca/

 

http://www.vancouvertrolley.com/

[martincath]

I think I read your post the same way as PD - you're staying at the airport because you fly out next day, so no time for any visiting except on your actual disembarkation day?

 

Assuming so, the HOHO advice given already is solid - it's a very convenient way to see a fair bit of our city, and most of the in-town Big Hits for tourists, without worrying about transit schedules, getting lost etc.

 

Stashing bags to avoid going out to your hotel twice and losing ~90 minutes of your day also makes sense on a short trip - although with that many bags, having one person take a cab full of bags out/Skytrain back would almost certainly be cheaper than ~$7.50 per bag storage fees, and also avoid having to go pick them up by 4pm. I'd definitely try offering a 'tip in advance' to a bellhop at the PP/Fairmont if you want to keep your bags downtown...

 

With such a disparate range of ages and a pretty large group though I would first suggest an honest self-assessment of how much overlap in interests you all have - we're a decent-sized city with a wide variety of attraction types, and splitting into two or three groups of people may make the best use of your day.

 

Not knowing anything about you other than age, I'd say that Stanley Park is likely to appeal to all except serious indoor types. All the HOHOs now include a good loop inside the park with stops at the major areas (Totem Poles, Prospect Point, Rose Garden, etc.) but there's also the dedicated Park Shuttle for those more inclined to spend a significant chunk of the day in the park - at $10 or less per person it's a reasonable way to see pretty much everywhere you can get to without having to walk on trails. There are also many bike hire venues, including kid bikes, tandems, tricycles & tagalongs so they're suitable for all ages. Could get pricey if the whole family wants bikes though!

 

Granville Island is another likely-to-appeal-to-all-ages spot - HOHOs get you close, and all include one Ferry ticket in case you want to skip driving over bridges and just get to GI ASAP. There's a childrens market which includes a fabulous-looking (unfortunately they don't let grown-ups on it so I can't verify it's as much fun as it seems...) indoor adventure playground of tubes & ropes and all sorts up in the roof area, as well as many and varied shops selling toys, games, kids clothes and similar things to appeal to the young'uns.

 

Science World may be enticing to the kids in the group and the more science-oriented adults - it's a pretty typical science centre, almost everything is hands-on, and unless you've seen bigger & better elsewhere isn't likely to disappoint. They finally finished the outdoor exhibits last year, so if it's a nice day there are several extra things to do which add value to the ticket prices. Check their schedule in case there's a special exhibit on while you're in town that looks good to you.

 

With just one day, a trip over to the North Shore attractions will suck up most of your time - but if Grouse Mountain/Capilano Bridge seem good to some of your group they both offer free shuttles from right at Canada Place (though none between the two - for a couple of you the bus is the best way, goes basically from door to door, but if 3 or 4+ of you wanted to do both a cab will probably work out cheaper).

 

If the weather sucks and you didn't stock up on waterproofs (though why you'd cruise SE Alaska without them is beyond me...) then Science World is a good indoor thing, Granville Island too (the Public Market is huge and there are a few other mini-groups of shops indoors in different buildings), as well as all of the following:

 

We have a large Art Gallery if you're feeling cultured (though don't expect much in the way of European Masters, the collection is much more modern with a lot of non-Group Of Seven Canadian artists represented) and several Museums of various stripes (with kids I'd recommend the Maritime - actual boats, even one you can climb around on, and if they liked cruising it's on-theme. You can even take one of the little ferries out to here from GI, though not Aquabus, just False Creek Ferries to squeeze in even more cruising!).

 

Perhaps some of the grownups would like to sample our local brews? There are a few brewpubs in the heart of downtown (easily HOHO route accessible) - Yaletown, Steamworks, or the Vancouver Urban Winery for by-the-glass samples of BC wines. The last one of these is actually an official stop on the Trolley HOHO route now! There's also a slightly-out-of-the-downtown-core passel of breweries recently-opened thanks to relaxed liquor licensing laws allowing on-site tasting rooms - Brassneck, 33 Acres, Main Street, and if they ever get around to actually opening this summer like they were meant to, Red Truck, all conveniently within a few minutes stagger of each other;-)

 

If you split up, I'll assume enough of you have phones to keep in touch but arranging to meet back up for dinner at a specific resto in advance makes sense. I imagine you'll need somewhere with a wide menu and child-friendly - depending on budget you could hit up international pizza/pasta/fastfood chain places of course, but for something a little more locally-focused try White Spot or Milestones locations.

[rjeffler]

Just got home from Vancouver on Sunday. We had friends that stayed near the airport, so they paid $5/bag at the Pan Pacific to have them hold them while they did the Trolley with us. The Trolley is great. Get off at Granville Island and walk around! Gastown is also fun to walk.

[cardamon]

[quote name=martincath

 

 

Perhaps some of the grownups would like to sample our local brews? There are a few brewpubs in the heart of downtown (easily HOHO route accessible) - Yaletown, Steamworks, or the Vancouver Urban Winery for by-the-glass samples of BC wines. The last one of these is actually an official stop on the Trolley HOHO route now! There's also a slightly-out-of-the-downtown-core passel of breweries recently-opened thanks to relaxed liquor licensing laws allowing on-site tasting rooms - Brassneck, 33 Acres, Main Street, and if they ever get around to actually opening this summer like they were meant to, Red Truck, all conveniently within a few minutes stagger of each other;-)

 

Martincath, it is time for me to get serious about planning our one day in Vancouver after returning from our Alaska cruise in September!! You gave me advise previously about brew pubs. My husband wants to visit them all, but I would also like to see as much of your beautiful city as possible.

If we take the HoHo trolley, what can we realistically see, and what brew pubs (including the 4 out of the way breweries) can we visit? What should be our priorities? Which are the best breweries (my husband is a microbrew snob). Please help me plan so I can see the city and make him happy with the breweries!!

Thanks in advance!!

[martincath]

Martincath, it is time for me to get serious about planning our one day in Vancouver after returning from our Alaska cruise in September!! You gave me advise previously about brew pubs. My husband wants to visit them all, but I would also like to see as much of your beautiful city as possible.

If we take the HoHo trolley, what can we realistically see, and what brew pubs (including the 4 out of the way breweries) can we visit? What should be our priorities? Which are the best breweries (my husband is a microbrew snob). Please help me plan so I can see the city and make him happy with the breweries!!

Thanks in advance!!

 

I'll assume a "microbrew snob" will be OK with any beer jargon in this reply;-) I'll also assume that DH is set on visiting actual breweries, not just sampling beer - the finest beer pub in Western Canada is just a couple of blocks from the HOHO stop at the Urban Winery, the Alibi Room at Alexander & Main. One stop here would allow sampling of a vast array of local beers, all well-kept, with staff more than capable of good recommendations to narrow down the list and pretty decent grub - I see you're arriving on a Friday, so unfortunately that means they only open at 5pm...

 

Realistically, using HOHO you're restricted to Yaletown, Steamworks, Granville Island Brewing and the Dockside brewpub in the GI Hotel. I recall mentioning these to you back in the day, with the caveat that Steamworks' head brewer had left them - I now have to also add that Iain from Yaletown is also off doing his own thing, with his new brewery scheduled for a Fall opening (i.e. expect it by Xmas if we're lucky...)

 

The 'new' guy at Steamworks, Caolan, has been there well over a year now and has added several interesting beers to the mix. I don't know who's taken over at Yaletown yet, it's been a while since I popped in actually, but I don't expect any changes to the current lineup of regular beers just the Seasonals & specials. No idea yet if Iain took his recipe for Oud Bruin, a sour flemish ale, with him or left it - with the right kind of beer snob that was a huge hit!

 

One thing to point out is that depending on your hubsters palate the staple beer recipes at all of the easily-HOHOed breweries may be a bit, well, bland to him. Apart from Dockside. they're brews that were developed in the infancy of craft brewing in the PNW, when almost every customer had to be enticed away from macro-lagers brewed from corn and a mere waft of hops, so they simply could not make a beer like the now-archetypal 'bitter as the tears of orphaned children' ales and succeed in that aim.

 

Dockside do now offer an IPA, Railspur, but I've yet to sample it - last time I was there their Pale Ale & Brown were the only non-lagers on offer, and they still have a very, very lager-focused lineup (i.e. it hasn't been a priority for me to visit again to sample the IPA). If DH likes a big hop bomb, he's probably going to be disappointed in the IPAs and similar from all of these guys, even if they are great beers.

 

The newer breweries of course don't have to worry about losing existing clientele by changing a recipe (remember New Coke!?) and can start their lineup at IBU levels much higher than the more old-school IPAs. Some hit triple-digits among the Imperial brews. They also have the freedom to try many and varied different styles of beers - given the explosion of craft brewing, it's hard to differentiate in the early days yourself unless you do something quirky! Brassneck especially, since they try to have 8+ beers on, ALWAYS have some intriguing offers (unless they ran out, see my note about checking Instagram later!), and 33 Acres makes a point of making odd beers (e.g. their original brew is a Calfiornia Common, they virtually never exceed 5% ABV on any brew, they don't make a lager/pilsner - personally I'm not a big fan of their beers but I have no problem recommending them as they're well-made, just not styles I particularly enjoy).

 

The little pocket of opened breweries in my 'hood are easy to visit all of in a couple of hours, if you restrict yourself to a few tasters in each and move on. The links are all above, although often to find out which beers are actually on any given day you need to be a bit indirect and hit up the Twitter & Instagram feeds looking for a current pic of the chalkboards.

 

You can get several buses that run along Main Street - it won't matter if they continue or turn off past Kingsway as all the breweries are before that. Given your request to both see the city and take in some brews, I'd suggest doing lunch or dinner off the HOHO route here in Mount Pleasant.

 

All the breweries offer some food, somehow, but they aren't restaurants - 33 Acres & Brassneck have some bar snacks inside but cut deals with local Food Trucks to park outside at lunch & dinner, and allow customers to bring their food in to eat. If you wanted to sample some of our food truck cuisine, there's great synergy here for you. Main Street offers much more extensive food - although it is a bit meaty (menu is here). I could manage a decent dinner here as I'm a big fan of charcuterie & cheese; anyone but vegetarians should do OK with lunch.

 

Getting here - now that the Trolley have revamped their route to a single loop, but added some new stops, the simplest way is to get off at Science World. Walk straight across Quebec and along Terminal to Main (it's really obvious, you'll see Main St/Scienceworld Skytrain station above you on the left) and wait at the bus stop under the Skytrain tracks for the next 003, 008 or 019 bus. Get on, go up the hill, and get off at 8th avenue (003) or the first Kingsway stop (008, 019) - it's right after the corner, so be standing up as the bus turns left.

 

If it's already lunchtime walk to Main Street; if not go to 33 Acres. Then do the other one of these. Then walk back down Main a little to Brassneck (downhill doing them this way round!). Hop back on any bus passing you at 6th Ave & Main, same side as Brassneck, get back off at the Skytrain station and walk back to Scienceworld to rejoin your HOHO tour. Map showing walk between all 3 and the bus stop.

 

If you can forgo much eating, you can even get away with a single transit ticket each - you can double-back on your route under Translink rules, as long as you board within 90 minutes of first validating your ticket (~20 mins per tasting room would be your limit if you do this...)