Transfer to hotel from airport - but arriving a week early (read on)......

[BroncoBobblehead]

Our cruise to Alaska (via Vancouver, round trip), leaves on Saturday, July 2nd. 

 

We are arriving, though, a week early to vacation around the area. Our last night, however, is in Vancouver at the Fairmont Hotel near the port and reserved through HAL. On our paperwork, it says on July 1st (which is Friday), that "guests arriving from a Canadian city will be met by a Holland America Line representative at the baggage carousel.....". All along, I've been planning to drop off our rental car (which we will have picked up the week before) and grab a taxi to our hotel, BUT I'm thinking after reviewing this that we have the ability to have HAL transfer us to our hotel Friday night. Next paragraph it says "A transfer from the airport to hotel is provided to all guests who have purchased air through Holland America Line" (which we indeed did do as well).

 

SO, my question is: am I correct in thinking that even though we've flown in six days earlier, if we drop off our rental car and then show up at the baggage terminal, we can still take advantage of a free (well, we paid for that by paying a fortune for the hotel room, right?) transfer to the hotel?

 

And if so, what's the most efficient way of notifying them of when we'll be there (in lieu of calling them, which is probably what I'll need to do, I fear).

 

Anyone have any insight into this specific scenario?

 

Thanks in advance!

Edited June 23, 2022 by BroncoBobblehead

[Mary229]

Call HAL and notify them of your needs.  When you buy their hotel you are entitled to a transfer.  

[BroncoBobblehead]

update: called HAL and talked to a human (after just 2 minutes on hold, even!) - the best she could say was to show up at the HAL desk at the airport at baggage claim and they will indeed transfer us. What she couldn't tell me, though, was what times it was available or how it actually worked. I'm thinking if it's show up and wait until the next shuttle leaves in an hour or two, we might just get a cab and go the easy route but if someone knows a bit better how it works, that would help me plan a bit better! (for example: the shuttle usually leaves every hour, or every three hours, or at these specific times......??)

Edited June 23, 2022 by BroncoBobblehead

[Tampa Girl]

1 hour ago, BroncoBobblehead said:

update: called HAL and talked to a human (after just 2 minutes on hold, even!) - the best she could say was to show up at the HAL desk at the airport at baggage claim and they will indeed transfer us. What she couldn't tell me, though, was what times it was available or how it actually worked. I'm thinking if it's show up and wait until the next shuttle leaves in an hour or two, we might just get a cab and go the easy route but if someone knows a bit better how it works, that would help me plan a bit better! (for example: the shuttle usually leaves every hour, or every three hours, or at these specific times......??)

 

How expensive is a cab or Uber?

[BroncoBobblehead]

4 hours ago, Tampa Girl said:

 

How expensive is a cab or Uber?

Cab is at least $35 to the ferry terminal, more to the hotel and depends on the time of day from what I read - up to $75. Uber is on the high end of that. Rail is around $10 (price increase hits July 1st). Neither breaks the bank but is still more than "free" - but whether free is worth it depends on the degree of hassle 🙂

[rochelle_s]

Maybe you could try asking on your roll call if there are any others who have booked through HAL for their flights and pre cruise hotel and then you might be able to co-ordinate the return of your rental car and shuttle pick up times.

 

Rochelle

[BroncoBobblehead]

5 hours ago, whee-sailing said:

 

If the HAL transfer ends up being a hassle or a long wait, just take the Skytrain ("rail") from the airport to the Fairmont. It's an easy ~25 minute trip, especially without the hassle of dragging your luggage along. I'm assuming you're dropping off your rental car at the airport, but your comment about the ferry terminal does have me a bit confused...

 

Edit: I see in your other post that you're at the Fairmont Hotel Vancouver (not the Fairmont at the port), so if you do take transit, you'll want to get off at the Burrard Station and not go all the way to the Waterfront Station.

good tip on the Burrard station -I probably would have just stayed on until Waterfront so that's great to know!

[RSWBADGER]

Deleted

Edited June 24, 2022 by RSWBADGER

[RSWBADGER]

Edited June 24, 2022 by RSWBADGER
Fares from YVR. https://www.yvr.ca/en/passengers/transportation/taxis

[BroncoBobblehead]

13 minutes ago, RSWBADGER said:

amazing - this is super-helpful and I've never seen this. I'd heard fares were fixed but couldn't find this info.....

[martincath]

That's the wrong map - fares increased in April. The most up-to-date version can be found on YVR's website down near the bottom of this page (which was mentioned above - I'm guessing you saved a copy at some point pre-April badger?) Fairmont Vancouver is now $34.

 

But back to your original query - yes, if you have an included transfer you can head to YVR and take advantage of it, but personally I'd be asking them to cancel and refund you the transfer portion as they are always flagrantly overpriced! Pre-Covid rates generally ran US$29pp - which was already as expensive as a cab. This year I've seen folks saying they were paying US$49pp! And you can see for yourself how cheap the taxi is for as many people fit - but prices on the zone map are in CAD!

 

If the transfers cannot be priced individually and thus refunded - make a mock booking at the Fairmont yourself, as HAL are likely padding your hotel price enough to cover their transfers... and don't forget their prices are listed per person in USD whereas you'd be booking a room for 2+ in CAD, so cancelling the hotel might also save a chunk of change (not always - if they have booked a whole passle of rooms they might have a genuinely good price which they're passing along to you).

 

If you are locked into an airport rental car, then someone needs to return it there - but you could easily take your bags and everyone except the driver to the hotel and then only one driver needs to head out to YVR, without luggage, making SkyTrain even easier to use. NB: my fellow local is obviously thinking of their own commute in from the eastern 'burbs, as Burrard station is not on the Canada Line so you'll be riding the rails back & forth forever if you come in from YVR expecting to see it! City Centre station is the stop closest to the Fairmont Van on the line you'd be traveling...

 

If you're not locked in on the rental car, try shopping around - because every rental picked up at YVR has an extra fee that only applies there and it's HIGH, over 20%. That doesn't mean you'll actually find a cheaper deal at a downtown rental franchise of course, these days it's a nightmare finding good deals on rentals, but it's worth trying if you have a cancellable rate on that week long rental - as even saving a few bucks a day coiuld easily pay the cab ride to a rental location elsewhere.

[whee-sailing]

19 minutes ago, martincath said:

NB: my fellow local is obviously thinking of their own commute in from the eastern 'burbs, as Burrard station is not on the Canada Line so you'll be riding the rails back & forth forever if you come in from YVR expecting to see it! City Centre station is the stop closest to the Fairmont Van on the line you'd be traveling...

 

Oh my goodness thank you for catching that! I haven't been on transit from the airport since March 2020 and my brain decided the name of the Canada Line station at Granville and Georgia was Burrard. Yeesh. Dumb for so many reasons. No more responding on the boards late at night.

 

I wish it would let me correct my comment.

[Heartgrove]

Try calling HAL a second time. You just might get someone better informed.

[BroncoBobblehead]

1 hour ago, martincath said:

That's the wrong map - fares increased in April. The most up-to-date version can be found on YVR's website down near the bottom of this page (which was mentioned above - I'm guessing you saved a copy at some point pre-April badger?) Fairmont Vancouver is now $34.

 

But back to your original query - yes, if you have an included transfer you can head to YVR and take advantage of it, but personally I'd be asking them to cancel and refund you the transfer portion as they are always flagrantly overpriced! Pre-Covid rates generally ran US$29pp - which was already as expensive as a cab. This year I've seen folks saying they were paying US$49pp! And you can see for yourself how cheap the taxi is for as many people fit - but prices on the zone map are in CAD!

 

If the transfers cannot be priced individually and thus refunded - make a mock booking at the Fairmont yourself, as HAL are likely padding your hotel price enough to cover their transfers... and don't forget their prices are listed per person in USD whereas you'd be booking a room for 2+ in CAD, so cancelling the hotel might also save a chunk of change (not always - if they have booked a whole passle of rooms they might have a genuinely good price which they're passing along to you).

 

If you are locked into an airport rental car, then someone needs to return it there - but you could easily take your bags and everyone except the driver to the hotel and then only one driver needs to head out to YVR, without luggage, making SkyTrain even easier to use. NB: my fellow local is obviously thinking of their own commute in from the eastern 'burbs, as Burrard station is not on the Canada Line so you'll be riding the rails back & forth forever if you come in from YVR expecting to see it! City Centre station is the stop closest to the Fairmont Van on the line you'd be traveling...

 

If you're not locked in on the rental car, try shopping around - because every rental picked up at YVR has an extra fee that only applies there and it's HIGH, over 20%. That doesn't mean you'll actually find a cheaper deal at a downtown rental franchise of course, these days it's a nightmare finding good deals on rentals, but it's worth trying if you have a cancellable rate on that week long rental - as even saving a few bucks a day coiuld easily pay the cab ride to a rental location elsewhere.

thank you - great info! I'm leaning toward my original plan of dropping my dear wife off at the hotel, returning car at YVR and taking the train which sounds kinda like fun (and good catch on the exit - I'd have probably figured it out eventually but glad to have the details right!).

[oaktreerb]

If you decide to use the Holland America transfer be aware that HAL and Princess work together at the airport.  A rep will have a clipboard with a list of arrivals and their arrival time so be sure HAL knows when you will be at the airport.

[BroncoBobblehead]

33 minutes ago, oaktreerb said:

If you decide to use the Holland America transfer be aware that HAL and Princess work together at the airport.  A rep will have a clipboard with a list of arrivals and their arrival time so be sure HAL knows when you will be at the airport.

thanks for the advice, this is good to know - honestly, that's what I was trying to accomplish when I called HAL yesterday but they didn't seem interested in trying to arrange a time to meet there at all (and had me on hold for about 10 minutes checking on it presumably to figure it out). I would guess that I could call again and get someone who knew what was up but at this point not sure it's going to be worth the  trouble. I was hoping to maybe investigate more in person when we fly in the week earlier (tomorrow evening, actually) but I would imagine there won't be anyone there to talk to at 10pm.

[oaktreerb]

People fly in all day from different parts of the country.  Have your paperwork handy and ask at the airport when you arrive if there is a HAL or Princess rep. available.  If so, explain your situation.  There may be people on your flight with transfers to a HAL hotel, so there may be a rep around.   There may have been someplace on your booking docs where they asked when you would be arriving.  

[Hlitner]

A lot of hassle and trouble going back out to the airport just to return a car.   Does your rental car company have an office (drop location) in town?  If there is another location much closer to your hotel you can ask if the company will allow you to change the drop location.  To us this makes a lot more sense than driving all the way to the airport, dropping the car, getting back to the terminal, waiting around for heaven knows how long, etc etc.

 

Hank

[BroncoBobblehead]

On 6/24/2022 at 6:43 PM, Hlitner said:

A lot of hassle and trouble going back out to the airport just to return a car.   Does your rental car company have an office (drop location) in town?  If there is another location much closer to your hotel you can ask if the company will allow you to change the drop location.  To us this makes a lot more sense than driving all the way to the airport, dropping the car, getting back to the terminal, waiting around for heaven knows how long, etc etc.

 

Hank

We'd worked through all the angles of different drop off points, etc and it made the cost far too much more to make it worth considering, unfortuantely.

[Hlitner]

1 hour ago, BroncoBobblehead said:

We'd worked through all the angles of different drop off points, etc and it made the cost far too much more to make it worth considering, unfortuantely.

Bummer.  Rental car rates have been pretty bad in the past year.  In your situation we would keep checking up until the last minute to see if a better deal opens up.  Sometimes you get lucky and sometimes it all just sucks!

 

Hank

[BroncoBobblehead]

2 minutes ago, Hlitner said:

Bummer.  Rental car rates have been pretty bad in the past year.  In your situation we would keep checking up until the last minute to see if a better deal opens up.  Sometimes you get lucky and sometimes it all just sucks!

 

Hank

No doubt. Got the best rate via Costco travel site about three months ago and it's been going up ever since, so glad I jumped on it when I did - and as of a month there were no companies with availability any more for our dates.... crazy times.