mellers
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Aug 4, 2007
- Messages
- 2,076
I think I sent this to one person (not quite sure), but I thought I'd post some general information about Seattle and Vancouver, since I live outside Seattle, and frequently visit Vancouver.
If you're coming to Seattle before your cruise, I would recommend the Best Western Executive Inn for a decent, basic place to stay. It also has one big advantage--it is a stop on the route of the Quick Shuttle (http://www.quickcoach.com/). For those of you who are wheelies (I am), they have a wheelchair accessible service which will take you straight from Seattle to the downtown hotels in Vancouver, as well as the Vancouver cruise terminals--for that reason (and because I hate to wait forever for a wheelchair cab), I prefer it to the train. Their seats are very comfortable, both for wheelies and non-wheelies, but be sure to bring a lunch because they don't make meal stops. The Quick Shuttle will also take you easily from the Seattle airport to those downtown Vancouver hotels, so if it's cheaper to fly to Seattle than Vancouver, you might want to look into it.
That being said, I would recommend arriving the night before the cruise from Seattle. I have never had a problem getting across the border, but I have heard of the border crossing at Peace Arch being closed because somebody decided to be stupid.
The Best Western is also near the Space Needle, which has a lot of the region's best stuff for kids--the Children's Museum (http://thechildrensmuseum.org/) is wonderful, and so is the Pacific Science Center (with its TWO IMAX theaters) (http://www.pacsci.org), and the Experience Music Project (also the Sci Fi museum, which I prefer) (http://www.empsfm.org/) and, of course, the Space Needle (if you go to the Space Needle restaurant (which is very expensive), you can ride the Space Needle elevator free. If you want to try to do this, go to Restaurant.com--they have discounted gift certificates) (http://www.spaceneedle.com/visit/). If you take the Monorail from there, you can get to the Westlake Center, which is right around the corner from Pike Place Market (http://www.pikeplacemarket.org). From Pike Place, you can take the elevator down to the waterfront, where there is a nice aquarium (although Vancouver's is better) (http://www.seattleaquarium.org).
A little further afield there is the Museum of Flight (http://www.museumofflight.org/)--a must for airplane lovers, and the Woodland Park Zoo (http://www.zoo.org). Across Lake Washington in Bellevue, there is the Bellevue Collection (http://www.bellevuecollection.com/), the high-end shopping center for the Seattle area, including a LEGO store, and a place called Oh! Chocolate (http://www.ohchocolate.com/blog). If enough people would be interested in a pre-cruise chocolate class, I know the owner does special classes, and kids are welcome. Just around the corner is the Rosalie Whyel Doll Museum (http://www.dollart.com/), a great place for doll-loving little girls, and down the road is the Microsoft museum (http://www.microsoft.com/about/companyinformation/visitorcenter/default.aspx).
Also, a note--if you know a Microsoftie in the area who can act as tour guide, they get HUGE discounts on tourist attractions in Seattle.
In Vancouver, nothing beats the Vancouver Aquarium, in my opinion (http://www.vanaqua.org/). Taking the SeaBus over to West Vancouver can also be fun (The SeaBus and the public busses in Vancouver have very good accessiblity--I've never taken the SkyTrain, so I don't know about it.)
If you're up for a little adventure, stay in Richmond near the airport. It is, essentially, Chinatown. Many people from Hong Kong (including some of my relatives) came to Richmond when Hong Kong reverted to China in the '90s. If you stay at the La Quinta or the Four Points Sheraton, you'll be near the Lansdowne shopping centre and the SkyTrain (be prepared, however, for Bad Karaoke Night at the Four Points). It's pretty easy to get a taxi from Richmond to the Cruise Terminal, and if you have more than one or two people, quite a bit cheaper than taking the cruise transfers from YVR.
At any rate, that's my $0.02 on Seattle. Hope it was helpful!
DH, DD (15 in 2011), Me and my parents all hoping to be on the August 16th Alaska cruise (cancer permitting)
If you're coming to Seattle before your cruise, I would recommend the Best Western Executive Inn for a decent, basic place to stay. It also has one big advantage--it is a stop on the route of the Quick Shuttle (http://www.quickcoach.com/). For those of you who are wheelies (I am), they have a wheelchair accessible service which will take you straight from Seattle to the downtown hotels in Vancouver, as well as the Vancouver cruise terminals--for that reason (and because I hate to wait forever for a wheelchair cab), I prefer it to the train. Their seats are very comfortable, both for wheelies and non-wheelies, but be sure to bring a lunch because they don't make meal stops. The Quick Shuttle will also take you easily from the Seattle airport to those downtown Vancouver hotels, so if it's cheaper to fly to Seattle than Vancouver, you might want to look into it.
That being said, I would recommend arriving the night before the cruise from Seattle. I have never had a problem getting across the border, but I have heard of the border crossing at Peace Arch being closed because somebody decided to be stupid.
The Best Western is also near the Space Needle, which has a lot of the region's best stuff for kids--the Children's Museum (http://thechildrensmuseum.org/) is wonderful, and so is the Pacific Science Center (with its TWO IMAX theaters) (http://www.pacsci.org), and the Experience Music Project (also the Sci Fi museum, which I prefer) (http://www.empsfm.org/) and, of course, the Space Needle (if you go to the Space Needle restaurant (which is very expensive), you can ride the Space Needle elevator free. If you want to try to do this, go to Restaurant.com--they have discounted gift certificates) (http://www.spaceneedle.com/visit/). If you take the Monorail from there, you can get to the Westlake Center, which is right around the corner from Pike Place Market (http://www.pikeplacemarket.org). From Pike Place, you can take the elevator down to the waterfront, where there is a nice aquarium (although Vancouver's is better) (http://www.seattleaquarium.org).
A little further afield there is the Museum of Flight (http://www.museumofflight.org/)--a must for airplane lovers, and the Woodland Park Zoo (http://www.zoo.org). Across Lake Washington in Bellevue, there is the Bellevue Collection (http://www.bellevuecollection.com/), the high-end shopping center for the Seattle area, including a LEGO store, and a place called Oh! Chocolate (http://www.ohchocolate.com/blog). If enough people would be interested in a pre-cruise chocolate class, I know the owner does special classes, and kids are welcome. Just around the corner is the Rosalie Whyel Doll Museum (http://www.dollart.com/), a great place for doll-loving little girls, and down the road is the Microsoft museum (http://www.microsoft.com/about/companyinformation/visitorcenter/default.aspx).
Also, a note--if you know a Microsoftie in the area who can act as tour guide, they get HUGE discounts on tourist attractions in Seattle.
In Vancouver, nothing beats the Vancouver Aquarium, in my opinion (http://www.vanaqua.org/). Taking the SeaBus over to West Vancouver can also be fun (The SeaBus and the public busses in Vancouver have very good accessiblity--I've never taken the SkyTrain, so I don't know about it.)
If you're up for a little adventure, stay in Richmond near the airport. It is, essentially, Chinatown. Many people from Hong Kong (including some of my relatives) came to Richmond when Hong Kong reverted to China in the '90s. If you stay at the La Quinta or the Four Points Sheraton, you'll be near the Lansdowne shopping centre and the SkyTrain (be prepared, however, for Bad Karaoke Night at the Four Points). It's pretty easy to get a taxi from Richmond to the Cruise Terminal, and if you have more than one or two people, quite a bit cheaper than taking the cruise transfers from YVR.
At any rate, that's my $0.02 on Seattle. Hope it was helpful!
DH, DD (15 in 2011), Me and my parents all hoping to be on the August 16th Alaska cruise (cancer permitting)
He'll be 14 almost 15 at cruise time.
Seriously though I was glad to have been able to look up some recent Personal Navigators before we left. There won't be any available for the Alaska cruises until those start happening and someone uploads one, but I found it really helpful to have a sense of what to expect before leaving. It also helped to know where to find stuff before I even got on the boat (I am somewhat directionally impaired 
), so I looked over the deck plans a bit ahead of time. I bought a Passporters Guide for 
. The counter-service food on Deck 9 was typical fried stuff, but there was a counter where you could get salads and wraps, and fresh fruit, which was nice. We had brought along metal water bottles so that the kids could get a bigger drink at the beverage station (filling the water bottles from a clean throw away cup), but we never ended up using them. 
. 
