martincath

@gottagoacruzn I'll remind you again that, like most of your prior questions about Vancouver so far, you could have found this yourself via Google in about thirty seconds instead of having to wait a day for a reply... but here's a link to a walking route with all three points on it. Fire up Streetview at each end of the route and pics will appear too - if you check multiple pics around the cauldron, I believe there are even some of it lit up that have been posted by folks (they'll be among the wee circles that indicate a private pic taken at that spot, rather than from the solid lines where Google camerapacks have moved through).

I think that you might want to rethink the entire setup to be honest - even if there's a Disabled spot available in Long Term YVR parking, which are nearest the station, there's a bunch of bus loops and restricted roads (no stopping) around there. Uberlyfts are not going to enter the car park to pick you up - so you might have to schlep your bags quite a distance to find somewhere that is a legal pickup spot... The basic concept of this longterm lot is that everyone uses SkyTrain - it's optimised for folks leaving their cars before a flight and not designed with pickups by vehicle in mind. Also, depending what DHs mobility issues are, if he needs an Accessible vehicle be aware that there are zero accessible Uberlyfts locally, they pay a fee rather than becoming compliant with the legal requirement of minimum % of accessible vehicles in the fleet (all taxi firms maintain ~17% of their fleet as Accessible vans which scooters or wheelchairs can be secured safely inside). Considering you can afford the Pan Pacific, I would look at instead finding a cheaper hotel! All-in-all a night at the Accent Inn near YVR, plus parking at $40 a week on top of room rate, plus potentially $40 each way in a cab from the hotel to pier and the reverse post-cruise, will undoubtedly cost less than a night in the PP and long-term parking - heck, it might be cheaper than just the hotel given some of the horror stories about pricing this year! Whether cab or rideshare, everyone drops at the same spot under the pier - which is where luggage drop is unless you arrive too early for it to have started. There are elevators, stairs, escalators for you to get up to Check-in level - and there should be porters around too, able to take bags right from the car, but worst-case you can shuttle your bags over to the drop point, it's not far at all. Leaving again, rideshares do have to pick up down the street, maybe a couple of hundred yards extra walking compared to the cab pickup under the pier, so cabbing is definitely easier with even 'walking stick' level mobility issues that don't need a modified van.

Indeed there will - nightshift cabbies with an airport medallion make bank from late night trips, as the fixed rate fare zone prices are set to several dollars higher than what the meter would have been when there's no traffic to worry about. If you have Uber/Lyft apps, then as long as there's no Surge in effect you should save a fair bit on a latenight ride. Glad you enjoyed BH last time; those nice corner view rooms might be a bit wasted on you rolling in c.1am, but if you can get a good price at least you know the 'hood!

Honestly, unless you've got the budget for the Fairmont every other airport hotel could take you as long or longer to get to than heading downtown - no traffic at night whereas no hotel has more than a single shuttle vehicle and none I'm aware of have a shuttle driver with no other jobs. So when you call your hotel from the courtesy phones, the delay is at best "Good news, someone called before you, the bus should be outside in a couple of minutes!" plus drive time to the hotel of anywhere from 7 to 30+ minutes (some Surrey hotels cheekily call themselves 'airport' even though they're further away than downtown is!) and at worst is "I just need to go find the driver, he should be on his way in a few minutes" with 20mins+ wait time until you get to the hotel. Whereas if the cab queue is minimal, you could be checking in at a downtown hotel in 30mins... and then when you wake up next morning you could be within walking distance of the pier and multiple things to do instead of facing commuter traffic inbound etc. Oh, and if budget is tight then the YWCA Hotel downtown is usually cheaper than airport hotels anyway, despite being one of the best-reviewed hotels at any price in the region.

Cabs will be lined up as soon as the train arrives - you might need to wait a few minutes if you aren't in Business Class (who get off first) but more cabs will keep rolling in regularly. If you've got Uber/Lyft etc. apps installed, no harm in checking to see how far away the nearest car is of course!

Yup, you got it, and thanks for reporting back on your experience - may I ask what time you traveled at? That rate seems remarkably low with yesterday being our local Marathon! Street access to the pier was more limited than usual so us locals had been warning folks to expect higher fares (well, not for the fixed rate cabs from YVR obviously, but for all other car based travel yesterday morning at least!)

Concur, this really comes down to 'which boat do you want to be on?' rather than 'is any company better than another at finding whales?' As to Orcas, unlike the visiting baleen whales our Resident pods are struggling to maintain population - so between that and more humpies and grays deciding to hang out locally all summer, our local operators now also primarily visit the latter groups and leave the Orcas alone unless they just happen to be passing (there's also a legal issue of giving Orcas significantly more space than other species - folks onboard have anecdotally been complaining that at 400metres they can 'hardly see' the Orcas... while they can still approach to within 100m of other species - 200m if they have calves, or for Sustainable whalewatch certified companies once they confirm Orcas are Biggs' or Northern Residents rather than the Southern pods. Happy pax tip more, so the closer the experience the more cash the folks aboard make...)

We run booze rules provincially rather than country-wide here, and compared to most of the rest of Canada and the US BC is frankly insane when it comes to booze laws. Even when I moved here from Ontario I was floored by how ludicrous the rules were - and while a few of them have been relaxed since (enabling you to actually drink beer in a brewery for example, which wasn't legal until less than a decade ago!!!) licensing remains absolutely brutal. Speaking as an expat who was a CAMRA member at 18, tended bar for years, has various qualifications that require at least a basic understanding of the booze laws of multiple jurisdictions, I can say hands-down that even the most ridiculous rules of Scots law as applied to Public Houses are trivial compared to how BC operates all of its 'Sindustries'! The good news on the kids angle is that there are very few bars in Vancouver, legally-speaking. The overwhelming majority operate under a Restaurant license, which means that management can choose to allow kids (during limited hours and only in certain seats) - so the short answer is that if you want to bring your kids anywhere for lunch or dinner, there's a very good chance it will be allowed... but you literally have to check with every establishment, since just because they can allow kids doesn't mean they have to or will. Folks with a resto license must make a certain % of their income from food/soft drinks or else they are heavily penalized right up to potentially losing their license - so it's actually a good thing for them when kids come in because they only consume stuff that counts toward the minimum % to retain their license! But some management feel like if they let kids in it puts off the boozehounds who want to get sloppy drunk and swear at sportsball on TV - so they may be happy to see kids for lunch, but set an early cutoff for when families have to mosey on home... Basically, if you're out and about rather than booking in advance the most efficient tool at your disposal is the good old Mark I Eyeball - see another family already seated, enjoying a meal? Kids are probably OK at that time (unless that fam just squeezed in under the 'last orders for kids' line). If you're booking in advance, email or call to verify what the deal is with kids. If you want a patio, then you will never be able to actually book a table on one of those (they are always 'first come, first served' to maximise utilisation) but still, check in advance on the kids policy. I'm fairly certain that all T&B locations use a Restaurant-primary license, allow kids to come in with adults for lunch or dinner (IIRC 9pm is the latest legal cutoff time for Minors), and only ban them from sitting at the bar (which usually includes high-top tables near the bar - if there's a room divider separating high and low seat areas that is almost always a good indicator of the 'no kids' zone) but I don't have kids so it's honestly not a thing I pay much attention to.

FROM the airport, fixed rates zones to literally everywhere in Vancouver - if your hotel is one of the ones right next to the pier, same price; virtually all other downtown hotels, including all on Robson, are in the $37 zone. Every cab has to have a copy available, but you can peruse in advance on YVRs website (rates should remain in place this summer, as they last went up Oct '23). The fixed rate to go from the pier TO the airport is a relatively recent change, and only applies from the pier itself. Taxifarefinder is generally pretty accurate in Vancouver outside rush hour - but note that a) it does not factor in fixed fare zones here, and b) the 'sticker price' also includes a 15% assumed tip.

You can get Ubers at the airport - there's a designated rideshare pickup, just like there's one for cabs and for limos - but as noted already pricing is often significantly worse than a cab due to Surge. The route from airport to pier is fixed rate in cabs both ways these days - CAD$41. Even with a generous 20% tip, nobody should be handing over more than US$37ish - and the only legal additional fee is for stops en route, nothing extra allowed for bags, number of people etc. In theory a non-surge Uber will run a bit less than this - but they have fees which do not apply to cabs (because they break the law which requires Accessible vehicles, every ride effectively pays a small fine) so even though the per-mile rates are lower short rides around town are usually more expensive by rideshare - it takes over a mile of driving to hit break even, and about 80% of our downtown hotels are within a mile of the pier!

For maximum simplicity and convenience, I'd store the bags with the bell staff of the Pan Pacific right above the pier. That way you have a 'one-stop shop' - somewhere that will call you a cab if there isn't one already waiting, that's at street level so you can call and Uber/Lyft if you wish (they're not allowed to pick up inside the terminal), and that you can repeat the above again when you want to go to YVR. From the PP to Prince of Whales may run close to $20 on the meter, because you might hit a bit of commuter traffic and road access is very indirect (despite the name, it's not actually an island but only has access from the south side of False Creek so you either overshoot on Granville bridge or go a roundabout way via the other bridges, and driving on GI is always painfully slow - lots of pedestrians! On the way back, maybe a bit less depending on time of day/traffic. Uber will likely be about the same if not Surge - it actually costs more to get in a rideshare than a cab, they have extra fees that cabs are not subject to, so even though the 'per mile' rate usually runs less it takes a couple of miles to actually see any savings so the differences would be marginal on a ride within downtown like this. I'd check Uber if you're used to using it - see how long the app says the nearest car is, and if there isn't a cab visible then weight up the wait time! The bus isn't just cheap, but also pretty convenient - as long as your sis can walk/roll along flat sidewalks it might be quite doable evewn if she's slow (disembark even as late as 9am, whalewatch 10am, bus would be ~30mins total incl walk time at regular 3mph walking speed). The 50 runs from <400yds away from the pier, to as close as possible to GI without actually getting on it (map from the stop to PoW office on Duranleau - slightly further than pier to bus stop) GI is also a good spot to do a bit of souvenir shopping before or after your whalewatch, and has a plethora of dining options - from sweet treats, sammiches and deli food to take aboard for lunch, to a sitdown steak dinner afterward, it covers the bases well. Depending what time you book the boat at, you might even have time to do a little minicruise - a cab to e.g. Davie Marina is a much shorter ride than going over the bridges, and you can hop on a water taxi. Price would likely be in the same ballpark as cabbing all the way, maybe $8 for the cab but then 2 tix on Aquabus or False Creek Ferries probably $3-6 each (various ticket prices based on distance, but decent Senior discounts).

During cruise season hours are extended in many shops in downtown Victoria, to squeeze as many pennies as possible from all you wealthy visitors! Even now, with retail staff harder than ever to recruit and hours correspondingly reduced, the stalls in The Bay Centre - which include Purdy's, a very Canadian chocolatier - stay open until 7pm at least a couple of nights a week. Not sure of your exact date in Vic, but they do give a detail list of hours on this page - you can click through fortnightly right through the season to see exactly what the hours will be on your date. Worst case, hit up a supermarket to buy a bunch of treats that are tricky to find in the USA but normal up here - Coffee Crisps, Kinder Eggs, weird flavours of chips. Just eat the Kinder Eggs before re-entering the states - big fines get issued every year to folks unaware of the FDAs 'no inedible items inside food' rules!

Welcome to posting! Note that if you want to 'ping' someone, you need to type the @ symbol - once you do that, a little popup should appear with a list of names that gets smaller as you type each letter of their handle - and when you see the name you want, click it and you should see their name formatted in a blue bubble (example - I have addressed this post directly to you @1nolaguy so your name appears in a blue bubble, confirming I selected it correctly) If you are comfortable moving yourselves and all your bags at least 400 yards without using a porter or an airport trolley, SkyTrain should work for you. If not, take a cab - they're much pricer for two people but are at least fixed rate and significantly cheaper than cruise transfers! $41 is the current rate to the pier from YVR, or vice versa (in CAD, so tip as you would at home for a cab but expect total cost to be about 75% of equivalent USD). SkyTrain does have multiple exit points - coming in from YVR it's best to board the back of the train, which means when you walk off you should see signs pointing you up to Granville Street conveniently close. There's an elevator right up to street level - and from here, it's DOWNhill to the pier! Not steep, but every little helps! Map from that specific entrance to the pier here. Check out Google's Streetview too, it makes it easier to follow a route if you have already virtually 'walked' it! If you're heading downhill, and can see mountains and water ahead of you, you're almost certainly going the right way! If you're feeling good about roling those bags along, you can even walk down a ramp (same one the cars use, very obvious, but with a proper separated sidewalk) directly to the parking level. While it appears this year there's a new system enabling you to drop bags at street level just inside the convention hall, if you arrive early (<10am) you will almost certainly still have to go down to P2 to drop bags so the ramp is a handy shortcut.

Frankly I recommend against this tour even for able-bodied folks due to insufficient time at the sites; while Capilano can be just about squeezed into the time available if you hustle, Grouse is massive with various timed events like a Raptor show, so unless you have 4-6 hours free you simply cannot see everything and this tour will give you at most 3 hours on-site. Someone who needs a walking aid will have many issues getting around (Grouse is not level, paths are uneven, gravel, woodchip) making the value for them significantly worse, and it's already weak. The hatchery itself should be easily navigated, but the trails around here are even less developed than Grouse or Cap, so pootling about to view the dam isn't on the cards - and I always feel including this free government run place is a bit cheeky instead of simply spending the same length of tour but giving people an extra hour+ at Grouse! Whalewatching can be done easily though - either by bus from downtown to Steveston or else from Granville Island. The latter gives you more time on the water (tours run 3-5hrs, if you spot whales early they'll return at about the 3 hour mark but if the whales are further out you'll get the full 5), and effectively a free 'city tour' as generally the boats from GI still head out into the same waters that the Steveston boats visit. All the local companies offer the same guarantee (whale sighting or free tours for life until you do see one) - Prince of Whales run some bigger cats, seating up to 95, while Wild Whales operate 12 seater Zodiacs (not a good idea if your sister has any kind of back issue, very bouncy ride!) and smaller 30ish pax cats, pricing is also a little less with WW. Steveston trips are a bit cheaper - but if you add on the per person extra charge for a bus ride, it's pretty much a wash. So assuming you're comfortable on a boat for most of the day, storing bags downtown, taking a whalewatch from Granville Island, dinner downtown, then retrieve bags and head to YVR would be a nice way to fill a day IMO. Also note that CBP have extended their operating hours at YVR, now listing a finish time of 11:30pm daily instead of 8:30pm! That means even the later of your two redeyes should now benefit from prescreening, so you'll get your customs & immigration done here instead of having to wait forever at understaffed US airports in the wee small hours at your first stop south of the border. Note that if you had planned to be three hours early for flight 1 you probably will not be allowed to drop bags for flight 2 (there's limited space for prescreening luggage, so while evenings are less busy I would still not be at all surprised if they enforce the 'no bag drop more than 3 hours in advance' policy) so if you want to go through Security together and hang out until flight 1, any earlier than 8:45pm risks one of you being forced to wait outside Security... I would recommend prebooking your Security slots, so you can definitely both get into the short queue if you do need to wait until 8:45pm (it's free, do it any time up to 72hrs in advance), and then get there a little earlier - if they let you drop both bags at say 8pm, great, but if not you can risk both waiting outside Security until you can drop the second bag without worrying about a long wait for the Security check. Personally I would also request assistance for your Sis at the airport - a wheelchair and pusher might seem overkill if she can move around with a rollator, but there's often a long walk to the gate so take advantage of the offered services!

All of the above sites are usually correct, but involve manual retrieval of info from the definitive guides to what's in port, and that's the official timetable that each port produces. Just like Wikipedia they're absolutely worth checking, often add some more info about things to do, but if you want to be certain of accuracy - original sources are the only way to avoid errors creeping in. When it comes to Vancouver, CruiseTT in particular has been wrong more times than I can count, and at best runs days behind updates to the official info - which are issued several times during the season as e.g. Princess remember that they can't still fit Royal class ships under the bridge except at low tide, finally check the tide schedules (which are available over a year in advance from the Canadian government so there's absolutely no need for such deliberate incompetence), and request revised port times as little as a month ahead of each departure... So rather than just attaching a copy of the most recent timetable, I'll point you to the page where you can always find the most up-to-date version. Bookmark that second page and you'll always be able to find the most up-to-date info (well, until the port revamps their website again in a few years - there's always a Cruise-related page though, with the timetable somewhere on it, but the last change was quite recent and moved the link right up near the top to make it easier to find).