Getting from Seattle to Vancouver

[bumbershoot]

Renting a car could be a fun option if you want to make some stops or do a side trip along the way. You might encounter some serious traffic depending on what time you are driving, though.

I drove up on Friday because of the Rock 'n Roll half marathon events. I needed to be at the expo before 7pm. I left at 1:40 and immediately hit accident-traffic leaving my town just "behind" Tacoma. Then more traffic at the Tacoma Dome. Then more in Fife, then Milton, then Federal way. Every accident slowdown put me further behind through-Seattle traffic.

I got in at 7:40pm to the Holiday Inn on Howe and Helmcken/Davie. I didn't make a single stop (which meant I was not hydrated for my 10K the next day, because I didn't want to have to stop at rest areas). 6 hours.

After the 10K I got in the car Saturday at I-can't-remember and drove to Tacoma to watch my son dance. Took me 3.5 hours to the Tacoma Dome. That evening we left our home just after 8, and we were at the hotel at 11:58pm. We did have the benefit of HOV lanes but we also encountered NO accident-traffic.

Driving is a total gamble.

yep Vancouver airport costs more.... however you save 3 to 6 hours travel time each way.

It can cost more. Or, for last year's Rock 'n Roll events in October, it was 5K Alaska miles each. That's IT. Absolutely fabulous price. We booked it in July, I believe.

You may want to check with car rental, I was told can not do one way from one country to another

There's no blanket rule. If you were told that, it was a rule for that particular company and probably just for that particular rental period. Prices change based on where they want cars to be. I once got an INCREDIBLE rate for a one-way trip, Phoenix to Anaheim, because they wanted some cars in Anaheim! I'm guessing going the opposite direction it would have been much higher.

 

[jrabbit]

bumbershoot - right, but if it can happen it will, ya know? It sounds like such a beautiful train ride up that I figure it could be like an added excursion, if you will. Not sure I want to do the hotel in Seattle and Vancouver route though, even though that's probably the safest in terms of anxiety lol.

Ugh why the heck did DCL move from Seattle to Vancouver for the AK cruises anyway? Didn't they sail out of Seattle just a few years ago?

Because it IS a MUCH Better Cruise out of Vancouver. No pesky foreign stop laws. Inside passage both ways. Longer port stops in the three ports of call. Don't have to have a 4 hour stop in Victoria (a Beautiful City!!) etc etc etc.

Welcome to my world - I have to get from the Northwest all of the way down to Florida to take cruises. We loose a full day traveling EACH way. "No" non stop flights (if there are any then they are in that $2,000 per person range vs $450 per person )

 

[MUN]

You may want to check with car rental, I was told can not do one way from one country to another

Who told you this? I think many, including myself, have done this.

 

[jrabbit]

You may want to check with car rental, I was told can not do one way from one country to another

Actually at my office today there are out of state visitors and they have a rental car with British Columbia plates. So I am pretty sure some rental companies allow their cars to be taken out of the country. It's gotta be rare - I think that the State's would not be too happy loosing car registration fees on a fleet of rental cars working in their state (especially from out of the country)

 

[DLgeeks]

We did a one-way car rental the opposite direction in June and it was super easy - rented a car through the Alamo at the pier (got a great rate through Costco) and drove down to Seattle to visit family at the end of the cruise. it's about a 3-4 hour drive depending on the time of day and how busy the border is, was way easier for us as a family of four than trying to get back to the airport to fly down. Returned the car at the airport in Seattle at the end of the trip with no issues. I would imagine the reverse would be just as simple.

 

[Quellman]

Thank you, Quellman! May I ask which hotel you stayed at in Vancouver? I am considering the Pan Pacific just to save ourselves the hassle on embarkation day but if there are cheaper, convenient options, then I'm all for it.

I think the issue with Amtrak that I'm seeing is the whole early morning departure issue. I think there might be one that leaves at 6-7pm but that arrives awfully late, around 11pm. That just makes for an exhausting day of travel. I'd be comfortable doing ground transport on my own, as long as I know the route to take. Plus, it's Canada...language barrier isn't an issue, so I'm confident in that regard at least. We'd fly in at least a day or 2 before embarkation anyway, maybe even check out Vancouver for a quick day trip before getting on the ship if necessary.

I just got your question: we stayed at l'hermitage. it is a boutique type hotel and very nice, a bit further from the pier. We had 2 full days in the city before our cruise. Happy planning

 

[Perpetuallydisneyplanning]

What's the best way to get from Seattle to Vancouver, BC?

I was kind of hoping to take Amtrak since it's scenic, but it doesn't look like there are any midday departures from Seattle, is there? If you do go the Amtrak route, how do you get from SeaTac to the station then from the station in Vancouver to the pier aside from Uber/Lyft?

How troublesome is it to rent a car from Seattle, and return in Vancouver? Are there car rental places near the pier in Vancouver?

What are some other way, maybe better ways to get from SeaTac to Vancouver and back for the AK cruises?

Hi,
I have not read all of the replies so I hope this isn't a repeat. A few years ago a family member took a Bus-shuttle type- from SeaTac to Vancouver. You may want to call SeaTac Airport and see if that still exists.
Also sometimes if you go on Priceline you can get a great deal on the very expensive downtown hotels in Vancouver. If you book 4star or above in Coal Harbour or downtown district you can't go wrong with 4 star and up so it's safe to book and express deal and find out after you book. We have done it several times and end up at a Marriott or Westin. I think you want Coal Harbour if you are cruising.

 

[cyclenut]

There are clearly a few cautions you should be aware of when taking the train the morning of, however we've done it and it wasn't a problem, even with a few delays. Look at the timetable carefully. For us, we felt that if there was a long delay, we'd still make the ship. There are places on the tracks that if you are delayed, you have no choice but to sit. But if they know there are problems, they will use buses and you'll still be to port on time.

We took a cab from the station to the port.

The first time sailed out of Vancouver we flew in and took Disney transport to the ship. We flew in the day of the cruise, but we were coming from Southern California so we didn't have a particularly long flight. It was an early morning adventure for our party of seven and we changed planes in Portland, OR, but we actually made it to Vancouver before the shuttles started making their runs to the ship.

 

[Dug720]

Also, this SHOULD go without saying, but having heard horror stories it clearly NEEDS to be said...

Make sure you buy a train ticket to Vancouver, BC, Canada and NOT Vancouver, WA.

 

[lunaland]

Another option might be to fly into Seattle and then fly from Seattle to Vancouver. I see flights around $125 often.

 

[Judyat]

We took the bolt bus last year. It leaves from right across from China town and the train station several times daily. Inexpensive and bus is nice. We went from Vancouver to Seattle in about 3 and a half hours. Would highly recommend it. Easy to book online and inexpensive. it takes you to Amtrak train station in Vancouver and from there it's a short drive by taxi downtown. We would have done Amtrak but part of that was by bus as i remember and limited departures. The bolt bus has several departures each day.

 

[xlxo]

There are clearly a few cautions you should be aware of when taking the train the morning of, however we've done it and it wasn't a problem, even with a few delays.

Agreed..... Vancouver is a great place to be stuck without a boat or plane for a week.

 

[disneyholic family]

we rented a car in the opposite direction.
alamo is right in the cruise terminal (though i believe that branch is only open on cruise days in the morning when ships come in)...

we rented a mini-van from alamo in the vancouver cruise terminal and dropped it off the next day at seatac...

it was great as we were able to stop on the way and take a tour of the boeing factory...wow!!!! worth it...totally!!!

 

[disneyholic family]

You may want to check with car rental, I was told can not do one way from one country to another

alamo has one way rentals between the US and canada....we did it..

 

[cyclenut]

Agreed..... Vancouver is a great place to be stuck without a boat or plane for a week.

Well, that's not exactly what I meant. I meant, think about your transportation options to get to the ship should the train not work out. There is time to recover as long as you can get to a station and get off the train. There really are few things that would get in the way.

It's a risk to travel to the ship the day of, but for some, it's cost prohibitive (and sometimes even too hard to get the extra time off) to travel the day before.

I'm driving down from North Texas to Galveston the morning of our next cruise. That will be three cruises where we traveled the day of the cruise and several others where we did it the day before. We've even flown in the day of and that was when the entire trip, including flights, were booked through Disney. It works fine very often. Much more often than the people on the DIS seem to believe.

 

[Jillywilly143]

What's the best way to get from Seattle to Vancouver, BC?

I was kind of hoping to take Amtrak since it's scenic, but it doesn't look like there are any midday departures from Seattle, is there? If you do go the Amtrak route, how do you get from SeaTac to the station then from the station in Vancouver to the pier aside from Uber/Lyft?

How troublesome is it to rent a car from Seattle, and return in Vancouver? Are there car rental places near the pier in Vancouver?

What are some other way, maybe better ways to get from SeaTac to Vancouver and back for the AK cruises?

We cruised in August and rented a car from National. We picked it up at SeaTac on a one way rental and dropped it off in the Disney cruise terminal parking garage. It was amazing! It was a minivan rental for 3 days at $226. There were 6 of us, so it was by far the most economical. On top of that, we drove into the terminal, dropped our luggage off, drove down to the rental car return, returned the car, and walked directly into the doors to the cruise terminal.

 

[Pooh2]

We flew into Seattle a few days early so we could do some touristy stuff, then took Amtrak to Vancouver the day before our cruise. The train was part of the adventure for us. It's a beautiful ride.

The locomotive died about 2 hours before we got to Vancouver so we waited awhile for another locomotive to come get us.

There were some cruisers on a different cruise line who were scheduled to leave at 4pm the same evening. Those cruisers were all a bit panicky about cutting things so close. We were relieved that we allowed the extra day. The train got in about 3pm.

On the return route, we did the late afternoon Amtrak back to Seattle. We also wondered what to do for the day with our luggage in tow:

Disneycruise line had an excursion listed on their site that can only be booked onboard the ship. I think it was $99/person. You meet the group on ship and are escorted by the excursion Cm through customs and right to the bus. They load your bags onto the bus before taking a narrated drive through Vancouver downtown, Stanley Park (a couple of brief stops to get out) then stop at the Capilano Suspension Bridge (all included in the excursion price). So you don't have to worry about your bags while touring.

Most of the people on the bus were being dropped off at the airport. There were a few of us who got dropped off with our bags back at the cruise terminal. (They do not stop at Amtrak). It was a short walk to downtown, wheeling our luggage and stopped for a nice lunch. We had planned to do light rail back to Amtrak but it was such a nice day that we took a leisurely walk for a few miles to the train station.

So while it was definitely not the cheapest route, we got to do and see alot of new things in getting to and from Vancouver.