Flight back home from Vancouver is very late...what can I do in the meantime?

[PittsburghNative]

I asked this under the Alaska forum and was suggested to ask my question here...

 

I have a little dilemma. My flight home is leaving at 11pm the day I get off my cruise. There are earlier options, but it would make my airline ticket $$$$$. I know cruises have excursions for the last day to explore the city and they will store your luggage. Is there a better alternative?

[Buckeye10640]

I suggest  taking the hop on hop off trolley.  You can buy a ticket outside of Canada Place and ride around for the day, getting on and off as you like.  I dont have any suggestion for storing luggage as we did not need to do that but I imagine there must be options at Canada Place.   We loved using the trolley.  There was also a free bus that went to Capiliano Bridge, which is a cool place to visit. 

[martincath]

Simple - send your luggage to YVR to wait for you, enjoy your day riding the HOHO or whatever, and then head out to YVR around 9pm, collect your bags, and check-in for your flight (which will almost certainly NOT involve going through US Immigration/Customs, as they stop work at 9:30pm so generally US-bound flights after ~10pm have the joy of being processed on arrival in the US).

 

The same folks who store at the pier (CDS) operate year-round at YVR, in both terminals. Their offices out there are open until later than your flight so no problem with a same-day collection (folks with early flights they won't send the bags along in case there's a delay, but the cutoff earliest flight time is something like 6pm IIRC). It's possible pricing will change when this cruise season starts, but it's been consistently $40 for years (this gets you up to 4 bags forwarded, then $10 per extra bag). NB: they accept, but offer no discount, for USD! So if you don't have $CAD on you, pay by credit and decline any 'helpful' offer of paying in USD (unless your credit card charges a ~30% foreign transaction fee!)

 

The mainstream lines have actually been offering a combo of this service, plus a HOHO ticket, plus a SkyTrain ticket, for the last few years. However they pad the living cr*p out of the total price - do NOT sign up for it if you see it onboard! Total in CAD for two adults should actually cost <$160, or ~US$120, if you buy all three of the elements yourself (SkyTrain pricing varies by time and day, but is always less than CAD$5pp)

 

The HOHO is a pretty solid offering for a one-day visit - while it doesn't go everywhere, it does go around the entire downtown core and even a little into East Van (key stops would be Science World and some Breweries). While individual drivers vary in the quality of their spiel, you'll learn a bit as well as being driven around almost all of the downtown Big Hits. When the HOHO stops running (around 5pm) you can head for Happy Hour somewhere, have a nice dinner, then get to the airport all in plenty of time.

 

Cheaper, but a bit more hassle since you need to return to where you started, would be storing your bags at the Pan Pacific hotel bell desk for the day. Price last season was reported as still $5 per bag, no need to be a resident, so if budget is a major concern you can do that, return for your bags, then jump on SkyTrain at Waterfront station - there is ample room for bags onboard the Canada Line trains (under the seats) and since you'll be heading out way after rush hour you won't have to fight with commuters for the seats, so it should be minimal extra hassle to schlep your own bags rather than have them forwarded by CDS.

[PittsburghNative]

Thank you so much for your replies! Very informative!

[hallux]

How is the security of the CDS service?  My carry-on for the flight will have at least one electronic device in it but I'm not thrilled with having to carry it around the city all day.  If I can lock that compartment with a TSA padlock (it's a computer bag but don't plan to bring a full computer) do you think I should feel comfortable with it?  I'll carry it all day if I have to, or will put the tablet into my check bag (also secured with a TSA lock) until I retrieve the bags at the airport and leave both with them still.

 

It will be horribly cumbersome to lug that and a camera bag around all day.

 

Thanks

[martincath]

17 hours ago, hallux said:

How is the security of the CDS service?

Hmmm - there's never a 100% guarantee but the only folks with access, barring some sort of successful criminal behaviour like the office at the pier/airport being broken into or the vehicle moving them getting hijacked(!), would be CDS staff. I haven't heard about any scandals and a baggage company stealing stuff would definitely make the local press, so either nobody has reported such a theft or else it hasn't happened (or has happened so rarely and irregularly that it just isn't worth reporting).

 

Both offices are manned during all open hours - and a daytime storage then move to the airport with a same evening pickup means at no time will your bags be in an unmanned office - so I'd say that odds are very high you will not have a problem... but a really simple trick that adds minimal extra weight, cost and hassle is to acquire a good NON-TSA approved lock that you use for locking your bag whenever you're not actually flying with it. Make sure it's totally different in appearance then your TSA lock so you can tell at a glance - and you can of course lock your TSA lock inside the bag so you don't lose it! We have a small-but-sturdy classic brass lock plus our green-plastic-shelled TSA locks either attached to the zipper or in the inside pocket of every bag we travel with all the time.

 

While the other exploits of popping the zipper or simply cutting through the bag aren't improved, it's well-known that TSA master keys leaked into the criminal world years ago so it does remove one potential (and unlikely-to-be-noticed unless you open and check contents of your bags every time they've been out of your possession) vector for theft. As long as the second lock is 'unpickable' (i.e. designed to resist the use of a 'lockpick gun' rather than actually prevent someone with skill and training opening it) the minor-leaguers will be totally unable to get through your lock.

Edited January 19, 2019 by martincath

[Bruin Steve]

We did the same this past June after an Alaska cruise...8:05 pm flight...

So...we took a "Sea to Sky " tour with LandSea Tours:

https://vancouvertours.com/tour/sea-to-sky-tour/

 

They picked us and our luggage up at the pier, did a pretty scenic tour outside of Vancouver proper--to a waterfall...and a gondola to a mountaintop, etc.  And dropped us off at the airport with perfect timing to check in for our flight home.  We reaslly enjoyed the day...Price was reasonable...