Port to free shuttle for suspension bridge

[tidygirl]

Is there a cheap or easy way to get to the places where you can catch a free shuttle It takes you to the suspension bridge? 

Is it doable on your own on a port

 stop? Also I saw a zodiac tour that takes you along some of coast. It leaves from boat lift lane Is that within walking distance of the port? We will be on Royal Caribbeans ovation in August.

[martincath]

27 minutes ago, tidygirl said:

Is there a cheap or easy way to get to the places where you can catch a free shuttle It takes you to the suspension bridge? 

Is it doable on your own on a port

 stop? Also I saw a zodiac tour that takes you along some of coast. It leaves from boat lift lane Is that within walking distance of the port? We will be on Royal Caribbeans ovation in August.

Any particular port or ports you're referring to? I might have an answer if I knew the context!

[tidygirl]

I'm sorry I thought this was a Vancouver forum. I have no idea where in Vancouver they dock. 

[cruiseryyc]

Are you boarding or disembarking the ship in Vancouver or is it a port of call? 

 

I didn't know that Vancouver was used as a port of call.

[martincath]

20 hours ago, tidygirl said:

I'm sorry I thought this was a Vancouver forum. I have no idea where in Vancouver they dock. 

There's no Vancouver-specific forum; usually we're a (dis)embarkation port, so the most relevant board is West Coast Departures; but occasionally a Port of Call which is when this board or the Cali Coastal/PNW or the Alaska board might all be the most correct depending where else your cruise goes.

 

But since you did clarify that you mean Vancouver, it's an easy answer - there's only one pier (Canada Place) and the shuttles to both Capilano bridge and the SkyPilot bridge up by Squamish (sold as the Sea to Sky Gondola tour, as you ride that up the mountain to get to the bridge) go from right outside the pier.

 

As to a coastal zodiac tour, the only one of those I can think of that goes from around here is the Howe Sound 'Sea Safari' run by Sewells - their dock is in Horseshoe Bay, an entirely different municipality on the other side of the harbour from Vancouver about 20km/13miles drive away, but they will shuttle you from downtown hotels for an extra $20pp so you could get picked up right outside the pier for this too (the Pan Pacific hotel is right on top of the pier).

 

There is a Boat Lift Lane in town, on Granville Island, which does have a marina from which some tours operate - if memory serves it's more of a 'rent a boat for the day' kind of place though, with kayaks and seadoos as well as regular small motorboats, although I have a vague recollection of some organized 'come with us to Bowen Island for dinner' guided group seadoo tours that could certainly be pretty exciting, but VERY prone to cancellation for even remotely bad weather (unskilled operators riding a 'sea-motorcycle' is a recipe for disaster in less than ideal conditions, even with a guide!)

[tidygirl]

This is the tour I saw on Trip Advisor. Any clue about this?Granite falls zodiac tour by Vancouver water adventures .

This is a Port of call on Royal it's a round trip from Seattle.

 

 

[martincath]

58 minutes ago, tidygirl said:

This is the tour I saw on Trip Advisor. Any clue about this?Granite falls zodiac tour by Vancouver water adventures .

This is a Port of call on Royal it's a round trip from Seattle.

That's the same operator I was thinking of, with the Seadoos and Bowen Island dinners; I didn't know they offered this tour. It's a pretty long schlep on foot to their dock from the pier - all the way across downtown then doubling-back, for almost 3 miles walk, or else a still not insignificant ~2mile walk plus a water taxi to Granville Island. Cab fare the whole way would run $15-20 depending on traffic - on summer days Granville Island can be a literal slower-than-walking-pace crawl for cars. The 50 bus is the easiest transit option, short walk on each end maybe 10mins total (Google Map link, you can select walking to see the route options for that with or without ferry too).

 

It could be an interesting tour - you'd loop right around downtown before heading up Indian Arm, so if the guide has a good spiel there's a lot of scope for informative chat about what you're seeing, but the actual waterfall is very meh IMO, we have taller and wider and actually-proper-vertical ones that are more conveniently visited; this is one of those 'falls' that seem to have been named by a marketer - the water just runs down a steep, rocky slope rather than actually falling straight over a cliff, and I always feel genuinely disappointed at any waterfall that doesn't actually fall, merely slides. There are plenty of pictures around of Granite 'falls' though, so if you check them out and like the look of it, the tour sounds good!

 

If you're not set on doing a Zodiac tour specifically though, there are other companies with other boats that go from more easily walkable locations in Coal Harbour; some include lunch or dinner too (the 'dinner cruise' vessels are much slower, so the zodiac will cover the same ground plus the loop around Stanley Park from Granville Island in ~3 hours compared to ~4 hours). As another more slow-paced but very informative and immersive experience, there are First Nations canoe tours you could join to explore Indian Arm, walk the rainforest etc. - since Covid they've only been renting the traditional canoes for group tours, but if you wait until May 1st when they open the paddling centre and call there might be an existing booking you could wangle some seats on, or maybe your group is actually big enough to rent a canoe for yourselves (min 10 paddlers)? You'd have to get over to North Vancouver for those, transit fare or cab ride, but it's certainly a more unique experience than a regular boat trip!

 

 

[Coral]

I did the Capilano Bridge 2 weeks ago. The cost is approx $60 per person. There is a shuttle that runs very frequently about a block from Canada Place (and also stops at other hotels).

 

https://www.capbridge.com

 

The Lynn Canal bridge is free but you have to find your way to get there:

 

https://www.tripsavvy.com/lynn-canyon-park-and-suspension-bridge-3371089 

[xlxo]

This Capilano shuttle schedule may be helpful... https://www.capbridge.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/20_Shuttle-Bus-Digital-Schedule-April-2023_v3.pdf

 

fyi... Vancouver has several alternative suspension bridges in the area...

• Lynn Valley https://lynncanyon.ca/
• SkyPilot at the Sea 2 Sky Gondola top https://www.seatoskygondola.com/
• Cascade Falls https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WGZp_bJZQOc
• Lion's Gate Bridge
• Alex Fraser Bridge
• Port Mann Bridge
• Pitt River Bridge
• Whistler's Cloudraker is not a suspension bridge, but still impressive... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hi_Nn8tX5MY

[Coral]

On 5/28/2023 at 11:04 PM, xlxo said:

This Capilano shuttle schedule may be helpful... https://www.capbridge.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/20_Shuttle-Bus-Digital-Schedule-April-2023_v3.pdf

 

fyi... Vancouver has several alternative suspension bridges in the area...

• Lynn Valley https://lynncanyon.ca/
• SkyPilot at the Sea 2 Sky Gondola top https://www.seatoskygondola.com/
• Cascade Falls https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WGZp_bJZQOc
• Lion's Gate Bridge
• Alex Fraser Bridge
• Port Mann Bridge
• Pitt River Bridge
• Whistler's Cloudraker is not a suspension bridge, but still impressive... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hi_Nn8tX5MY

Great post!