Vancouver Port hotel?

[SeaWatch]

Any good recommendations on a good hotel near the cruise port in Vanvouver, BC?

 

Also, same for Victoria,

 

Thanks

 

 

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[cruising cockroach]

How much do you want to pay?

[SeaWatch]

Oh..... You mean we have to pay? :)

 

Seriously, something around the $200 range, if that will get us a nice, clean place.

 

 

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[martincath]

The good news is no downtown hotel is far from the cruise port, so you have the full gamut of hotel chains and many independents to choose from.

 

With $200 a night budget, the ones right next to the port are out of the running (Pan Pacific, Fairmont Waterfront or Pac Rim run more than that in cruise season) but there will still be many to pick from - if you're willing to tolerate uncertainty as to the specific hotel, use a bidding site. If you stick to 4* or better, in the West End of Downtown core you will always be somewhere nice.

 

If you need to know the exact hotel, most of the 3* hotels should be feasible for you unless you're cruising on a big holiday weekend. Go check expedia/travelocity/hotels.com and you will find dozens of options - between Tripadvisor reviews and customer feedback on the booking sites I'm sure you'll find a hotel you like.

 

Since the port is close, I'd suggest thinking about what you want to do in town - if you're a foodie then being walking distance from many good restaurants e.g. in Yaletown (Moda, Hampton Inn) might be the most efficient location for you; if you want to spend all day in Stanley Park or English Bay than a hotel in the West End makes the most sense (Coast Plaza, BW Sands). For easy access to HOHO and shuttles to Capilano/Grouse, you can't do much better than Blue Horizon on Robson.

[SeaWatch]

Wow, GREAT ideas. Since it is a short taxi ride I think I will explore the 'foodie' area first.

 

I also like the idea of the bidding site we had great luck once in Miami by doing a four star.

 

Thanks again

 

 

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[SeaWatch]

If you don't mind one more question:

 

How would you recommend we get to downtown from the airport? There will be 5 of us

 

 

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[martincath]

If you don't mind one more question:

 

How would you recommend we get to downtown from the airport? There will be 5 of us

Five of you, with (I assume) at least a large suitcase and a carryon/backpack probably won't fit into a single Minivan cab (no extra rows of seats - they're set up for wheelchair passengers, so have a fold-down rear seat but that eats into the luggage space).

 

A six-pax limo will cost about the same (fixed rates, $61+ for downtown hotels depending how close to Canada Place the hotel is, plus tax & tip) as two regular cabs (metered, $35ish per cab).

 

Cruise transfers run c. $30 per person so are utterly pointless for a group, and there aren't any shared-ride shuttles from the airport any more.

 

If you can handle wheeling/carrying your own bags the Skytrain is quick and cheap - for five of you this year* it would be worthwhile getting a 10-pack of FareSaver tickets at the airport pharmacy/7-11, as this avoids an airport inbound surcharge of $5 per ticket. Weekends or evenings, 1 Zone tickets cost $21 for 10; weekdays you need 2 Zone tickets for peak travel at $31.50. Either is still less than five 'cash' fares of $2.75/$4 offpeak/peak with the $5pp surcharge on top, and you'll have 5 extra tickets you can use for transit during your stay (or back to the airport again if you're doing a RT).

 

Seniors (65+) can use Concessions fares of $1.75/$2.75, and regardless of whether you buy a FareSaver pack or individual tickets you can use Debit or Credit cards, including foreign ones, to buy tickets. The machines by the platform are very easy to use - just remember to Validate tickets if you do buy FareSavers (tear a ticket out of the booklet, insert into Validation slot, it prints a time/date stamp on). A transit fare is good for 90 minutes on any service, any direction - plenty time to go downtown and also pick up for snacks, wine etc.

 

*Next year our much-delayed new ticketing system will probably be in place, which closes the surcharge-avoiding loophole so tickets will cost $7.75 off peak/$9 peak pp inbound.

[SeaWatch]

I think the limo is better since my parents-in-law will be with us. Thanks , I will research some companies on the internet.

 

 

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[martincath]

I think the limo is better since my parents-in-law will be with us. Thanks , I will research some companies on the internet.

Sorry, I should have put a link in the above note - there is only one limo company that operates out of YVR, Aerocar. No need to prebook, just walk out and ask for a large enough limo (it's mostly towncars that are much too small for you, but you won't wait long for a bigger one).

 

You can also pay $50 extra to get a 'meet & greet' where the driver will be waiting for you inside with a sign, but that's very poor value IMO since even if you need help with luggage you can pay a fraction of that cost for a porter.

[cdngrl]

this thread is a couple of weeks old so you might already be on your trip.

 

for Victoria hotels, there are lots of hotels around the inner harbour, which is a half hour walk from the cruise ship terminal (I'd taxi or shuttle). $200 will get you very nice rooms. google is your friend, then trip advisor. the hotel grand pacific is newer and nice. also the Marriott inner harbour--great beds! the coast harbourside is also a good choice but further from the inner harbour happenings.