Hotels in Vancouver B.C.?

[fud2468]

Looking for advice on reasonably-priced hotels in Vancouver. We're flying in a couple of days before our cruise, want to take a Victoria tour the day before the cruise. The tour bus picks up at the downtown hotels.

Thanks,

Ray Mac

[howard6933]

There are so many excellent hotels in Vancouver it's almost impossible to list them. I've stayed at several, Blue Horizon on Robson Street; Westin Bayshore near Stanley Park; Pan Pacific right near cruise ship terminal. I would suggest that you go a realiable web site like Hotels.com, travelocity.com or if you're a "gambler" check out biddingfortravel.com and see what some folks are getting through Priceline. I used Priceline last year and got Westin Bayshore for $65 a night. Give it a shot and see what you come up with. Good luck. ;)

[dbh62ark]

Ray Mac, we absolutely loved the Pan Pacific, but I don't know if that's in your price range. But mostly I wanted to warn you about that tour to Victoria. We wish we had rented a car or that someone had warned us. The tour company picked us up at our hotel at 8:30 a.m. and then drove around to other hotels for approx another hour. Then we were driven to a bus terminal where we switched buses and then went to the ferry. The ferry ride was nice, and we loved our whale watching tour of Victoria. After our boat tour (Zodiak boat), we walked around Victoria and then started the commute back. We did not get back to our hotel until after midnight. In hindsight, we could have shaved at least 3 hours off the time if we had gone another route. It was still a great tour, but I would have made other arrangements if I had known in advance.

 

Have a great trip,

Donna

[fud2468]

Donna and Howard--thanks for your detailed replies.

The bus tour we have in mind picks up around 9 AM and gets us back at 9:45 PM. That's a much longer day than we'd like. It includes a Victoria tour along with the Butchart Gardens (which are the main thing we want to see). I would expect a lot of stops to pick others up as well, and I don't see any way around that.

I will search the net further for a tour that goes only to the gardens, or is at least not as long as the one I came up with so far.

Ray Mac.

[mii]

Also you might try going to the Ports of Call board under Canada. There is alot of info on hotels there. Also in the North America Homeports Forum and then scroll to West Coast Departures.

 

marilyn

[jaycor]

One other option if you do not mind knowing the name of the hotel is to try www.hotwire.com

I have used them 10 or more times and have always been happy

We got the westin in Rio Grande for 129.00 when the hotel at that time went for 400.00 a night.

 

When they say 4 stars that will be what you get

Never been disappointed/

And you can also buy insurance I think for about 9.00 incase you have problems

[fud2468]

Thanks again to all responders.

Probably I'm trying to do too much in connection with this cruise.

To explain: we live in Vacaville,CA, 35 miles west of Sacramento. Only yesterday we learned we would be able to fly nonstop on Air Canada from Sacramento to Vancouver to take an Alaskan cruise Sept. 2. So far, so good. But then, apart from this, we began thinking that as long as we're that close, we'd see Butchart Gardens, which means a hotel stay. It gets complicated (or maybe I'm making it complicated) because I don't know what the best hotel location will be with respect to airport, to ship boarding location and for bus pickup if we take a Victoria tour the day prior to the cruise. I booked the Sept.2-Sept.9 cruise on the net, and I assume that when we receive the paperwork on that, we'll at least find out where the dock is!

As you can probably conclude by now, we're not only elderly but new to cruising.

Ray Mac.

[Boo's Mom]

It's okay, Ray Mac.

You've come to a great website.

Welcome to Cruise Critic ! :D

[englishlee]

Ray Mac

 

Instead of the bus tour to Victoria, which as a previous poster pointed out can be quite a long day, why not consider doing the day trip by floatplane from downtown Vancouver Harbour. I've done it lots of times and although a bit more expensive than a bus tour it is less stressful and you get the experience of taking off and landing on water.

 

Normally we would take the 0850 flight from Vancouver Harbour, arrive at Victoria's inner harbour at 0925 then spend the day in Victoria before flying back at about 5pm getting back to Vancouver 35 minutes later. You can include and prepay for a whale watching trip (Zodiac or covered boat) or a trip to Butchart Gardens, or even afternoon tea at the Empress hotel if you wanted to. And you'd have enough time to wander around Victoria itself. Don't miss the BC Museum a few minutes walk from where the floatplane docks in Victoria. The company to contact is Harbour Air Seaplanes. At that time of year they'll have aircraft flying to Victoria about every 30-60 minutes so you can vary the departure times from both Vancouver and Victoria to suit your own requirements. You must pre-book though as the aircraft only hold 14-15 pax and they are well used by commuters as well as tourists (The BC Parliament is in Victoria and so many politicians and bureaucrats use the service).

 

Harbour Air operates from the seaplane base in Coal Harbour (foot of Thurlow Street) a few hundred yarsd from the cruise terminal at Canada Place. Although they don't pick up from hotels, most downtown properties are only a 5-10 minute cab ride away and many are within walking distance. There is a shuttle bus when you return to Vancouver but it operates to a pre-determined loop so depending on where you're staying you might find that they'll drop you off nearby. Alternatively when you check in for your return flight (20-30 minutes before departure) then you can ask the check-in desk to order a taxi to meet you on arrival back in Vancouver - it works well.

Because the aircraft travel at 1500-2500 feet you get great views of the islands en-route as well as Vancouver and Victoria. If you don't want to fly both ways then they also offer a trip which is one way by floatplane and the other by bus and ferry. Not sure if a website address can be posted here but Harbour Air's website is http://www.harbour-air.com

 

Lee

[fud2468]

Lee, many thanks for taking the time for your reply. We had not thought of going by seaplane but will certainly consider it!

I was naive enough to think that since I had an old map, that was the reason I found no bridge linking Vancouver to Victoria. I then got a new map and saw that there is no surface (by land, that is) route!

Thanks again,

Ray Mac

[dbh62ark]

Lee, I just saw your post and wanted to note for others that I think the sea plane is a great idea. We would have loved to have had the time to go to the gardens and our whale watching tour, and I think the time savings going by air would allow that. Victoria is wonderful, so the more time there and the less time commuting, the better in our opinion. We want to go back at some point so appreciate this information.

 

Happy travels to all,

Donna

[cechase]

We stayed at the Pan Pacific Hotel located at Canada Place last year before our cruise on Infinity to Alaska.

 

We had their cruise special, which included breakfast, and the pickup of our cruise luggage by the hotel staff and delivery to Celebrity. We did not have to fuss around with our luggage - they took care of it. The room with a water view was sensational, and was worth the price watching the sea planes land and take off in front of us.

 

We we checked out, we merely took an elevator from the hotel down to a lower level and casually walked to the Celebrity check-in area, and were on Infinity and in our suite in just a few minutes!!!

 

However, be forewarned that this wonderful hotel is not cheap! In the future, we would stay at this hotel if we are in Vancouver.

[elena7seas]

Lee, many thanks for taking the time for your reply. We had not thought of going by seaplane but will certainly consider it!

I was naive enough to think that since I had an old map, that was the reason I found no bridge linking Vancouver to Victoria. I then got a new map and saw that there is no surface (by land, that is) route!

Thanks again,

Ray Mac

 

Hi Fud...no, no land route to Victoria, nor is there likely to be for a long, long time :rolleyes: .

 

It doesn't matter which dock your cruise leaves from, as they are only a short (10 min.) taxi ride apart. Any hotel that is convenient to Canada Place will be as convenient as you can get to the Ballantyne Pier.

[Mumof2]

Hi,

 

Going to Victoria and back again on the ferry is a bit much for one day I would think. The seaplane would be better, but have you considered checking out Vancouver instead? You could go to Stanley Park, or take a Gondola up Grouse Mountain in North Vancouver...the views are amazing, and fine dining is available. Check out the links. If you want to go to Victoria, why not extend your vacation a couple of days? The Pan Pacific Hotel and the Westin Bayshore are great hotels.

 

For more detailed info, go to tripadvisor.com and the forums there will get you lots of info!

 

Have a great time enjoying our beautiful city...September is a great time of year. :)

 

http://www.seestanleypark.com/

http://www.grousemountain.com/

[StknCPA]

Thanks again to all responders.

Probably I'm trying to do too much in connection with this cruise.

To explain: we live in Vacaville,CA, 35 miles west of Sacramento. Only yesterday we learned we would be able to fly nonstop on Air Canada from Sacramento to Vancouver to take an Alaskan cruise Sept. 2. So far, so good. But then, apart from this, we began thinking that as long as we're that close, we'd see Butchart Gardens, which means a hotel stay. It gets complicated (or maybe I'm making it complicated) because I don't know what the best hotel location will be with respect to airport, to ship boarding location and for bus pickup if we take a Victoria tour the day prior to the cruise. I booked the Sept.2-Sept.9 cruise on the net, and I assume that when we receive the paperwork on that, we'll at least find out where the dock is!

As you can probably conclude by now, we're not only elderly but new to cruising.

Ray Mac.

 

I didn't get that you were elderly, but I am having similar problems. I was about to book a hotel that I understood to be right next to or even on the cruise ship pier. But then I found out there are two cruise ship ports in Vancouver. I think I almost booked the wrong hotel--although we could always travel from one to the other when the time comes.

 

So, now I am still researching...

[dbh62ark]

Hi,

 

Going to Victoria and back again on the ferry is a bit much for one day I would think. The seaplane would be better, but have you considered checking out Vancouver instead? You could go to Stanley Park, or take a Gondola up Grouse Mountain in North Vancouver...the views are amazing, and fine dining is available.

Oh, I agree completely. We did Victoria in addition to spending time in Vancouver. I highly recommend spending some time in Vancouver too.

 

Donna

[LeftcoastBC]

The Butchart Gardens are the best without a doubt but in Vancouver you can get great examples at these places and not have to travel far.

 

http://www.discovervancouver.com/gardens.asp

 

Take the Fantasy Gardens info with a grain of salt. (politics)

Others sites are fine.

[RedmondCruiser]

One of the best kept secrets in Vancouver is the Wedgewood Hotel. It is a smaller hotel that is centrally located and was rated, one year, as the best hotel in Canada. If you like to treat yourself from time to time please give them a try.

[CaliforniaDreamin]

I didn't get that you were elderly, but I am having similar problems. I was about to book a hotel that I understood to be right next to or even on the cruise ship pier. But then I found out there are two cruise ship ports in Vancouver. I think I almost booked the wrong hotel--although we could always travel from one to the other when the time comes.

 

So, now I am still researching...

 

Infinity embarks/debarks from Ballantyne pier. See calendar here .

 

The hotel location really doesn't matter much. Nothing is real close to Ballantyne pier. It's only 1/2 to 3/4 mile from Canada Place.

[fud2468]

Thanks again for all replies.

Since I last posted, I decided to book us from Sacramento, CA to Vancouver nonstop via Air Canada. I wanted to be sure to reserve before the word of this service gets around!

We'll leave here on Aug. 31 and have booked a hotel in the airport area that provides shuttle service.

I have not committed to any Vancouver tour yet, wanting to keep options open based on your advice. Nor have I yet gone to the links you provided me, but will do so shortly. Possibly we have paid too much attention to the hype about Butchart to the exclusion of other beauty spots.

As matters stand, we will have most of Aug. 31 afternoon, all of Sept.1, and most of Sept. 2 available for touring until boarding ship on Sept.2.

We will try to make the best use of the time available but it sounds as if we should have planned to spend even more time in B.C.

Ray Mac