Alaska from Vancouver Mid May

[Barbara60]

Hello. Last year me and DH were booked to go on my BFF bucket list cruise to ALaska on Celebrity in May. Our cruise was cancelled due to barnacles. But much worse than that, my BFF got a diagnosis of brain cancer right around that exact time and so we couldn't rebook then for a later date.

 

My BFF of 55 years passed away 6 months later. Devastation. So we booked this spring to go on her bucket list cruise. Hoping everything will be nice. We are booked on Brilliance of the Seas mid May. I am currently looking for a hotel for one night. I have never been to Vancouver and hopefully we will have part of the afternoon and time for dinner as we sail the following day. 

 

Hotels seem very expensive there. Can you tell me your favorite hotel which might be near either Granville Island or Stanley Park so I can see a bit of the city and still be close enought to the cruise port for the next morning's embarkation?

 

Thank you for your help. We have cruised 3 times previously from LA to Mexico and a 32 day Asian loop back to LA both on Princess plus a one week cruise on RCI from Puerto Rico with my BFF that time.

[Kesstral]

My condolences on the loss of your friend.  I hope you have a wonderful cruise in her memory!

 

While I'm from the area, I don't have any hotel recommendations but an option might be to look at hotels closer to the airport in Richmond and you can then take the Canada Line right to Waterfront Station (which is next to the cruise ship terminal) if you can't find anything in your budget in downtown.  

I'm on Brilliance of the Seas in May too (21st) and can't wait!

[Kathscof]

I would say any of the hotels on the peninsula would be close enough to either.  We stayed at the Auberge Vancouver (the rooms for the Vancouver City Club) after a 1 way last year and it was nice, especially on a AAA rate. It was about 1 block from the port.  Unfortunately city hotels are expensive, and if you happen to hit them on a day that is popular (cruise days, weekend days, even business days for business hotels) they get even more popular.  There are MANY hotels between the park and the port you can check.  

 

If you wanted to get closer to either, you could always taxi to the other.  We rented bikes from a shop nearby and went to Stanley AND Granville.  I don't know how active you are, but that was a great way to get around for us, even though we got caught in an ENORMOUS rainstorm.  After all of the rain we were still able to see the places we wanted.  

 

We ended up on/near Robson a lot with the stores and restaurants, I wouldn't discount checking there as well.  The Blue Horizon hotel gets good reviews and is usually cheaper.  

[CruiserBruce]

I would be looking on the West Coast Departures board, here:

 

https://boards.cruisecritic.com/forum/315-west-coast-departures/

 

Many discussions there, as Vancouver is not in Alaska.

[martincath]

If you want a modern hotel with AC & elevators, the YWCA Hotel is usually the cheapest as well as by far the best of the budget crop (they have regular hotel rooms with doubles/twins and private bathroom - even cheaper rooms have shared bathrooms, but there are no big dorm rooms, it's a hotel not a hostel). Private rooms are usually even cheaper than budget airport hotels - and even if they look a little pricier, remember you'll have to pay for transit or cabs to go anywhere from the airport... downtown is always the best place to be when doing any sightseeing at all.

 

If you're happy to schlep your own bags upstairs, the Barclay Hotel is even cheaper than a private room at the Y and even more centrally-located - but any downtown core hotel is fine for exploring and also getting to the pier for embarkation, it's very compact, extremely hard to find a hotel that a cab would cost much over $10 from and many are walkable.

[arpie05]

17 hours ago, martincath said:

If you want a modern hotel with AC & elevators, the YWCA Hotel is usually the cheapest as well

Martincath - You are so kind to this person since you have had to post the same thing many times lately. (Do you save it in a OneNote and copy and paste each time 😉)  I just am going to say it is confusing where to find info on Vancouver because sometime the info is in West Coast departures and sometimes it is under Alaska ports.  Cruise Critic needs to figure out a way to make this "where to post"/where to find info easier. 

[cruiseryyc]

How about the Canada (Alaska/Pacific) forum.

[martincath]

6 hours ago, arpie05 said:

Martincath - You are so kind to this person since you have had to post the same thing many times lately. (Do you save it in a OneNote and copy and paste each time 😉)  I just am going to say it is confusing where to find info on Vancouver because sometime the info is in West Coast departures and sometimes it is under Alaska ports.  Cruise Critic needs to figure out a way to make this "where to post"/where to find info easier. 

Thanks - I've been trying to dial back the snark and pedantry since the pandemic; life's too short! If you're not willing to repost the same info over and over, then why the heck would you hang out on internet message boards!? If Joe Average actually read all the rules, FAQs, & stickied posts about popular locations all us regulars would have post counts about 5% of the numbers we currently do!😉

 

The CC 'rule' is about as clear as it can be: a Pre- or Post- question should be posted on the relevant Departure board, whereas questions about stops should in Ports of Call sections... but really, as long as the person asking gets answered, that's the important thing isn't it?