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

[mom_rules]

Now that I'm home from the EBTA it's time to start the LA-Vancouver repo/1st Alaska planning.

Here's my first (and I'm serious here) question:

Do you think we will be able to exit the ship from the repo and go get a Japadog? We have several people interested in this non-DCL excursion!

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It's a really nice (on a sunny day) walk I think about 15-20 mins-Straight up Burrard-by the Sutton Place Hotel.
They also had a smaller version on the waterfront on the other side of the Vancouver Convention Centre when we were there a few months ago. Can't see why you couldn't.

 

[justmestace]

Subscribing to this, so that I can find it easier. We'll be cruising Alaska (30 days from today!) on another cruise line, and I'll be doing a report about the ports that DCL will be stopping at, on the Trip Report forum.

I'll be posting a link to it on here, if anyone is going to be interested in hearing about the ports ahead of time.

 

[GrtWtNorth]

This post made me anxious since we are planning to drive up from Portland, so I went onto Hertz's website and checked out prices for a one-day, one-way rental from Portland to Vancouver. I didn't see a surcharge for crossing the border. It's not really cheap, but for an SUV the one-day charge was about $140, which I think we'll probably do. Of course I tested it for this August rather than next August, and I guess things could change, but for right now, that looks like our plan.

I just confirmed similar rates, double-checking that the drop off point was Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada (not Vancouver, Washington). I found a regular car rental from the Portland airport was $20/d to return to the same airport. However, taking the same vehicle to Vancouver would cost +$200/d. They didn't specify a drop-off-fee, they just adjusted the daily rate.

 

[mmmears]

This is a great thread! Thanks for compiling all the info on Vancouver I could possibly need, all in one place!

 

[GrtWtNorth]

I can't resist posting this news. A Grey Whale wandered into False Creek, a small inlet south of downtown Vancouver. It wandered around between the tourist attractions for several hours before heading back to sea.

Sample of TV news coverage
Sample of newspaper coverage

Grey whales are not rare in the region, but it is extremely rare for a whale to go into such a busy waterway, full of boats and surrounded by people. An equivalent experience might be a moose walking through Times Square or an aligator waddling through Cinderella's Castle.

 

[MAGICFOR2]

I can't resist posting this news. A Grey Whale wandered into False Creek, a small inlet south of downtown Vancouver. It wandered around between the tourist attractions for several hours before heading back to sea.

Sample of TV news coverage
Sample of newspaper coverage

Grey whales are not rare in the region, but it is extremely rare for a whale to go into such a busy waterway, full of boats and surrounded by people. An equivalent experience might be a moose walking through Times Square or an aligator waddling through Cinderella's Castle.

hmmm guess he got lost! Thanks for sharing. I've yet to see a grey whale off our coast, even though I've been there at the right season...

 

[perdidobay]

Question for Vancover diser's- Does 4th of July holiday have any effect on Vancover, i.e.- more American tourists there just for the weekend? I'm considering the Alaska cruise that departs on July 5th, and we would arrive in Vancover a few days early-Saturday the 2nd. If it will be really busy because of crowds we may consider a later cruise. TIA!

 

[purplern]

I can't resist posting this news. A Grey Whale wandered into False Creek, a small inlet south of downtown Vancouver. It wandered around between the tourist attractions for several hours before heading back to sea.

Sample of TV news coverage
Sample of newspaper coverage

Grey whales are not rare in the region, but it is extremely rare for a whale to go into such a busy waterway, full of boats and surrounded by people. An equivalent experience might be a moose walking through Times Square or an aligator waddling through Cinderella's Castle.

Cool!!!! Thanks for sharing!

 

[GrtWtNorth]

Question for Vancover diser's- Does 4th of July holiday have any effect on Vancover, i.e.- more American tourists there just for the weekend? I'm considering the Alaska cruise that departs on July 5th, and we would arrive in Vancover a few days early-Saturday the 2nd. If it will be really busy because of crowds we may consider a later cruise. TIA!

Yes, it will be very busy.

First, July 1 is Canada Day. Crowds of hundreds of thousands of Canadians will be downtown to celebrate and watch the fireworks. The cruise ship terminal, Canada Place, is the focal point for Vancouver's Canada Day celebrations. Click here for a glimpse of the festivities.

As for July 4, there are little celebrations around Vancouver, mostly for the benefit of the thousands of tourists and ex-pats. Because of Vancouver's proximity to the US, and it's status as a tourist destination, there will be many other Americans visiting during this time.

Expect both border crossings to be very busy, with many people crossing in both directions to celebrate the holidays with friends and family. In fact, I would suggest planning to cross before 8:00 am or after 9:00 pm, unless you are prepared for 2-hour waits.

 

[perdidobay]

Thanks for the info, after watching the video I think I'd like to be there that weekend. It looks like great fun! We'd be flying directly into Vancover so no worries about border crossings being busy.
DH can't wait to see Vancover again, he was there for buisness 8 years ago but his trip was cut short when I was in a traffic accident and he had to hurry back home.

Yes, it will be very busy.

First, July 1 is Canada Day. Crowds of hundreds of thousands of Canadians will be downtown to celebrate and watch the fireworks. The cruise ship terminal, Canada Place, is the focal point for Vancouver's Canada Day celebrations. Click here for a glimpse of the festivities.

As for July 4, there are little celebrations around Vancouver, mostly for the benefit of the thousands of tourists and ex-pats. Because of Vancouver's proximity to the US, and it's status as a tourist destination, there will be many other Americans visiting during this time.

Expect both border crossings to be very busy, with many people crossing in both directions to celebrate the holidays with friends and family. In fact, I would suggest planning to cross before 8:00 am or after 9:00 pm, unless you are prepared for 2-hour waits.

 

[RedSox68]

While we are not doing Disney in Alaska next July but Holland America, I am finding this thread invaluable for information as our departure port is also Vancouver.

Once we discovered that the flight from the east coast to Vancouver is almost as long as our flight to Hawaii Hawaii , we started thinking about doing the round trip from Seattle (where we can use Southwest) and taking the train to Vancouver. I have always loved trains and it sounds like it might be fun. That way, we can do a day and overnight in Seattle to break up the flight times. And since our land tour ends with a 2-1/2 flight from Whitehorse back to Vancouver, I sure as heck don't want to get right on the plane home for another 10 hours!

We are doing the post-cruise package with two nights in Vancouver and going to Victoria and Butchart, but I'd hate to stay a night in Seattle and then get to Vancouver and pay for another night pre-cruise.

So any negatives on taking the train from Seattle to Vancouver on day of sailing so we don't have to pay for a hotel room in Vancouver? I am one of those naysayers about flying in same day, but I thought since Seattle is so close, the train on same day shouldn't be a problem. Any opinions on this?

Also, we are doing a cruise tour with 7 day cruise and 13-day land. Anyone with any comments about the mosquito problems I keep hearing about. Some stories say they are unbearable in July especially Thanks.

 

[GrtWtNorth]

Once we discovered that the flight from the east coast to Vancouver is almost as long as our flight to Hawaii Hawaii , we started thinking about doing the round trip from Seattle (where we can use Southwest) and taking the train to Vancouver.

That's brutal. I guess you couldn't find direct flights on your travel days. It's between 5 and 6 hours to fly from Vancouver to either Boston or Honolulu. There would be more flights direct to Vancouver from Montreal and New York, assuming you live somewhere in New England.

FYI, Vancouver has no direct flights to Orlando. We drive 2.5 hours to the Seattle airport to fly to Orlando direct (5.5 h). Taking a connecting flight from Vancouver takes just as long (if you count time to travel to airport, wait, fly, and connect), and costs an extra $300 or more for our family. Canadian airlines also tend to use Toronto or Montreal as a connection hub, which makes total travel time ridiculously long (+6h flying plus 2-4h connecting).

 

[RedSox68]

Yeah, that's the problem -- the reasonably priced flights are not direct and have ridiculous connections. One flies us from Newark to Houston and THEN to Vancouver? Going south to go north? Bizarre. We do like Continental and they offer a direct, but we'll have to wait and see what the costs are when flights open for next July.

In the meantime, we're going to weigh the costs of flying to Vancouver WITH baggage costs as opposed to flying to Seattle on Southwest WITHOUT baggage costs but WITH train fare. It might actually be cheaper, but tiring.

Oh, and I'll finally get to see what it would be like to take one of those group tours of Europe via coach. We got our confirmed schedule from HAL and the land portion is intense. While there are some places we stay two nights, they have us on a tight schedule from morning to night. However, we are covering a lot of ground and seeing great sights and landmarks. Lots of time to rest on the coaches and trains anyway! The most intense portion I see is we take a coach for 6-1/2 hours to Tok, arriving at 6 p.m. Then have to get back on the coach the next morning at 6 a.m. (ouch) for another 6 hours to the Yukon. But then we get a nice leisurely river boat cruise for several hours with lunch. All the other days have early arrivals and extra nights.

I would have preferred to do the cruise last as a rest period, but the southbound tours only give you 19 days by cutting the day of free time in Anchorage. I figure since we travelled al that way, I'd like to see Anchorage too.

 

[kris3kid]

I just found this board and had to laugh. I have been researching the in's and out's of how to get here and there for several months now. My mom who is going with me thinks that I am crazy and can't believe that I am looking into this already. I now feel much better having friends out there. I Have only met one other person on my cruise so far and only one of the room groupings is sold out so far. We are going early in the year so that makes a difference, I want to see the whales the most and it will still be high whale time. After reading many of your comments I may try and come in two days early. We had planned on one but there seems to be so much to do and see. We will be flying into SeaTac and then do the quick shuttle into Vancouver, it seems the easy way to go.

 

[Monstro]

I've been looking at this site. Very informative and a lot of great info on the BC Area.

http://britishcolumbia.mydestinationinfo.com/

 

[wdhinn89]

Thanks! 400 days to go

 

[goslingl]

I just found this board and had to laugh. I have been researching the in's and out's of how to get here and there for several months now. My mom who is going with me thinks that I am crazy and can't believe that I am looking into this already. I now feel much better having friends out there. I Have only met one other person on my cruise so far and only one of the room groupings is sold out so far. We are going early in the year so that makes a difference, I want to see the whales the most and it will still be high whale time. After reading many of your comments I may try and come in two days early. We had planned on one but there seems to be so much to do and see. We will be flying into SeaTac and then do the quick shuttle into Vancouver, it seems the easy way to go.

Welcome! We are all over planners and we love it!

 

[piglet33]

we started thinking about doing the round trip from Seattle (where we can use Southwest) and taking the train to Vancouver. I have always loved trains and it sounds like it might be fun.

We're on the 8/23 Alaska Cruise and are also thinking of flying into Seattle and taking the train up to Vancouver. It's not that expensive and the views are supposedly wonderful. Anyone else thinking of doing this?

 

[poohj80]

We're on the 8/23 Alaska Cruise and are also thinking of flying into Seattle and taking the train up to Vancouver. It's not that expensive and the views are supposedly wonderful. Anyone else thinking of doing this?

Add us to the list of considering this as well. We're on the 8/30 cruise!

One concern we have is transportation between the airport and train station. We're assuming we'll stay in Seattle a night or two before the cruise but probably go straight to the airport (if possible) after the cruise. We may just take to train to Vancouver but take the bus back.

 

[smeecanada]

One concern we have is transportation between the airport and train station. We're assuming we'll stay in Seattle a night or two before the cruise but probably go straight to the airport (if possible) after the cruise. We may just take to train to Vancouver but take the bus back.

No problem. Went to DL a couple of years ago. Took the Victoria Clipper from Victoria to Seattle. Hadn't looked into any options - as we literally went spur of the moment. So, got a taxi outside the building, lots waiting - it was about $40 from downtown to the airport. It's a nice city - no issues to really worry about. There will most likely be taxis waiting outside the train station and definitely available from the airport.