Following up about the Vancouver Pre-Cruise City Tour...

[tulips*n*truffles]

A month or so ago we talked about the Vancouver Pre-Cruise City Tour. I took this tour last Saturday the morning my NB Alaska cruise on Sapphire Princess departed. I would do this again in an instant! Quick review:

 

We booked this tour online and paid online in full. I had emailed them with a couple of questions and got response almost immediately. A gal from the tour company called us at the hotel the night before to confirm and give us a pick-up time. We weren't there, so had a message waiting for us with the time and where to go.

 

The shuttle picked us up at the Westin Bayshore hotel around 9:10 a.m. on Saturday. The driver (wish I could remember his name) loaded our luggage into the back of the shuttle and we boarded. There were 15 of us on the tour bus total - 6 two-somes and a group of 3 women. There were a bunch of open seats on the bus, so a lot of us were able to sit one to a row. At least one of the other women on the tour is a CC poster, so maybe she'll pop in as well and give her take. :-)

 

My order of stops might be off just a bit, but we visited Gastown, Chinatown, Robson Street, Harbour Centre Tower (lookout viewing area - admission is included), Canada Place, Stanley Park, English Bay, Vancouver Harbour, and ended on Granville Island. With a whole lot of other sites pointed out in between. The driver clearly knows a lot about the city and was more than happy to share some stories.

 

We were able to stop for pictures at Stanley Park where the totem poles were, spent about 15 minutes at the top of Harbour Centre Tower, and had a good chunk of time on Granville Island. Most people had time to walk around, get a snack, and do a quick bit of shopping - I think we had like 30-40 minutes - can't remember for sure.

 

Our driver was very knowledgeable and answered a bunch of our questions. He pointed out sites for the 2010 Olympic games and stopped a couple of times to let us jump out and take pictures of some other random locations if we wanted.

 

After our stop at Granville Island, we had the option to stay there, be taken back to hotels, to the airport, or for most of us, to the Canada Place Cruise Ship terminal. He dropped us off right outside of the Pan Pacific Hotel and told us where to go from there. We were dropped off right around 1:15-1:30 p.m., which worked out great. One thing to note - a couple who had just gotten off of a cruise was on our tour and had a flight at 2:50 p.m. Our driver arranged for another shuttle to pick them up during our tour around noon and get them to the airport so they would be on time for their flight. I thought that service was great - a lot of lines could have just said "wow, you're cutting it close" but instead they figured out how to make it work.

 

For $70 each, we were very happy with the tour. It was a great overview of the city and a super convenient way to get to the pier with our luggage. I hope anyone else considering what to do the morning of a cruise would consider the tour - I was impressed and can say I really *was* in Vancouver - didn't just sleep there! :-)

 

Hope that helps anyone trying to make decisions!! I'd be glad to answer any questions or anything.