Help in Vancouver

[otten]

I agree with others that for more budget friendly options look at the hotels near the airport. They all have shuttles to the airport and then you can take the train to the port.

I do not recommend staying out in Langley/the outer suburbs if you’re going to be travelling during rush hour and especially not if you will be here in the summer. They are shutting down one of the few routes that connects downtown with the highway and our already bad traffic will be much worse.

 

[lilsonicfan]

Any thoughts on how long it will take to drive from Bellingham, Washington to Canada Place on a Monday morning? We will be visiting family there and we’re planning to drive to port that morning. The internet says approximately 1.5 hours but I’m not sure how accurate that is.

Hmm - well, it takes us about 40-45 minutes to reach Bellingham, so time-wise that is probably accurate without traffic. However, what I am not sure about is whether google maps, for example, takes into account border wait times. Coming north into Canada is usually not TOO long, but you do want to account for extra time just in case. Rush hour traffic on a Monday morning is really not great from the south Surrey area (ie, once you cross the border) to Vancouver and I recommend following the HOV lane as much as you can into Vancouver. There will be bottlenecks and you will think to yourselves, why does this world class city not manage its traffic better, and you will be perplexed, because we have no answer!

 

[xlxo]

Any thoughts on how long it will take to drive from Bellingham, Washington to Canada Place on a Monday morning? We will be visiting family there and we’re planning to drive to port that morning. The internet says approximately 1.5 hours but I’m not sure how accurate that is.

I would say doable.... you might want to leave Bellingham at 8:30am, cross the border at 9am and this would avoid the commuter congestion that thins out at 9:30am.

 

[xlxo]

I agree with others that for more budget friendly options look at the hotels near the airport. They all have shuttles to the airport and then you can take the train to the port.

Note, the Sea Island airport hotels are premium priced. Not all budget Lulu island hotels are close to the train. The value Vancouver Raddison Airport is the best choice with the train station across the street.

 

[lpandorf]

I had success getting reasonable prices before and after our Alaska cruise last June using the Last Minute Travel website. For instance, I just checked their website and the Hyatt Regency is $176 on Sunday June 24th. I think that is about what we paid last year per night for three night stay after our Wonder Cruise. It was about a ten minute walk from the port to the hotel. They had several cabs lined up every morning if you wanted a ride somewhere. It was close to lots of shopping and my teen son loved the McDonalds, Tim Hortons and drug store for snacks next door. Hotel was very clean, had a nice pool and Starbucks in the lobby. I'd be happy to stay there again.

The night before our Alaska cruise we stayed at the hotel attached to the airport. Think it was the Fairmont. Also got a reasonable price last minute travel website. Our flight was arriving very late and happy all we had to do was take the escalator up to our room. It was cheap and easy to catch the train from the airport to near the port and walk to terminal.

Have fun loved the Wonder in Alaska!

 

[TXAg83]

We stayed at the Marriott Pinnacle last July. Signed up for the Marriott Rewards card. With the points given for signing up for the card and the 30000 or so points I already had with Marriott, we stayed for free for 3 nights (a savings of about $1000). The card does charge $85 a year, but you get a free night certificate which is good for at least $85. The Marriott is within walking distance to the cruise terminal but we still took a cab for a very nominal price.

 

[Seamama]

We are staying at the Auberge in Vancouver and the downtown Holiday Inn in Seattle. Yes both are expensive but it is summer in major port cities. We are not renting a car in either city, only to drive between the two.

What did you think of the Auberge? I’m considering it for the night before our upcoming cruise. Would love to be able to see the ship (which I think is possible if we get a harbour suite) and walk to to port (family of 5, including 2 teens and a baby, so might be we call a cab instead). Appreciate your thoughts on the hotel!

 

[kickash]

What did you think of the Auberge? I’m considering it for the night before our upcoming cruise. Would love to be able to see the ship (which I think is possible if we get a harbour suite) and walk to to port (family of 5, including 2 teens and a baby, so might be we call a cab instead). Appreciate your thoughts on the hotel!

Pros: we had a corner king suite: separate bedroom, sleep sofa for the kids, bathroom, and kitchen area. I liked having the space and the location was great and the price was less than the big hotels at the port. The cons: it was a little fancier/upscale than I expected in terms of customer service. We didn’t really get that Canadian hospitality that you read about. Also I chose it for the indoor pool because I thought if it’s cooler outside, my kids can still swim (they love a hotel pool and this one was huge!). What the website fails to tell you is the hotel shares that pool with a very fancy city athletic club and the hours are extremely limited and sometimes the kids are only allowed in one or two lanes of the pool because members of this club would come after work and swim their laps. We also had to go into the athletic club’s locker rooms to enter the pool so if I was taking my kids by myself and my husband stayed back, my son would have to go into that locker room by himself which I did not like. We definitely felt unwanted at the pool and that was extremely disappointing.

If you don’t care about the pool, it’s a good location as you walk to the port, which we all did, and it’s not as expensive.

I’ll post a few pics.

 

[Seamama]

Pros: we had a corner king suite: separate bedroom, sleep sofa for the kids, bathroom, and kitchen area. I liked having the space and the location was great and the price was less than the big hotels at the port. The cons: it was a little fancier/upscale than I expected in terms of customer service. We didn’t really get that Canadian hospitality that you read about. Also I chose it for the indoor pool because I thought if it’s cooler outside, my kids can still swim (they love a hotel pool and this one was huge!). What the website fails to tell you is the hotel shares that pool with a very fancy city athletic club and the hours are extremely limited and sometimes the kids are only allowed in one or two lanes of the pool because members of this club would come after work and swim their laps. We also had to go into the athletic club’s locker rooms to enter the pool so if I was taking my kids by myself and my husband stayed back, my son would have to go into that locker room by himself which I did not like. We definitely felt unwanted at the pool and that was extremely disappointing. View attachment 466569View attachment 466563View attachment 466564View attachment 466565View attachment 466566View attachment 466567View attachment 466568View attachment 466569

If you don’t care about the pool, it’s a good location as you walk to the port, which we all did, and it’s not as expensive.

I’ll post a few pics.

Thanks for your time in responding, and especially all the pics! Seeing the ship from our room and easily walking to the port are our top priorities so this sounds like a good choice if I can’t snag a deal on the Pan Pacific. Really appreciate knowing the other things you mentioned, though, too.

 

[tidefan]

We stayed at the Hampton Inn across from BC Place on HHonors points. Had free breakfast and a free shuttle to the port!