martincath

You don't need one - ESTA official FAQs here indicate that you should apply as soon as you know you are traveling, even before booking accommodation, and can enter UNKNOWN as the address for your accommodation. Don't forget you also need an eTA for Canada as I assume you are a UK citizen (if you hold joint Canadian nationality you need neither eTA nor ESTA), unless you've visited here recently enough you still have a valid eTA (5 years - but if you changed your passport, you need a new one).

QuickShuttle are the only 'direct to the airport' service, but given their a**holery this year - cancelling services 2 days a week with minimal notice which left at least one fellow-cruiser in the lurch - I would not personally reply upon them, but with no taxi to downtown needed they are probably the cheapest option unless you're a big group who can find a cheap rate on a one-way car rental... Amtrak might be back to 2 daily trains by next year, and will definitely still be running their bus service whether or not the second train returns; Greyhound stops in Bellingham; and while Bolt has ceased to exist their operations were taken over by Flixbus. All of these go from downtown Bellingham, so a cab would be needed. Towncars which cross the border run about $300 each way, but that's per car - a one-way car rental from BLI to Vancouver I have no idea of a likely price for next year but it's worth checking into.

Keep your eyes on car rental prices - this year has been an odd one all over, with supply issues of cars as well as all the other post-Covid shutdown staffing issues etc. Next year might be closer to normal - and back in TheBeforeTimes you could get a one-way rental for a hundred bucks easily, unless you needed a niche vehicle like a minivan. Train the day before your cruise may also offer the later service by next year (staffing issues at Amtrak are apparently why only one daily train for now), if you want an extra half-day in Seattle. Unless you've visited Vancouver before though, I do feel obliged to suggest abandoning your Seattle plans (or flipping the time spend in each if e.g. you have points on an airline that flies to SEA but not YVR, or just really want to do the train ride). We're both nicer and cheaper, thanks to CAD vs USD discount!

Ouch - assuming it did start on time, that was even less efficient than our experience back in the day! SF CBP out of practise I guess, given how few cruises need immigration processing there...

I agree - unless you maybe want to eat breakfast somewhere in port, a nice walk outdoors is about all you can do until at least 9am. Even the car rental offices in Victoria don't open early or late, they're all pretty much 9-5, so by the time you get to Butchart you won't have near enough time to do it justice. In short, I also think Beacon Hill Park would be your best bet!

Nope, not any more. There was a report from this season that Blue Horizon claimed to offer a Cruise'n'Park deal for a week or two after a night's stay, but long story short it needed to be booked with the car park management separately, which caused that particular cruiser some major hassle as the hotel staff did not inform them that there was no 'package' deal as such! Last hotel downtown to actually offer it was the older of the Coast hotels - it closed 3-4 years ago IIRC. A handful of airport hotels do still offer it, e.g. the local chain Accent Inn - but you're looking at a ~30min commute each way whether you drive or take SkyTrain to downtown.

We did it on our very first AK cruise, so over a decade ago, and I wasn't going to respond given the length of time... but since you've only had one reply I'll chime in (with the caveat of much time passed, so take with many grains of salt!) that 'peaceful' is a fair description; you do see lighthouses & totems - but not very close; and eagle sightings are ten a penny in AK so overall we found the value poor; the trip itself (2 hours IIRC) was not terrible but there are so many other options that it would be an absolute bottom-tier pick for us. The only memorable part of the excursion for us was the free salmon dip - still haven't had nicer included snacks on any tour, BUT thanks to Covid the odds of a big share bowl of dip being deployed these days seems pretty much zero...

Glad your later embarkation went smoothly! Unless CBP have seriously loosened up their procedures, Immigration at first port should be the expectation. Warning - you definitely want to be among the very first people lining up because SF is inefficient as heck at dealing with immigration! Golden Princess, far from the biggest vessel around, took over three hours to get the last pax cleared on our visit a few years back, and that was with every desk operating at Pier 27 - it's just not big enough to fit any more desks, even if CBP are fully-staffed-up. If you have excursions booked soon after planned arrival time, there's a good chance of missing them unless you get off the ship before the immigration queues build up - given how far in advance Alcatraz tickets need booked for example, even off-season, there might be a lot of peeved patrons who miss their trips because they aren't allowed off until they've been processed...

I've been reading backwards up the chain, or I would have asked about the Direct to Bus already as it seems... odd. When it was offered in TheBeforeTimes it didn't just skip over CBSA (Canadian I&C) but also put you straight into the Secure area at YVR, i.e. no need to see anyone from CBP (US I&C) either! This seems like a weird half-way house, no Canadian processing but even though you have gone from US jurisdiction to US jurisdiction you still have to be processed again!? For a flight that tight, skipping even the usually-entirely-behind-the-scenes CBSA step is perhaps worthwhile, but the old way would have had an even bigger time saving - we'll need to see whether this version sticks for next season, the old one comes back, or yet another weirdly random process is trialed ("Redheads can skip CBSA, Blue Rinses can skip CBP, and if you are traveling in a trio and your third has white hair you get the special Flag Matching Package and we put you in a helicopter right to your front yard!")

Hoping OP comes back to tell us what actually happens after tomorrow! Preclearance almost always happens on cruises that head straight to US waters - it's so much more efficient than staffing up tiny ports with CBP agents. The cruises that do not preclear are those which hit another Canadian port after Vancouver, usually Victoria - the laws that enable Preclearance require the vessel to immediately head 'over the border' so any Canadian stop means Preclearance cannot happen... I think that the wording from HAL is most likely just a poor bit of communication. Security will of course happen so getting off and on is a bit of a hassle even without an Immigration step, and frankly like was already advised above it's always best to board as late as you can anyway - crowds are lighter, no wait to get onboard once you have gone through all the needed check-in, security, etc., and more time in Vancouver to Do Stuff!

If you want to head straight to Seatac, cruiseline transfers are probably cheaper than QS and have no stops except at the border. Hard to say since QS moved to a new pricing model, with extra fees for every suitcase but slightly reduced base fares, but for typical cruiser with a big bag or two it's more expensive than it used to be (which was US$59pp in TheBeforeTimes). If you have a lot of people, a rental car - despite troubles restocking fleet levels, possible drop fees for one-way trips - is unparalleled in flexibility and since the price is divided by all the folks in it can still be the cheapest option around. If you are flexible in timing, then the most pleasant method is available again - Amtrak train. The afternoon train gets into downtown Seattle around 10pm, so it's rarely feasible for same-day flights even redeyes, but if you can fit an overnight into your schedule it's comfy, with nice views, by far the best legroom of any mode of travel, and even tolerable food and drink onboard at not-too-gougy prices with CAD cash accepted if you have a little left and don't think you're returning soon to use it. Prices have literally doubled since they returned - Saver tix now $68pp instead of $34 - but that's still very comparable, even cheaper if you have a lot of bags, than QS and it's by far the least annoying border crossing (precleared in Vancouver, so never need to schlep bags off for inspection unlike with bus services). There's also Cantrail and Greyhound buses, or if you get lucky and your date has service Flixbus is the newest kid on the block and the cheapest - all of these go downtown to downtown like Amtrak, so you do need to factor transit or cabs on each end, but they are even cheaper than the train.

Loving the detailed posts and general tone. Just so you know though Harry, we do have the regular 'hand bags to the workers, drop on conveyer behind them' system, but we're not allowed to use it for US-bound flights doing Preclearance - because that's how your government wants it done! All those bags are scanned separately from other int'l flights. As to efficiency - every CBP agent working in Vancouver, Toronto etc. replaces several that would otherwise have to be deployed across every US airport that accepts flights from Canada, even tiny ones that only handle a handful a day... so it's more about saving federal government wages than making travelers lives easier, but it is actually more efficient (if you don't have issues with your bag tags!) than being cleared at your first US airport most of the time. Surly CBP... we also have nothing to do with that, we do our best to keep them well-stocked with Timmies, Kinder Eggs, and Maple syrup, but some folks you just can't cheer up 😉 Your Westjet ticket machine/worker issues? For those you can legitimately blame Canada!

Rosedale is a few blocks closer to the coach pickup - but if that's your only differential criteria, a dollar per cab ride isn't much of a reason to sway opinion! Google Maps works well in Vancouver - all transit routes are fully integrated, as well as walking & biking (which generates an altitude profile of the route, so you can choose longer but less steep routes if e.g. you are schlepping big bag). Ferry-wise, with 7 people you could consider a charter to Bowen Island from downtown - they stopped running their daily commuter trips, problems securing a regular dock, but still own the boat I believe. It's a nice run on the water, and the main town on Bowen has galleries, pubs, cafes etc. that can easily fill a few hours even if you don't feel like hiking around the island. The only regular water taxi services run a very short route (~45mins to take the entire loop around False Creek) - or the Seabus over to North Van for lunch around Lonsdale Quay on the other side of downtown. This is basically a floating bus though, a very short route <15mins each way, predominantly for commuters - few window seats as the boats are very wide. But Seabus and water taxis would let you float in local waters for a bit, then enjoy a vast array of lunch options! Getting to Butchart Gardens/Victoria and back in a day means either $kaching$ (fly both ways, cut the travel time to about 90mins total) or a looooooong day (coach & ferry day trips take 12-14 hours, with very little discretionary free time). Butchart is a very nice garden - and if you are on the Island, absolute worth a visit - but you can find many tremendous gardens, many of them free, in Vancouver itself. Even if you zipped around in a couple of cabs you'd be spending a fraction of both the time and the money of a Butchart day trip - and a day pass on transit would still be fairly efficient timewise if you did the gardens in a sensible order, for less than $10pp for Seniors. For example - the Botanic Gardens out at UBC have a Treewalk and the Japanese garden there offers traditional tea ceremonies (Butchart has neither); the Rose Garden is tiny but with incredible scenic views and you'd be mad not to visit a couple of the museums if you were at UBC - MoA is huge, worth at least a half-day on its own if you're the kind of folks who read all the little plaques; the Beaty has a whale skeleton displayed in the entry and thousands of other biological samples in jars and drawers; PMoE isn't as big but might be of interest if any of you are keen on geology. Stanley Park has another free Rose garden which is huge and very well kept, as well as a rhododendron garden and a huge expanse of native trees, Beaver Lake, public art all over, scenic views etc.; Queen Elizabeth park has 2 quarry gardens - not as big as the Butchart one, but free, with a tropical indoor garden for dirt-cheap that's also full of birds; combo tickets for this and the VanDusen Botanical save an extra buck or so, are only a few blocks walk apart, and you can see a traditional English Hedge Maze as well as many pretty flowers. Downtown Vancouver has the finest traditional Chinese garden in the world outside Suzhou - guided tours included with entry to explain the ridiculous details of the process to build such a thing, well under $20pp (and a free city park next door that replicates it in cheaper, mass-produced materials to give you the vibe in case you have no idea if you'd enjoy such a garden).

Burrard Station is on the Expo line - so you could get there from Stadium/Chinatown, close to the Y. But at the distances involved, with just small bags, it might be cheaper to take a cab! 4 bums on seats, 4 carry-on size bags in the trunk is viable even in a Prius cab - and the cost is the same whether there's one of you or four; a 1km ride would be about $7 (traffic getting to the bus with commuters on Wed morning, say $10 but probably including a tip within that; returning after 8pm on a Saturday could be just $6 on the meter). Transit fares are pretty much guaranteed to rise again on July 1st 2023 - given how much inflation is peaking these days, it might be the biggest rise in some time (although I'd guess the current $2.05 Senior fare won't go over $2.25; so that's $9 for the 4 of you...) Capilano - if you feel the spend is worthwhile, which I do not personally, you may as well get your money's worth and use their shuttles (no extra charge). With 4 though, Transit over to the North Shore and a visit to the free Lynn Canyon park will save you around $150 even if you spring for a cab to avoid walking the last leg (fastest bus stop on the #228 is a 15min walk away; taking the #229 instead with a second transfer to the #227 at Lynn Centre gets you right to the main entrance, but the 227 is a tiny community shuttle that does fill all seats at busy times so it's slightly to very time-inefficient compared to the 228 and a walk). I'd double-check what you did on Stroll Buddy, as I haven't seen any requests appear recently for next September - if you emailed the reply might take a while (minimal staff) and they'll just direct you to complete the form for a stroll request here anyway. If you filled out the booking form already, you should have received an auto-reply with a copy of your request - check your Spam folder if you haven't already, no confirmation email means you have no request in the system.

A preemptive welcome back to Vancouver then @willsaway! I'm going to guess that your middle option of 'Hotel on Robson' was meant to be the Rosedale on Robson, from the name format? I can't say that I've heard anything recently, good or bad. Blue Horizon unfortunately seems to be suffering in terms of quality of service, perhaps just similar staffing issues that the entire hospitality industry is struggling with but it's still the first time I can recall hearing any complaints about BH. The Y seems to remain reigning supreme as the best of the budget bunch - and if your coach tour leaves from Pacific Central station, as many do, it's also the closest to there (~$12 in a cab if you're taking lots of luggage, also nearest to SkyTrain if you're just bringing a small bag on the bus trip) - plus of course you're familiar with it, although odds are high you haven't seen the new wing as construction was barely finished when Covid hit, so there are a bunch of shiny new rooms. BH is the worst of the three for transit options - bus only nearby, although they still have the HOHO and Cap Shuttle stops right outside. Rosedale is closest to the Canada Line, if you're transiting in from the airport or back that way while staying here. YWCA is closest to the Expo line, for points east of downtown - but it and Rosie are only a short walk apart so location differences are marginal. Depending what you saw last time, what you want to do this time, there might be a slight win for one hotel over the others.

If if you want to minimise the distance you need to drag your bags and don't mind taking a cab to the hotel (fixed rate, $38 at the moment + tip I believe) then just drop off your passengers and luggage at the airport, drive the couple of minutes back to parking, take free SkyTrain back to the airport terminal (no charge between Sea Island stations) to meet your peeps and then hop in a cab!