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

[DisneyCruisin]

Back from 6/14/11 sailing...so sad it'sover. Spent 3 days in Vancouver pre-cruise. Booked Fairmont Waterfront on our own. Woke up to a view of the the Wonder waiting for us!!! It was great. You cant check in at the DCL desk, like you could in Barcelona, but we did arrange for DCL to take our luggage for us. The Food court under the hotel is convenient for a quick breakfast, and has a lot of options.

Gastown was adorable, and fun at night.

Did the hop on hop off Trolly, got a discount buying the tickets at the hotel. It was fun, and takes you all over. Stanley Park was beautiful, and loved seeing the Canuck's jersey on the girl in the wetsuit! Trolly even gives you a free pass for the ferry to Gransville Island. Loved it there.

Also did the Capilano Suspension Bridge, which was fun too.

Watched game 6 from one of our rooms with a great view of the group doing the same at Canada Place...that was a lot of fun, even if they lost.

Recommend the shuttle from the port to the airport. It was only $14 a person and so convenient. Driver gave a little tour too.

 

[mellers]

We are from the US and will have a prestay in Canada. Will we need an adaptor to plug in our devices?

No. They use the same outlets as we do. My daughter has a CPAP, so electricity is VERY important to us.

 

[Candy Apple]

A special "thank you" to Lollipop's Mom for all her wonderful advice! Back from the June 14th Alaska Cruise with a three day stay in Vancouver pre cruise and a one day stay post. We ate at White Spot and Veras Burgers (both recommended by her) and they were perfect for our family! We flew into Vancouver and easily took the SkyTrain to our hotel (Pan Pacific- also recommended by Lollipop's Mom and a perfect hotel for us). We never had to rent a car or take a taxi. We either walked or rode the Sky Train. We biked in Stanley Park (loved it so much we did it a second day)! Visited the Aquarium, took the kids to Science World, spent a lot of time in Gastown and China Town. It was an all-around beautiful, wonderful, perfect vacation. Lollipop's advice on this thread made our planning easy and decreased our stress significantly!

Was it quite walkable from the SkyTrain to the hotel? We are staying at the Fairmont Waterfront and are planning on walking from the Skytrain to the hotel, but I'm a little concerned about doing this with luggage. Did it work out okay for you?

 

[LAWalz23]

A special "thank you" to Lollipop's Mom for all her wonderful advice! Back from the June 14th Alaska Cruise with a three day stay in Vancouver pre cruise and a one day stay post. We ate at White Spot and Veras Burgers (both recommended by her) and they were perfect for our family! We flew into Vancouver and easily took the SkyTrain to our hotel (Pan Pacific- also recommended by Lollipop's Mom and a perfect hotel for us). We never had to rent a car or take a taxi. We either walked or rode the Sky Train. We biked in Stanley Park (loved it so much we did it a second day)! Visited the Aquarium, took the kids to Science World, spent a lot of time in Gastown and China Town. It was an all-around beautiful, wonderful, perfect vacation. Lollipop's advice on this thread made our planning easy and decreased our stress significantly!

Glad to hear you had great vacation!
We are also staying at the Pan Pacific pre-cruise. Could you please tell me how far Veras Burgers and White Spot are from there? Are they both walkable (about 1 mile each way)? Is SkyTrain wheelchair friendly? Thanks for any info!

 

[seamour]

Back from 6/14/11 sailing...so sad it'sover. Spent 3 days in Vancouver pre-cruise. Booked Fairmont Waterfront on our own. Woke up to a view of the the Wonder waiting for us!!! It was great. You cant check in at the DCL desk, like you could in Barcelona, but we did arrange for DCL to take our luggage for us. The Food court under the hotel is convenient for a quick breakfast, and has a lot of options.

Gastown was adorable, and fun at night.

Did the hop on hop off Trolly, got a discount buying the tickets at the hotel. It was fun, and takes you all over. Stanley Park was beautiful, and loved seeing the Canuck's jersey on the girl in the wetsuit! Trolly even gives you a free pass for the ferry to Gransville Island. Loved it there.

Also did the Capilano Suspension Bridge, which was fun too.

Watched game 6 from one of our rooms with a great view of the group doing the same at Canada Place...that was a lot of fun, even if they lost.

Recommend the shuttle from the port to the airport. It was only $14 a person and so convenient. Driver gave a little tour too.

by shuttle do you mean DCL transfers or something else? THANKS!

 

[mellers]

Glad to hear you had great vacation!
We are also staying at the Pan Pacific pre-cruise. Could you please tell me how far Veras Burgers and White Spot are from there? Are they both walkable (about 1 mile each way)? Is SkyTrain wheelchair friendly? Thanks for any info!

I can't answer your other questions, but I know the SkyTrain is wheelchair friendly (I'm a wheelie.)

 

[poohj80]

The train was great! Of course, we lucked out with our seat assignments. We were one of the first groups in line for seat assignments and the man giving out the assignments gave our party of 7 (my sister was with us) the only 2 tables for four in the whole car.

Guess I need to find more info on Amtrak seat assignments. Didn't realize you got assignments, just thought we picked seats once on board. Can you tell us more please how it works? How early dd you arrive?

Thanks again for all the tips!

 

[poohj80]

We ate at White Spot and Veras Burgers (both recommended by her) and they were perfect for our family! We flew into Vancouver and easily took the SkyTrain to our hotel (Pan Pacific- also recommended by Lollipop's Mom and a perfect hotel for us). We never had to rent a car or take a taxi. We either walked or rode the Sky Train.

Just curious if these restaurants are within walking distance of Pan Pacific or did you have to take the Sky Train?

 

[lbgraves]

Guess I need to find more info on Amtrak seat assignments. Didn't realize you got assignments, just thought we picked seats once on board. Can you tell us more please how it works? How early dd you arrive?

Thanks again for all the tips!

Amtrak always assigns seats when you board the train. They try to prevent people from rushing onboard and snagging all the window seats and also try to keep families together. There will also be people staying onboard who boarded at a stop before yours so they count to make sure they know how many will fit on each car.

 

[LAWalz23]

I can't answer your other questions, but I know the SkyTrain is wheelchair friendly (I'm a wheelie.)

Thanks! One less thing we have to worry about for my Mom.

 

[DisneyCruisin]

by shuttle do you mean DCL transfers or something else? THANKS!

Not DCL transfer. This was something else, I think the Vancouver Shuttle. Their desk was in the terminal, just after you get through customs with your luggage. It was easy to find, signs directing you to the airport shuttle. I read about it here, and found the website online. I cant remember the site, but found it easily on google.

 

[rav4lcrv]

Do they check you in at the hotel, so you have everything set when you get to the ship?

 

[Caropooh]

DD12 has Celiac Disease and needs to eat gluten-free. Do any of you locals know of restaurants that have gluten-options? We're staying at the Sheraton Vancouver Wall Centre, but don't necessarily need ones only in that area. I know Spaghetti Factory has a GF menu.

 

[mellers]

DD12 has Celiac Disease and needs to eat gluten-free. Do any of you locals know of restaurants that have gluten-options? We're staying at the Sheraton Vancouver Wall Centre, but don't necessarily need ones only in that area. I know Spaghetti Factory has a GF menu.

The Old Spaghetti Factory is in Gastown, and as I recall, that's not too far away. This might also be helpful:

http://www.theceliacscene.com/map98-British-Columbia-Vancouver--Downtown.html

 

[Pooh667]

Hi,

I am sorry if my questions are going to be redundant. We will be flying into Vancouver Airport and staying at the Pan Pacific before our cruise. We will be 18 people with one being in a wheelchair. We would like to go to Stanley Park, Capilano Bridge, Gastown, ChinaTown, plus some mall nearby. We would also need to get from Canada Place to the airport. We would like to do all this using mass transit. The wheelchair is collapsible and my mom is able to walk up the couple of steps on and off the bus. We will be there for 2 days. Should we buy daypasses? Will that be good enough to get to all these places or will we be crossing zones? Also where in the airport could we buy the day passes? Also someone said that there are luggage carts that you can use in the airport and Canada Place for free and you can take them to the train station, is that info correct. Thanks for any advice you can give me.

 

[mom_rules]

Hi,

I am sorry if my questions are going to be redundant. We will be flying into Vancouver Airport and staying at the Pan Pacific before our cruise. We will be 18 people with one being in a wheelchair. We would like to go to Stanley Park, Capilano Bridge, Gastown, ChinaTown, plus some mall nearby. We would also need to get from Canada Place to the airport. We would like to do all this using mass transit. The wheelchair is collapsible and my mom is able to walk up the couple of steps on and off the bus. We will be there for 2 days. Should we buy daypasses? Will that be good enough to get to all these places or will we be crossing zones? Also where in the airport could we buy the day passes? Also someone said that there are luggage carts that you can use in the airport and Canada Place for free and you can take them to the train station, is that info correct. Thanks for any advice you can give me.

Hope this helps-we find the day passes very useful-you can buy them in the airport at the 7/11 or pharmacy (same downtown usually London Drugstore)-Last time they were $9 for the day - good for all zones.

http://www.translink.ca/en/Fares-and-Passes/DayPass.aspx

 

[PURTYPAT1]

Can someone help?? I just found out that I will need to take the train from Seattle July 4th (hopefully at night)

Does anyone know the website for the train?

Thank you

 

[Pooh667]

Hope this helps-we find the day passes very useful-you can buy them in the airport at the 7/11 or pharmacy (same downtown usually London Drugstore)-Last time they were $9 for the day - good for all zones.

http://www.translink.ca/en/Fares-and-Passes/DayPass.aspx

Thank you so much for the information!

 

[mom_rules]

Thank you so much for the information!

the airport

Pharmasave #22
Vancouver International Airport, Domestic Terminal Bld Level 1
Richmond, BC
V7B 1X8
(604) 303-7033

Seven Eleven 7-11
13 - 3880 Grant McConachie WAY
Richmond
(604) 207-9795

 

[Pooh667]

HI

You went above and beyond, thanks again for the information!

the airport

Pharmasave #22
Vancouver International Airport, Domestic Terminal Bld Level 1
Richmond, BC
V7B 1X8
(604) 303-7033

Seven Eleven 7-11
13 - 3880 Grant McConachie WAY
Richmond
(604) 207-9795