B2B Vancouver Question

[sisterpate]

Hello! We are doing the B2B starting in San Diego heading north to Alaska. When the ship is between trips in Vancouver are you able to get off ship and explore, or do you need to stay in the waiting area and re board when cleared. If you can explore, what have any of you done or what do you recommend? Thank you.

 

[Shanti]

Hello! We are doing the B2B starting in San Diego heading north to Alaska. When the ship is between trips in Vancouver are you able to get off ship and explore, or do you need to stay in the waiting area and re board when cleared. If you can explore, what have any of you done or what do you recommend? Thank you.

We're sailing to Alaska in June. Haven't been yet, but I know from my research that Fly Over Canada is close to the port. You might want to try that.

They can't stop you from getting off the ship if you want to, but doing so would likely mean that you'd have to deal with the entire embarkation process & crowds again. Personally, I'd rather wait until the second cruise is over, and then explore Vancouver.

 

[GPaLarry]

Did a B2B two years ago, Med./WBTA. In Barcelona, switch over day, we got off the Magic for maybe 4 hours, walked the la Rambla, came back, checked in (which you have to do anyway) and were given the boarding group # of the group currently boarding...easy, peasy. Take advantage of Vancouver whenever you get the chance.

 

[Pens Fan]

There are several things to see and do right at the port in Vancouver. As @Shanti mentioned, Fly Over Canada is right there at Canada Place and is really fun (especially if you are a Soarin' fan). We spent 3 days in Vancouver prior to our cruise and really enjoyed just hanging out down at Canada Place, watching the float planes and checking out the other ships. The Olympic Flame is just down the street (other side of the convention center) with a couple of good restaurants next door - Tap and Barrel and Cactus Club. I don't remember if they are open for lunch, but we ate dinner at both and really enjoyed them.

Gastown isn't that far away. It would be an easy walk and an even easier cab ride. There are lots of shops and restaurants there to enjoy. One thing I would recommend though is to avoid the HOHO bus - especially the green ones (I've forgotten the exact name, but it had "West" in it). We made the mistake of taking them one day and it was pretty awful. They didn't have nearly enough buses and you would stand at a stop just waiting and waiting for a bus with enough seats to allow you on. As the day progressed and everyone realized how hard it was to find an available seat, hardly anyone was getting off at all which just compounded the problem. I'd hate to be in that position if we had a schedule to keep!!

 

[kid-at-heart]

Hello! We are doing the B2B starting in San Diego heading north to Alaska. When the ship is between trips in Vancouver are you able to get off ship and explore, or do you need to stay in the waiting area and re board when cleared. If you can explore, what have any of you done or what do you recommend? Thank you.

We did a b2b San Diego to Vancouver to Alaska last May. You may get off the ship and explore. Others have given you ideas for things to do, so I will not repeat their great suggestions. We stayed on the ship since we have been to Vancouver several times and were planning to spend a few days there after the cruise. Hindsight, I wish we had gotten off. Our transition off the boat and back on was not smooth. The CMs we encountered seemed a bit cranky. One collected our current room keys, which really upset a few folks who were planning to use them in scrapbooks. He said we would get them back but we did not. We spend much time waiting. The re-boarding process of b2bs started and then stalled. At one point the CMs started checking in "new" people and seemed to have forgotten about the rest of the b2b folks. We finally just got out of our seats and went and stood in line. It was the only hiccup of the trip but if we had known it was going to take so long, we probably would have left the ship and shopped about Canada Place.

Have fun!

 

[Shanti]

Another suggestion is the VanDusen Botanical Garden, which has an old-fashioned hedge maze you can go through.

http://vancouver.ca/parks-recreation-culture/vandusen-botanical-garden.aspx

 

[dclpluto]

I was on the DCL first repo cruise to Vancouver. I was also on DCL first Alaska cruise. Inbetween the cruises they had a really nice excursion. Don’t know if they still have excursions in between cruises at Vancouver. Probably depends how many people are doing b2b.

 

[sisterpate]

This is great information! Thank you so much. We will definitely need to plan getting off ship for a couple hours. When we get back to Vancouver we have no time to explore due to flight time.