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Seattle to Vancouver for family of 8


monu58
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Hey folks

 

Looking for advice for best way to get to Vancouver from Seattle post cruise.

We are cruising the Pearl and come in on a Sunday morning; It will be 8 ppl (ages 2- 66); 5 adults, 3 children; All the options have that I came up have some cons; Please recommend from your experience or knowledge;

 

Option #1: Rental Van - We can get one for Approx $350, however it seats 7. We can squeeze in with the kids ,however I am wondering if all of us and the luggage will fit in the minivan; I am assuming we will have 4-5 suitcases since we are travelling to Alaska and will need to layer.

 

#2: Amtrak - There is the amtrak that we can take, however the train doens't leave till 7 pm. We'd actually prefer this option if timings were earlier, however since it's so late we'd have to obtain a hotel for the day. It won't be possible to just sightsee the whole day with the extreme of ages in our group.

 

#3 Bolt Bus - This would be the least ideal in terms of mode of transportation, however the cost and timings seem the best. Also the fact we have to remove luggage and go thru customs at the border is kind of a turnoff.

 

Are there any other options? Which one would you pick if you were in place? Any other advice for me?

 

Thanks

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With five adults there must be two drivers. Rent two vehicles and caravan; use cell phones to communicate between the vehicles.

 

National/Alamo/Enterprise (same company) have kiosks at the Seattle cruise terminals and they will shuttle you to their downtown location. Alternatively since you're on the Norwegian Pearl, you will dock at the downtown terminal, Pier 66/Bell Street, from which it's around a 15-20 min. walk to the National (et al) office or to Avis or Hertz offices downtown. Or a taxi would cost ~$10 - $15 max to any downtown rental car office. Two drivers go, the others stay at the terminal with the bags until they return.

 

Bolt Bus is (IMO) a lousy option since they don't have a downtown terminal in Seattle, they just pick up on a corner south of Pioneer Square, probably at least a mile's walk from Pier 66.

 

OR, you can also take the Quick Shuttle bus that picks up at the cruise piers in Seattle and goes straight to Vancouver. http://www.quickcoach.com/schedule.htm

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Don't rent a 7 person car for your group - even if you aren't concerned about optimising the kids' safety, WA and BC cops will have a problem with unsecured kids in a car (and you won't be just ticketed, you'll be forbidden to continue driving as rear seatbelts/car seats depending on child age/size are a legal requirement - even if all the others are all big kids, your 2 year old 100% requires a car seat for this trip).

 

Assuming you're bringing car seats as needed, I'd agree with the 'rent two cars' plan above - it's going to be way more spacious and much more legal! If you aren't or don't have 2 drivers, the only thing I'd add to GLs note is that I actually prefer boarding Bolt to other buses in Seattle for exactly the reason it's NOT at a bus station. No need to worry about which gate, no risk of getting in the wrong queue - the only bus that's going to show up is your bus, simple.

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To clarify.... have you selected a hotel? If staying downtown.... take the bus to skip parking hassles (break-in's) and cost.

 

Suburb hotels will have free or cheaper parking options.

 

Is this a one-way trip to Vancouver and you plan to fly out from there?

 

Sunday late afternoon and early evening vehicle Northbound crossings can very by busy. You may find yourself in a line up for an hour or so. Use the Custer rest stop bathrooms before joining the line.

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Don't rent a 7 person car for your group - even if you aren't concerned about optimising the kids' safety, WA and BC cops will have a problem with unsecured kids in a car (and you won't be just ticketed, you'll be forbidden to continue driving as rear seatbelts/car seats depending on child age/size are a legal requirement - even if all the others are all big kids, your 2 year old 100% requires a car seat for this trip).

 

Assuming you're bringing car seats as needed, I'd agree with the 'rent two cars' plan above - it's going to be way more spacious and much more legal! If you aren't or don't have 2 drivers, the only thing I'd add to GLs note is that I actually prefer boarding Bolt to other buses in Seattle for exactly the reason it's NOT at a bus station. No need to worry about which gate, no risk of getting in the wrong queue - the only bus that's going to show up is your bus, simple.

 

Thanks for the tips; we were going to rent a car seat with the van, so everyone's safety is paramount. We might have to look at the two car option.

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With five adults there must be two drivers. Rent two vehicles and caravan; use cell phones to communicate between the vehicles.

 

National/Alamo/Enterprise (same company) have kiosks at the Seattle cruise terminals and they will shuttle you to their downtown location. Alternatively since you're on the Norwegian Pearl, you will dock at the downtown terminal, Pier 66/Bell Street, from which it's around a 15-20 min. walk to the National (et al) office or to Avis or Hertz offices downtown. Or a taxi would cost ~$10 - $15 max to any downtown rental car office. Two drivers go, the others stay at the terminal with the bags until they return.

 

Bolt Bus is (IMO) a lousy option since they don't have a downtown terminal in Seattle, they just pick up on a corner south of Pioneer Square, probably at least a mile's walk from Pier 66.

 

OR, you can also take the Quick Shuttle bus that picks up at the cruise piers in Seattle and goes straight to Vancouver. http://www.quickcoach.com/schedule.htm

 

Thanks; I will have to price out the two car option. I just like the thought everyone being in one vehicle so we can all talk

 

To clarify.... have you selected a hotel? If staying downtown.... take the bus to skip parking hassles (break-in's) and cost.

 

Suburb hotels will have free or cheaper parking options.

 

Is this a one-way trip to Vancouver and you plan to fly out from there?

 

Sunday late afternoon and early evening vehicle Northbound crossings can very by busy. You may find yourself in a line up for an hour or so. Use the Custer rest stop bathrooms before joining the line.

 

Haven't booked a hotel yet, but likely will in downtown Vancouver. Yes, we are flying back from YVR.

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  • 2 weeks later...

Renting two cars or taking Bolt bus would be best. Train is nice, but schedule, not so much. If your only concern with Bolt is luggage, that is minor. I would recommend taking a cab or Uber/Lyft from the pier to the Bolt stop. The bus drivers are very nice and will load your luggage onto the bus. When you arrive at the boarder, you remain seated until the luggage is unloaded. You then grab your luggage and go inside. Very short (distance wise) process, so you will not have to drag your luggage any distance. I have taken the bus across the boarder. 15 minutes in the terminal max as they only let one bus of people in at a time...now you may have to wait on the bus for the buses turn. The Bolt bus terminal in Vancouver will have taxi's available

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I also would recommend the two cars. The drive isn't that long. Maybe 1-1/2 hours, 2 max. Not that tough. Plus, having luggage everywhere is not comfortable for anyone except the driver and front seat person since everyone else will be sharing with luggage. Divided between the pp rate, the two car option isn't that expensive. It is a beautiful drive and more enjoyable if your arms move.

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I also would recommend the two cars. The drive isn't that long. Maybe 1-1/2 hours, 2 max.

The drive is at least three hours plus waiting time at the border, not counting traffic at both ends. If you drive in the afternoon, there's a tunnel under the Fraser River south of Vancouver that has reversible lanes that serve southbound rush-hour traffic, which further slows things down.

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I would also be cautious about Amtrak. We booked it earlier this month SEA-VAN, and learned the hard way that it's rarely on time (though not necessarily horrendously late) and frequently they end up switching to buses instead. However, they don't switch to buses promptly. We were supposed to leave SEA at 6:50pm, and the only information I had directly was text messages that kept pushing the time out 30m at a time. They kept saying the train could make up time, but it hadn't made it into Tacoma yet. There were no announcements in the terminal, and none of the staff even showed their faces. We finally gave up at 8:15pm and booked a rental car from SEA to YVR, getting to our hotel at 12:15am maybe an hour beyond our hopeful timetable. I later learned that the train was seven hours late getting into Vancouver.

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