Hotels near Vancouver cruise terminal

[luv2sleep]

I'm not familiar with Vancouver. What areas are walkable and safe? Downtown? Near port?

 

[lbgraves]

We felt safe around the port area. The only place where the kids were uncomfortable were with the panhandlers walking down the main shopping street near the Pan Pacific. They were further down that road.

 

[Tenkawa]

I'm not familiar with Vancouver. What areas are walkable and safe? Downtown? Near port?

The short answer is that everything is relatively safe. Yes there sometimes can be a couple of panhandlers downtown, but they normally aren't agressive and aren't bad. Even with that, there is no "unsafe" area of Vancouver.

That said, the area known as the "downtown east side", which you arrive at if you walk along Hastings or Water st (Gastown) too far (past the trendy bars and restaurants) is not the greatest, as there is a large amount of SRO residences and drug issues. It is not dangerous, but not a pleasant place to walk to kids. You won't hit it unless you really are trying though.

Walkable: Anywhere downtown is relatively walkable, but remember this is a coastal city in a mountainous area, so it is a lot of up and down. The transit system is very good (Despite how much the locals complain about it) with rapid transit spreading to Richmond (airport, heavy asian influence), Burnaby (Metrotown station has a large mall), Surrey (often the butt of jokes, a residential suburb that is growing rapidly).

There is also the Seabus, a a 10 minute ferry across Vancouver's main inlet. Leaves from downtown right by the cruise terminal and goes to the North Shore (North Vancouver and West Vancouver). It is part of the local transit system and included in fares. Well worth the trip to see Vancouver from the water, plus there are a number of interesting things on the North Shore.

What would help is how many people, rough ages, and what you typically like to do/see, as this can help pick a good location for you.

You can't really go wrong with downtown hotels, they are pretty much all nice, but you can save by staying outside the downtown core.

 

[luv2sleep]

The short answer is that everything is relatively safe. Yes there sometimes can be a couple of panhandlers downtown, but they normally aren't agressive and aren't bad. Even with that, there is no "unsafe" area of Vancouver. That said, the area known as the "downtown east side", which you arrive at if you walk along Hastings or Water st (Gastown) too far (past the trendy bars and restaurants) is not the greatest, as there is a large amount of SRO residences and drug issues. It is not dangerous, but not a pleasant place to walk to kids. You won't hit it unless you really are trying though. Walkable: Anywhere downtown is relatively walkable, but remember this is a coastal city in a mountainous area, so it is a lot of up and down. The transit system is very good (Despite how much the locals complain about it) with rapid transit spreading to Richmond (airport, heavy asian influence), Burnaby (Metrotown station has a large mall), Surrey (often the butt of jokes, a residential suburb that is growing rapidly). There is also the Seabus, a a 10 minute ferry across Vancouver's main inlet. Leaves from downtown right by the cruise terminal and goes to the North Shore (North Vancouver and West Vancouver). It is part of the local transit system and included in fares. Well worth the trip to see Vancouver from the water, plus there are a number of interesting things on the North Shore. What would help is how many people, rough ages, and what you typically like to do/see, as this can help pick a good location for you. You can't really go wrong with downtown hotels, they are pretty much all nice, but you can save by staying outside the downtown core.

Is the port area considered downtown? I think I'm confused as to what's downtown. Does downtown include the airport area?

My son is 7, btw.

 

[Tenkawa]

Ok that's not desirable. Is the Hampton Inn in a better location?

Not sure which Hampton Inn you are referring to, there are 3 in Vancouver's area.

Keep in mind the Airport is in Richmond, which is a suburb. The cruise departs from downtown Vancouver. While there are decent hotels in Richmond, there are only a couple of nice ones (The Fairmont Airport for example).

 

[Tenkawa]

Handy quick maps that I'll throw in here. I noticed that you list your cruise will be in August 2014, so that means a lot of great options around the city.

So here is a rough map of "Vancouver" (Just the city of, not covering the suburbs). You can see the airport in the bottom (It is part of Richmond)

The cruise terminal is in the "Bus District" in green. It is in the core of downtown and is not directly attached to the rest of the port of Vancouver (Which is further to the east).

This covers just the "Bus District" area you saw in the above map. The cruise terminal is in the upper middle, the building with the white sails. The seabus terminal is to the right (dotted line). Another great spot to visit is Granville Island (You can see it at the bottom).

And here is an overview of vancouver's suburbs (Well, most of them)

 

[Tenkawa]

Oh, one more thing, the local public transportation is run by Translink http://www.translink.ca/ Lots of good transit information on there. There are 4 main parts, buses, skytrain (rapid transit), seabus, and West Coast Express (Commuter train)

 

[lbgraves]

We found Vancouver to be wonderful before and after our 7/26/11 cruise. We walked a lot and rented bikes to ride to and around Stanley Park. There is a tour bus company outside Canada Place to get to various locations. They were very reasonably priced. We went to Grouse Mtn through them.

 

[Stinkerbe11]

Ok that's not desirable. Is the Hampton Inn in a better location?

We are staying at the Hampton Inn on Robson (just west of BC Place stadium on the map). It got really good reviews on Trip Advisor, but if you're paying out of pocket, it's not inexpensive. We got a great deal at the Pan Pacific, but chose to use Hilton points here instead (hope that wasn't a mistake).

Here is the link: http://www.hamptoninnvancouver.com

 

[MND]

The short answer is that everything is relatively safe. Yes there sometimes can be a couple of panhandlers downtown, but they normally aren't agressive and aren't bad. Even with that, there is no "unsafe" area of Vancouver.

That said, the area known as the "downtown east side", which you arrive at if you walk along Hastings or Water st (Gastown) too far (past the trendy bars and restaurants) is not the greatest, as there is a large amount of SRO residences and drug issues. It is not dangerous, but not a pleasant place to walk to kids. You won't hit it unless you really are trying though.

Walkable: Anywhere downtown is relatively walkable, but remember this is a coastal city in a mountainous area, so it is a lot of up and down. The transit system is very good (Despite how much the locals complain about it) with rapid transit spreading to Richmond (airport, heavy asian influence), Burnaby (Metrotown station has a large mall), Surrey (often the butt of jokes, a residential suburb that is growing rapidly).

There is also the Seabus, a a 10 minute ferry across Vancouver's main inlet. Leaves from downtown right by the cruise terminal and goes to the North Shore (North Vancouver and West Vancouver). It is part of the local transit system and included in fares. Well worth the trip to see Vancouver from the water, plus there are a number of interesting things on the North Shore.

What would help is how many people, rough ages, and what you typically like to do/see, as this can help pick a good location for you.

You can't really go wrong with downtown hotels, they are pretty much all nice, but you can save by staying outside the downtown core.

Thanks for all the great information. We are planning on staying at the Sheraton Wall Centre which appears to be about 1 mile from the cruise terminal.

Any thoughts on our hotel or area? We are flying into Seattle and plan on renting a car and dropping it off downtown. Although, I'm a bit confused with the drop-off location.

Mike

PS, I love your maps!

 

[Tenkawa]

We are staying at the Hampton Inn on Robson (just west of BC Place stadium on the map). It got really good reviews on Trip Advisor, but if you're paying out of pocket, it's not inexpensive. We got a great deal at the Pan Pacific, but chose to use Hilton points here instead (hope that wasn't a mistake).

Here is the link: http://www.hamptoninnvancouver.com

Hi Stinkerbe11. You'll enjoy it there. Nice hotel. Since it is right next to the stadium, it attracts a good clientel. You are right on the edge of a neighbourhood known as Yaletown. It is very trendy and filled with Restaurants and clubs. Additionally, there is a skytrain station about 2 blocks away (Expo line) beside the statiums, and another (Canada line) about 3 blocks away in Yaletown.

MND: The Sheraton Wall Center is an iconic hotel. It is the highest point in downtown (it was built on a hill). It is very nice both inside and out. Only downside is it is a little farther from rapid transportation. Nice area too. There is good bus service though.

If any of you are on the Aug 25th Alaska cruise I'll see you on board as well.

 

[hoosier4luvwdw]

Thanks for all the great information. We are planning on staying at the Sheraton Wall Centre which appears to be about 1 mile from the cruise terminal.

Any thoughts on our hotel or area? We are flying into Seattle and plan on renting a car and dropping it off downtown. Although, I'm a bit confused with the drop-off location.

Mike

PS, I love your maps!

We are doing the same thing, flying into Seattle, getting a rental car and driving to Vancouver. We are renting from Hertz and staying at Best Western. There is a Hertz drop off office right across the street from the Best Western. On the trip back, we are getting a rental car from Hertz-inside Canada Place- and returning it back at SeaTac.

 

[MND]

We are doing the same thing, flying into Seattle, getting a rental car and driving to Vancouver. We are renting from Hertz and staying at Best Western. There is a Hertz drop off office right across the street from the Best Western. On the trip back, we are getting a rental car from Hertz-inside Canada Place- and returning it back at SeaTac.

I've got a good rate from National; however, the Vancouver dropoff and pickup site is the Sandman Hotel which I think is near the port.

Mike

 

[luv2sleep]

Any decent hotels in decent locations near port that offer free transport from the airport? I don't mind taking a cab but was hoping to not have to take a cab twice.

(Oh and I can't do the public transportation thing that people keep talking about as it's just my small kid and I and we will likely have at least 2-3 bags.)

 

[Tenkawa]

Any decent hotels in decent locations near port that offer free transport from the airport? I don't mind taking a cab but was hoping to not have to take a cab twice.

(Oh and I can't do the public transportation thing that people keep talking about as it's just my small kid and I and we will likely have at least 2-3 bags.)

Here is the list of hotels that offer courtesy shuttles, but none of them are near the port. http://yvr.ca/en/getting-to-from-yvr/courtesy-shuttles.aspx

Most of the downtown hotels are high enough end that they expect customers to take a taxi or transit to them, and given that the Canada line has a station right at the airport (Literally out the airport doors and you are there) it makes more sense to them. Though I know that a number of bags make it difficult.

If you want to stick to this list though, I recommend the Executive Airport Plaza http://www.executivehotels.net/vancouverairportplazahotel/ in Richmond. It is right next to a park and a decent sized mall (Richmond Center), and there is a Canada Line station about 1.5 blocks away (beside the mall) to get you into downtown for touristing. There are also lots of restaurants in this area (3 Road in Richmond is the main entertainment area for that community). Executive hotels are very nice for their rates and I haven't had any problems with them (I've dealt with their other two properties in Vancouver many times before).

Richmond is a heavily Asian community, but it is a great adventure, and the food is great (and affordable).

 

[JAMWDW]

oops, was posted twice.

 

[JAMWDW]

Great thread, and love the maps! We will be driving up from California, and staying with family in Tacoma pre-cruise. My husband thinks we will be fine by getting up early and driving into Vancouver the morning of departure. I however, worry about getting delayed at the border! I plan on doing research on some of these hotels today, but if anybody knows off hand of a hotel with a park/stay/cruise deal please share!

 

[Tenkawa]

Great thread, and love the maps! We will be driving up from California, and staying with family in Tacoma pre-cruise. My husband thinks we will be fine by getting up early and driving into Vancouver the morning of departure. I however, worry about getting delayed at the border! I plan on doing research on some of these hotels today, but if anybody knows off hand of a hotel with a park/stay/cruise deal please share!

Hi JAMWDW,

The boarding starts at 11am, so you would want to leave Seattle around 7am or so to give yourself plenty of time. (From Tacoma it is 3 hours + border or so). The only problem is Tacoma is south of Seattle, so you would be hitting rush hour on Monday going through Seattle. So you would want to leave at 6am to get through Seattle before it gets too bad, then maybe grab breakfast on the road.

The border itself won't be bad on a Monday morning going Northbound, maybe 5-10 minutes.

 

[luv2sleep]

Here is the list of hotels that offer courtesy shuttles, but none of them are near the port. http://yvr.ca/en/getting-to-from-yvr/courtesy-shuttles.aspx Most of the downtown hotels are high enough end that they expect customers to take a taxi or transit to them, and given that the Canada line has a station right at the airport (Literally out the airport doors and you are there) it makes more sense to them. Though I know that a number of bags make it difficult. If you want to stick to this list though, I recommend the Executive Airport Plaza http://www.executivehotels.net/vancouverairportplazahotel/ in Richmond. It is right next to a park and a decent sized mall (Richmond Center), and there is a Canada Line station about 1.5 blocks away (beside the mall) to get you into downtown for touristing. There are also lots of restaurants in this area (3 Road in Richmond is the main entertainment area for that community). Executive hotels are very nice for their rates and I haven't had any problems with them (I've dealt with their other two properties in Vancouver many times before). Richmond is a heavily Asian community, but it is a great adventure, and the food is great (and affordable).

Thank you!

Oh if we stay there I'm going to love eating around there. I'm an Asian cuisine junkie and really miss those types of foods on the cruises. I go through withdrawals, lol.

The can ride to port about $30-40 from the airport area, right?

Again, thank you so much!!!

 

[JAMWDW]

Hi JAMWDW,

The boarding starts at 11am, so you would want to leave Seattle around 7am or so to give yourself plenty of time. (From Tacoma it is 3 hours + border or so). The only problem is Tacoma is south of Seattle, so you would be hitting rush hour on Monday going through Seattle. So you would want to leave at 6am to get through Seattle before it gets too bad, then maybe grab breakfast on the road.

The border itself won't be bad on a Monday morning going Northbound, maybe 5-10 minutes.

That sounds doable. Thank you Tenkawa!