Vancouver hotel one night pre-cruise

[taclkc]

I am looking for suggestions for a hotel in Vancouver for one night pre-cruise. Is there one that includes pick-up at the airport and transfers to the ship the next day? How far is it from the airport to the dock? Thank you!

[DaveOKC]

The answer really depends on what price you are looking to pay.  IMO, a great option is staying at the Pan Pacific which is right on the pier.  You literally go to the basement level of the hotel to board the ship, plus your bellman will pickup your luggage from your room and check it onto the ship!  Beat that for convenience!  Of course, it is a bit expensive (but sometimes you can catch a good sale however).

[Heidi13]

The Pan Pacific mentioned in the previous post is but one of the major hotels in downtown Vancouver. You also have the Fairmont, which is across from the cruise terminal. You have numerous other chains within a few blocks. The consistent factor is high cost. 

 

Most affordable downtown hotel is probably the YMCA Hotel, which is about 1 miles from the cruise terminal. You can catch a taxi from the airport, which work on a fixed fare. They have no shuttle to the cruise terminal.

 

You also have a number of more reasonably priced hotels closer to the airport, which is about 10 miles from the cruise terminal. A number of hotels will do pick up from the airport. We have used Coast Vancouver a few times. In the morning you could take the shuttle back to the airport and catch the Skytrain from the airport to downtown. It is a short walk to the cruise terminal.

Edited February 3, 2019 by Heidi13

[martincath]

Without knowing a budget it's really hard to help much more than what's already been said above OP - other than to point you at other resources, specifically Google Maps (so you can check exactly where any potential hotels are in comparison to Canada Place, which is the only cruise pier these days, confirm routes from YVR to hotel to dock etc.) and TripAdvisor (while there are fake reviews, when you get into hotels with hundreds or thousands of reviews it's still a very fair comparison of relative popularity, and once you have a short list you can go compare on sites like e.g. Expedia who only allow reviews after confirmed stays).

 

I'd agree that the Y is the best bargain in the region, but NB: that it's the YWCA Hotel not YMCA (we do have the latter locally, but they are the typical 'gyms and day use rooms and maybe a hostel type shared room accommodation' rather than the a hotel with all-private rooms).

 

NB: that there are a grand total of zero local hotels which offer both an airport to hotel AND a hotel to pier shuttle - there are a handful downtown with shuttles that will drop you off, including at the pier (e.g. Hampton Inn) but cab fares are so cheap from any downtown hotel to the pier (most under $10, even the furthest away maybe $15 in terrible traffic) that it's simply not a factor you should worry about. Airport shuttles are only found at airport hotels - so if you are sightseeing, you should be aware that means anything from 45-60minutes each way to where most of the touristy stuff is (downtown, same as the pier). Transit use is also the only sane way to do it, as the price of a cab from an airport hotel to downtown and back would mean you could afford an equivalent  downtown hotel instead!

[Heidi13]

Martin/Cath - thanks for picking up the typo. Meant YWCA, but got YMCA

[taclkc]

Thank you everyone for all the great info. This really helped a lot!

[K_e_short]

I am also flying into Vancouver a day early before my cruise.

I started looking at hotels near the airport so I could take the sky train from the airport to Canada Place.

I typed in "hotels near Vancouver Airport" and went from there.

 

Pan Pacific is way out of my price range but I am staying at the Coast Vancouver Airport hotel which is costing me $222 CAD.

 

[martincath]

15 hours ago, Heidi13 said:

Martin/Cath - thanks for picking up the typo. Meant YWCA, but got YMCA

Assumed that was the case, or that you were typing upside down;-)

[david,Mississauga]

There has been discussion previously about the Pan Pacific Hotel. For the past several years it has been our favourite, not just when boarding a ship, but when we are travelling by train or plane. During the cruise season the rates can be horrific. But as I mentioned a while ago if you book at any rate other than "advance payment - no cancellations" you can re-book at a lower rate up to three days in advance of your stay.

 

We have always been able to re-book and save. This year is no exception. Because we wanted the convenience of staying at this hotel the night before we board the Queen Elizabeth we booked it long in advance at a shocking rate. I check the rates once a week and a few days ago I noticed the rate for the Pacific Club rooms for our night had dropped by almost $200. It's still not cheap, of course, but the Club rooms are cheaper than basic rooms at most other major hotels including the Fairmont across the street. Most of the time, the cheapest rate is for members of the CAA/AAA.

[katrina915]

On 2/13/2019 at 9:06 AM, david,Mississauga said:

 

We have always been able to re-book and save. This year is no exception. Because we wanted the convenience of staying at this hotel the night before we board the Queen Elizabeth we booked it long in advance at a shocking rate. I check the rates once a week and a few days ago I noticed the rate for the Pacific Club rooms for our night had dropped by almost $200. It's still not cheap, of course, but the Club rooms are cheaper than basic rooms at most other major hotels including the Fairmont across the street. Most of the time, the cheapest rate is for members of the CAA/AAA.

Thanks for the tip of re-booking- I will try that and the AAA discount but it's really pricey.  I booked the Blue Horizon so we shall see where I end up.