Blue Horizon Hotel Vancouver

[lisagro]

Does anyone have experience staying at this hotel before a cruise? It looks like a decent hotel in a good location, and the price is hard to beat for the area. Comments?

[Heidi13]

Haven't stayed in the hotel, but it is on Robson Street, which is a reasonable area of downtown. Lots of shops & restaurants in the immediate vicinity.

 

It is almost 1 mile to the cruise terminal, so probably a taxi to the terminal.

[Alaska59]

My family and I have stayed at this hotel and we really enjoyed the location and facilities.  We cabbed from the airport and checked in only to find they had upgraded us to a suite on a very top floor.  It was a wonderful surprise.  The only thing negative I will say is that it was kind of noisy due to city traffic and sirens.  All those high rises cause the sound to bounce around.  They had a good restaurant for breakfast.  Also, there is a bakery one block down on the corner that has coffees and good pastries.  We also had a terrific Italian dinner at a restaurant (name escapes me) just a block down from bakery. So, you don't have to go far for a good dinner the night before cruise.  The next morning we took a cab to the cruise dock.

[oilsand]

have stayed at he Blue a couple of times before AK cruises  an older property but in good shape .excellent location on robson st with countless restaurants neat by. I would stay there again ,

Good prices for being right in the centre of town

[KeepCalmBearOn]

On 2/19/2019 at 4:51 AM, lisagro said:

Does anyone have experience staying at this hotel before a cruise? It looks like a decent hotel in a good location, and the price is hard to beat for the area. Comments?

 

What price is hard to beat? When I've priced out hotels pre-cruise it hasn't come in cheaply enough to sway me away from hotels on Burrard, near Robson, like the Wedgewood and Hyatt Regency.

[lisagro]

It was 303 Canadian for a room with two queen beds. Plus tax, of course. AAA rate.

[katrina915]

52 minutes ago, scottca075 said:

 

What price is hard to beat? When I've priced out hotels pre-cruise it hasn't come in cheaply enough to sway me away from hotels on Burrard, near Robson, like the Wedgewood and Hyatt Regency.

Mid Sept, can cancel pricing for 1 night, includes tax:

 

Blue Horizon, 2 queen beds, harbor view (AAA):   $396 CAN

Wedgewood, 2 double, $691CAN

Hyatt, 2 double, $504CAN (must cancel 5 months in advance without penalty)

Edited February 20, 2019 by katrina915

[martincath]

Best guess to these restos in case Op wants to use them in red:

23 hours ago, Alaska59 said:

Also, there is a bakery one block down on the corner that has coffees and good pastries. Almost certainly Breka.

We also had a terrific Italian dinner at a restaurant (name escapes me) just a block down from bakery. Depending on price, this was likely Zefferellis (casual) or CinCin (fancypants), but might have been Cafe El Nido if it had a courtyard.

 

The only thing negative I will say is that it was kind of noisy due to city traffic and sirens.  All those high rises cause the sound to bounce around.  ... Unfortunately on that front, downtown is somewhat noisy in general with lots of hard, reflective glass towers -  so any hotel is subject to potential noise (the fancy ones right by the pier, esp harbour-view rooms, less so as Canada Place doesn't really go anywhere useful to local drivers; BH is much further from say St Pauls hospital - which has a very busy ER - and the Entertainment zone on Granville than many other hotels though).

Like Heidi I find the area around BH pretty good - Forage resto in particular is good enough to drag me the couple of miles on foot from home, it would be my pick of the few blocks around the hotel for a really good meal.

[Alaska59]

Yes,   Zefferelli's is the restaurant of which I was referring.  Super casual,  located upstairs above another retail space.  I chose the Blue Horizon purposely because it was within walking distance to that restaurant.

[lisagro]

Katrina, is that the least expensive two queen room; that is what we have.

[katrina915]

10 hours ago, lisagro said:

Katrina, is that the least expensive two queen room; that is what we have.

No,  that's a harbor view.  I may switch to the cheaper one though.  Nice to know there is a AAA discount.

[KeepCalmBearOn]

On 2/20/2019 at 6:12 AM, katrina915 said:

Mid Sept, can cancel pricing for 1 night, includes tax:

Blue Horizon, 2 queen beds, harbor view (AAA):   $396 CAN

Wedgewood, 2 double, $691CAN

Hyatt, 2 double, $504CAN (must cancel 5 months in advance without penalty)

 

For one night it is hard to argue against the Blue Horizon, given the deal.

[curleyjane]

Has anyone stayed at Ramada Limited Vancouver Airport Hotel?

[martincath]

11 hours ago, curleyjane said:

Has anyone stayed at Ramada Limited Vancouver Airport Hotel?

No - but being familiar with the location it's, shall we say, a mixed bag. SkyTrain is walkable in about 10mins - though it's the less-desirable suburban branch which means half as many trains as the hotels near Bridgeport where the two branches merge (if you come downtown to sightsee, expect to wait 20mins between trains on the way home later in the evening). There's a nice park out back, but you're also just behind Richmond General Hospital and right on one of the busiest through streets in the city - so expect sirens and a lot of traffic noise (maybe they have excellent soundproofing - but at the prices they charge I'm guessing not so much...) A mall and several good Asian food places are within ~10mins walk, and LOTS of good food within ~15-20mins walk.

 

For a one-night stay, assuming you pack earplugs, then just head to cruise next morning on SkyTrain I think it'll work just fine - but if you want to actually see Vancouver it's among the worse options even just comparing to other airport hotels. Personally I'd be looking downtown at the YWCA Hotel if you wanted to save money and go sightseeing - unless you've already done downtown Vancouver and the North Shore, in which case this could be a solid base to rent a car for a day and hit up Steveston village or UBC-area sites.

[curleyjane]

12 hours ago, martincath said:

No - but being familiar with the location it's, shall we say, a mixed bag. SkyTrain is walkable in about 10mins - though it's the less-desirable suburban branch which means half as many trains as the hotels near Bridgeport where the two branches merge (if you come downtown to sightsee, expect to wait 20mins between trains on the way home later in the evening). There's a nice park out back, but you're also just behind Richmond General Hospital and right on one of the busiest through streets in the city - so expect sirens and a lot of traffic noise (maybe they have excellent soundproofing - but at the prices they charge I'm guessing not so much...) A mall and several good Asian food places are within ~10mins walk, and LOTS of good food within ~15-20mins walk.

 

For a one-night stay, assuming you pack earplugs, then just head to cruise next morning on SkyTrain I think it'll work just fine - but if you want to actually see Vancouver it's among the worse options even just comparing to other airport hotels. Personally I'd be looking downtown at the YWCA Hotel if you wanted to save money and go sightseeing - unless you've already done downtown Vancouver and the North Shore, in which case this could be a solid base to rent a car for a day and hit up Steveston village or UBC-area sites.

Thank you so much for letting me know, its so hard to pick a perfect hotel when you don't know the area. We are staying 2 nights after cruise and I wanted to be close to the Waterfront Station but after reading your post this is not a good idea. My daughter wants to do a tour and it meets there and we would also like to go sightseeing. I'm thinking we should stay at Blue Horizon.

[martincath]

1 hour ago, curleyjane said:

Thank you so much for letting me know, its so hard to pick a perfect hotel when you don't know the area. We are staying 2 nights after cruise and I wanted to be close to the Waterfront Station but after reading your post this is not a good idea. My daughter wants to do a tour and it meets there and we would also like to go sightseeing. I'm thinking we should stay at Blue Horizon.

.... 'close to Waterfront station' makes me think perhaps you meant to ask about the Ramada Limited Vancouver Downtown? If so, that Ramada is certainly in a central location that is easily walked to/from Canada Place and even nearer to Waterfront Station. It's an older building repurposed, so again you have potential for some noise (but not close to a major hospital, nor is it inside the main downtown entertainment district, and two busier streets bracket Pender one block each side so it's not too bad for traffic).

 

On the Ramada's block Pender is OK, but just two blocks east and things get much scruffier as you enter the Downtown EastSide. NB: not dangerous, and the touristiest 'hood in the city, Gastown, is mostly inside this area too - since you're from Cleveland (which I love BTW!) if you are happy to wander about downtown there you'll find a similar vibe in the area around the Ramada (lots of street life in both the gentrified gastropubs and restos sense and the more literal homelessness/begging/drugs trade side of things). Walking from the warehouse district along Old River Rd down to the Gateway district is very similar to Yaletown and Gastown here, with gussied-up old buildings housing bars & restos, busy sidewalks in evening, but still a lot of poverty in evidence. Since it's Canada, you are much less likely to be physically harmed in any way than back home - but casual property crime, especially theft from parked cars, is definitely comparable in frequency to US cities (a rental car downtown is more hindrance than help anyway due to the small distances and expensive parking though).

 

If you're a suburbanite who does not like coming downtown in the evenings though, Blue Horizon would definitely provide a more pleasant environment.

[curleyjane]

1 hour ago, martincath said:

.... 'close to Waterfront station' makes me think perhaps you meant to ask about the Ramada Limited Vancouver Downtown? If so, that Ramada is certainly in a central location that is easily walked to/from Canada Place and even nearer to Waterfront Station. It's an older building repurposed, so again you have potential for some noise (but not close to a major hospital, nor is it inside the main downtown entertainment district, and two busier streets bracket Pender one block each side so it's not too bad for traffic).

 

On the Ramada's block Pender is OK, but just two blocks east and things get much scruffier as you enter the Downtown EastSide. NB: not dangerous, and the touristiest 'hood in the city, Gastown, is mostly inside this area too - since you're from Cleveland (which I love BTW!) if you are happy to wander about downtown there you'll find a similar vibe in the area around the Ramada (lots of street life in both the gentrified gastropubs and restos sense and the more literal homelessness/begging/drugs trade side of things). Walking from the warehouse district along Old River Rd down to the Gateway district is very similar to Yaletown and Gastown here, with gussied-up old buildings housing bars & restos, busy sidewalks in evening, but still a lot of poverty in evidence. Since it's Canada, you are much less likely to be physically harmed in any way than back home - but casual property crime, especially theft from parked cars, is definitely comparable in frequency to US cities (a rental car downtown is more hindrance than help anyway due to the small distances and expensive parking though).

 

If you're a suburbanite who does not like coming downtown in the evenings though, Blue Horizon would definitely provide a more pleasant environment.

Ok seems like Blue Horizon is best fit for us. Thanks for your help!

[CrabbyPatti]

We have stayed at the Blue Horizon 2 different times prior to cruises.  I would highly recommend it.  Older facility but rooms have been re done and are very nice.  I didn't find the noise to be a problem (heard some city traffic noise, but wasn't enough to bother us)  Nice restaurant for breakfast in the hotel.  We ate dinner at a nearby restaurant that was easily walk able.  Room was $ 210.00  for a room with king size bed in May 2017.  When we cruise again out of Vancouver we will stay there again.

[ceilidh1]

Blue Horizon is a great hotel - it used to be such an amazing deal, but word has got out and prices have certainly increased over the past couple of years. Having said that, it is still the hotel that all of my family and friends stay at when they visit me. It's a great location on Robson, walking distance to lots of attractions, skytrain, it's on the the hop on hop off trolley route, the Capilano shuttle route, and has stunning views (request a high floor if possible).

 

It is an easy walk to the pier if you don't have much luggage - all downhill or flat. It's an easy 20 minute walk. I live at the bottom of the hill Blue Horizon is on and walk to the pier everytime we sail. Having said that, a cab should only set you back around $10 or so.

[candncruisr]

Stayed there overnight before an Alaskan cruise. Nice hotel and the price is right. Good location-Stanley Park walkable distance; all kinds of shopping on Robson Street and plenty of nearby restaraunts. The room was renovated, the bed comfortable and the staff were excellent. Highly recommend it.

[westcoastcruiser]

We stayed there after an Alaskan cruise and we found it to be perfect.  Great location with public transportation close and easy walking to other things.  I think you will be more than satisfied.