Vancouver tours with airport drop off

[Peak city]

We are sailing from Alaska to Vancouver in late May on Princess.  Looking for recommendations for tours that will pick us up at the cruise terminal and drop us off at the airport.  We looked at the HOHO tour, but the reviews are not good.

Currently we are scheduled on a 4:30 pm flight, but have the option to change it to a 8:15 pm flight.

 

[martincath]

1 hour ago, Peak city said:

Currently we are scheduled on a 4:30 pm flight, but have the option to change it to a 8:15 pm flight.

If you are looking for a simple, packaged, 'get on the bus and not worry about anything until we get off at the airport' then the 4:30pm flight is the one I'd stick to. There are short tour options - bookable through your cruiseline if you have OBC to burn, or independently for a likely lower price (NB: US/Canadian dollar exchange rates when looking at a price!)

 

I can't say it's fair for me to recommend a specific tour company, as it's been many moons (and pre-Covid) since I made use of any so standards could have slipped or improved with any given coach company, but I can lay out the (very limited!) options and you can check reviews (as you obviously have for the HOHO - Covid times were very, very bad for that model and we are once again left with a single company operating so frankly they have no reason to get better unless a competitor opens up or customer numbers plummet...)

 

LandSea is the big local company that offers a specific post-cruise tour - with airport drop if requested in advance. Coaches are right at Canada Place, leave at 10am, get to YVR ~2pm. While three hours before is recommended, that's only needed for flights in the mornings: thousands of your fellow cruisers head straight to the airport from the pier, so it gets mad busy by ~9:30am and stays that way until at least 11am. By mid-afternoon though, 2 hours is more than enough time even with checked bags. Horror stories about Security lines early last year were true - but ceased to be a problem by last Fall as staffing was ramped back up - so even if none of you have Global Entry or NEXUS to enable use of the short queues at Security, I'd be comfortable arriving as late as 3pm for a 4:15 flight (bag check needs at least an hour before your flight, but by the afternoon Security and CBP Preclearance are both down to <20mins).

 

WestCoast are the local Gray Line affiliate - and also currently the only HOHO operator - and they usually offer a tour in cruise season that's basically the same as LandSea. Both are possibly local contractors for any cruiseline tours as well. Check WestCoast's website again in say April, if they're selling a post-cruise tour this season it should be listed by then.

 

The other cruise-specific tours on LandSeas website would need you to take the later flight - and the Grouse Mountain one at 7 hours but leaving pier at 11am would be pretty much ideal for YVR arrival (6:30pm) for your later flight option, but you'd have to kill 2+ hours waiting for it to start!

 

None of these tours are tremendous value IMO, but they're not too gouge-y. Compared to the HOHO at $59pp, $74pp for your bags looked after and transport to the airport isn't much more expensive - but it is less versatile. Compared to doing it all by yourself it looks very pricey though! Cost of required DIY elements: store bags for $10ea or less; day pass on Transit for $10ea or less; cab to airport if you really don't want to use transit for that - though it's fast, safe, and easy - budget $40 incl. tip from downtown for up to 4 people in a cab; and then in terms of your Stuff To Do you could download a paid guided tour app or two at a few bucks a pop or just acquire a good guidebook; use free city WiFi (#VanWiFi) to ensure you have access to live maps and communicate with each other, in case your group wants to split up; if someone is available on your date get a personalized free walking tour from StrollBuddy or take a 'tip what you feel like' group walk with ToonieTours if you want someone to give you live tour-guide waffle; or just visit attractions that you like the sound of - we've got plenty of parks, gardens, museums, galleries etc.

Edited February 9, 2023 by martincath