Vancouver - Hotel to Pier

[geomancer]

Hello, we'll be staying at a hotel near the airport the day before the cruise. What's the best way to get to the pier in the morning?

Uber/Lyft isn't (yet) allowed.

 

There are 3 of us (only 1 bag, 3 backpacks). It's the Hampton Inn, so technically located in Richmond but is literally right over the bridge from the airport.

 

So is a taxi or a car service the way to go?

 

Is it better to take the hotel shuttle back to the airport to take advantage of any flat rates?

 

Thanks!

[martincath]

"Best" you''ll have to decide for yourself - I have no idea how much you value your time versus money, how much you value a swanky ride, how much of a fudge-factor you apply for simple 'get on 1 form of transportation then get off again' versus transfers, whether walking a few minutes is a deal-breaker or not a problem.

 

Options are:

1) get a cab from the hotel, pay whatever the meter says (likely $40+ as there's a bit of surface street shenanigans before getting onto the main rod to downtown) and take probably about 35 mins to arrive

2) free hotel shuttle back to YVR, join cab queue, pay $35 plus tip and arrive at the pier with zero walking but definitely an extra ~15-20 minutes spent on hotel shuttle/waiting for a cab

3) walk to SkyTrain (Bridgeport Station), about 7mins from the Hampton; pay $4.20pp or less (Seniors, <14s, and day of the week can discount this to under $2pp) then another 7mins to the pier from Waterfront station, on top of a 23min travel time and variable wait based on SkyTrain frequency (could be 2mins, worst case 10mins, most likely in the morning to be 2-5mins)

4) take free hotel shuttle to Bridgeport Station instead of walking, adding extra cost of a modest tip to the driver for the convenience but probably adding time as the one shuttle is very unlikely to be available exactly when you want it so walking with minimal luggage is probably on average faster than waiting around for a shuttle

 

Aside from the four affordable options, you could also:

5) book a limo from hotel - same as cab for timing, but cost would be ~$110 w tax & tip (bylaws dictate a minimum fare of 1 hour is charged)

6) shuttle to airport, then take a limo ($~70 incl tax & tip, as Aerocar are allowed to offer fixed fares from the airport walkup queue just like cabs)

7) taxi to YVR South, charter a Floatplane, have it fly you to Coal Harbour where a limo will whisk you the one block to the pier ($$$$$$$$, but serious bragging rights) 😉

 

Edit - forgot you could do the ultimate cheapo, and walk to the pier! It's a little under 10 miles from the Hampton, say 2.5-4 hours depending how fit everyone is!

Edited June 23, 2019 by martincath

[geomancer]

Option 7 is certainly the most appealing. Hummm 

 

We're not opposed to putting in a bit of work, I hadn't even heard of the SkyTrain before. Looking at the map, that looks awfully convenient even with the walk. We have 9:30-10:00 AM slotted for our arrival time, but maybe I'll bump that out an hour to try and avoid some of the rush hour?

 

Thank you for your post, it was very helpful!

[martincath]

1 hour ago, geomancer said:

Option 7 is certainly the most appealing. Hummm 

 

We're not opposed to putting in a bit of work, I hadn't even heard of the SkyTrain before. Looking at the map, that looks awfully convenient even with the walk. We have 9:30-10:00 AM slotted for our arrival time, but maybe I'll bump that out an hour to try and avoid some of the rush hour?

 

Thank you for your post, it was very helpful!

No worries. The one downside of SkyTrain from Bridgeport is exactly what you mentioned - it's not a terminus station so if you overlap with commuters finding a seat might be tricky, especially with suitcases to maneuver around (standing pax does not mean there are no seats - folks with short trips tend to just stand near the doors to speed up getting off). If you are trying to board as early as possible, arriving at the pier before 10:30am certainly is what to aim for - but do be aware that even the first people onboard will have wasted hours waiting, as nobody gets to start moving until all the disembarking pax are cleared and the B2B folks also.

 

If you'd rather spend less time waiting, better to board late than early - 2 hours before ship is due to leave is usually an excellent time to arrive (hard cap is 90mins, after that you risk being denied boarding). Key thing is to avoid the peak times, noon through at least 1pm usually sucks the most but since the whole boarding process can't really get going until at least 10:30am, then actually getting onto the ships tends to be as late as noon, turning up early means short queues but a long time sitting waiting to be allowed to queue!

 

Since you hadn't heard of SkyTrain before now you're obviously new to Vancouver, so you probably also don't know how ridiculous delightful we are to visit! More stuff to see and do than all AK ports put together, so if it's not to late to rejig plans I always suggest some Pre- or Post-cruise Vancouver time (heck, logically if you have the vaycay allowance you should stay here for longer than your cruise, you won't run out of stuff to do!)

 

If you already planned to just drop bags then go exploring, you could do hotel shuttle to YVR then SkyTrain - this guarantees a seat as it's the start of the line, but does cost extra due to the airport $5 AddFare. Still definitely less than a cab for 3 people but less of a discount. If you want to maximise your sightseeing time downtown though it might be worth dropping a few extra bucks, as you can store bags at the Pan Pacific Hotel 24/7 for $5 each which means you can come downtown long before cruise bag drop starts - many ticketed venues don't open until 9am, but parks & gardens are rarely gated and officially open around sunrise daily.

 

With just the one big bag, if those backpacks aren't too heavy to walk around in a) bag storage would only total about a Starbucks Venti Latte, and b) even in rush hour you should be able to squeeze aboard SkyTrain at Bridgeport and it's only a 23min ride to Waterfront from there. Just try to find at least one free seat so you can tuck the big bag under it, leaving baggage in the aisles is a hassle and technically a ByLaw infringement. Most commuters have purses/briefcases/small backpacks though (the politest thing to do is wear them on your front when standing, avoids clunking others that way, but few locals even bother to do that).