Where to stay in Vancouver?/Things to do?

[Kgfloyd1]

Heading on Alaskan Cruise from Vancouver end of May and arriving in Vancouver a day early.

Best place to stay…downtown/by airport/near cruise terminal?

best things to see and do??

Wasn’t planning on renting a car and I see hotels much more expensive near cruise terminal…worth it? Or more to do downtown and the Uber to terminal?

HELP?!?!

Edited April 10, 2023 by Kgfloyd1
Typo

[martincath]

Go peruse the West Coast Departures board and you'll find more threads, but to quickly cover your easily-answered questions: since the pier is slap-bang in the heart of the downtown core, and the cheapest good hotel in the region is likewise, check if the YWCA Hotel has any available rooms on your dates!

 

If the Y us already sold out, highly likely if it's this May you are cruising, then airport hotels are probably cheapest options if you need elevators, AC etc. The Barclay Hotel downtown is dirt-cheap and has decent reviews if you can schlep your own bags upstairs though.

 

The vast majority of popular sights are also downtown, and virtually all downtown hotels are easily walkable to at least a few of them - so if you can find a hotel within your budget downtown is definitely where to be, otherwise you have to spend time (harder to get more of that for most people than money!) traveling in from distant suburban cheap hotels... if you are OK with public transit, airport hotels are usually fairly convenient for a SkyTrain station, Day Pass is CAD$11 or less, but if you're a cabuber person then the monetary cost of a cheap hotel is $80-100 round trip car rides to anywhere touristy!

 

As to best things to see/do - you know you, I don't, and with only a day it's far more important to hit the sites that YOU would enjoy most. Go check Tripadvisor, read down the rankings, narrow your options to the categories of things you like best - just because most of Joe Q Public loves Stanley Park doesn't mean it's the best thing for you to see!

[Host Kat]

4 hours ago, Kgfloyd1 said:

Heading on Alaskan Cruise from Vancouver end of May and arriving in Vancouver a day early.

Best place to stay…downtown/by airport/near cruise terminal?

best things to see and do??

Wasn’t planning on renting a car and I see hotels much more expensive near cruise terminal…worth it? Or more to do downtown and the Uber to terminal?

HELP?!?!

 

Hello @Kgfloyd1 and welcome to Cruise Critic & the message boards!

 

To help you out your new topic titled Where to stay in Vancouver?/Things to do? has been moved to the correct forum, West Coast Departures. The forum is for questions concerning hotel, transportation, dining & embarkation information. Browse through the thread titles on this forum looking for threads of interest. You will probably find your fellow Cruise Critic members have already posted questions and received answers that may be of interest to you.

 

Be sure to find the Cruise Critic Roll Call thread for your cruise. For information about our Roll Calls, please read What is a Roll Call? Everything you Need to Know and How To: Create A New Roll Call. For more information about our famous Roll Calls, please read the Roll Calls and Our Policy Regarding Facebook and Roll Calls sections in the Guidelines we all agreed to follow when registering for our free Cruise Critic memberships. We also have the following Cruise Critic article you might enjoy: 8 Reasons to Join a Cruise Critic Roll Call

 

The Cruise Critic website and message boards are a great resource for new as well as experienced cruisers and we are so glad you found us! Please feel free to browse the Cruise Critic Community categories list for the various message board forums. Read a few threads in the different forums to get a feel for what each forum is about. Make sure you read any pinned threads (aka Stickies) on the top of the first page of threads in most forums. You will find very important instructions or information there.

 

I sincerely hope this will be helpful to someone new to posting on our message boards. We are glad to have you aboard Cruise Critic! 

 

Happy sails,

 

Host Kat 

[psuboater]

Just came back from a girls trip last weekend to Vancouver - here are some highlights:

 

1) We stayed at the Marriott Pinnacle Downtown. It was a great location and the lobby and restaurant were beautiful. The rooms were a bit outdated, but it was clean and comfortable. Last summer my husband and I stayed at the Douglas, which was more upscale and more of a resort type experience, but further from most sites you wish to see.

 

2) We took a wine tour via Lawrence Tours - it was a lot of fun with our tour guide Michael and we learned a lot about the region and BC wines (we don't have a trade agreement on wines with Canada to protect our wine sales, which is why you never hear about them here) - some of them were as good or better than ones I tasted in Sonoma.

 

3) Eating! A couple of favorite places: Ramen Danbo. There's always a line outside but it's worth it. I'm not even a ramen fan but my friend loves ramen. It was absolutely worth the wait and it was one of the best things I've eaten. Go Ask Luigi is a hidden gem in East Gastown that has fantastic homemade pasta. Miku has innovated pressed sushi that's very close to the cruise terminal.   For a more traditional sushi experience, going to Miko Sushi felt like going to Japan.

 

Granville Island is worth checking out as well - the farmers market will have you wishing you could take all the produce home with  you and there's a lot of cute shops as well. Lawrence tours also offers a Granville Island food tour. 

 

4) Drinking! If you love craft cocktails, the 515 bar and the Diamond Lounge had unique cocktails in cozy settings.

 

5) Exploring - Vancouver is quite walkable through all of their neighborhoods. You could spend a whole day walking the 6 mile loop around Stanley Park, taking in the views of the city.  Gastown has a lot of cute shops (be sure to check out Made for locally made souvenirs, hidden among the touristy red plaid and moose touristy shops). It's a very safe city, although there are a few streets to avoid due to large homeless encampments. Any of the places I pointed out  you can easily walk to avoid them if you see some "grittier" streets.

 

 

[Ferry_Watcher]

@psuboater, thanks for posting some of your favorite places.  I will be up there very early May just before my Alaska cruise.  Thanks so much!

[psuboater]

4 hours ago, Ferry_Watcher said:

@psuboater, thanks for posting some of your favorite places.  I will be up there very early May just before my Alaska cruise.  Thanks so much!

Enjoy! When my husband and I went in July it was during the heatwave so we didn't walk as much as my friend and I did on this trip. Also, the Red Accordion was a funky bar converted from an old home with vintage furniture that was also worth a check out!

[Kgfloyd1]

14 hours ago, psuboater said:

Just came back from a girls trip last weekend to Vancouver - here are some highlights:

 

1) We stayed at the Marriott Pinnacle Downtown. It was a great location and the lobby and restaurant were beautiful. The rooms were a bit outdated, but it was clean and comfortable. Last summer my husband and I stayed at the Douglas, which was more upscale and more of a resort type experience, but further from most sites you wish to see.

 

2) We took a wine tour via Lawrence Tours - it was a lot of fun with our tour guide Michael and we learned a lot about the region and BC wines (we don't have a trade agreement on wines with Canada to protect our wine sales, which is why you never hear about them here) - some of them were as good or better than ones I tasted in Sonoma.

 

3) Eating! A couple of favorite places: Ramen Danbo. There's always a line outside but it's worth it. I'm not even a ramen fan but my friend loves ramen. It was absolutely worth the wait and it was one of the best things I've eaten. Go Ask Luigi is a hidden gem in East Gastown that has fantastic homemade pasta. Miku has innovated pressed sushi that's very close to the cruise terminal.   For a more traditional sushi experience, going to Miko Sushi felt like going to Japan.

 

Granville Island is worth checking out as well - the farmers market will have you wishing you could take all the produce home with  you and there's a lot of cute shops as well. Lawrence tours also offers a Granville Island food tour. 

 

4) Drinking! If you love craft cocktails, the 515 bar and the Diamond Lounge had unique cocktails in cozy settings.

 

5) Exploring - Vancouver is quite walkable through all of their neighborhoods. You could spend a whole day walking the 6 mile loop around Stanley Park, taking in the views of the city.  Gastown has a lot of cute shops (be sure to check out Made for locally made souvenirs, hidden among the touristy red plaid and moose touristy shops). It's a very safe city, although there are a few streets to avoid due to large homeless encampments. Any of the places I pointed out  you can easily walk to avoid them if you see some "grittier" streets.

 

 

Thank you so much…very helpful!! Also curious as to what to expect weather wise end of May early June…

[psuboater]

3 hours ago, Kgfloyd1 said:

Thank you so much…very helpful!! Also curious as to what to expect weather wise end of May early June…

On the low end, can be cloudy and drizzly in the low 50s, on the high end sunny in the low 70s. In the PNW we joke summer seems to start on July 5th, but in the past few years summer has been coming earlier and staying later. 

[Kgfloyd1]

58 minutes ago, psuboater said:

On the low end, can be cloudy and drizzly in the low 50s, on the high end sunny in the low 70s. In the PNW we joke summer seems to start on July 5th, but in the past few years summer has been coming earlier and staying later. 

Living on the Gulf Coast that weather sounds perfect!!! The heat and humidity here can be brutal…it was in the 80’s last week!

We had a Land and Cruise trip planned last Aug but the cruise was cancelled due to Covid issues so we extended the Land portion and did that part. So now the cruise…so excited!!