**** Vancouver FAQ Thread **** A few updates in main post!

[smeecanada]

Getting to Victoria for the Symphony Splash is fairly straight forwarded from Downtown Vancouver. There is a bus that leaves downtown Vancouver and drop you off about a block from where the concert is helded in the Inner Harbour. You just do the reverse to go back. With it being a holiday weekend - that would be your least hassle option. You don't have to worry about picking up a rental vehicle or space on the ferry - it's all taken care of. You can easily walk to the Vancouver bus depot and to the Inner Harbour. There are a few inexpensive hotels - Days Inn, etc in the area.

While it's a fun thing to do - it is a very festive atmosphere - the kids might find it a bit boring as the evening wears on. I'd personally go to the fireworks in Vancouver and do Grouse Mountain/Stanley Park/Aquarium. We've been many times right in English Bay with kids and never had a problem with the alcohol. There will be police patrolling and confiscating any alcohol. Just get there fairly early and stake out a spot. Take a deck of cards or something and enjoy. There are lots of porta potties and food vendors in the area.

 

[joycsk]

1) One of the best places to watch is English Bay, but be aware that you'll be sharing the beach with up to 100k of your closest friends. (And just be aware, there are many teenagers and many people who "brown bag" their drinks during the event - but it's still considered a family event) We live 2 blocks away from the beach and usually the beach gets crowded several hours beforehand, so I'd recommend getting to the beach quite early. There's lots of places to eat on Denman St. that do take out, so you could make a picnic dinner of it.

2) I'd recommend renting a car to go to Victoria - but like FergusBC said there's no late night ferries, so you'd have to stay the night. I've never been brave enough to try taking public transit to Victoria, so I can't comment on that (usually in the interest of time, we just take our car). And just so you know, that Monday (if you stayed overnight) is BC Day (a long weekend in BC). If you do decide to drive, I'd highly recommend making ferry reservations ($15 each way through BC Ferries website) because the ferries can get VERY busy on long weekends. (Otherwise you may be waiting for several sailings until you can get on).

I'm grateful for the firework info. That gives me a good idea of what to expect.

I'm especially grateful for the Victoria info. I hadn't realized I couldn't get out of Victoria. We've already gone overboard on this trip, and another hotel seems out of the question. I have no desire to move out of our current hotel, into one in Victoria and then back - nor do I want to pay for two hotel rooms and only use one.

My very great thanks to you for helping me answer these questions so quickly!

 

[Anjelica]

Question(s) for all you Vancouver experts. We are staying at the Pan Pacific the night before our May 31st cruise. We will be driving up from Seattle that Monday, May 30th. At this time I have no idea what time we will get there but I suspect it will be close to late afternoon/early evening. My brother uses a wheelchair most of the time so I am looking at places that are easily accessible from the Pan Pacific to have dinner. I'm not sure how HA Vancouver and more specifically that area is.

If push came to shove I guess we could eat at the Pan Pacific but we don't want to "have" to get dressed up after 4-5 hours of driving if we can help it.

 

[rsjj]

ok...where is english bay in vancouver? is there public transportation that will get us there? we will be arriving that saturday (the last day of the firework/celebration of lights), and we won't have a car that day. might be a good thing to wrap up the evening...thanx for the info!

 

[joycsk]

1) One of the best places to watch is English Bay, but be aware that you'll be sharing the beach with up to 100k of your closest friends. (And just be aware, there are many teenagers and many people who "brown bag" their drinks during the event - but it's still considered a family event) We live 2 blocks away from the beach and usually the beach gets crowded several hours beforehand, so I'd recommend getting to the beach quite early. There's lots of places to eat on Denman St. that do take out, so you could make a picnic dinner of it.

Someone else had stated that the viewing angle is pretty wide. Do I need to travel as far west as Denham St.? Would the fireworks still be awesome closer to Granville Island? We're staying close to Canada Place and I'm assuming that we'll HAVE to walk home, so I'm trying to stay closer to the Sunset Beach area.

Thanks again!

 

[joycsk]

Thanks all of you for the great information. Yes, I was aware of the Annual Pride Parade taking place that same weekend. I researched all of the suggestions you folks gave. 2x of them really stood out at me, and the DW & I are currently mulling the choices over. I really like the Terminal City Club Hotel for its location. From all of the reviews I read on Trip Advisor, etc. it seems like a quaint & quiet place. We could walk over to the cruise terminal on embarkation day. The other one that caught my eye, was the Time Square Suites. Main reason for looking at this one, was the washers & dryers in each unit. We'll definitely want to start the cruise with a complete wardrobe of "clean" clothes. Thanks again for everyone's input.

Hi. I'm still reading through this thread chronologically. We are staying at the TC from July 30 - Aug 1. If you're on the Aug 2 sailing, you might want to come on over to our cruise meet. There is another family on that sailing staying at TC as well!

 

[smeecanada]

Someone else had stated that the viewing angle is pretty wide. Do I need to travel as far west as Denham St.? Would the fireworks still be awesome closer to Granville Island? We're staying close to Canada Place and I'm assuming that we'll HAVE to walk home, so I'm trying to stay closer to the Sunset Beach area.

Thanks again!

The fireworks are set to music. So, while you'll be able to see the fireworks from several vantage points, if you want to hear the music you should be in English Bay. Don't know exact distant, but a cab from the hotel shouldn't be much.

 

[joycsk]

The fireworks are set to music. So, while you'll be able to see the fireworks from several vantage points, if you want to hear the music you should be in English Bay. Don't know exact distant, but a cab from the hotel shouldn't be much.

Thanks. I am not worried about getting to English Bay, but I'm assuming that getting _back_ to the hotel will be a nightmare. I assumed that taxis and public transit would be nigh impossible to find late at night with the aforementioned 100k people all leaving the beach at the same time. I don't mind paying cab fare, but I'm not presuming that I'll be able to catch one.

 

[mellers]

Question(s) for all you Vancouver experts. We are staying at the Pan Pacific the night before our May 31st cruise. We will be driving up from Seattle that Monday, May 30th. At this time I have no idea what time we will get there but I suspect it will be close to late afternoon/early evening. My brother uses a wheelchair most of the time so I am looking at places that are easily accessible from the Pan Pacific to have dinner. I'm not sure how HA Vancouver and more specifically that area is.

If push came to shove I guess we could eat at the Pan Pacific but we don't want to "have" to get dressed up after 4-5 hours of driving if we can help it.

I am in a mobility scooter, and while I usually stay in a different part of the city, Gastown is nearby and they have some decent, inexpensive "not fancy" places to eat, including (if it's still there) an Old Spaghetti Factory that we liked a lot.

 

[megsablue]

ok...where is english bay in vancouver? is there public transportation that will get us there? we will be arriving that saturday (the last day of the firework/celebration of lights), and we won't have a car that day. might be a good thing to wrap up the evening...thanx for the info!

English Bay is west of Canada Place - if you look on the map in the first post on this thread, it's at the mid-left and upper-left of the screen. There is public transportation that will get you there, but be aware that as it's the first night (and a Saturday night, which is always busier), getting out of the area is harder than getting in. Depending on where you're going, it may be faster to just walk back, or walk to the nearest SkyTrain or Canada Line station (though be aware they will be very busy as well).

Someone else had stated that the viewing angle is pretty wide. Do I need to travel as far west as Denham St.?

Thanks. I am not worried about getting to English Bay, but I'm assuming that getting _back_ to the hotel will be a nightmare. I assumed that taxis and public transit would be nigh impossible to find late at night with the aforementioned 100k people all leaving the beach at the same time. I don't mind paying cab fare, but I'm not presuming that I'll be able to catch one.

Like smeecanada said, around English bay is the best area because of the music that goes along with the fireworks. Getting back to the hotel may be a challenge - the public transit and cabs are VERY busy after the fireworks let out. Depending on where your staying, it most likely will be faster to walk, or to walk to a SkyTrain or Canada Line station (which will also be busy).

 

[littleprince]

is it better to reserve a shuttle bus ride to the airport from the port on disembarkation day? or are there plenty of taxis & transportation options?

 

[Politzania]

Ok - so am looking at Hotwire.com & finding the following for Downtown Vancouver West on Aug 29....

5 star for $134/night - 90% rating - Probably Pan Pacific or Farimont?
4 star for $125.night - 90% rating - maybe Pacific Rim?

The prices are comparable/cheaper with what I was looking at for midrange chain hotels - but I'm not quite sure what to do about breakfast. The hotel buffets are PRICEY and we don't care to dress "smart casual" that early in the AM. Are there restaurants in the area that would be a better deal?

Also - we'll be coming in quite late (Amtrak arrival - 10:50p) - if we book thru Hotwire, can we still contact the hotel to inform them that we'll be arriving late?

 

[poohj80]

Ok - so am looking at Hotwire.com & finding the following for Downtown Vancouver West on Aug 29....

5 star for $134/night - 90% rating - Probably Pan Pacific or Farimont?

That's what I got when I booked Pan Pacific.

 

[M&C]

I keep checking Hotwire, but all I get for our dates is 4 stars, $131 w/ 90% satisfaction. I don't think Pan Pacific is available for our dates.

Any idea what hotel that might be?

 

[PredzMan]

Ok - so am looking at Hotwire.com & finding the following for Downtown Vancouver West on Aug 29....

5 star for $134/night - 90% rating - Probably Pan Pacific or Farimont?
4 star for $125.night - 90% rating - maybe Pacific Rim?

The prices are comparable/cheaper with what I was looking at for midrange chain hotels - but I'm not quite sure what to do about breakfast. The hotel buffets are PRICEY and we don't care to dress "smart casual" that early in the AM. Are there restaurants in the area that would be a better deal?

Also - we'll be coming in quite late (Amtrak arrival - 10:50p) - if we book thru Hotwire, can we still contact the hotel to inform them that we'll be arriving late?

We are doing the pre-excursion package before our Alaskan cruise. We're staying at the Fairmount Waterfront and they provide free transportation to the cruise terminal. The manager told me over the phone that it's under 100 meters from their front door. The Waterfront also has a honey bee garden with free tours (great for the kids) and surrounded by at least 7 food trucks within 3 blocks walking distance. I just Googled up "food truck Vancouver" and a ton of sites came back.

I'll submit a review after our trip in June.

Jerry

 

[Geaux Disney]

First...we have 20 days until we sail

I need some advice. We are flying into Seattle 3 days before the cruise and then taking the train to Vancouver 2 days before sailing. We were going to take the Amtrak bus back to Seattle, but when I went to book it was sold out . I need help with what is the best way back to Seattle. I have looked at the option of the Quick Shuttle and renting a car. I guess I just don't know what is best. Our plane doesn't leave until 6:59 pm from Seattle, so time is on our side. Can someone help.. please

 

[poohj80]

First...we have 20 days until we sail

I need some advice. We are flying into Seattle 3 days before the cruise and then taking the train to Vancouver 2 days before sailing. We were going to take the Amtrak bus back to Seattle, but when I went to book it was sold out . I need help with what is the best way back to Seattle. I have looked at the option of the Quick Shuttle and renting a car. I guess I just don't know what is best. Our plane doesn't leave until 6:59 pm from Seattle, so time is on our side. Can someone help.. please

We were going to do Quick Shuttle, but the timing scared us with an earlier flight than yours. We found a great rate with Alamo at the Canada Place location to SEATAC for $100 total one way for an SUV which is much less than the $50ish each for the bus.

 

[Geaux Disney]

duplicate post...

 

[Geaux Disney]

We were going to do Quick Shuttle, but the timing scared us with an earlier flight than yours. We found a great rate with Alamo at the Canada Place location to SEATAC for $100 total one way for an SUV which is much less than the $50ish each for the bus.

Thanks for the info! Was that directly through the Alamo website?

 

[poohj80]

Thanks for the info! Was that directly through the Alamo website?

Yes, but I had to login is a frequent renter to get the better rates.