Vancouver Help

[Mammado]

Hi Everyone,

 

We will have 2 1/2 days precruise in Vancouver. We are planning on doing suspension bridge, Grouse Mountain, Grey Line Tour, Stanley Park, Granville Island and Gastown ( I think I hit all of the biggies!!). We would also like to squeeze in a botanical garden. Which of these would you recomend, VanDuesen Botanical Garden or Queen Elizabeth Park & Bloedel Floral Conservatory?? We will be 2 adults and 2 kids (10 & 8). We will be staying at the Hyatt in downtown Vancouver (in case that matters!).

 

Thanks in advance!

 

Michelle

[Foppa]

Hi Michelle,

 

Both are very nice gardens in their own ways. Personally, I prefer Van Dusen Gardens. There are more open spaces and less crowds there. However, there is a small admission charge there, I think it's $7.50 CDN for adults. Here's a link to their site:

 

http://www.city.vancouver.bc.ca/parks/parks/vandusen/website/aboutus/index.htm

 

If you have time, you can also visit Queen Elizabeth Park. The park itself is free. But you'll have to pay to enter the Bloedel Conservatory. IMO, the Bloedel isn't really worth seeing.

 

http://www.city.vancouver.bc.ca/parks/parks/queenelizabeth/

 

It's about a 5-10 minute drive between the two parks.

[stephenandrew]

Hi-

 

We just got back from two days in Vancouver (post cruise) and just thought I would mention that you will have yor hands full trying to do all of what you have mentioned. We took two days and saw Stanley Park, Granville Island, Gastown, Chinatown (kinda neat--but if you have been to San Francisco's Chinatown, you can probably forgo this) and walked along Robson Street. We could have easily spent a full day at Granville Island--lots of neat shops and artisans, but only did half a day. Also, its hard not to just buy some fruit and bread at the public market and have a nice picnic on the pier wathcing the boats and people pass. Anyway, have a great time--I hope you get to see everything.

[worfsmom]

I need the addresses of a nearby liquor store, somewhere near the port, either Canada Place or Ballintyne pier...... which pier does Royal Caribbean use? I don't mind taking a taxi, so the vicinity of piers will do. Will be carrying on huge amounts of wine ! Fed up with cruise line prices, even when ordering them ahead to cabin....... gouge gouge gouge. After Air Canada flight, we'll be broke enough !

[mpw2002]

Here's the BC Liquor Distribution Branch (LDB) website. To search for Vancouver stores select Lower Mainland from the Search Region drop down list.

RCL uses Ballantyne Pier, nothing nearby and not a pedestrian friendly area, you'll have to take a taxi. The best shop downtown is on Thurlow, its a Specialty store, has great staff who can help you select wines to suit your tastes and budget. The store closest to the piers would be the one in Harbour Centre mall.

 

http://www.bcliquorstores.com/en/mattersoftaste/spotlightonbc

[mpw2002]

Hi Everyone,

 

We will have 2 1/2 days precruise in Vancouver. We are planning on doing suspension bridge, Grouse Mountain, Grey Line Tour, Stanley Park, Granville Island and Gastown ( I think I hit all of the biggies!!). We would also like to squeeze in a botanical garden. Which of these would you recomend, VanDuesen Botanical Garden or Queen Elizabeth Park & Bloedel Floral Conservatory?? We will be 2 adults and 2 kids (10 & 8). We will be staying at the Hyatt in downtown Vancouver (in case that matters!).

 

Thanks in advance!

 

Michelle

That's a lot to squeeze in. If you like baseball you might consider Queen E park and then catch a game at Nat Bailey Stadium which IMO is one of the prettiest ball parks around. Just something else to add for your consideration :) .

 

http://www.canadiansbaseball.com/

[BCHappyGal]

Dear Michelle

 

While in China Town make sure you see the world's thinnest building (only 6' wide) on Pender Street.

In Gas Twon you might want to take in the new Storyeum attraction - it is the history of BC a 70 minute show where you walk from theatre to theatre (nine theatres in total) to see the show. Lots of action so the kids will enjoy.

Two more attractions you might want to consider -

1) the Maritime Museum where they have the ship St roch - the RCMP ship that sailed from Vancouver to halifax in 1941 via the Artic taking 20 months for the trip as they got frozen into the ice. the return trip only took 11 months in 1944. The museum itself is very kid friendly with lots of hands on attractions for the young set.

2) A day trip to Whistler - site of the 2010 Winter Olympics & a world class resort town. On the way you can stop in Britannia Beach to tour the Mining Museum - where you actually go into a mine shaft and they operate the various types of equipment used in the copper mine. In Whistler you can ride up the mountain in a gondola car - if your kids are older (teens) they might want to rent mountain bikes and ride down the mountain.

 

Ann

[SkiCruiser44]

BCHAPPY GAL-

 

Looking at 2 hotels which would be better - Crowne Plaza-Hotel Georgia or the Hampton Inn & Suites? We have free nights at either.

 

Thanks,

 

Kathy

[mpw2002]

Hotel Georgia would be my pick. Great location

[Foppa]

Hotel Georgia definitely. The Hampton Inn area is kind of seedy after dark.

[grouchy]

be right in the heart of downtown and close to everything!

Have fun

[SkiCruiser44]

Thanks guys - I thought that Hampton might be in an iffy area. How are the rooms at the Crowne Plaza? Small???

[Cruise Junky]

Thanks guys - I thought that Hampton might be in an iffy area. How are the rooms at the Crowne Plaza? Small???

 

The Crown Plaza had a complete face lift a few years ago. You'll be fine.

[flagger]

Here is some info I got from another board: HTH

 

Alright, lets see what I can think of. I understand not wanting to travel without diapers. You can always buy more, or anything you happen to forget.

 

Your hotel is very close to False Creek. There is a seawall walk all around False Creek (actually it continues all around Stanley Park and back to Canada Place.) If you get down to False creek and take a tiny ferry you can reach Granville Island http://www.granvilleisland.com/ An open market with tons of retail shopping. Vanier Park is near Granville Island (short walk) and has the Planetarium http://www.hrmacmillanspacecentre.com/ Or if you go the opposite way down False Creek there is Science World http://www.scienceworld.ca/

 

The Aquarium in Stanley park is top notch http://www.vanaqua.org I'm actually on my way out to buy my nephew a membership pass for his birthday on Friday. There also is a petting farm and miniature train to ride - all this right near the aquarium. The long seawall rides the edge of the park, very beautiful and takes around a hour and a half to do the walk (just around the park.) At the one end of the park you end up at English Bay beach, wonderful for watching a nice sunset or playing near the waters edge http://www.englishbay.com/ Denman St. is right here as well and is a lively street with good restaurants.

 

Taking the Seabus to North Vancouver is also an option. It leaves right beside Canada Place and takes you to Lonsdale Quay http://www.lonsdalequay.com/ A smaller version of Granville Island. Though the 15 minute boat trip gives you a very nice view of the city, and your right on the water - unlike the cruise ship where your nice and high!

 

Grouse Mountain in North Vancouver is out of downtown and would take either a bus trip or taxi, but thought I'd mention it as well. You take a tram to the top of the mountain and it's the most incredible view of Vancouver. On a clear day you can see the Olympic Mountains in Washington, Mount Baker and Vancouver Island. Also there is a grizzly bear habitat (orphaned cubs) and a lumberjack show http://www.grousemountain.com/

 

You are also very near the very trendy Yaletown, just a few blocks away. Lots of nice stores, restaurants and such.

 

Visiting Gastown depends on what you want to do. In reality it's a tourist trap with plenty of panhandlers. Lets put it this way, I'm in a photography school and we're down there often to shoot street action. There is a steam clock, but it was built in 78 (I think) which doesn't make it the old and antique piece the tourist board wants you to think. Although there is a bright light in Gastown, a brand new tourist attraction that I plan to visit soon. http://www.storyeum.ca/ Storyeum was just opened this past week and sounds amazing. This is the first step to revitalize the district, which will be nice.

 

Robson St is the trendy shopping street of downtown with all the top stores you'd expect. At the corner of Robson and Howe is the Pacific Centre Mall. It's actually mainly underneath the city and runs for a few blocks.

 

I haven't been to Cirque, so can't help you there. If I can remember correctly it's on near Science World and BC Place.

 

Found the main page for the liquor stores, the closest for you would probably be Yaletown.

[Lisa Waverley]

We spent 3 days in Vancouver post cruise (and also stayed at the Hyatt). Btw, I got it on Priceline for $60 a night.

 

One of the things you may enjoy doing is to see the Imax movie "Alaska". It will give you a good taste of what you will experience. It also has a good account of how the land formation came about in the last ice age.

 

As we did not see many land animals on our trip, we enjoyed watching the animals in the movie.

 

It also showed many of the aspects we had just seen, like a pod of humpbacks catching their prey by "bubbling" and showing the life cycle of the salmon. It sounds very dry as I'm telling it, but it was not. It was an excellent movie, one of the best Imax movies we have seen.

 

It is at the Imax theater at the cruise ship terminal and is a short walk from the hotel. ask the concierge desk at the Hyatt for times.

 

If anyone in your family is into James Bond movies, there is an excellent exhibition at the Science musuem. They have a lot of props from the movies as well as story boards, sets, interactive computer displays. The science museum is also interesting with a lot of interactive exhibits that your children are at a perfect age to enjoy. There is an actual beaver lodge built from many branches.

 

We drove to the science museum but I think the sky train goes there.