Alaska Vancouver departure

[Ferry_Watcher]

@martincath or @Heidi13, off topic, but do either of you know of a shop in Victoria that would sell high end crystal, (Baccarat)?  We will be there soon and I thought I would pick up something (helps with the currency exchange).  Thanks!

 

I just realized that we will be in Vancouver as well.  Atkinson's may work.  Thoughts?

Edited April 29, 2023 by Ferry_Watcher

[martincath]

3 hours ago, Ferry_Watcher said:

@martincath or @Heidi13, off topic, but do either of you know of a shop in Victoria that would sell high end crystal, (Baccarat)?  We will be there soon and I thought I would pick up something (helps with the currency exchange).  Thanks!

 

I just realized that we will be in Vancouver as well.  Atkinson's may work.  Thoughts?

Not in Victoria, no, but we've done enough shopping for niche wedding gifts that I've definitely been in some Vancouver shops with swanky crystal ware over the years.

 

It's been a while though, so I had a quick shufty on the Baccarat website - they confirmed that Atkinsons is still on the authorized retailer list, as are Living Space on W 1st very close to them, but if you're cruising in then Major Interiors would be by far the most convenient location (on Pender downtown). Major also seem to be rocking an online store these days, so you might be able to lock down exactly what you want in advance then go collect in person to avoid shipping costs and breakage risks!

[VA4family]

Thanks everyone for the great info about Vancouver post cruise.

My updated plan is to make a reservation at a hotel (2 rooms) near Canada Place.   Pan Pacific, Executive, Coast Coal , Marriott Pinnacle are all pricey but still available.   We can get off the ship, walk to the hotel, store our luggage, and go explore the city with a HoHo tour or similar.   My mom has slight mobility issues making long walks or having to get up/down frequently.  Looking for alternate suggestions for a fun way to see the city if you have them.

 

Cab or Skytrain to the airport early the next morning for our 6 AM flights, which would be better?

 

 

[martincath]

53 minutes ago, VA4family said:

Thanks everyone for the great info about Vancouver post cruise.

My updated plan is to make a reservation at a hotel (2 rooms) near Canada Place.   Pan Pacific, Executive, Coast Coal , Marriott Pinnacle are all pricey but still available.   We can get off the ship, walk to the hotel, store our luggage, and go explore the city with a HoHo tour or similar.   My mom has slight mobility issues making long walks or having to get up/down frequently.  Looking for alternate suggestions for a fun way to see the city if you have them.

 

Cab or Skytrain to the airport early the next morning for our 6 AM flights, which would be better?

 

 

If you have bags you need to check on the flight, you'll have to take a cab - SkyTrain won't run early enough to get you there in time as bag check gets cut off an hour pre-flight and the first train is 5:11am IIRC, plus ~5 mins to walk to check-in.

 

Can mom ride a bike? Renting an eBike means she wouldn't have to pedal hard and bikes are probably the single best way to see the Seawall and Stanley Park as you can get to anywhere you could walk to on the various trails, but you'll cruise along faster for less effort than on foot. Tandems are commonly available too for an old-school 'no pedaling for mom' solution (as are adult tricycles for folks with balance issues).

 

If you don't need an actual guided commentary while going place to place, regular transit works well here - a day pass enables hopping on and off the Seabus, SkyTrain, and bus routes (although the separate water taxis of False Creek Ferries/Aquabus are a decent blend of Not Too Pricey with Fun And Different, and getting to/from Granville Island especially is much easier using them - nearest bus stop is a much longer walk!) Back in the day, the HOHOs offered one ferry ticket per ride included - so instead of taking a big loop out to the Maritime Museum you could cut directly to Granville Island then meet the HOHO there - but it looks like the one operating HOHO this year has cut back significantly on number of stops and breadth of route, only a single Stanley park stop (which just plain sucks, rednering the HOHO worse than transit buses for the park now!) so I doubt they're throwing in ferry tix any more either...

[VA4family]

@martincath....we would love to do the ebike tour but Mom said frequently getting on/off the bike and pedaling could be an issue with her knee issues.  

[martincath]

18 minutes ago, VA4family said:

@martincath....we would love to do the ebike tour but Mom said frequently getting on/off the bike and pedaling could be an issue with her knee issues.  

That's a shame - realistically if you want to see Stanley Park then a car will be the only practical solution now that the HOHOs don't actually tour around any more.

 

You might be able to negotiate a fixed rate with a cabbie to drive you around, park at the various lots and wait while you explore the spots near each, move on to the next and repeat - just keeping the meter running works out to a little over $30 per hour wait time - or if you don't mind driving, rent a car for the day yourself. Even two seats on the horse trolley ($50pp) will cost more than a day's car rental or a couple of hours of cab use, and the trolley tour is of a very limited section just on the eastern side of the park.

 

A car is really the only way to get around the various parts of the park that doesn't involve miles of walking or biking - the way parking works makes it more affordable, as you pay for total time in the park by license plate, not by parking spot. Move the car from place to place all you like, and since there are several different parking lots you can get within a short distance of many popular areas like the totem poles, rose garden, Prospect Point, and the beaches along the western side.

 

Hang on - actually, I just thought of another possibility for mom! Renting a scooter for the day would allow her to pootle around and keep up with leisurely-ridden bikes or even very fast walking, or if the rest of you are in decent shape a simple folding travelchair could be a boon for minimising her walking, especially if combined with a car rental. It still makes the HOHO troublesome - they can't take scooters or even folding wheelchairs - but local transit buses 'kneel' to let chairs and scooters roll right on and go to the same bus stop in Stanley park as the HOHO does now.

[psuboater]

3 hours ago, martincath said:

If you have bags you need to check on the flight, you'll have to take a cab - SkyTrain won't run early enough to get you there in time as bag check gets cut off an hour pre-flight and the first train is 5:11am IIRC, plus ~5 mins to walk to check-in.

 

Can mom ride a bike? Renting an eBike means she wouldn't have to pedal hard and bikes are probably the single best way to see the Seawall and Stanley Park as you can get to anywhere you could walk to on the various trails, but you'll cruise along faster for less effort than on foot. Tandems are commonly available too for an old-school 'no pedaling for mom' solution (as are adult tricycles for folks with balance issues).

 

If you don't need an actual guided commentary while going place to place, regular transit works well here - a day pass enables hopping on and off the Seabus, SkyTrain, and bus routes (although the separate water taxis of False Creek Ferries/Aquabus are a decent blend of Not Too Pricey with Fun And Different, and getting to/from Granville Island especially is much easier using them - nearest bus stop is a much longer walk!) Back in the day, the HOHOs offered one ferry ticket per ride included - so instead of taking a big loop out to the Maritime Museum you could cut directly to Granville Island then meet the HOHO there - but it looks like the one operating HOHO this year has cut back significantly on number of stops and breadth of route, only a single Stanley park stop (which just plain sucks, rednering the HOHO worse than transit buses for the park now!) so I doubt they're throwing in ferry tix any more either...

 

My friend and I did a winery tour with Lawrence Tours - Michael is the sole owner, and you can book through him directly to save a couple of $ instead of through Trip Advisor. We got a wealth of knowledge about Vancouver, the surrounding area (he took us to Fort Langley - where they film a bunch of Hallmark Christmas movies if that's your thing!) and wine making in general.  He does more than just wine tours. I highly recommend him.

 

We stayed at the Marriott Pinnacle. Location was great. Rooms are a bit outdated, but the lobby and restaurant was modern and had great food and cocktails. 

[martincath]

43 minutes ago, psuboater said:

My friend and I did a winery tour with Lawrence Tours - Michael is the sole owner, and you can book through him directly to save a couple of $ instead of through Trip Advisor. We got a wealth of knowledge about Vancouver, the surrounding area (he took us to Fort Langley - where they film a bunch of Hallmark Christmas movies if that's your thing!) and wine making in general.  He does more than just wine tours. I highly recommend him.

 

We stayed at the Marriott Pinnacle. Location was great. Rooms are a bit outdated, but the lobby and restaurant was modern and had great food and cocktails. 

I think you may have meant to quote @VA4family with this reply Psub! Much as I do find cheesy entertainment value in playing Hallmark Movie Bingo, especially the drinking game version where you take a shot with every filled square, it seems mostly relevant to them 😉

[VA4family]

Thanks @martincath and @psuboater for the ideas.  

We also might try the Soar over Canada, anyone done that?

Edited May 5, 2023 by VA4family

[martincath]

5 hours ago, VA4family said:

Thanks @martincath and @psuboater for the ideas.  

We also might try the Soar over Canada, anyone done that?

You're very welcome. Fly Over Canada is definitely worth at least one visit - if you've done the Disney Soarin' ride it's exactly the same tech, on a longer ride (the longest such in the world - but still just shy of 8 minutes, as apparently the original version which ran ~10 induced so much motion sickness they had to dial it back several times - if you don't feel sick on Soarin' you should be fine here, they ran a LOT of tests to figure out how long they could safely push the ride length without cleanups!)

 

I have to admit that the synchronization of the Disney version is just a hair superior - but at least you can ride this one without massive park queues all day!!! We've done the core ride a few times, go back when we have visitors who want to do it, and also a couple of extra times by ourselves in the off-season when they've done two-for-one deals back in the day; these days though it's popular enough us locals only save a paltry $3 a ride! Book in advance and you'll pay CAD$28pp; walk-up rates can be up to $35pp as dynamic pricing applies, so even pre-buying the day before is usually ~$32 during cruise season.

[OT-Miami]

On 4/24/2023 at 2:21 PM, katisdale said:

We took the bus to Seattle and spent one night at an airport hotel before flying out the next morning. We saved so much on airfare that the bus and hotel were basically free.

 

On 4/24/2023 at 2:39 PM, sirclean said:

This was going to be my recommendation:

"We took the bus to Seattle and spent one night at an airport hotel before flying out the next morning. We saved so much on airfare that the bus and hotel were basically free."

 

On 4/24/2023 at 2:55 PM, Italy52 said:

We took the bus transfer from Vancouver to Seattle during the COVID testing times.  Our bus was not "locked" and we had to get off the bus to go through processing.  

Can you please elaborate on the bus to Seattle? We are flying round-trip to Seattle but sailing out of Vancouver, so we are looking for options.  Thanks 🙂 

[Italy52]

14 minutes ago, OT-Miami said:

 

 

Can you please elaborate on the bus to Seattle? We are flying round-trip to Seattle but sailing out of Vancouver, so we are looking for options.  Thanks 🙂 

We did not do round-trip Princess transfers (Seattle-Vancouver-Seattle), we only did Vancouver-Seattle transfers.  We had our travel agent book our transfers directly with Princess when we made our cruise reservations.  On disembarkation day, we retrieved our luggage and took it over to the transfer bus we were assigned to.  Our bus consisted of a mix of Princess as well as Holland America passengers.  Once the bus was full, we left the terminal and our driver explained the journey.  He mentioned that we would be stopping at the border processing center and it would be determined at that time if we could be processed right away or we would have to wait due to other busses having priority.  Fortunately, we were able to get off the bus and go through processing rather quickly.  The bus trip for us was long as we encountered delays on the road due to freeway construction and there was also an accident.  Fortunately for us, we were not flying out the same day or we would have missed our afternoon flight. The bus experience is a "one and one" for us.  Hope you find an option that works for you.