Taxi availability Vancouver port to airport

[Princess18]

We have a late flight that arrives Anchorage around 2:00am.  Later that morning, we are taking the 9:45am train from Anchorage to Whittier to board the ship.  So, we have a short window between arriving the airport and getting on the train.  Should we book a hotel, knowing at best we could only sleep a few hours, or hang around the airport and then perhaps leave for the train station a few hours before the train leaves, or, does anyone have any other ideas?  Note, we are flying cross country, thus the late arrival into Anchorage is unavoidable.  Thanks for any ideas.

[Princess18]

We typically pack light and do the walk-off option on disembarkation day.  What is the taxi situation at the Vancouver port, any issue with catching an early cab after getting off the ship?

[martincath]

If you're a self-disembarker the cab queue should be short - but not knowing your date it's impossible to say if other ship(s) in port might complicate matters (i.e. first people off your vessel, if three others have been spewing forth passengers for even a few minutes,there could be several hundred people ahead of you in the lines!)

 

Since you travel light, SkyTrain is extremely easy to use - especially these days as you can just tap any contactless payment Visa or Mastercard to open the fare gates. If you're heading to YVR the Canada Line can handle even a large suitcase per person as well as a small 'lap bag' each. Since so few cruisers even consider using transit, no matter how many ships you'll find it no problem to get on SkyTrain - just be sure to go to the right platform (the stairs just outside the pier feed you onto the older Expo Line tracks to the eastern suburbs, with virtually no useful hotel or tourist destination that way - and walking around inside to get to the Canada Line platform is way more work than just staying on the streets above and entering the station by the main doors on Cordova).

 

If you're heading to a hotel downtown then check the distance on a map - it's less than a mile to most of them so you are often quicker to walk than wait even 10 minutes for a cab.

 

You'd be better deleting and reposting your first question under it's own heading - nobody is going to think to open your post except folks with an opinion on Vancouver port cabs, so you'll get a lot more eyes on the ANC airport question under a better heading! FWIW, I'd get a hotel - no sleep at all until the train ride seems like a recipe for disaster on your mental focus and will screw your sleeping patterns up for potentially a couple of days...

Edited February 21, 2019 by martincath

[Crew News]

5 hours ago, Princess18 said:

We typically pack light and do the walk-off option on disembarkation day.  What is the taxi situation at the Vancouver port, any issue with catching an early cab after getting off the ship?

 

June 2018, I did the early disembarkation at Canada Place.  I was off the ship at 7:45 AM.  With lots of taxis available, I was at the airport Delta Terminal around 8:35 AM.  Using Global Entry, I was seated at my departure gate at 9:15 AM for my 11:30 AM flight.