Hotel with parking needed in Vancouver. And, Canada SkyTrain?

[MtnClimber1101]

We are driving up to Vancouver to begin our week-long cruise. Most of the downtown hotels don't offer extended parking, or charge a too-high amount (at least for me).

 

Seems like hotels near the airport are much cheaper, and offer long-term parking at affordable rates. I've been looking at Holiday Inn Express, and Accent Inn. Does anyone have any experience with either of these hotels, or can offer advice on another one?

 

Also, has anyone used the Canada SkyTrain? It looks like that is the best way to get from airport area hotels to the downtown pier. Is it easy to figure out? I'm not sure how much luggage we'll be carrying, so not sure if using the SkyTrain would be a problem?

[Keith1010]

I know some people post Vancouver Hotel question on this board (after all it is the West Coast board) but there is a board called the Canada (Alaska/Coastal) board where I would post this and you will see lots of questions about the Sky Train and downtown hotels.

 

https://boards.cruisecritic.com/forumdisplay.php?s=&daysprune=-1&f=233

 

Keith

[lasekeye]

We used Accent Inn last September for our cruise. It was recently updated, bedding and such were good. Didn’t care too much for the attached restaurant (it should have been updated too, but it was fine for breakfast before heading to the port).

Best thing was, when booked as a cruise or fly & room pkg, they take you both ways. It was much less $$ than having hotel, and paying for parking at airport or cruise port plus paying for transport both ways.

We will stay there again for sure.

[martincath]

Cruise & Park packages downtown were always very few & far between... since the Coast Plaza closed at the end of last year I don't think there are any left offering a remotely-reasonable 'park 7+ days' add-on downtown unfortunately. Being local I haven't stayed in either, but purely on location the HI Express is hugely preferable to any of the Accent locations - getting to and from SkyTrain will be much less hassle to come sightsee downtown.

 

As to using SkyTrain to get to the pier with bags - as long as you can wheel your bags around without help, they should fit. The Canada Line uses different trains than the commuter-only lines, every seat has enough room under it to fit a suitcase and extra legroom where you can sit a carry-on in front of your knees (or under them if you're a pro basketball player). We go to YVR with a 28" rolling suitcase and regulation carryon each and I have no problems with space at 6'1". Machines have touchscreens, multiple languages, and a pretty simple interface - as long as you have an up-to-date credit card with Chip & PIN it should work (and if you don't, get one - it's the norm everywhere in Canada to use Chip cards, so even a manned terminal can cause problems with some staff not knowing how to override to let you sign the slip).

 

If you really think you can't manage with the bags, then take your hotel shuttle to the airport and hop in a fixed rate cab - CAD$35 (+tip) to the pier.

 

The only other sensible option I can think of is to use longterm parking at the airport (as low as ~$13 a day) and then stay in any hotel you like. If you can get a better hotel rate, this might be cheapest of all - e.g. YWCA Hotel runs only ~US$120 a night for a regular hotel room with private bath, even less if you're willing to share a bathroom, and it's right downtown so great for sightseeing and even walkable to the pier (pretty much exactly one mile on foot).