Vancouver answers from a Vancouverite

[cardamon]

I think all the local posters would agree with me that if it's within your budget stay downtown. Blue Horizon gets a lot of love here, and is one of the best-located hotels for someone planning to use the Trolley as there's a stop right outside the hotel.

 

The Hampton would have a slight edge for me personally as it's much closer to where most of the interesting restaurants are - not that you would struggle to find somewhere good to eat near Blue Horizon, but the Hampton sits nicely between Yaletown, Gastown and Chinatown and that's where most of the new kitchens are.

 

Both hotels are almost exactly the same time and distance from YVR, c.14km/22min - cab or Skytrain early in the morning will take less than half-an-hour.

 

Back to the beer thing - I neglected Granville Island! While the HOHO stop is a little away from the island itself (you have to walk a few minutes) there are two breweries and a Sake maker. Granville Island Brewing now makes 99% of their stuff at a macro-brewery elsewhere, but the beer you sample at their original site is still brewed in-house. Also, the GI Hotel has an on-site brewery with all their beers available at the hotel bar. The sake maker is rather unique - unless you visited Japan already of course;-)

Added Granville Island to the list. Can we get to Steamworks, Gastown Brewery, Granville Island, and the GI Hotel, all in one day?? And see Vancouver from the trolley?? If you had to rate these 4, 1 to 4, your rating? My hubbie hates to travel, so I plan our vacations around the brew pubs. By the way, ever had Dogfish Head beer? Owner is a friend of ours and hubbie has his seat at the bar!!

We made our reservation at the Hampton Airport. Hubbie wants to drop off the luggage ( I pack too much!) before we get started. I know it will take time but they do run a shuttle from the cruise terminal to the hotel, and we have an early flight the next day.

Thank you again for all your information.

[martincath]

Added Granville Island to the list. Can we get to Steamworks, Gastown Brewery, Granville Island, and the GI Hotel, all in one day?? And see Vancouver from the trolley?? If you had to rate these 4, 1 to 4, your rating? My hubbie hates to travel, so I plan our vacations around the brew pubs. By the way, ever had Dogfish Head beer? Owner is a friend of ours and hubbie has his seat at the bar!!

We made our reservation at the Hampton Airport. Hubbie wants to drop off the luggage ( I pack too much!) before we get started. I know it will take time but they do run a shuttle from the cruise terminal to the hotel, and we have an early flight the next day.

Thank you again for all your information.

Steamworks IS Gastown (the actual brewery name is Gastown Brewery, but even if you can visit both it and the brewpub you'd be drinking the same beer...) and with GIB being just a five minute stagger from Dockside at the GI Hotel - as long as you restrict yourself to one round in each and spread them out you can probably do them all no problem using the trolly (especially if you have lunch at Dockside or Steamworks). If you meant Yaletown as the fourth, things might be getting a little tight! Of those 4 I'd rate them Yaletown/Granville/Steamworks/Dockside - unless GIB have one of their Imperial IPAs on for sampling the day you visit, in which case the first two switch.

 

I do know Dogfish Head - the 60/90/120min IPAs are all very good and great practical demos of the different things you can do with 'the same beer'. I'd really love to try the 75min on cask but have never seen it yet:(

 

Interesting that they worked up some truly old-school recipes too. My old home-brew supplier back in my student days was the guy who started the modern trend of replicating ancient brews - Bruce Williams with Fraoch 'Heather Ale.' Chatting about that with my paleobotany prof lead to me writing a small treatise on the history of herbs used in brewing which may still be kicking around Glasgow Uni somewhere (although there's a good chance it died in the fire that burnt down the Botany building). They ship Fraoch over here to Canada, not sure about US availability. Used to usually ship in a pack of 'historic Scottish brews' including a pine ale, seaweed ale, and something else I cannot recall for the life of me.

[prairiesailor]

Putterdude: Can you advise if one has enough time to get from wherever Amtrak train from Seattle stops to the airport for a 12:55 p.m. flight. Thanks. Alfred

[Putterdude]

Putterdude: Can you advise if one has enough time to get from wherever Amtrak train from Seattle stops to the airport for a 12:55 p.m. flight. Thanks. Alfred

 

I am going to attach a link to the Amtrak Cascades sked but as I understand your question, no you will be unable to catch a 12:55 pm flight unless you arrive in Vancouver the day before your flight.

 

http://www.amtrakcascades.com/Schedules.htm

[prairiesailor]

Putterdude: Thanks sort of figured that. Do you know if there are any restaurants out near the Hampton Inn at the airport. Alfred

[cardamon]

Interesting that they worked up some truly old-school recipes too. My old home-brew supplier back in my student days was the guy who started the modern trend of replicating ancient brews - Bruce Williams with Fraoch 'Heather Ale.' Chatting about that with my paleobotany prof lead to me writing a small treatise on the history of herbs used in brewing which may still be kicking around Glasgow Uni somewhere (although there's a good chance it died in the fire that burnt down the Botany building). They ship Fraoch over here to Canada, not sure about US availability. Used to usually ship in a pack of 'historic Scottish brews' including a pine ale, seaweed ale, and something else I cannot recall for the life of me.

 

Sounds like you and Sam could definitely talk Extreme Brewing! DFH's Midas Touch was based on scrapings from a vessel from in an Egyptian tomb, in collaboration with a prof from Univ. of PA. If you ever get to DE, come to the DFH brewery. They always have interesting brews, not always bottled or distributed.

Thank you for the advise. I'm sure I will have more questions between now and 9/5/2014!! My DH really enjoyed the brew chats.

[winste]

Looking at an 11:30AM flight to Dallas and then on to Indianapolis on Saturday, July 19.

 

I've searched this forum and the comments seem to be mixed but also pretty old.

 

Is that doable?

 

We will be coming in the Crown Princess and have no problem self-disembarking. Plan on catching the Sky Train.

 

Our flight options are limited unless we want to do redeye and get back home at 10AM on Sunday.

 

Thank you.

[ell52]

Looking at an 11:30AM flight to Dallas and then on to Indianapolis on Saturday, July 19.

 

I've searched this forum and the comments seem to be mixed but also pretty old.

 

Is that doable?

 

We will be coming in the Crown Princess and have no problem self-disembarking. Plan on catching the Sky Train.

 

Our flight options are limited unless we want to do redeye and get back home at 10AM on Sunday.

 

Thank you.

If you self-disembark in the first group (you can request this at Passenger Services if they don't assign it to you) and take Sky Train you should be okay for an 11:30 a.m. flight.

 

If possible, do online flight check-in and print your boarding passes the day before while on the ship (anything to speed up the process at the airport end) because you never know if there'll be unexpected delays.

[winste]

If you self-disembark in the first group (you can request this at Passenger Services if they don't assign it to you) and take Sky Train you should be okay for an 11:30 a.m. flight.

 

If possible, do online flight check-in and print your boarding passes the day before while on the ship (anything to speed up the process at the airport end) because you never know if there'll be unexpected delays.

 

Thanks. Princess through their air service would let me book anything after 10:15AM so I am pretty sure it would be okay. My flights were one of the options they offered, of course about $300 pp more than priceline.

[Putterdude]

Looking at an 11:30AM flight to Dallas and then on to Indianapolis on Saturday, July 19.

 

I've searched this forum and the comments seem to be mixed but also pretty old.

 

Is that doable?

 

We will be coming in the Crown Princess and have no problem self-disembarking. Plan on catching the Sky Train.

 

Our flight options are limited unless we want to do redeye and get back home at 10AM on Sunday.

 

Thank you.

 

With your flight back to the US you will need to be at YVR by 0930 but the from ship to YVR you are about are about 1 hour with customs at Canada Place, walking to Waterfront station, fare paying and alike so you will have lots of time with an 1130 flight.

[dls63]

I was looking at a place to stay before a cruise in Sept. Came across the Samesun Backpackers Hostel private room. I was wondering if this is a good place to stay. And if its in a good location. Thanks for any info.

[Urban trekker]

Are you referring to the one on Granville Street.

 

Whether it is a good location is open to a healthly discussion among us regular here on this board.

 

It is an old hotel that was converted to the hostel format a number of years ago.

 

It is located next door to the Comfort Inn and across the street from the Hostelling International downtown.

 

It is located smack in the middle of the entertainment district will its large collection of pubs, night clubs, porn shops, eateries of all descriptions - if you are there on a weekend it will be noisy - the streets in the entertainment district are oftened closed off on weekends to allow for the bar foot traffic to move freely etc and keep the cars off the street - it is well patrolled by police on the weekends and is reasonably safe

 

If you are looking for a more "rustic" - ie economical place to stay - have you checked out the YWCA hostel on Beatty Street - it is at the other end of the downtown core.

 

From a location point it is close to everything - well served by transit - close to the rapid transit lines etc.

 

Hope this hopes somewhat.

 

Cheers

 

Dennis

[pschnebs]

Hello, everyone! We'll be getting off the Disney Wonder when she does her repositioning cruise to Vancouver in May. We received word from our TA that the ship will pull into Ballantyne instead of Canada Place. Will that make it more difficult to get from the port to a hotel downtown?

 

We're trying to save a little money so we can extend our visit to Vancouver through the Memorial Day weekend. The Victorian sounds pretty nice based on what I've been reading - any thoughts on the place and its access to the must-see places in town? How long would it take to get to YVR from there, and what would be the best way from that location?

 

My wife would like to visit Victoria since she heard so much about it. Gray Line offers a full-day tour for about $150 per person, but she's thinking we can rent a car and take BC Ferries to Victoria for less money. Is a day trip doable for a couple not familiar with driving in BC, would it be a better idea to book the tour, or should I just try to convince her to spend the day in Vancouver?

 

Thanks in advance!

[dls63]

Are you referring to the one on Granville Street.

 

Whether it is a good location is open to a healthly discussion among us regular here on this board.

 

It is an old hotel that was converted to the hostel format a number of years ago.

 

It is located next door to the Comfort Inn and across the street from the Hostelling International downtown.

 

It is located smack in the middle of the entertainment district will its large collection of pubs, night clubs, porn shops, eateries of all descriptions - if you are there on a weekend it will be noisy - the streets in the entertainment district are oftened closed off on weekends to allow for the bar foot traffic to move freely etc and keep the cars off the street - it is well patrolled by police on the weekends and is reasonably safe

 

If you are looking for a more "rustic" - ie economical place to stay - have you checked out the YWCA hostel on Beatty Street - it is at the other end of the downtown core.

 

From a location point it is close to everything - well served by transit - close to the rapid transit lines etc.

 

Hope this hopes somewhat.

 

Cheers

 

Dennis

 

 

 

Yes the one on Granville. I won't be there on the weekend. I might come in on a Monday and then sail out on Friday. This is the first time to Vancouver. I did some reading on Samesun and they some tours that you could do with them. I was kind of looking for someplace within walking distance to see some sights. And again thanks for all the help.

[Urban trekker]

Were you planning on staying in a dorm room or in a private room.

 

I checked the Hostelling International Downtown Location on Burnaby Street and there rates seem comparable to Samesun - this is a much better place to stay if the price is about equal - it is located in our West end neighbourhood - actually only a couple of blocks from where I live - it is a former nun's residence.

 

If things like Granville Island, the Seawall, Stanley Park are on your agenda you are actually closer to them than on Granville.

 

There is a long time volunteer by the name of Eric who leads walking tours of the city a couple days of the week from that hostel.

 

Here's the link:

 

http://www.hihostels.ca/westerncanada/169/HI-Vancouver_Downtown/index.hostel

 

You are only two blocks from the restaurants and nightlife of Davie Street including a 24 hours Denny's.

 

It is also well served by transit - a block from a couple of major bus routes.

 

Cheers!

 

Dennis

[dls63]

Were you planning on staying in a dorm room or in a private room.

 

I checked the Hostelling International Downtown Location on Burnaby Street and there rates seem comparable to Samesun - this is a much better place to stay if the price is about equal - it is located in our West end neighbourhood - actually only a couple of blocks from where I live - it is a former nun's residence.

 

If things like Granville Island, the Seawall, Stanley Park are on your agenda you are actually closer to them than on Granville.

 

There is a long time volunteer by the name of Eric who leads walking tours of the city a couple days of the week from that hostel.

 

Here's the link:

 

http://www.hihostels.ca/westerncanada/169/HI-Vancouver_Downtown/index.hostel

 

You are only two blocks from the restaurants and nightlife of Davie Street including a 24 hours Denny's.

 

It is also well served by transit - a block from a couple of major bus routes.

 

Cheers!

 

Dennis

 

 

 

If I go with the hostel I would get a private room. I'm still thinking on reach I would get a hostel or a motel. I really haven't heard of a hostel and was getting some info. on them to see if that's what I want to do. Or just stay in motel. Any suggest on a motel to stay at.

 

And again thanks for all the help.

[martincath]

If I go with the hostel I would get a private room. I'm still thinking on reach I would get a hostel or a motel. I really haven't heard of a hostel and was getting some info. on them to see if that's what I want to do. Or just stay in motel. Any suggest on a motel to stay at.

 

And again thanks for all the help.

 

"Motel" and "good location" are mutually exclusive in Vancouver! Hostels are almost entirely based around a young, single traveler demographic and many still have an age cutoff of max 25 or so.

 

That said, I have older friends (60s) who still love hostelling - if you're a night owl, like a drink, want to meet interesting and usually 20something people, they could be perfect for you. But even hostels with curfews & no-noise policies are louder than the cheapest motel I've ever stayed in. I simply couldn't do the hostel thing anymore.

 

As already mentioned by UT the YWCA Hotel is worth checking out - it is a real hotel, not many frills in terms of comfort but the kitchens let you save $ by making brekky and even a picnic lunch (you could easily make a family dinner they are large & well-equipped).

[ell52]

"Motel" and "good location" are mutually exclusive in Vancouver! Hostels are almost entirely based around a young, single traveler demographic and many still have an age cutoff of max 25 or so.

 

That said, I have older friends (60s) who still love hostelling - if you're a night owl, like a drink, want to meet interesting and usually 20something people, they could be perfect for you. But even hostels with curfews & no-noise policies are louder than the cheapest motel I've ever stayed in. I simply couldn't do the hostel thing anymore.

 

As already mentioned by UT the YWCA Hotel is worth checking out - it is a real hotel, not many frills in terms of comfort but the kitchens let you save $ by making brekky and even a picnic lunch (you could easily make a family dinner they are large & well-equipped).

I agree with martincath. Perhaps if you could give us the price range you are looking for in accommodations? Also be aware that the Vancouver downtown core is pretty compact, easily walkable, and transit is fairly convenient.

[projecthandbag]

Hello and thank you to the regular posters on this thread. I have learned so much about your beautiful city! My question: Is it safe on a Saturday night around midnight to use the Skytrain from the airport to the waterfront station and then walk to Pan Pacific?

[Putterdude]

Hello and thank you to the regular posters on this thread. I have learned so much about your beautiful city! My question: Is it safe on a Saturday night around midnight to use the Skytrain from the airport to the waterfront station and then walk to Pan Pacific?

 

Yes, I would describe it as safe. However, Vancouver is a big city and has the normal big city issues and those seem to manifest themselves late at night...so just be aware that you are likely going to encounter some drunks, street people and panhandlers. Are you likely to get mugged...no, not likely at all.

[ell52]

Hello and thank you to the regular posters on this thread. I have learned so much about your beautiful city! My question: Is it safe on a Saturday night around midnight to use the Skytrain from the airport to the waterfront station and then walk to Pan Pacific?

Yes, it is safe. It's a direct route from airport to Waterfront station and only a short walk between Waterfront and the Pan Pacific. Same caveat applies as in all major cities about being situationally aware.

Edited February 9, 2014 by ell52

[kjeanne2001]

Do you know if you can buy Coke Zero in Vancouver? I know some soft drinks are not available in some areas. Thanks!

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Cruise Critic Forums mobile app

[Putterdude]

Do you know if you can buy Coke Zero in Vancouver? I know some soft drinks are not available in some areas. Thanks!

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Cruise Critic Forums mobile app

Yes, Coke Zero is widely available in Vancouver, I drink it myself.

[goodie2shoes]

We are sailing our of Vancouver (Canada Place) in June, and it appears we will need to rent a wheelchair or mobility scooter on this trip. I seem to remember seeing a place set up near where we checked in doing this type of business, delivering the item to the cruiser at that point.

 

Can anyone tell me if there is a business like this still there, and if so, what their name is?

 

Thanks so much!

[martincath]

We are sailing our of Vancouver (Canada Place) in June, and it appears we will need to rent a wheelchair or mobility scooter on this trip. I seem to remember seeing a place set up near where we checked in doing this type of business, delivering the item to the cruiser at that point.

 

Can anyone tell me if there is a business like this still there, and if so, what their name is?

 

Thanks so much!

Care Vacations

must be who you're thinking of (they're the only wheelchair/scooter rental place listed on the Port Metro webpage)