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With kids, I would pick the train over a bus. It is 12 hour train ride from Union Station to Pen Station.

They have been around for decades. When they were founded in the 1940s they were partially owned by Pan-am in the US. Continental was also a major owner for a time. Well established airline. They are part of star alliance, so any reward points you may earn can be credit to other star airlines, including United. If your use to United, Delta or American your not going to find them all that different.

Cruise terminal is in downtown Vancouver. The Pan Pacific Hotel in the terminal building itself. Another across the street. Likely around 6-7 within 2-3 blocks of the terminal. Generally the hotels in the downtown core are quite a bit more expensive than in Richmond (where the airport is).

I would buy the two one-ways. The rules for calculating the fares are complex and you should not be surprised to see some minor differences.

For an international overseas flight like that I would not worry about that. There is usually only one flight per day on most international routes. The widebody aircraft on these types of route over a 24 hour period usually only operate two flights. Canada overseas and then back again.

Looks like they have a tentative deal. We will have to see how quickly they get their schedule back to normal.

Southwest is a different type of airline. They try to have a simpler operation, with the goal of keeping costs down. They have limited international operations and don't have the infrastructure to interline with other airlines. If you sticking to the US they are fine. If your going to Europe, they are just not an option. United, Delta, American and their foreign partners (like TAP Air Portugal) have much more complex computer systems, and associated airport infrastructure to transfer passengers and bags between partners. For example if you book the TAP offering, when you check in in Florida for your flight, United will issue you boarding pass for both the United and TAP leg. United will also check you bags all the way to Rome. When you come back from Rome, TAP will issue your TAP and United boarding pass as well as tag your bags all the way through. If something happens and you miss your connection, the two airlines will take responsibility for getting you to your final destination.

Don't know how it compare to the other routes. I have been on the Newark-Vancouver flight a number of times where a good percentage of people are connecting onward to Australia from Vancouver. Canada, US and most European countries have banned Russian airlines from their airspace. In return Russia has banned them from Russian airspace. If your on Air Canada or a western airline your guaranteed your not flying over Russia. An airlines like Cathy Pacific being a Chinese airline is allowed to fly over Russia. The likelihood of an emergency landing is extremely remote, however given the state of the world today, Even through it is remote, given the current situation in the world, if I can easily avoid a flight over that part of the world I would.

Not surprising. There are three main alliances. Star Alliance, OneWorld and Skyteam. American, Alaska and BA are part of OneWorld. Delta and Air France/KLM are in Skyteam. Star Alliance has United, Air Canada, Lufthansa Group and TAP. (Left out some of the other smaller airlines that are also in the three aliances). When it comes to Star, United Lufthansa and Air Canada also profit-share between North American and Euope. TAP while still a member with Star is not a part of the profit-sharing agreement so they establish their pricing independently. They are still part of the same alliance and have close working arrangement with the other alliance members. Not surprised they are priced more aggressively on sometimes. If your a member of the United loyalty program you can credit the miles you earn on TAP to the United program. Some of the discounted fares that cruse lines have access to and some of the rock bottom fares don't have miles associated with them.

If your arrival time was over 3 hours you may qualify for compensation depending on the cause. It is around $400 CDN per person. Here is the link to put in a claim. https://www.aircanada.com/ca/en/aco/home/fly/flight-information/flight-disruptions.html?acid=EXT:SEM:TD+Aeroplan+Performance+Max+EN::::&gad_source=1&gclid=CjwKCAjw34qzBhBmEiwAOUQcF0woFtHpxAPoLxpuHduZ4BvigpCrO_dKF4FHUtebHyRNEmJX13_huRoCgA8QAvD_BwE&gclsrc=aw.ds#/delayed

Nice hotel and nice area. I think you make a good choice. As an aside, Howard Hughes and his entourage ended up taking over the top two floors for six months less one day. He would have stayed longer but over six months the Canadian government would want to start to tax him.

Looks of excellent hotels in downtown Vancouver. All the standard high end brands are in downtown Vancouver. There are some very nice hotels within a block of the cruise ship terminal. The Sandman hotel chain is a Canadian chain based out of Vancouver with two downtown hotels. Not close to the terminal but still very convenient. (If you stay with them sing up for the loyalty program, if you have a high end Visa you can automatically get their upgraded status). martincat has some great suggestions for some of the independents. If your looking for a "low cost" hotel, the Days Inn on West Pender tends to have relatively low cost rooms. It is a 100+ year old hotel, so no parking, the view can be marginal and the rooms small. The complimentary breakfast is what you expect from the brand. Low cost is subjective in Vancouver.

When checking out of the hotel, ask to borrow a stapled for a minute or two at the front desk. They always have a stapler handy.

It is double. The Victoria Airport to Butchart Gardens is an 18 minute uber/taxi drive. The reception desk at the gardens will hold bags/luggage for visitors while your touring the garden. It is a 20 minute uber/taxi drive from the Garden to the ferry terminal. Option 1: You have a few choices on how to get on the ferry. There is an intercity bus called BC Connector, you can take an uber from the gardens to the bus stop at the intersection of Patt Bay Hwy and Mt Newton Road. You bags go into the luggage compartment under the bus and the bus will drive into the ferry and on the other side take you to Pacific Central (train/bus stations in Vancouver) on one of several downtown hotels in Vancouver. Option 2: You take a taxi/uber to the BC Ferries terminal at Swartz Bay. You meet up with the BC Connector bus on the ship. You will need to hang on to your bags while on the ferry and load them onto the bus when you board just before docking on the Vancouver side. Option 3: You take a taxi/uber to the BC Ferries terminal and take regular city public transit (Translink) into Vancouver. Just outside the ferry terminal is a bus that will take you to the Canada line. From there there it is a short subway ride into downtown. Option 1 and 2 only work for some sailing. Not all sailings have the BC Connector bus. I think it is only the 5 and 7 PM sailings that offer hotel drop off. You should check for your sailing, https://bcfconnector.com/bc-ferries-connector-schedules/ If you pre-book the BC Connector, for option 1 where you join at the highway it would also include the ferry costs. If you join the BC Connector bus on the ship, then obviously you pay for the ferry separately. BC Ferries if you have a car you need to pre-book, if your just walking on it is extremely rare that they sell out, however if you want to pre-book you can. If you are doing option 2 and 3 and want to pre-book BC Ferries you can do that at: https://www.bcferries.com/ . The terminal on the Victoria side is called Swartz Bay. and on the Vancouver side it is Tsawwassen Terminal.

Yes, one hour is sufficient to make this connection if it is Air Canada to Ari Canada. You take an escalator up to a transit hallway, Someone scans your boarding pass and off you are into the international departures concourse. If your transferring from Air Canada to a different airline more than likely its involves a terminal change. with a short train ride and security. That will easily eat up the 1 hour. Make certain it is on one ticket. That means if you miss the connection it is the airlines responsibility to re-accommodate you on another flight. The issue is not going to be the transfer time, but as other stated it is going to be the possibility of delays on the oncoming flight. You don't have much buffer for that.