Cost of Taxi from Canada Place to Vancouver Airport

[clarky213]

Does anyone know the cost of a taxi from Canada Place to Vancouver Airport.

I know there are set prices from the Airport to different zones in Vancouver, but these don't apply to the return Journey.

 

Celebrity are offering the Ship Transfer at £17 each (Approx $29 CAD).

[martincath]

It's metered so subject to variability, but if you are heading to YVR as soon as you disembark you will always be going against any inbound commuters so it doesn't vary that much. It should very rarely get over CAD$40 per cab, averaging $35, and on a light traffic weekend more like $32-33 (the fixed rate zones costs were chosen based on cab meter data to the centre of each zone, and there have been many reports of cabbie offering a fixed fare of $35 TO the airport on weekends unofficially - because they know that if they do they'll make a couple extra bucks profit, so if they offer a fixed rate you should refuse...)

 

Even if it's a day with serious traffic disruption like a marathon, parade or other event that causes road closures the priciest I've ever heard someone mention is CAD$50 - which means 2 people will ALWAYS be cheaper (and faster) taking a cab then a cruise transfer. Regular commuter traffic - in case you are staying downtown to sightsee and heading out to YVR in the 4pm-6pm ballpark - expect to pay $40 or a little more.

[clarky213]

On 1/20/2019 at 8:22 PM, martincath said:

It's metered so subject to variability, but if you are heading to YVR as soon as you disembark you will always be going against any inbound commuters so it doesn't vary that much. It should very rarely get over CAD$40 per cab, averaging $35, and on a light traffic weekend more like $32-33 (the fixed rate zones costs were chosen based on cab meter data to the centre of each zone, and there have been many reports of cabbie offering a fixed fare of $35 TO the airport on weekends unofficially - because they know that if they do they'll make a couple extra bucks profit, so if they offer a fixed rate you should refuse...)

 

Even if it's a day with serious traffic disruption like a marathon, parade or other event that causes road closures the priciest I've ever heard someone mention is CAD$50 - which means 2 people will ALWAYS be cheaper (and faster) taking a cab then a cruise transfer. Regular commuter traffic - in case you are staying downtown to sightsee and heading out to YVR in the 4pm-6pm ballpark - expect to pay $40 or a little more.

Thanks for the reply, Our flight is at 3:50pm, so we'll leave the ship as late as possible and just head  for a taxi. 

[martincath]

57 minutes ago, clarky213 said:

Thanks for the reply, Our flight is at 3:50pm, so we'll leave the ship as late as possible and just head  for a taxi. 

No problem. A flight at that time of day is a bit annoying - not late enough to get an extra days sightseeing, but still late enough you have to kill some time! If you are doing some pre-cruise time in Vancouver you could leave a short and easily-reached-from-the-pier site until disembarkation day, e.g. FlyOverCanada is right at the pier and they will hold bags while you ride (total time inside is about 30mins, but if you haven't booked in advance you may have to wait around 15mins or so). Gastown is good for a wander, and has nicer lunch options than the airport will provide, but wheeling your bags around over the cobbles is less fun so factor in storing them at the pier (CDS Baggage inside, or the Pan Pacific Hotel above which is a better deal at only $5 a bag). Leaving downtown by cab at 1pm will give you ample padding - even if it is a busy cruise day with multiple ships the hordes heading straight to YVR will have cleared out by late morning so it should be very easy to grab a cab.

 

If you don't have any pre-cruise time, then I'd suggest getting off earlier so you can actually do some sightseeing - even a post-cruise city tour would be better than nowt, and they'll take your bags under the bus then drop you off at YVR between 1-1:30pm which is pretty much ideal timing (YVR does recommend 3 hours pre-flight, but 2 hours is almost always more than sufficient even for folks heading to the US who have the extra step of immigration to do; you won't if you're flying direct back to the UK - or connecting via elsewhere in Canada - which I imagine you are). Post-cruise tours usually run about CAD$80pp booked independently.

[scottbee]

On 1/20/2019 at 2:17 AM, clarky213 said:

Does anyone know the cost of a taxi from Canada Place to Vancouver Airport.

I know there are set prices from the Airport to different zones in Vancouver, but these don't apply to the return Journey.

 

Celebrity are offering the Ship Transfer at £17 each (Approx $29 CAD).

 

It's also dead-simple to take the subway (called Skytrain in Vancouver) from Waterfront station direct to the airport.  Exit cruise port to your left and walk one block to Cordova St - ignoring the tantalizing entrance to Waterfront Station's Expo Line (it leads to the wrong set of platforms). Turn left onto Cordova and walk 1½ blocks, and station is on your left.  You're looking for the "Canada Line" and it's under $5 Canadian for the subway to the airport.  Trains are roll-on roll-off for luggage.

[cynt]

Does the Skytrain run 24/7?  We arrive in Vancouver at 12:30AM. 

[martincath]

5 hours ago, cynt said:

Does the Skytrain run 24/7?  We arrive in Vancouver at 12:30AM. 

Unfortunately not - they shut it down every night for about 4 hours. If your flight is scheduled to touch down at 12:30am, you have a very slim chance of making it - last train is 12:56am from YVR. Even if your flight is on time and you have no checked bags I'd say that the odds are still very much against you, so plan to take a cab.

[cynt]

Thx. Looks like we'll be spending the night at Fairmont YVR. 

[martincath]

10 hours ago, cynt said:

Thx. Looks like we'll be spending the night at Fairmont YVR. 

The above statement means your budget is pretty generous. Personally I think it's silly to stay at the airport, when for the same total funds (or even quite a big saving unless you are VERY picky about having access to hotel facilities that you won't have time to use...) you could take a cab downtown and stay where you'll be able to get out of bed and straight to sightseeing next morning. 1am-ish you'll have zero traffic to worry about, so your cab ride will be as quick as it gets (faster than SkyTrain door to door to any downtown hotel, even ones very close to a SkyTrain station). All in all this means more sleep if you start sightseeing downtown at the same time as you would have come in from YVR in the morning.

 

SkyTrain will be packed with commuters if you come down early (you'll always get a seat at YVR though; that branch only joins the main suburban commuter line three stations downstream) and slightly-delayed because there's always a few folks who try to squeeze in the doors when they're closing, resulting in them cycling back open again (automated system, any contact with edge of door makes it reopen, pause, then try to close again). Still better than a cab in busy traffic though, probably expect a 28min trip time instead of 26min. Getting off with luggage can be hard at mid-line stations, but if you go all the way to Waterfront everyone still onboard will get off so you're more easily able to pull your bags from under the seats and leave.

 

Plus, your luggage is problematic on embarkation day - come downtown too early and you can't check them at the pier (9:30am is the earliest realistic time, anywhere 10-10:30am is the official bag acceptance start time) so you either have to pay more (and queue up) at CDS or the Pan Pacific bell desk before getting out and about, or else wait until ~10am+ to start sightseeing. A downtown hotel you just leave your bags and get going as early as you like (parks open basically at daylight, in summer even some ticketed places open at 8am), then return for bags when you want to board the ship. All-in-all there are significant time and efficiency savings: there's literally just one rational reason to stay at the airport, $ savings, and choosing the Fairmont blows that right out of the water;-)

[cynt]

We've already decided to come back to Vancouver for a land vacation.  So it's all about convenience.   Work a full day, then a 5 hour flight, arrive 1230AM, we'll have to get luggage and we'll ALL be cranky and tired.  The thought of going upstairs and checking into a hotel sounds wonderful.  PRICELESS!!!  We'll sleep in, enjoy a nice leisure buffet breakfast the hotel offers, probably go to the spa and catch a cab to the port around 1ish or so. 

 

So far I have reserved the Fairmont at $350. I'll keep price watching and hoping I can get it down to $250. If not, I've already budgeted for $350 so we're covered.

[martincath]

If you're coming back to do the city justice in future, great - push the downtown pier trip until at least 2pm though as 1pm you will be arriving slap-bang in the busiest of the busy period (Amtrak rolls in a little before noon if bang on time, bringing sometimes hundreds of same-day travelers up from Seattle - the first of them hit the pier a little after noon with the rest continuing to flow in for another hour; then there are the same-day flights which are heavily-weighted toward scheduled arrivals 1pm or earlier). Either be there before 11am, or as close as possible to the hard cutoff as you can tolerate (90mins pre-departure; with travel in from YVR to worry about I'd be inclined to aim for 2 hours before just in case there's a collision or other problem with one of the bottleneck routes - even driving the very long way around to avoid a blocked bridge it's only a ~45min trip so).