**** Vancouver FAQ Thread **** A few updates in main post!

[jlmarr]

thinking we might be better off coming in nite before and staying in seattle or bellingham and then catching amtrak the next morning.. i have a feeling this going from east coast to west coast is going to be a rough one

If you do stay overnight in Seattle I'd recommend giving Priceline a try. We got one night at the Westin Seattle (4 stars) for $79. It was an easy walk to Pike Place Market and a short cab ride to the Amtrak station in the morning.

 

[mrsmoore]

thinking we might be better off coming in nite before and staying in seattle or bellingham and then catching amtrak the next morning.. i have a feeling this going from east coast to west coast is going to be a rough one

If flying into Bellingham isn't that much different from Seattle, I would do that. Only $13 each way on Amtrak from Bellingham, well, atleast for tomorrow! Tuesday won't be that bad, weekends on Amtrak tend to go up in price just a bit.

 

[mrsmoore]

If you do stay overnight in Seattle I'd recommend giving Priceline a try. We got one night at the Westin Seattle (4 stars) for $79. It was an easy walk to Pike Place Market and a short cab ride to the Amtrak station in the morning.

That is a great price!! The lucky deal with the Tuesday cruise, is even if flying into Seattle, can probably find decent hotel rates in Seattle and Vancouver.

We found a great deal on a weekend, in Vancouver, at the Hyatt, only $69 for a view room. I found the deal hidden on their website.

 

["Got Disney"]

For those that are DVC members....I was looking in the book to see what DVC may have to offer in Vancouver. So I found that through exchanges you can stay at Club Intrawest at the Vancouver Resort and also at Club Intrawest if going up Whistler at the Whistler resort....

I will do some resarch on this and get back to you. The rate exchange is really really good.

Just look in your DVC book for 2009....page 123

http://www.clubintrawest.com/public/en/where/vancouver.asp

 

[pjpoohbear]

That is a great price!! The lucky deal with the Tuesday cruise, is even if flying into Seattle, can probably find decent hotel rates in Seattle and Vancouver.

We found a great deal on a weekend, in Vancouver, at the Hyatt, only $69 for a view room. I found the deal hidden on their website.

Marsha

Can you share how you found the hidden deal? I could only find rooms for $300+.

Pj

 

[mrsmoore]

Marsha

Can you share how you found the hidden deal? I could only find rooms for $300+.

Pj

It was last February, but I some how stubbled across it in their special offers section. I was really kind of surprised by it. It was a few weeks prior, so may have been a special. And it was over our President's Day weekend, but not a holiday there. Summer may not offer as much, but with the Tuesday departure, hotels might have week day summer specials if you hold off on booking.

 

[disneypoor]

Thanks for all of the information. My head is spinning a bit tonight. I went ahead and booked air with Disney but may change it as it gets closer. I also have given some thought to flying to Seattle. I hadn't given any thought to crossing the border though. As I read some of the previous posts, I began to wonder if paying DCL's price for air might actually be worth it this time around. Maybe I'm just overreacting because I'm in unfamiliar territory though. No matter what, I think I will call and make sure we can do a pre-cruise stay. It sounds like there is a lot to see in Vancouver. This pics that were posted were beautiful!

Susan

 

[Lollipop's Mom]

Thanks for all of the information. My head is spinning a bit tonight. I went ahead and booked air with Disney but may change it as it gets closer. I also have given some thought to flying to Seattle. I hadn't given any thought to crossing the border though. As I read some of the previous posts, I began to wonder if paying DCL's price for air might actually be worth it this time around. Maybe I'm just overreacting because I'm in unfamiliar territory though. No matter what, I think I will call and make sure we can do a pre-cruise stay. It sounds like there is a lot to see in Vancouver. This pics that were posted were beautiful!

Susan

Flying into Canada is no different than flying into any US airport. All the signs are in english (and French) and if anything, I often find them a bit easier to navigate. I wouldn't pay DCL air prices because it is unfamilar - we don't live in a 3rd world country, and you won't get off the plane and find men with machine guns like in Cuba!

 

[Lollipop's Mom]

I have had a couple of pm's with info to add, and promise to get it all on there - I am having a couple of very busy weeks!

 

[poohj80]

Thanks for all of the information. My head is spinning a bit tonight. I went ahead and booked air with Disney but may change it as it gets closer.

Just curious if you would share what the DCL air cost was for you vs. what you could book it for currently?

 

[wdwfan16]

Lollipop's Mom thanks for all the information.

I have a few questions, for now , that I have from reading your post.

1) What hotels are best for touring Vancouver?
2) We are considering flying in to Seattle and taking the Amtrak to Vancouver. Where is it located WRT these hotels and do they rent cars there?
3) What is "pacific NW cuisine"?
4) Is the DCL leaving from Canada Place?
5) What are the must sees tourist areas?

 

[Lollipop's Mom]

Lollipop's Mom thanks for all the information.

I have a few questions, for now , that I have from reading your post.

1) What hotels are best for touring Vancouver?
Pretty much any downtown hotel would be great. You can easily take transit or a cab around where you want to go. I am going to post some maps soon so people can get an idea of the area.
2) We are considering flying in to Seattle and taking the Amtrak to Vancouver. Where is it located WRT these hotels and do they rent cars there?
Pacific Central station is about 10 min cab ride from the pier at main & terminal. I believe they have car rental there. I am pretty sure I have seen budget and maybe avis signs -I would have to check on that one.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pacific_Central_Station
3) What is "pacific NW cuisine"?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pacific_Northwest_cuisine
But don't worry - we still have all the major fast food outlets, pizza, regular family restaurants, etc... we don't live on Salmon up here- in fact I hate salmon!

4) Is the DCL leaving from Canada Place?
Yep!
5) What are the must sees tourist areas?

I am going to do some updating on the front page about this...but a quick few off the top of my head are Granville Island (a must if you have kids - it even has a free outdoor waterpark with a decent sized slide that is open in the summer), capilano suspension bridge, stanley park, grouse mountain....and lots more!

 

[MrsJobba1]

please forgive my ignorance I'm from the UK - What is the Amtrack?

 

[poohj80]

please forgive my ignorance I'm from the UK - What is the Amtrack?

The train so it is a very scenic ride.

 

[MrsJobba1]

Many thanks - I knew there was a train , just not what it was called.

Anyone know how does customs work on the train - do you go through passport control before boarding. Being from the UK we will enter the USA with the visa waiver scheme .

 

[trimix]

what would be a good time frame to get into bellingham or even seattle to get to the amtrak before the 7:40 one leaves? we still prefer bellingham but we are checking into seattle now as we since we will be flying to pheonix after the cruise. need to compare prices.

The earliest flights I know of come into Bellingham after 8 AM, so you'll have to fly in the day before. Several hotels here will pick you up at the airport and drop you at the train station for free, and you can get anything from a budget to a luxury hotel here.

please forgive my ignorance I'm from the UK - What is the Amtrack?

Amtrak is the US nationwide passenger train system. From Seattle to Bellingham it is a beautiful run, about half the trip is right next to Puget Sound with great views of the islands. Continuing north from Bellingham you spend most of your time inland, but you are still next to the water from Blaine, WA past White Rock, BC. And in much of this area you'll have a nice view inland towards Mt. Baker, my 'backyard' volcano.

I doubt it'll matter to you, as coming from the UK it would be easier and probably the same price to fly to Vancouver. But for those flying in to Seattle the train is more comfortable than a bus with much better views, although it has a rather inconvenient schedule.

 

[mrsmoore]

Many thanks - I knew there was a train , just not what it was called.

Anyone know how does customs work on the train - do you go through passport control before boarding. Being from the UK we will enter the USA with the visa waiver scheme .

When you get off in Vancouver you go through customs. You would I assume go through US Customs at the airport, then Canadian in Vancouver at the train station.

 

["Got Disney"]

I am going to do some updating on the front page about this...but a quick few off the top of my head are Granville Island (a must if you have kids - it even has a free outdoor waterpark with a decent sized slide that is open in the summer), capilano suspension bridge, stanley park, grouse mountain....and lots more!

I wanted to clarify something. I was talking with DCL and they said that the ship was docking at the Ballantyne port...so with the 2 different answers I went on a search of the ports....nothing....so I called the Vancouver port and talked with the head person that coordinates where the ships will be docking.

She said that the DCL Wonder has not been given a port yet. She said that by April 2110 they will have the port than booked and placed on the website. As of right know she has put nothing on her books.

she said she will also e-mail me when she does. Also the Ballantyne port is close to the other. Also this port holds one ship at a time where the other holds 3 ships at a time. So maybe DCL is wanting the Ballantyne and that is why 2 CMs at DCL told me it was this port. However...we know there info so that is why i went to the horses mouth Thought you might like to have this info.

After talking she sent me this e-mail.....



Hi Robin,

Thanks for your call this afternoon. We are just as thrilled to have Disney calling Vancouver in 2011! As mentioned, we should know by April 2010 –the latest, at what terminal the Disney Wonder will be calling. In the meantime, I am sending you a link to our website which contains information on all our ground transportation options from both terminals:

http://www.portmetrovancouver.com/about/cruiseandtourism/transportationandparking.aspx

Please feel free to call us again as we approach April so that we can keep you updated.

Kind regards,

Carmen Ortega, MBA

 

[disneypoor]

Just curious if you would share what the DCL air cost was for you vs. what you could book it for currently?

Hi! I don't mind sharing the cost of our airfare at all. We are a family of four, and our kids will be 16 and 13 when we cruise. DCL's air would cost us $2590 and that includes the transfers. I went on to travelocity and priced air for the same time frame next July, and the cheapest flights I could find were about $523 per person before taxes. That's why we went ahead and booked the air. However, flying to Seattle for the same time next summer would only cost us $828. Lots of decisions to make. Thank goodness we have a lot of time to decide. I didn't think DCL's air was too bad if one was planning to fly in to Vancouver.

Susan

 

[disneypoor]

I also wanted to add that I called DCL this morning to add a pre-cruise hotel to our package, and they booked us at the Pacific Rim. Does anyone know anything about this hotel? Apparently it is in the process of being built right now and is just across the street from the port.

Susan