Finally Picked a Hotel

[cantgetaname]

After a lot of going back and forth about which one I've picked to pre cruise stay for 2 nights before cruise I've picked one.   Am sailing out of Vancouver on Ovation of the Seas to Hawaii.  Holiday Inn & Suites Vancouver Downtown on Howe St.   Hopefully this isn't a mistake.  Not sure about what area is like but I generally don't go out at night and like to stick around the hotel.  I'd probably even bring my dinner back and eat it in front of the tv.    Hoping I made a good choice.  The online reviews seemed ok.  

[martincath]

It's on a very busy road for cars but the immediate surroundings are basically dead, no shops/restos/nightlife/reason to walk the intersection so foot traffic is minimal except for your other hotel guests - but head a block or two in any direction and there's a lot more life, with Granville St (official city party zone, lots of late-opening bars & clubs so good that you're not staying there for your tastes!) close by. Dining is mostly mediocre, very few standouts as the typical patrons are party animals lining stomachs pre-boozing or already liquored up and looking for a late-night meal before heading back to the 'burbs.

 

Davie St has restos scattered all along it; head down Helmcken into Yaletown and there's a ton of restos packed onto Mainland and Hamilton, just 500 metres walk (although uphill coming home either full or carrying your takeout). Both of these will give you generally-better dining options than Granville - a couple of the swankiest restos in the city are right next to Helmcken in Yaletown, Elisa (a very modern steakhouse) and Blue Water Cafe (probably the best cooked seafood kitchen in town, and at least top ten for their raw bar too).

 

If memory serves there have been a few reviews, some recent from this season, where folks used the HI for the pre/post and found it perfectly decent - and frankly I'd much rather stay in a fairly bland chain hotel with decent size rooms and reasonably thick walls a block or two away from the nearest bars than a really fancy hotel with a nightclub under it! Just check that traffic noise in your room doesn't annoy you and if it does, ask to change rooms as soon as you check in - the hotel is L shaped, so most of it is stepped back from Howe but one wing extends right to the sidewalk. The back of the main building, facing onto the alley behind, is a trade-off - least traffic noise but you risk an early wakeup from garbage trucks emptying the dumpsters along the alleyway...

[Milhouse]

Just to top up:

I'd be fine staying in that area and align with what @martincath says about the it being more lively a block or two away.  However, I would also add that, that end of Granville Street can feel a bit sketchy even during the day (as can other pockets in the downtown core) in part due to a building converted to social housing.