Vancouver Embarkation

[mae56]

Just reading this thread and am a little worried about the stairs that were mentioned and then the escalator as well. My Mother will not be able to navigate those stairs and if the escalator is operational, how do you do an escalator with a walker?

There must be an alternative route for disabled passengers. Can anyone enlighten me. Thanks.

[martincath]

Just reading this thread and am a little worried about the stairs that were mentioned and then the escalator as well. My Mother will not be able to navigate those stairs and if the escalator is operational, how do you do an escalator with a walker?

There must be an alternative route for disabled passengers. Can anyone enlighten me. Thanks.

There's an elevator. As we were walking up the last stretch of the corridor toward the entrance to the hall we saw a group of wheelchair users and their companions coming out - they had dedicated use of an elevator.

 

In the past anyone who cannot safely use an escalator at Canada Place - and this includes even able-bodied people who have too many bags so they do not have one hand completely free to hold the handrail - are directed to use elevators instead. There are frequent announcements, and staff even get a bit stroppy about it - I've seen one actually step in front of people and refuse to let them on the escalator, pointing them to the elevator instead.

 

So as soon as the escalators are up & running, I imagine it'll be business as usual with folks warning you not to use them unless you have a hand free and an obvious elevator close by for use by those who need it.

[xlxo]

Just reading this thread and am a little worried about the stairs that were mentioned and then the escalator as well. My Mother will not be able to navigate those stairs and if the escalator is operational, how do you do an escalator with a walker?

There must be an alternative route for disabled passengers. Can anyone enlighten me. Thanks.

Historically cruise terminal staff are excellent when they see people in wheelchairs. We are whisked through the staff entrance and bypass the long security queues when they see our chair. You may still need to wait for your pat time in the lounge.

 

Not sure how it works with walkers.

[xlxo]

Dim sum for breakfast, good idea! Thanks, martincath.

Need to think about where to store your luggage.

 

The Floata in Chinatown just reopened after renovations a few weeks ago.

[mae56]

Thanks for the info. Kinda silly of me really to think there would not be an alternative for people with disabilities/mobility issues. Nice to have it actually confirmed though.

[jrkfrk]

. . . . and what is the best restaurant for Dim Sum in downtown Vancouver?

 

Thanks, frk

[martincath]

. . . . and what is the best restaurant for Dim Sum in downtown Vancouver?

 

Thanks, frk

Kirin has been reliably voted as a good spot for years by diners and critics; if you're willing to go a little out of downtown proper Dynasty was racking up critics awards consistently for dim sum & seafood over the last 2-3 years (Skytrain/bus and a little walking gets you there in c.15-20mins). Interestingly Bao Bei won a best Dim Sum award this year, and it's actually in Chinatown downtown, but very untraditional (I love the place, but think Tapas & Cocktails from Shanghai rather than potstickers &

 

I'll be checking more reviews of Floata since the renos but unless they have completely changed the kitchen staff this is absolutely not somewhere to go for anywhere close to the best food - but it's an impressively huge space, and they even pull out the carts for dim sum service which a lot of folks like for atmosphere, so if it's more the overall experience of dim sum than the best tasting you're after this is probably a good bet for you. Folks who've never eaten dim sum before and want something like they've seen in movies, I'd send here.

[vinmin]

Kirin has been reliably voted as a good spot for years by diners and critics; if you're willing to go a little out of downtown proper Dynasty was racking up critics awards consistently for dim sum & seafood over the last 2-3 years (Skytrain/bus and a little walking gets you there in c.15-20mins). Interestingly Bao Bei won a best Dim Sum award this year, and it's actually in Chinatown downtown, but very untraditional (I love the place, but think Tapas & Cocktails from Shanghai rather than potstickers &

 

I'll be checking more reviews of Floata since the renos but unless they have completely changed the kitchen staff this is absolutely not somewhere to go for anywhere close to the best food - but it's an impressively huge space, and they even pull out the carts for dim sum service which a lot of folks like for atmosphere, so if it's more the overall experience of dim sum than the best tasting you're after this is probably a good bet for you. Folks who've never eaten dim sum before and want something like they've seen in movies, I'd send here.

 

Hi reading this thread i just checked our cruise date and it has 3 ships sailing out.

Just wondering about chinese are there any vegetarian chinese place downtown that is recomended please? :D

vin

[martincath]

Hi reading this thread i just checked our cruise date and it has 3 ships sailing out.

Just wondering about chinese are there any vegetarian chinese place downtown that is recomended please? :D

vin

I can't think of any entirely vegetarian Chinese restos downtown, sorry. There are some not too far outside downtown, like Po Kong on Kingsway (19 bus runs right past, all the way from Stanley Park), Bodhi Choi Heung on Fraser (8 bus runs right past), or 3G in Cambie Village (15 bus from downtown or 50, handy for Granville Island, both go right past).

 

Vegetarian dishes are certainly very common in Vancouver though - our 'tree-hugging hippie capital of lotus land' stereotype brings with it many and varied vegan-tarian food philosophies and does have some grounding in truth.

 

I have several friends with various degrees of non-animal-product-consumption and we've never had a problem going anywhere with the obvious exceptions of seriously carnivorous joints like Wildebeest - Chinese food is among the easiest cuisines to find plenty of veggie options on the menu.

 

PS: since we're deviating a bit from the title of the thread, you may miss other local opinions by asking further about food here. Using West Coast departures board is more likely to get Vancouverites involved - someone else might know a veggie Chinese place that I don't...

Edited May 29, 2015 by martincath

[Putterdude]

Just reading this thread and am a little worried about the stairs that were mentioned and then the escalator as well. My Mother will not be able to navigate those stairs and if the escalator is operational, how do you do an escalator with a walker?

There must be an alternative route for disabled passengers. Can anyone enlighten me. Thanks.

 

Dudette has MS and used to be able to get by with a walker and now unfortunately uses a wheelchair. However even in the days that she used a walker, we would have our TA request a wheelchair assist from the cruise line. Upon arrival at Canada Place I would have her sit in her walker and I would go off and find a cruise line rep with a walkie talkie and have them get a wheelchair and a pusher for her. You may have to wait a few minutes but a shore side worker in your cruise lines livery will come with the wheelchair. Your mother and her party will then be taken on the elevator and taken to a dedicated line for disabled people, once finished that and have gone thru security and CPB you will be take to an area and left for again for a few minutes and a junior steward from the ship will come and push your mother to her cabin...her party will be able to accompany her aboard. I would put the carry on luggage on the walker and follow along.

 

The real problem comes when a person uses neither a walker and or a wheelchair but can't handle the distance to the ship....in that case it can be a bit difficult to find a chair to sit in at Canada Place while you wait for a wheelchair and pusher.

[mae56]

Thanks Putterdude. I will definitely consider this option.

[vinmin]

I can't think of any entirely vegetarian Chinese restos downtown, sorry. There are some not too far outside downtown, like Po Kong on Kingsway (19 bus runs right past, all the way from Stanley Park), Bodhi Choi Heung on Fraser (8 bus runs right past), or 3G in Cambie Village (15 bus from downtown or 50, handy for Granville Island, both go right past).

 

Vegetarian dishes are certainly very common in Vancouver though - our 'tree-hugging hippie capital of lotus land' stereotype brings with it many and varied vegan-tarian food philosophies and does have some grounding in truth.

 

I have several friends with various degrees of non-animal-product-consumption and we've never had a problem going anywhere with the obvious exceptions of seriously carnivorous joints like Wildebeest - Chinese food is among the easiest cuisines to find plenty of veggie options on the menu.

 

PS: since we're deviating a bit from the title of the thread, you may miss other local opinions by asking further about food here. Using West Coast departures board is more likely to get Vancouverites involved - someone else might know a veggie Chinese place that I don't...

 

Thanks MartinCath

We dont mind if its not completely vegetarian but as long it has Good Chinese vegetarian dishes we are fine. We will be staying on Burrard street so something in town or china town thats not far would be good :)

[Thomas Twosome]

Interesting write up - thanks for sharing the details.

 

This got me to go look at the port schedule, and as luck would have it, we are a one ship embarkation. :)

 

Hopefully, we will not experience too much of a delay as we plan to spend a good portion of the day seeing Vancouver prior to boarding.

 

How do I look at the port schedule for our embarkation? Seems like that would be a good thing to know in making plans.

[Langley Cruisers]

How do I look at the port schedule for our embarkation?

 

http://www.portmetrovancouver.com/about/cruiseandtourism/cruiselineschedules.aspx <--click here, scroll down

 

.

[martincath]

Thanks MartinCath

We dont mind if its not completely vegetarian but as long it has Good Chinese vegetarian dishes we are fine. We will be staying on Burrard street so something in town or china town thats not far would be good :)

Downtown branch of ChongQing (mostly Szechuan style food) offers a fair few Tofu & veg dishes; Hons has a very wide Cantonese menu, not much listed in vegetable section but other items like potstickers also have veggie options (NB: get them steamed or fried, soup broth is always meaty IIRC); Kirin is much fancier than the first two; Dinesty Dumpling House is another award-winning chain with a downtown location and some veggie options.

 

Bambudda in gastown has some fabulous veg dishes - the mushrooms especially rock - but it, along with Bao Bei, are rather different than most Chinese restos (BB is as the local chefs say 'somewhat protein-forward' in menu but always has at least one veg dish per category).

 

While you did specify Chinese, I'd be remiss not to mention a couple of extremely veg-friendly downtown options with a broader cuisine style - The Parker is on the edge of Chinatown, entirely veggie, and utterly delicious. As a confirmed carnivore this was the first ever all-veg meal I ate that I did not feel the need to go and have some extra protein elsewhere soon after, they actually put some thought into the nutritional aspects not just the taste of the menu. We've dined here several times with veggie buddies and even once just me & the missus because it's just THAT good.

 

Nuba is another local fave - a small chain, Lebanese, with plenty of veggie options including the one that made me finally admit cauliflower was actually worth eating (it's part of their mezze as well as listed separately as Najib's Cauli). Fresh, tasty, healthy.

 

Other Asian eateries, including all of our local Izakayas like Guu & Hapa and every noodle bar I've been in also offer at least one veggie stock for noodles and some meat-free dishes.

 

The best single veggie dining experience our most regular veg dining companion ever had was at Hawksworth - whose menu is very light on veggie options, but stellar for meats & fish, so our friend 'sucked it up' for her hubbies much-anticipated birthday dinner. She basically told the kitchen 'I'm vegetarian, lacto-ovo is fine, but hate mushrooms so your one veggie main course on the menu is no good for me. What can you do?" and they made her a custom meal that both her & her hubby thought was even better than his meatatarian one.

 

Hawksworth however, is a special occasion kind of resto unless you have money burning a hole in your pockets; she also swears by Blacktail in Gastown as being almost as good at about half the price (and we've dined there with them a few times too, so I can personally confirm they do extract a lot of great flavour from their veggie dishes although to me the Parker is better).

[emeraldcity]

http://www.portmetrovancouver.com/about/cruiseandtourism/cruiselineschedules.aspx <--click here, scroll down

 

.

 

Thank you for the link ... looks like the Radiance has the place to herself. After reading this post, that's a relief.

[Langley Cruisers]

Thank you for the link ... looks like the Radiance has the place to herself. After reading this post, that's a relief.

 

Aww. Yes, that will definitely help with the congestion and long lines. Have fun! :)

[xlxo]

Just wondering about chinese are there any vegetarian chinese place downtown that is recomended please? :D

Hon's is the first place I think of for Chinese veggies...

• good value
  
• Robson downtown location has a separate veggie kitchen to prevent contamination with meat kitchen
  
• amazing what they can do with tofu to make it taste like meat
  
• scroll down this link for the veggie section. There's lots of picture menus when you get to the restaurant....
  http://www.hons.ca/pdf/RBN-regular.pdf
  

Edited May 31, 2015 by xlxo

[vinmin]

Hon's is the first place I think of for Chinese veggies...

• good value
  
• Robson downtown location has a separate veggie kitchen to prevent contamination with meat kitchen
  
• amazing what they can do with tofu to make it taste like meat
  
• scroll down this link for the veggie section. There's lots of picture menus when you get to the restaurant....
  http://www.hons.ca/pdf/RBN-regular.pdf
  

 

Thank you xixo checking it out now. :)

[xlxo]

I'll be checking more reviews of Floata since the renos but unless they have completely changed the kitchen staff this is absolutely not somewhere to go for anywhere close to the best food - but it's an impressively huge space, and they even pull out the carts for dim sum service which a lot of folks like for atmosphere, so if it's more the overall experience of dim sum than the best tasting you're after this is probably a good bet for you. Folks who've never eaten dim sum before and want something like they've seen in movies, I'd send here.

I was in the area yesterday and decided to check out this post-reno venue.... thoughts...

• post reno... the places has LED changing lighting. Ok it's not the Wonder's animator's palace. They fixed the washrooms. New carpeting, but I saw a few stains already from spills. Sad.
  
• for better service.... see if there are empty tables near the bar.... the serving carts come out of the kitchen near there. If you are seated by the far side of the restaurant.... the popular stuff may be gone by then.
  
• think about arriving around 10:30am. There's a early discount (I forgot if it's 10 or 20%). The better stuff full rolls out at 11am.
  
• be careful if you are offered something by the server.... some of that at kitchen specialities which are priced a significantly higher
  
• if you have a rental car... bring your parking receipt.... there's 90 minutes of free parking.
  
• if you are curious on what to order.... ask for the picture menu. I saw it by the bar/cashier.
  
• server push carts means you can see what you want. Just point to your meal. If you don't see what you want... you can order it off the menu and they will cook it fresh for you (eg... popular items they keep selling out). Warning... steam items can be 15 or 20 minute wait.
  
• while not Kirin calibre... the price justifies the 4 out of 5 stars for me. Yes I will go back.
  
• service for me sometimes includes how long before I'm seated and how difficult it is to park. Popular places like Kirin may have you stuck in the lobby for 10 to 30 minutes. Floata just keeps opening up sections and adding tables. Little waiting for those hungry bellies!
  

http://www.floata.com/

 

[YOUTUBE]ky8bouLbbB8[/YOUTUBE]

 

pre-reno...

 

[YOUTUBE]FUb6c-zjDFQ[/YOUTUBE]

Edited June 1, 2015 by xlxo

[martincath]

Thanks for the post-reno info xlxo. Sounds like it's the same old same old with better lighting, so I'll continue to go elsewhere for occasional dim sum cravings. Also good advice about where to sit & when to go for optimal food.

 

Another caveat re: recommended dishes is that the less popular, sat-in-the-cart-for-a-while-and-starting-to-look-a-bit-sad dishes are also pushed by staff (not a problem unique to Floata by any means, anywhere with carts has the same issue). I've done enough cart service to no longer find the fun factor outweighs the negatives on food freshness and choice - it's all a la carte ordering for me these days unless I'm going out with dim sum n00bs for whom the carts are part of the whole experience.

[Daisy317]

Follow-up: Checking in to Pacific Princess on June 1, 2015

 

After a fabulous lunch at Chongqing on Robson St., about a 10-minute walk from the cruise port, we showed up at Canada Place at 1:45 for check-in. Breezed through customs, breezed through Princess check-in, and were on board and in our stateroom by 2:00 p.m. -- 15 minutes start to finish. As noted in my previous post, Pacific is a smaller ship, around 800 pax, and the only other ship embarking from Canada Place that day was a Disney. The Princess check-in lady told us that people had started lining up at 9:30 a.m., even though Princess doesn't begin check-in until 11:00 and doesn't allow people to board until noon. Glad I didn't wait in line 2+ hours!! We, meanwhile, had a leisurely breakfast, took a dip in the hotel hot tub, had lunch, and were able to board with absolutely no hassles or waiting. It may have helped that we stayed at the Pan Pacific Hotel, and they delivered our larger bags onto the ship. Your mileage may vary.