Vancouver hotel night before cruise

[outoftowner]

On 5/16/2022 at 6:52 PM, Mike45LC said:

I didn't have such a late night arrival, so I was able to enjoy the hotel and Canada Place.  One benefit you can still enjoy is porterage -- the bell staff at either the Pan Pacific or the Fairmont Waterfront can deliver your bags from your hotel room direct to the ship.  Just leave them outside your room (or have the bellman come to your room).

 

Two tips:  Get Canadian dollars before your trip.  My cab driver from the airport to the hotel was gracious enough to accept US dollars at a 1:1 rate!  So he ripped me off but good, about 15%.

 

Soar Over Canada, a tourist attraction at Canada Place, which someone above mentioned, is wonderful.  Do it!  Thank me afterwards!

 

Don’t the cabs accept Credit Cards?

[martincath]

1 hour ago, outoftowner said:

Don’t the cabs accept Credit Cards?

They do - M/C & Visa anyway. Some folks just like cash of course, or maybe the cabbie tried the old 'my machine is broken do you have cash?' line like often happens to tourists - I get it all the time despite living here, as I still have my Scots accent!

 

If you planned to tip generously, then a 1:1 USD for CAD isn't too horrible - the cabbie does deserve a small kicker for the inconvenience of having to go exchange the funds, so assuming you're happy to pad his rate say 10%, and tip 15-20%, it's not far off the actual exchange rate these days. Just don't hand over the $34-38 fixed fare PLUS a tip!

[GottaKnowWhen]

Thanks to all for useful insights! Just booked a June cruise, just booked airfare (slightly more than the cost of the cruise) 😳 and starting on the hotel rooms for the  days before/after the cruise.

[Travelight]

We are in the Blue Horizon on Robson Street. It is such a nice room. We have a high floor with a balcony!  The room is very spacious and modern. The bathroom has a wonderful large shower. We also have a great view of English Bay. Lovely boutique hotel!  

[Tracey/Thom]

We stayed at the Blue Horizon on Robson Street, on the 27th floor with views of English Bay and loved it! It was reasonably priced, close to restaurants. We took a Yellow Cab to Canada Place, which was also a 5 minute drive and very reasonably priced (we had luggage!). On the way from the airport to the hotel, we used the train and it was very efficient, cheap, but a bit of hassle with luggage.

[Cruisin Kay D]

I have been debating back & forth about staying near the airport or staying downtown.   I presently have a reservation for Blue Horizon for 3 couples.   

 

One couple is on a different flight, but all of us are scheduled to arrive between noon & 1 PM on a Thursday.   We are staying 2 nights pre-cruise.  We plan on sightseeing  the day before boarding the ship, using the HopOn-HopOff bus as well as the little boats in False Creek.

 

Any advice?    Also need some restaurant advice.

 

Edited June 19, 2022 by Cruisin Kay D

[rkacruiser]

17 hours ago, Cruisin Kay D said:

We plan on sightseeing  the day before boarding the ship, using the HopOn-HopOff bus

 

A good use of your time for sightseeing.  Restaurants?  I am not familiar with what may be near the Blue Horizon Hotel, but, if you are in the mood for a steakhouse, The Keg is a Canadian chain and is a good steakhouse in my opinion.  I recall that there are 3 locations for The Keg in downtown Vancouver.  There are many restaurants in Gastown.  There is a pub-style restaurant near Canada Place where some tables have a view of the harbor.  (I have dined there and I cannot recall the name of the restaurant.)  

[martincath]

22 hours ago, Cruisin Kay D said:

I have been debating back & forth about staying near the airport or staying downtown.   I presently have a reservation for Blue Horizon for 3 couples.   

 

One couple is on a different flight, but all of us are scheduled to arrive between noon & 1 PM on a Thursday.   We are staying 2 nights pre-cruise.  We plan on sightseeing  the day before boarding the ship, using the HopOn-HopOff bus as well as the little boats in False Creek.

 

Any advice?    Also need some restaurant advice.

Keep the BH reso then, or if you find a better deal downtown change, but the airport will be a serious waste of time - even hotels literally next door to SkyTrain out in Richmond still involve a 25ish minute train ride, plus wait time between trains, every time you come downtown and return. For a late night arrival, heading straight to the pier next morning an airport hotel can make sound financial sense - but time has value, do you want to waste at least an hour every pre-cruise day on transit getting back downtown to sightsee, or spending so much on cabs that it would have been cheaper booking downtown instead?

 

One of our more interesting restos, Forage, is very close to Blue Horizon - I can't comment personally on whether service remains great since TheBeforeTimes as I haven't made it back yet, but the same Chef runs the kitchen and the menu looks comparable. Some game meats, some foraged veggies, very locavore, very tasty. You also have a few Asian spots: ChongQing, a popular local Szechuan resto is a good spot to try a Canadian-Chinese invention, Ginger Beef; a veritable plethora of Ramen joints are on Robson and ideal for a cheap filling meal - Danbo, a block away, is extremely popular though my personal vaourite remains Jinya, closer to the BC Place end of Robson.

 

If your group of six is at all picky, you could make much worse choices than Earls a block away from you - while I don't think anyone would say they are spectacular, they have a very broad menu that should satisfy a wide variety of palates. Cactus Club - since prices are the same, go for one of the two with a view either at English Bay or Jack Poole Plaza - is a step up from Earls but still remains fairly broad, a sort of 'McDonalds of Fine Dining' concept where the food is kinda fancy but every kitchen should be turning out the exact same dishes and the menu very rarely changes.

 

Happy to get into serious detail on resto with you, but really need some guidance in terms of prefered/disliked foods and pricepoint for your group!

[Cruisin Kay D]

Martincath:   THANKS!!   Do you have a favorite seafood place, perhaps on Granville Island?    Restaurants with views are quite appealing.   Also, one of our group is primarily skipping meat, though he is not totally vegan.    Do many restaurants have sharing policies -- hubby & I don't eat huge meals!    I am finding some good food choices at Happy Hours at several pricier restaurants....most of us are small eaters.  

Edited June 20, 2022 by Cruisin Kay D

[martincath]

14 hours ago, Cruisin Kay D said:

Do you have a favorite seafood place, perhaps on Granville Island?   

Vancouver Fish Company would be our seafood spot of choice for something a bit fancy - nice covered outdoor terrace by the water, not on the 'city view' side but you might see the local harbour seals who hang out on that side (the small fishing fleet docks nearby and sell some products from the docks, so fish being gutted right into the water = free seal chow!)

Tony's Fish & Oyster Cafe is more of a casual, 'big pile of fried stuff dumped on paper on the table' kinda joint that hits the spot for value.

I've never thought Sandbar was up to much personally - the entire Sequoia chain is a theoretically Fine Dining, With A View kind of mini chain, but the prices are poor value unless the view is great and Sandbar has a pretty damn poorview that's mostly up at a bridge pillar! Seasons in the Park is the only Sequoia joint that I feel the view is good enough to be worth the marked-up prices - if your palates run old-school rather than cutting edge you'll likely enjoy the menu more than I do, but even I'm happy to pay the inflated prices at Seasons for brunch with a view whenever we have visitors in town.

 

14 hours ago, Cruisin Kay D said:

Restaurants with views are quite appealing. 

Seasons per above - highest point in the city, sweeping views right down across Vancouver and then across the harbour to the North Shore mountains? Yes please!

The revolving resto at the Harbour Centre is marked up heftily, but is our only rotating and currently highest-elevation resto. If you're here on a day they serve brunch, THAT is actually very decent value compared to dinner - all you can eat, no bad seats.

Tap & Barrel offer a broad pub grub menu and are locking down most of the good patios in the city on the waterfront - they took over Bridges on Granville Island most recently, North Van, the Convention Centre, and the original on False Creek in the Athlete's Village. Food's decent for the price, broad enough menu almost anyone should have choices, and among the best selection of local beers and not bad wine choices either - some of both are unique to the chain as they have cut deals with wineries and breweries to make special brews for them.

On the fancier end, Lift has almost 360 degree views down near Stanley Park, the resto is out on a boardwalk - and among the best wines by the glass lists in the city.

 

14 hours ago, Cruisin Kay D said:

 Also, one of our group is primarily skipping meat, though he is not totally vegan.   

No worries there - we're a VERY Vegan-tarian-friendly city. Gluten-free, Veggie, and Vegan are very, very common to see separate symbols for on menus across many price ranges - and many dishes even list a (bracketed Vegan) where they normally make a dish with dairy but can use alternatives.

 

Do many restaurants have sharing policies -- hubby & I don't eat huge meals!   

My wife and I share almost every plate - while there are a few spots you'll see a 'share plate' fee I don;t think we've ever actually been charged one, although to be fair we don't demand that they literally divvy the food up for us we just eat half then slide the plates over to each other!

 

I am finding some good food choices at Happy Hours at several pricier restaurants....most of us are small eaters. 

If your tums can handle dining before 6pm local time, Happy Hour is where it's at for the best value dining! While post-Covid the truly fabulous deals like 'buck a shuck' oysters have almost all gone, there's still savings to be made. Some of the older-school restos offer some of the best discounts - we're fans of both Joe Fortes and Hy's Steakhouse for Happy Hour visits, and one of the overall best value early dining options is a local mini-chain,  the Flying Pig. Their Gastown location died during the 'Vid, but the original in Yaletown and the Athlete's Village adjacent one remain busy and their previously-outstanding-yet-still-the-cheapest-in-town beef carpaccio has actually been upgraded to Bison these days (pricier than it was, but still a hefty HH discount). The Pig are also the only spot we reliably find bone marrow that isn't ferociously pricey, and they will retain our loyalty as long as they keep selling it!

Answers embedded in your Quotes, in red if the formatting works!

[Cruisin Kay D]

Martincath, you are amazing!   I appreciate so much that you took time to educate me about so many places in YVR!!  Several of your suggestions were some I had already looked and liked.  Thanks so much!