Jump to content

Pre Cruise Hotel


Recommended Posts

Flying in 2 days prior to cruise. Need hotel that has good views, good breakfast (included in price even better), airport shuttle would be great but we can get a cab, transportation to cruise port or near/within walking distance a plus. Near some good restaurants would be fabulous. Price 200-(600 per night max)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Assuming this is in Vancouver due to your posting on Canada board...?

 

If so, you can meet all your criteria except the shuttle easily (there's no such thing as airport shuttles to downtown hotels, and downtown hotels are so close to the pier that while a few do have towncars or buses that will drop you in various places including the pier you're only looking at a ~$10 cab ride so it's frankly a pointless factor to even consider).

 

At the higher end of your budget - maybe halfway along it, depending on the timing and a bit of luck and whether you mean USD or CAD - you could stay right at the pier in the Pan Pacific or Fairmont Waterfront. You could also stay in the better-hotel-but-oh-dang-you-have-to-walk-two-blocks Fairmont Pacific Rim. High floor rooms in Blue Horizon are probably the cheapest ones that fit your needs - much closer to the bottom end of your range, esp if it was in USD.

 

There's no such thing as a downtown hotel that is not close to all three of the pier, multiple sightseeing spots, and a metric buttload of good restos no matter what your personal definition is of the last of these. The PP and pac Rim both have excellent restos onsite, and while the Waterfront is currently the crappiest dining experience of any Fairmont it still doesn't suck (and is across the road/2 blocks away from the others mentioned!) Give more detailed budget and food preferences and I'd be happy to recommend many excellent restos for you.

 

Good breakfasts though - any good hotel will feed you decently, but frankly at an obscene markup. There is literally not a single hotel breakfast in the city I would waste my dining dollars on, even the good ones deliver exceptionally poor value - except weekend brunch in Yew at the Four Seasons. Arguably Medina is inside a hotel building (L'Hermitage - another tall downtown very well reviewed hotel) but it's run entirely independently and used to be somewhere else, so it's still indy as far as I'm concerned (and also does the best breakfast in the city bar none, and has for a decade now - I could eat here seven days in a row without doubling up on anything but coffee!)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Assuming this is in Vancouver due to your posting on Canada board...?

 

If so, you can meet all your criteria except the shuttle easily (there's no such thing as airport shuttles to downtown hotels, and downtown hotels are so close to the pier that while a few do have towncars or buses that will drop you in various places including the pier you're only looking at a ~$10 cab ride so it's frankly a pointless factor to even consider).

 

At the higher end of your budget - maybe halfway along it, depending on the timing and a bit of luck and whether you mean USD or CAD - you could stay right at the pier in the Pan Pacific or Fairmont Waterfront. You could also stay in the better-hotel-but-oh-dang-you-have-to-walk-two-blocks Fairmont Pacific Rim. High floor rooms in Blue Horizon are probably the cheapest ones that fit your needs - much closer to the bottom end of your range, esp if it was in USD.

 

There's no such thing as a downtown hotel that is not close to all three of the pier, multiple sightseeing spots, and a metric buttload of good restos no matter what your personal definition is of the last of these. The PP and pac Rim both have excellent restos onsite, and while the Waterfront is currently the crappiest dining experience of any Fairmont it still doesn't suck (and is across the road/2 blocks away from the others mentioned!) Give more detailed budget and food preferences and I'd be happy to recommend many excellent restos for you.

 

Good breakfasts though - any good hotel will feed you decently, but frankly at an obscene markup. There is literally not a single hotel breakfast in the city I would waste my dining dollars on, even the good ones deliver exceptionally poor value - except weekend brunch in Yew at the Four Seasons. Arguably Medina is inside a hotel building (L'Hermitage - another tall downtown very well reviewed hotel) but it's run entirely independently and used to be somewhere else, so it's still indy as far as I'm concerned (and also does the best breakfast in the city bar none, and has for a decade now - I could eat here seven days in a row without doubling up on anything but coffee!)

Yes Vancouver, I guess I was so excited forgot to mention that. Food is fair game, we are foodies so anything good/great is fantastic. Will definitely not do hotel breakfast based on your recommendation. For breakfast we are eggs, toast, oatmeal, bacon, omelette, pancake kind of people. Lunch a good burger/sandwich is great and dinner well just about anything Mexican, Italian, steakhouse anything with good food/locals love it type places. Desserts that are exceptional we love dessert. I would think the hotel choices you recommend are the ones to focus on. We are willing and able to jump in a cab/uber/train etc. Thanks for your response it is appreciated :)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Slight preference for Delta on location - a wee bit closer to more places if you're walking, though there's not a significant distance difference so better price would be more relevant to me (have not stayed in either, but believe Delta's rooms are larger on average as it used to be a Delta Suites until Marriott took it over).

 

From your food comments I'm unable to narrow down reccos much except that as a general note Mexican food in Vancouver is weaksauce (a handful of decent places, but if you have good Mexican food near home frankly I would not recommend any at all here except maybe grabbing lunch tacos from La Taqueria, or if you appreciate more regional Mexican cuisines Fayuca is outstanding - but VERY different from what most folks think of as Mexican food).

 

We do have some very nice but-totally-not-Mexican tacos (Tacofino, now a successful small chain, has the only Michelin star-earning chef in Vancouver as exec!) scattered all around - if you enjoy fish tacos you'll be good to go as that seems to be the go-to dish, with several local pubs offering fish tacos even if they don't do any other kind.

 

Brekky - from what you like to eat I'll amend my usual recco of 'go to Medina' as they really don't do the kind of dishes you list. Catch122 do an excellent brekky, and it sounds much more up your alley (and an easy walk from Delta). Scoozi's is a similar distance the other way, convenient for embarkation morning if you are walking to the pier. Both are busy enough I'd be shocked if they aren't doing much the same menus by the time you cruise.

 

On the local front, while we do have steakhouses there's nothing particularly special about any of them (same chains as every other big urban centre, though you may not have a Keg near you as they are mostly in Canada - it's a midrange place, very few Prime beef options, but generally great customer service) - Alberta is much beefier than here on the coast. Seafood and seasonal produce is where it's at for us - right now Coquille is doing outstanding value especially in Happy Hour, but by next year I do expect pricing to be up (it's very common for new restos to underprice themselves here, build clientele, then start gradually bumping up the rates until they hit maximum profitability). Blue Water Cafe is still the pinnacle of seafood in the city - they aren't going anywhere or radically overhauling menus any time soon.

 

Since it sounds like you aren't visiting until a year away or more given lack of hotel availability mentioned, there could be quite a few changes on the resto scene - we have an absolutely brutal local industry, opening & closures happen all the time - so I'd suggest waiting until a few months before your trip to look for the current info on new restos, especially if you're trying to go for local spots the tourists won't have on their radar yet.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Slight preference for Delta on location - a wee bit closer to more places if you're walking, though there's not a significant distance difference so better price would be more relevant to me (have not stayed in either, but believe Delta's rooms are larger on average as it used to be a Delta Suites until Marriott took it over).

 

From your food comments I'm unable to narrow down reccos much except that as a general note Mexican food in Vancouver is weaksauce (a handful of decent places, but if you have good Mexican food near home frankly I would not recommend any at all here except maybe grabbing lunch tacos from La Taqueria, or if you appreciate more regional Mexican cuisines Fayuca is outstanding - but VERY different from what most folks think of as Mexican food).

 

We do have some very nice but-totally-not-Mexican tacos (Tacofino, now a successful small chain, has the only Michelin star-earning chef in Vancouver as exec!) scattered all around - if you enjoy fish tacos you'll be good to go as that seems to be the go-to dish, with several local pubs offering fish tacos even if they don't do any other kind.

 

Brekky - from what you like to eat I'll amend my usual recco of 'go to Medina' as they really don't do the kind of dishes you list. Catch122 do an excellent brekky, and it sounds much more up your alley (and an easy walk from Delta). Scoozi's is a similar distance the other way, convenient for embarkation morning if you are walking to the pier. Both are busy enough I'd be shocked if they aren't doing much the same menus by the time you cruise.

 

On the local front, while we do have steakhouses there's nothing particularly special about any of them (same chains as every other big urban centre, though you may not have a Keg near you as they are mostly in Canada - it's a midrange place, very few Prime beef options, but generally great customer service) - Alberta is much beefier than here on the coast. Seafood and seasonal produce is where it's at for us - right now Coquille is doing outstanding value especially in Happy Hour, but by next year I do expect pricing to be up (it's very common for new restos to underprice themselves here, build clientele, then start gradually bumping up the rates until they hit maximum profitability). Blue Water Cafe is still the pinnacle of seafood in the city - they aren't going anywhere or radically overhauling menus any time soon.

 

Since it sounds like you aren't visiting until a year away or more given lack of hotel availability mentioned, there could be quite a few changes on the resto scene - we have an absolutely brutal local industry, opening & closures happen all the time - so I'd suggest waiting until a few months before your trip to look for the current info on new restos, especially if you're trying to go for local spots the tourists won't have on their radar yet.

Sounds like a plan and thank you so much for the suggestions. Blue Water for seafood one night and the other night well perhaps steak or local fare. Breakfast as you said places come and go so I will write again next March/April and see whats good :)

I made reservations for both hotels and will cancel one based on reviews but leaning more toward Delta as I scored a corner room. I'm waiting for Pan Am to open reservations and will decide for sure at that time based on availability and prices. Everyone else is 90% full almost one year out!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Sounds like a plan and thank you so much for the suggestions. Blue Water for seafood one night and the other night well perhaps steak or local fare. Breakfast as you said places come and go so I will write again next March/April and see whats good :)

I made reservations for both hotels and will cancel one based on reviews but leaning more toward Delta as I scored a corner room. I'm waiting for Pan Am to open reservations and will decide for sure at that time based on availability and prices. Everyone else is 90% full almost one year out!

 

I also like Delta, they have changed a little bit since Marriott has taken over ownership of the banner but still true to their original character. You will find a lot of business travelers go for Delta. I think it finds the right balance between being high end without being over the top.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Please sign in to comment

You will be able to leave a comment after signing in



Sign In Now
 Share

  • Forum Jump
    • Categories
      • Welcome to Cruise Critic
      • New Cruisers
      • Cruise Lines “A – O”
      • Cruise Lines “P – Z”
      • River Cruising
      • ROLL CALLS
      • Digital Photography & Cruise Technology
      • Special Interest Cruising
      • Cruise Discussion Topics
      • UK Cruising
      • Australia & New Zealand Cruisers
      • Canadian Cruisers
      • North American Homeports
      • Ports of Call
      • Cruise Conversations
×
×
  • Create New...