Vancouver Hotels pre Alaska Cruise

[Bristol5]

We are cruising to Alaska in May 2023 and looking for a hotel in Vancouver for two nights.  We will have a rental car, so parking is important.  We are currently considering Sunset Inn & Suites , which has free parking. The price for this downtown hotel is less than most, and I realize that it is an older property, however it has very good reviews.  I need some information from anyone who knows the area or has stayed here - if this would be a recommended hotel.

Also, the hotels near the airport are more reasonable and since we will have a car I would like opinions as to staying in this area, we are considering the Holiday Inn Express Vancouver Airport Richmond.

I appreciate any help, so thank you in advance.🙂

[Bristol5]

After more searching and reading of reviews we are strongly considering The Blue Horizon, any comments or knowledge of this property?

[martincath]

Being a proper, urban, living-downtown type local I can't give you a personal opinion of room comfort etc., but I'm familiar with the locations of both, and I can offer a second-hand opinion of the rooms via friends who have stayed in both.

 

BH is the better hotel for views, for resto options in the near vicinity, for fancy shopping, and is more convenient if you are going to do any bus-based touring e.g. HOHO bus has a stop right outside, as does the shuttle to Capilano, and other coach tours are much more likely to pick up at this hotel on a busy main street than Sunset on a more residential block. BH also has very generous bedroom size (all rooms are corners too, so two different angles) - but Sunset does offer much better long-stay conveniences as it's one of our 'condo hotels' so rather than just a room you have access to kitchen facilities etc. and that lack of restos & shopping means less likely you hear any noises at night while sleeping.

 

They're both useful for walking around tourism - each is closer to some areas, further from others, but really it's a well under a mile difference so no big whoop!

[Bristol5]

3 hours ago, martincath said:

Being a proper, urban, living-downtown type local I can't give you a personal opinion of room comfort etc., but I'm familiar with the locations of both, and I can offer a second-hand opinion of the rooms via friends who have stayed in both.

 

BH is the better hotel for views, for resto options in the near vicinity, for fancy shopping, and is more convenient if you are going to do any bus-based touring e.g. HOHO bus has a stop right outside, as does the shuttle to Capilano, and other coach tours are much more likely to pick up at this hotel on a busy main street than Sunset on a more residential block. BH also has very generous bedroom size (all rooms are corners too, so two different angles) - but Sunset does offer much better long-stay conveniences as it's one of our 'condo hotels' so rather than just a room you have access to kitchen facilities etc. and that lack of restos & shopping means less likely you hear any noises at night while sleeping.

 

They're both useful for walking around tourism - each is closer to some areas, further from others, but really it's a well under a mile difference so no big whoop!

Thank You very much , you have been so very helpful!!!

[nini]

On 9/2/2022 at 8:13 PM, Bristol5 said:

After more searching and reading of reviews we are strongly considering The Blue Horizon, any comments or knowledge of this property?

 

Wow! This is very timely. Run, do not walk away from the Blue Horizon!!! As I write this, we are here right now. Their website is very misleading. You can park here for ONLY the nights you actually stay here.

I called and wrote to them about two months ago and they said that I did NOT need to reserve the parking to leave our car here for the cruise.

WRONG!!!

 

The hotel gave us the phone number of the  company who owns the parking lot (now thoughtful) and they offer a daily rate (6:00 am to 6:00 pm) or by the the month. I finally got through to a real person and to leave our car in the lot for a 12 night cruise, we would have had to reserved online for a month and they would have shipped us a device that we leave in the car. Kind of late for that, right?

 

I have my e-mail in writing and the verbal information and they are a horribly misinformed staff.

 

The Canada Place office closed had already closed to make a reservation. But the one man who answered at a different office told me that we could only park there for a week and would need to call after 7days so we would not be ticketed!

 

We wasted 2 hours on the phone after our arrival at Blue Horizon.

Edited September 14, 2022 by nini
Spelling

[Northern Aurora]

We’ve stayed at the Pan Pacific several times with most recently last April.  Their bell service, which picks up your luggage from your room and delivers to the ship porters,  is very convenient.

 

I am posting from Vancouver as we board a ship on Friday.  We are staying at the recently renovated Auberge.  We last stayed here in 2018.   For the current stay we booked a large one bedroom suite for less per night than a standard Pan Pacific room.  So nice to have a separate bedroom.

[martincath]

On 9/13/2022 at 9:43 PM, nini said:

...We wasted 2 hours on the phone after our arrival at Blue Horizon. ...

@Bristol5Nini's post was indeed timely, as I had not even considered that when you said you would have a car that you might actually be driving here all the way from Georgia and leaving it parked while cruising! If this is what you're doing, rather than renting a car locally, then suburban hotels are your only option for long-term parking. The Accent Inn chain still offers a 'stay a night, park up to 14 nights' rate and has branches near YVR and also in Burnaby just east of Vancouver - long-term airport parking booked separately from your hotel is also a good, secure option.

 

@nini if I'd known about your plans I'd have told you that BH doesn't do post-stay parking (no downtown hotel does that I know of, the last was one of the Coast hotels but they stopped 4-5 years ago) - but given you contacted them and got a written response I'd have believed them too, as if any local hotel was going to restart this service they are the one I would pick as most likely to do so! They're independent, value-focused despite the tremendous views and big rooms that they could frankly gouge a lot more bucks per night out of folks for, and until your post I have literally never heard anyone say a bad word about them - your experience sucked, should never have happened, and I'll definitely factor it in to any future reccos for folks to stay there.

[Sigyn]

On 9/2/2022 at 8:39 AM, Bristol5 said:

We are cruising to Alaska in May 2023 and looking for a hotel in Vancouver for two nights.  We will have a rental car, so parking is important.  We are currently considering Sunset Inn & Suites , which has free parking. The price for this downtown hotel is less than most, and I realize that it is an older property, however it has very good reviews.  I need some information from anyone who knows the area or has stayed here - if this would be a recommended hotel.

Also, the hotels near the airport are more reasonable and since we will have a car I would like opinions as to staying in this area, we are considering the Holiday Inn Express Vancouver Airport Richmond.

I appreciate any help, so thank you in advance.🙂

are you renting a car in Vancouver and parking it while you are cruising? Or renting elsewhere and parking while crusing?

[xlxo]

On 9/2/2022 at 5:39 AM, Bristol5 said:

the hotels near the airport are more reasonable and since we will have a car I would like opinions as to staying in this area, we are considering the Holiday Inn Express Vancouver Airport Richmond.

The Blue Horizon is a nice central hotel with lots of restaurants and shops nearby on Robson.  However, my vote would be an airport hotel.

• avoid expensive downtown parking
• high incidents of downtown vehicle break-ins.  A lot of rental vehicles do not have BC license plates, so the vehicle will be targeted

 

My fav airport hotel is the Raddison Hotel Vancouver Airport for those with a vehicle

• https://www.radissonhotelsamericas.com/en-us/hotels/radisson-vancouver-airport
• free parking in an area with much lower break-ins
• three nearby grocery stores for supplies
• $4 subway train downtown in 20 minutes with a station across the street
• lots of Asian restaurants to explore

Edited November 2, 2022 by xlxo