Hotel for 2 nights before cruise

[Moon Orchid]

We are taking a Hawaii cruise from Vancouver in October. We will have four adults and need hotel for October 1st and 2nd. We won't have a car. I did some reading on Cruise Critic and it seems hotel YWCA is very popular with cruisers but there are no rooms available for our dates.
I have narrowed down some of the hotels , please let me know which one is better for us or some other recommendations. Thank you.

Pinnacle Harbourfront.
Pan Pacific 
Auberge 
Hilton Downtown

[Moon Orchid]

Dumb question but when I book a hotel in Vancouver, should I pay with Canada or US dollars 😊 ? Thank you.

[Moon Orchid]

Anyone 😊?

[Milhouse]

Location-wise, the Pinnacle, Pan Pacific, and Auberge are all within easy walking distance of the cruise terminal if that's important.  The Pan Pacific is essentially right above the terminal.  While there is a bit of retail and dining in the area, it's not as dense as other parts of downtown.  Locals head down the area if there are events happening at the convention centre.  During nicer weather, you'll see tourists and locals in the area enjoying the waterfront and seawall nearby.

 

The Hilton downtown seems to have been rebranded from a Westin.  My out of town coworkers occasionally stayed there pre-pandemic when as a Westin since our office is nearby and they thought it was ok.  It's located on the eastern end of Robson street which is somewhat lively with a number of small eateries.  It also gets busy during game days as it's near the stadium.  The area can also occasionally feel a bit sketchy as there seems to be "theft incidents" at the IGA grocery store down the block on the news every so often.  The location has easy access to Granville street which has shopping during the day and turns into a pub/nightlife district though generally for a younger crowd in the evenings and further west on Robson beyond the art gallery which very lively with many retail and dining options.

 

My rule of thumb is that if I'm being billed by the hotel, I generally want to be charged in the local currency and have my credit card do the conversion.  Major credit cards have excellent currency conversion rates.  And I use a cc that doesn't have the typical 2.5-3% foxex fee. 

If pre-paying on a booking site like Expedia, I find that it's hit and miss whether it's more advantageous to pay in the hotel's location currency versus what my credit card currency is in.  Also try comparing prices on the .com vs .ca version of the sites.  

[Moon Orchid]

Thank you very much for the great advices. Pan Pacific it is 😊

[DogLover]

Another vote for the Pan Pacific. We've stayed many places on several trips to Vancouver, but for pre-cruise, NOTHING beats the PP! Our stay in August 2019 was wonderful, and seamless transfer from hotel to ship. (Second favorite hotel in YVR is the Wedgewood hotel, btw. Not as convenient for cruising but a lovely experience. The restaurant Bacchus is awesome.)

 

The Pan Pacific is not inexpensive, but totally worth it!!

 

If you don't have a car but want something fun to do, take the Seabus ferry across to Lonsdale Quay, N. Vancouver. Very scenic boat ride and lots of fun shops, restaurants, etc. to peruse. Other option is to spend some time in Stanley Park. 

 

Enjoy Vancouver - we miss it and hope to visit again soon.

Edited January 16, 2022 by DogLover
Typo

[Moon Orchid]

On 1/15/2022 at 8:02 PM, DogLover said:

Another vote for the Pan Pacific. We've stayed many places on several trips to Vancouver, but for pre-cruise, NOTHING beats the PP! Our stay in August 2019 was wonderful, and seamless transfer from hotel to ship. (Second favorite hotel in YVR is the Wedgewood hotel, btw. Not as convenient for cruising but a lovely experience. The restaurant Bacchus is awesome.)

 

The Pan Pacific is not inexpensive, but totally worth it!!

 

If you don't have a car but want something fun to do, take the Seabus ferry across to Lonsdale Quay, N. Vancouver. Very scenic boat ride and lots of fun shops, restaurants, etc. to peruse. Other option is to spend some time in Stanley Park. 

 

Enjoy Vancouver - we miss it and hope to visit again soon.

Thank you very much 🙂

[emmas_mom]

Would the Pinnicle be good for post-cruise as well?  Our cruise returns Sunday and we are not flying out until Tuesday morning.  Traveling with my 75 year old mother, so we won't be doing as much walking as if we were by ourselves.  We plan on doing the hop on hop off bus, as that seems easiest for her.

[martincath]

4 hours ago, emmas_mom said:

Would the Pinnicle be good for post-cruise as well?  Our cruise returns Sunday and we are not flying out until Tuesday morning.  Traveling with my 75 year old mother, so we won't be doing as much walking as if we were by ourselves.  We plan on doing the hop on hop off bus, as that seems easiest for her.

Be careful booking, as there are THREE Pinnacle hotels - two of them are equally-well located (the Pinnacle Harbourfront and the Marriott Pinnacle) literally across the street from one another, but the one over on the North Shore (Pinnacle at the Pier) means a Seabus or a long regular bus/cab ride to get to downtown! There's a reason it's usually by far the cheapest of the three options!

 

We have a few similar issues with other chain hotels, but this is probably the worst example of the lack of originality in naming local municipalities potentially biting tourists... West and North Vancouver just wish they could be real Vancouver;-)

 

Also consider the Blue Horizon - it's an indy hotel, all rooms are corners and it's tall so lots of good views, and all the HOHOs and even the shuttles to Capilano stop right outside. Given your mom, I'm guessing that unless you chose the Pan Pacific or Fairmont across the street you'll be cabbing to the hotel anyway, and the small increase in cab fare to BH (maybe an extra $5) will very likely be offset by lower price.