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vacouver and car rental

travelnsee

By travelnsee,
in Alaska

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travelnsee

travelnsee

Posted
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I plan to come two days before my cruise to vancouver. I wanted to rent a car from airport and the drop it off at canada place. before boarding.

But when I talked to Budget they said i will have to drop at down town and take taxi to canada place. what is best way to do this. Where should be my drop off prior to cruise.If its down town which is best place.

Any rentals allow drop off at canada place?

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vbmom87

vbmom87

Posted
Posted
I plan to come two days before my cruise to vancouver. I wanted to rent a car from airport and the drop it off at canada place. before boarding.

But when I talked to Budget they said i will have to drop at down town and take taxi to canada place. what is best way to do this. Where should be my drop off prior to cruise.If its down town which is best place.

Any rentals allow drop off at canada place?

 

Alamo and National have an office right in the Pan Pacific Hotel which is at Canada Place. We rented with Alamo and it was very convenient to drop off the car and just go board your ship. I highly recommend it if you are after simple!!!

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vbmom87

vbmom87

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Thanks, just booked with them. I will be staying at best western down town,should be close by.

 

Keep watching prices. Last year we found the prices go down a few weeks before we left. I actually ended up getting the best price through Costco. Originally when I was looking, Costco was more expensive, but one day I just happened to get lucky and found a price decrease which I jumped on.

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vbmom87

vbmom87

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Thanks, I didnt check through costco , will do now. I booked with alamo online. you did car rental also through costco?

 

You are actually booking direct on the ALamo site, but with the Costco discount code. Start at www dot costco dot com. Click on Travel. Then click on Cars. Next choose Alamo. Several choices for Alamo will come up. Pick one and it will take you direct to the Alamo website. Just continue the booking process.

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CowPrincess

CowPrincess

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Is there a particular reason you want to rent a car? Seriously, I am usually WELDED to my vehicle, but Vancouver is one place I don't care to drive (though I have when needed). I find parking to be SO bad and SO expensive, the streets congested and often under construction. I'd rather cab and bus around downtown Vcr.

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Budget Queen

Budget Queen

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Actually, with no mobility limitations, I have walked to the Budget office. I have rented from Alamo, National, Avis and Budget. There is also Hertz. I go with the cheapest.

 

I agree a car is a hinderance in Vancouver- unless you are doing extensive traveling and getting out of the city.

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Urban trekker

Urban trekker

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Best Western downtown has a free shuttle to Canada Place if that is where you are sailing out of.

 

Agree with others - you don't need a car to see the attractions in the downtown core - with metered parking getting close to $5.00 an hour and the City enforcing the 2 hour limit it could get costly to rent.

 

Cheers

 

Dennis

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vbmom87

vbmom87

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We had a car in Vancouver for two days and were very glad we did. We did stay at a B&B so did not have to pay for parking which was helpful. I figured out what it was going to cost for the five of us to use airport service as well as public transportation and it was going to cost more than what I got our mini van for. We were in Vancouver before the Stanley Park shuttle operates, so we absolutely needed a car in Vancouver to get from spot to spot within the park. It really made life a bit easier for us.

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Putterdude

Putterdude

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By all means rent a car to go to Whistler. However I agree with Ut re a car in Vancouver...I wouldn't do it. You will pay upwards of $20 a night to park it at your hotel and you are going to pay for parking at every attraction. Plus Vancouver is not the easiest city to get around in, the roads are congested, there is lots of construction and somebody has to drive and someone else is reading the map and no one sees anything....then the scrap begins and no one enjoys the city.:rolleyes:

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Maxima81

Maxima81

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If you don't plan to sightsee much in the downtown area (Gastown, Chinatown, Robson St., etc.), you can certainly rent a car.

 

Parking at Grouse Mountain is $5 for the whole day. You can easily spend half a day there with the various shows and sights at the top. If you plan to do the Grouse Grind or any hiking, allow more time for that.

 

Parking at Stanley Park is I think $7 or 8 the whole day until the park closes - you can pay once at the first lot you visit and just hop around each of the parking lots within Stanley park with your ticket. We visited the aquarium first, and then drove around the Park, stopping at the various parking lots and taking short walks from there.

 

Lynn Canyon is free. We just came for ths suspension bridge and spent no more than 30 minutes from when we parked.

 

I thought it was worth the car rental to avoid waiting for public transportation and try to squeeze in as much sightseeing as possible.

 

We stayed at the Sheraton at Wall Centre. To avoid paying the insane overnight parking fees, we found metered spots on the street that are usually in effect from 9AM - 7PM, so we simply returned late in the day and started early in the morning.

 

If you're sticking to just the sights you mentioned, you should be fine with a car rental. But as others have said, if you plan to stay in the downtown area - the car rental is definitely more trouble than it's worth.

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Urban trekker

Urban trekker

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"Parking at Grouse Mountain is $5 for the whole day"

 

That is only partly true - if you park in the paved lots yes but the adjacent gravel lots are free.

 

Do Whistler - just the drive up is worth the time and effort and with the major upgrade of the highway just about complete it is a lot nicer and safer drive - there is enough to stop and see along the way that you can turn the two hour drive to Whistler into an all day adventure - at Whistler itself - there is more than enough to keep a person busy for several days.

 

Hope this helps

 

Cheers

 

Dennis

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travelnsee

travelnsee

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Yes whistler plan sounds great, I have 9 and 12 yr old daughters, I plan to do tree-teck, gondola ride and see the new olympic venue. What are the good places to eat in Whistler.

 

About Vancouver We could do Robson street.gas town etc, but my kids are not into shops/malls so was planing to that as last priority.may be after we come back from Whistler.

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vbmom87

vbmom87

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Yes whistler plan sounds great, I have 9 and 12 yr old daughters, I plan to do tree-teck, gondola ride and see the new olympic venue. What are the good places to eat in Whistler.

 

About Vancouver We could do Robson street.gas town etc, but my kids are not into shops/malls so was planing to that as last priority.may be after we come back from Whistler.

 

Have you considered either of these?:

 

http://www.findfamilyfun.com/lynncanyon.htm (I believe this is free)

 

http://www.capbridge.com/index.html (pricey)

 

The aquarium at Stanley Park is very nice if that is of interest to your family. We loved it!!!

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Urban trekker

Urban trekker

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No shortage of places to eat at Whistler - if necessary there is a McDonald's - Boston Pizza is a fun place - one word of warning - prices are higher in Whistler - Earl's , the Keg - as I don't have any kids I am having a hard time thinking of places for kids to eat at Whistler - some of the others on here probably will have some other ideas.

 

Hope this helps

 

Cheers

 

Dennis

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  • 1 month later...
family_planner

family_planner

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There are 4 of us and we planned to check bags @ CDS then do the HoHo and then a town car to the airport. Only in YVR from dock time until flight @ 7:50 p.m. Obviously for 4, this is quite a 1-day price tag.

Now I'm wondering about:

1) renting a car from Canada Place and dropping off at airport or

2) taking shuttle to airport and renting a car from there

Either way we would probably still need to store some bags. (airport gives us a little more time since CDS downtown closes @ 4:30) Then there is the stress of renting a car (are there long lines), getting around the city, and parking. Would it be worth it to rent (is option 1 or 2 better?) or should we save the stress, spend the extra money and leave the driving to someone else?

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