Wonder - Sept 27, 2015 - Oct 1, 2015: Vancouver to San Diego

[SoCalRtwo]

A friend and I just booked this cruise (our first Disney cruise - yeah!!!) and I am VERY interested in getting involved in a FE group, BUT I refuse to join FB so I can't connect that way to this group. Any other suggestions?

Regina

 

[Bjornda]

Just booked this cruise! Transferred our reservation from the Caribbean cruise in February of 2015 to this one! I just couldn't stomach the flight prices to fly out to Florida and back!

We did the repo cruise back in 2013 and it was hands down the best vacation we have ever had! The timing is even better on this one, so I am so excited!

It will be myself and my daughters - 10 and 3 at the time of sailing. We plan to spend a few days in the fantastic city of San Diego after the cruise, and probably at leave one day in Vancouver before the cruise Oh - and for anyone who hasn't been to Victoria before - beautiful city!!!

Has anyone brought up the topic of fish extenders yet??? I would absolutely love to be involved in this is so

I look forward to getting to know everyone over the next year and a bit

 

[Babysaurs]

Hi thinking of booking this cruise coming from Australia we are booked on the oct 4th baja Mexico cruise and thinking of doing this too
Just wondering if anyone remembers what they paid for 2a2c in any room? Wondering if prices have gone up much since opening day?
Also anyone know average flight cost from la to Vancouver?
Thankyou

 

[Jkpark]

We are canceling this cruise. We realized this week is too hectic at both our jobs so will be booking something different. Hope you all have an amazing cruise!

 

[BCDISNEYFANFAMILY]

Thanks for letting us know Jennifer

 

[BCDISNEYFANFAMILY]

Hi thinking of booking this cruise coming from Australia we are booked on the oct 4th baja Mexico cruise and thinking of doing this too
Just wondering if anyone remembers what they paid for 2a2c in any room? Wondering if prices have gone up much since opening day?
Also anyone know average flight cost from la to Vancouver?
Thankyou

We are a family of 5 and we paid $3200 for this one. I haven't checked prices lately so I don't know how much it's gone up. We have flown to and from LA twice and connected through Vancouver, but I really have no idea how much a flight from LA to Vancouver will cost...but it'll be nothing compared to your flight from Australia! LOL My sister lives there and airfare is crazy expensive! I just tried a search on flighthub and it said $1300...then I noticed it was connecting through Munich???WHAT?? Clearly there's something wrong with that site! One way flights for later this month, one way, LAX to YVR are around $109. It looks like for us it's about $200 more than when we booked in May, or whenever it was....

 

[kventventx]

We booked this one while on the East Bound Panama Canal Cruise. We live in San Diego and want to see Canada. So, we will spend a week there and then catch the boat home. I also posted for the FB group. It's me and my husband. Looking forward to meeting you all in person. Happy planning.

 

[momof3poohlovers]

We just booked this cruise yesterday. Can't wait! This will be our 4th Disney Cruise. It stinks because we were booked on another cruise that we had booked onboard for Oct. 2015 and Disney canceled it. We had no idea what we wanted to do so we decided to get our deposit back and lost our onboard credit. We are looking forward to visiting Canada though.

 

[xlxo]

We're planning on flying to Vancouver from San Diego on Wednesday so we'll be there for about 3.5 days prior to sailing. I think that should be plenty of time to enjoy Capilano Bridge, Grouse Mountain, Stanley Park, and just walking around downtown and Chinatown.

If anybody has any recommendations on dim sum, pho, sushi, and seafood places, I'd love to hear them. I've been reading that the chinese food, pho, and seafood/sushi is really fresh there so we really want to eat some good food.

3.5 days? For some 3.5 weeks is not enough to explore the area. Especially travelling from so far away.

The Vancouver Chinatown is on a decline, but being reborn. After going there, do budget time for the airport suburb of Richmond's Golden Village. You find the newer Chinese restaurants and business there...
http://www.tourismrichmond.com/things-to-do/golden-village/

Yes, Vancouver has become a mecca for various ethnic foods. Some fly in just to go eat! Some ideas...

For Chinese.... Sun Sui Wah, Sea Harbour, and Kirin are my favourite premium Dim Sum destinations. On a budget, Pink Pearl and Floata are good second choices. More exotic ideas? Check out the restaurant awards, note English might be a challenge at these award winning destinations.

• http://chineserestaurantawards.com/index.php
• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wmKCc73NZLo
• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VLS3dYE5qAg

I believe you can have a BETTER Alaskan crab dinner in Vancouver than you can in Alaska. Sorry DCL.... Are you happy with just boiled and butter? How about Deep Fried? How about Garlic? How about Ginger and Garlic? How about spiced? Baked Alaskan? How about ALL OF THE ABOVE? Some elite Chinese restaurants can serve you an entire crab with 3, 4, 5 of five flavours! Just make sure you have 6 or more friends to devour the meal.
http://www.followmefoodie.com/2014/04/dynasty-seafood-restaurant-alaskan-king-crab-dinner-vancouver/

Best Vancouver Pho? Too many to choose. http://www.vanmag.com/Restaurants/Awards/Best_Vietnamese_2014

Best Sushi? Does the idea of AYCE (All you can Eat) interest you? Would you prefer wild or farmed? Again too many to choose...
https://www.google.ca/search?q=best+vancouver+sushi

Best Vancouver Seafood?
Joe Forte's... love the tower
http://www.urbanspoon.com/f/14/1000...ts#/f/14/100047/Vancouver/Seafood-Restaurants

More Vancouver restaurants ideas?

• http://www.vanmag.com/Restaurants/Vancouver_Restaurant_Awards_2014
• http://www.straight.com/bov/2014/winners/5386

Don't forget to check out Vancouver chocolate and gelato ice cream for dessert. They are leaders with world awards! Must go to one nightly if you have kids with you.
http://www.vancitybuzz.com/2014/09/vancouvers-mink-chocolates-wins-best-chocolate-bar-world-award/
http://www.straight.com/blogra/vancouvers-bella-gelateria-wins-gelato-competition-italy
http://www.lacasagelato.com/

 

[xlxo]

Kids will be 8, 6, and almost 3. We're trying to figure out if we want to just buy a cheap umbrella stroller once we get to Vancouver for our little one or if we want to bring our own. We also plan on renting a car so we also need to figure out car seats. Should we rent from the car rental place or just bring our own? I guess we could get away with not using one for our 8 year old. The 6 year old could just use the boaster seat but dd(almost)3 will need a car seat and the one she'll be using at that time more than likely is her older brother's Britax Marathon and that's a big car seat to lug around.

Some thoughts....

• think Alamo or National for your rental. They allow you to drive the car straight into the cruise terminal to drop off. Consider reservations 6 to 8 months before your cruise to secure the larger minivans/SUV's that can transport a large family with a week of cruise luggage.
• As a non resident... you might want to wait 24hours after you land to pick up that rental. You can save 12% in taxes. After landing you might want to use a cab or airport shuttle to your hotel to get used to the time zone change. Personally, I stay at airport hotel and ride the subway into the cruise terminal to get my car the next day to avoid the 18% tax. Because I pickup and drop off the vehicle at the same location.... I also save on rental surcharges.
  http://www.canada.com/story_print.html?id=a1aeb1ee-0289-4c57-8c3f-6a17b8c5aa07
• booster seats are available for about $10 a day with a rental. Call ahead to reserve. If you are renting more than 3 days.... it may be cheaper to get a seat from Canadian Tire or Walmart for $20-$25. Then donate to a charity. Baby seats are more complicated as not all rental agencies have them.
• Here's the laws on child seats. Important with kids under 9 http://www.icbc.com/road-safety/safer-drivers/Pages/Child-car-seats.aspx

 

[gometros]

Great post, xlxo.

 

[Camonkeygirl]

I just booked this cruise for my Mom , Sister and I. it will be my 5th cruise (3rd for 2015) and their first. I live in San Diego, and work at the Zoo here for 25 years. If you have any questions please let me know.

I think it would be an awesome experience for us to join the FE group.

We are possibly looking at flying into Vancouver from LAX, and need a recommendation on a very budget friendly place to stay, if anyone has it (budget is $100 or less for the night)

For those of you thinking about going up to DL after the cruise, you might consider Amtrak. The station is a block from the Cruise Ship Terminal in San Diego and Three miles from DL in Anaheim, and you would not have to deal with traffic.

 

[gometros]

I just booked this cruise for my Mom , Sister and I. it will be my 5th cruise (3rd for 2015) and their first. I live in San Diego, and work at the Zoo here for 25 years. If you have any questions please let me know.

I think it would be an awesome experience for us to join the FE group.

We are possibly looking at flying into Vancouver from LAX, and need a recommendation on a very budget friendly place to stay, if anyone has it (budget is $100 or less for the night)

For those of you thinking about going up to DL after the cruise, you might consider Amtrak. The station is a block from the Cruise Ship Terminal in San Diego and Three miles from DL in Anaheim, and you would not have to deal with traffic.

Thanks for the Amtrak recommendation. We had already decided that's the way we're going to go.

Welcome aboard.

 

[xlxo]

We are possibly looking at flying into Vancouver from LAX, and need a recommendation on a very budget friendly place to stay, if anyone has it (budget is $100 or less for the night)

The Canadian Dollar has taken a nose dive in recent days and my fav Vancouver hotel is close to meeting your $100 daily budget...
http://www.expedia.ca/Vancouver-Hot...nformation?chkin=26/09/2015&chkout=27/09/2015

• Free airport transfer
• $35 cab ride to cruise terminal
• 20 min ride with subway across the street to Downtown Vancouver
• lots of restaurants with various budgets around the hotel
• 3 Supermarkets/groceries to load up on supplies before the cruise

With these savings, you can spend a week in Vancouver before the cruise compared to a few nights at the Panny.

 

[Camonkeygirl]

Thanks for the Amtrak recommendation. We had already decided that's the way we're going to go.

Welcome aboard.

Thank you. Amtrak is my go-to to get from San Diego to Disneyland, as I hate sitting in traffic.

 

[Camonkeygirl]

The Canadian Dollar has taken a nose dive in recent days and my fav Vancouver hotel is close to meeting your $100 daily budget...
http://www.expedia.ca/Vancouver-Hot...nformation?chkin=26/09/2015&chkout=27/09/2015

• Free airport transfer
• $35 cab ride to cruise terminal
• 20 min ride with subway across the street to Downtown Vancouver
• lots of restaurants with various budgets around the hotel
• 3 Supermarkets/groceries to load up on supplies before the cruise

With these savings, you can spend a week in Vancouver before the cruise compared to a few nights at the Panny.

Thank you for the Recommendation, I hope it will be about the same price, when can get the funds together later this month.

 

[BCDISFamily]

We are booked for the same cruise as well We will be staying a couple of nights in SD following the cruise, then a night in Legoland, and then off to Disneyland for a week...very excited to surprise our kids with the cruise portion of the trip (they think we are flying)!


Cheers,
Amanda, Steven
Kenya (8) & Kayman (7)

 

[Camonkeygirl]

Vancouver folks, what is the Moda Hotel on Seymore like? Trip advisor gives some mixed reviews.

For those of you planning on staying in San Diego after arrival, closer to the cruise dates you may want to search for free kids month and San Diego. There are lots of places that let children in free like the San Diego Zoo, others require purchase of an adult tickets

 

[xlxo]

Vancouver folks, what is the Moda Hotel on Seymore like? Trip advisor gives some mixed reviews.

Is noise going to be a concern?

• Seymour and Smithe are major one way streets. The rooms are right up against the streets.
• Quick look to the reviews mentions thin walls. If the traffic does not bother you, your neighbors might be an issue.

Neighborhood?

• Granville entertainment district is to the West. More for young adults rather than young children.
• Nearby trendy Yaletown is good for exploring and premium food.
• Granville street, Seymour and Howe offer good public transit North and South
• Subways are two/three blocks away

 

[Camonkeygirl]

Is noise going to be a concern?

• Seymour and Smithe are major one way streets. The rooms are right up against the streets.
• Quick look to the reviews mentions thin walls. If the traffic does not bother you, your neighbors might be an issue.

Neighborhood?

• Granville entertainment district is to the West. More for young adults rather than young children.
• Nearby trendy Yaletown is good for exploring and premium food.
• Granville street, Seymour and Howe offer good public transit North and South
• Subways are two/three blocks away

Thank you. I think we will be ok for one night. I am sure my Mom is going to be like a kid in a candy store about going on her first cruise. My main concern would be safety, for three Women, as I just convinced my Sister to go with us