Suggestions for Pre- and Post-Cruise Things to Do in Vancouver

[havaneselover]

I know it's a ways off, but I'm a planner.

We're on the 8/20/18 sailing.

My kids and I will be arriving Saturday night so we have all day Sunday to explore. Kids will be 13 and 14 and my mom (74) will be with us as well.

Post cruise my mom will head to the airport but my kids and I don't fly out until 11:30 PM leaving us an entire day to do something.

Budget for these two days isn't huge since other excursions (whale watching in Juneau and probably a floatplane in Ketchikan) are expensive (as is the cruise!). I have ideas (Stanley Park, aquarium, Grouse Mountain), but not really a good plan so I would love to hear others' experiences.

 

[Geomom]

We did the Alaskan cruise in August 2016. I have the trip report in my signature, if you want to see pics and details.

We did 3 nights in Vancouver pre-cruise, and had a 10:30PM flight home on debarkation day. Basically 3 full days to explore. On our full day Saturday, we did Stanley Park--walked there from our hotel (Westin Bayshore). We started with the Aquarium, then did the miniature train ride, had ice cream, then walked along the sea wall past the 'girl in a wetsuit', masthead, totems, etc. Sunday we got a public transportation daypass. Took the seabus (ferry) over to Lonsdale Quay. We then took a bus near Lynn Canyon State Park. The state park is free and has a suspension bridge, trails, ecology center. We then took the bus back to Lonsdale Quay, listened to free music there, walked around the shops, and took the seabus back to Vancouver. On debarkation day, we did an all day excursion with Landsea tours (www.vancouvertours.com) We did the Sea to Sky tour. The vans hold 24 passengers, so a smaller tour. They picked us and our luggage up from the port by 10AM. We visited Horseshoe Bay, various picture spots along Howe Sound, Shannon Falls, Brittania Mine Museum, and the Sea to Sky Gondola. They dropped us off at the airport when the tour was over...around 6PM by the time we got there. It was the perfect way to spend our last day AND get to the airport. Current price is $125 CAD/adult.

Enjoy your cruise! We LOVED ours!

 

[bobbiwoz]

I think the hop on hop off bus in Vancouver was reasonably priced.

We took a paddle boat ride around the harbor at one of the stops.

 

[jrabbit]

Capilano Suspension Bridge - It's More than Just a Bridge!!

Mom may or may not want to cross the bridge - there is lots to see on the other side - more trees , Nature Walk at ground level, Tree Tops walk on bridges between the trees, some Birds of Prey (not a "show" where they are flying around, but you can see them up close with their handler) and back on the entrance side of the park is the cliff walk.

FREE (Really) bus from downtown to the park and back again. There are two routes and at least one of them stops at Canada Place.

Just walking along the waterfront from Canada Place to Stanley park is a nice walk. Watching the sea planes take off and land ...

 

[Agent 86]

The favourite activity that we did while in Vancouver was Grouse Mountain. But, we're Aussies so the different landscape, animals, etc may appeal more to us than others.

We didn't mind the suspension bridge, but happened to go on a busy day (or maybe just at a busy time of day) so that made crossing the bridge more of a "shuffle along in single line mob crush" experience.

Stanley park was nice, but I'm not sure how appealing it would be to two teenagers.

 

[Qextor]

How about Science World? (www.scienceworld.ca)

It's full of fun exhibits, stage shows, and other things to do. It's also really easy to get to using the SkyTrain; just get off at the 'Main Street - Science World' stop, and cross the road. Admission is about $60 ($48 usd) for 1 adult and 2 teens; for another $20 ($15 USD) you can add an OmniMax film.

Also, it looks like you might be in town during our annual fair - The Fair at the PNE.
If so, I think that's something you really shouldn't miss. There's loads of fun things to do - Super Dogs (rescue dogs do fun obstacle races, jumping competitions, and the like; always very popular). There's a petting zoo, and the RCMP perform the 'RCMP magical ride' with their horses. There's also Playland, with Rollar-coasters and other thrill rides. Buy gate passes online; $14 ($10 us) for those 14 and older; children are free. Gate + Ride passes are $53 each ($45 us) for everyone over 48" tall. Gates open at 11am; bring your appetite because there are some wonderful food vendors there (those cinnamon mini-doughnuts are *so* addictive!). There are dedicated shuttle buses running to and from 29th street & Renfrew skytrain stations; fare is $5 each, and includes both the skytrain trip and shuttle. Check out www.pne.ca/thefair (though information about the 2018 Fair might not go up until next year)

 

[CalDisneyMomof2]

We really enjoyed Capillano Suspension Bridge. Wear comfortable shoes! We also enjoyed Granville Island, somewhat like a Pike Place Market (Seattle) but IMO much better. We had fun taking the ferry to get there. Lots of food options and little stores and things to do. We didn't have much time in Vancouver - about as much as you have (our flight out on Monday was earlier though, possibly 8:30 PM?). Next time we will go an extra day (we spent a day in Seattle as well and would have much rather spent it in Vancouver. Didn't care for Seattle.) and use the extra day for some of the other suggestions PP's have made.

 

[AussieNSW]

Loved grouse mountain went on the 8th July this year. We did breakfast with the bears. Our kids 18 and 16 had a great time. There was even some snow for the kids to play in and make snowballs. We got a taxi to grouse mountain as we needed to be early for the breakfast and caught the free bus back to Canada place.

 

[JMommyof3]

I'm so glad I'm not the only crazy one planning for our pre-post Alaskan cruise next year. We are on the 8/6 sailing.

We are staying at the Westin Bayshore and will arrive Saturday and likely fly out the Tuesday after. We are looking at Stanley Park, Grouse Mountain and Capillano Bridge. I'd love to hear more ideas though.

 

[antlawn]

We really enjoyed the, Museum of Anthropology at UBC. The youngest granddaughter (8 yr old) got a little antsy, and wanted to just rush thru the last half, but the rest of the family loved it. http://moa.ubc.ca/visit/ Older granddaughter and I are going back in May.

 

[butterfly0202]

Pre-cruise we did Grouse Mountain in the morning and Capillano in the afternoon - both were very well worth it. Post cruise - we had the entire day to burn as we had a late evening flight. We ended up going to the aquarium - it was also very nice but not a make or break type of excursion.

 

[Aby]

I think that Fly Over a Canada shouldn't be missed -- https://www.flyovercanada.com/ !

 

[Erintx7]

Read a few trip reports for ideas, too! Many have photos or videos... I still remember a TR with video/Shannon Falls in it and it looked amazing!!!

 

[Pinocchio #1 Fan]

The Vancouver Zoo is spectacular! It is a half hour drive through beautiful country and farm areas. They have a great collection of beautiful animals. There are also roadside stands along the way which sell locally grown fruits and vegetables.

 

[cmwade77]

Stanley Park is a great place as well, do the trolley tour around it, well worth it. There is tons of stuff to do, last time we were there we actually were on a road trip, so we had our car and got a book through Groupon that had discounts for all sorts of places, which gave us tons of ideas of things to do. There is also a cool steam powered clock that is fun to go and watch for a bit, really I think you could easily spend several months and still not do everything there.

 

[sdjen]

We did a day in Stanley park and enjoyed it. We did the horse drawn carriage tour through the park and then the aquarium. There we had prebooked a sea otter behind the scenes tour which was really fun. If you do the aquarium, I would recommend pre purchasing tickets to help avoid the sometimes super long lines to get in. Vancouver is a beautiful place!

 

[ladyofthetramp]

I'm so glad I'm not the only crazy one planning for our pre-post Alaskan cruise next year. We are on the 8/6 sailing.

We are staying at the Westin Bayshore and will arrive Saturday and likely fly out the Tuesday after. We are looking at Stanley Park, Grouse Mountain and Capillano Bridge. I'd love to hear more ideas though.

We are on the 8/6 cruise as well! Starting in Seattle as it is cheaper for us to fly in there and take train to Vancouver. Looking at Stanley Park and aquarium. Just taking in the sights of Vancouver as well.

 

[MinnesotaMouseketeers]

We did the Capilano Suspension Bridge; a lot of fun. One person in our party does not like heights but he did all right with this. The Queen Elizabeth Park with Bloedel Conservatory is beautiful, we took a taxi to get there. And Stanley park is nice; besides hiking around we also did a horse drawn carriage ride, that was really nice.

 

[ahen]

The float plane in Ketchikan was wonderful, that was the clearest day we had and the pilot was one of the best I had ever flown with. The scenery is truly breathtaking and I just took picture after picture. The whole trip was great, we had not cruised in a very long time and now we are sold!

 

[psac]

I think that Fly Over a Canada shouldn't be missed -- https://www.flyovercanada.com/ !

I agree, it’s a nice quick add on to any day. It’s right at the cruise port, and we had to wait about an hour, but it’s one long Soarin’ ride with Canada views. Very cool for fans of Soarin’. And aren’t we all?