martincath

Canada Day in recent years hasn't made a massive impact - and even if we get a firework show, in the morning it will have virtually no impact at all (as the afternoon goes on, it's common to see folks start staking out good viewing spots along the Seawall for fireworks many hours in advance of the ~10pm show). So basically Canada Place itself will be hoaching all day (entertainment schedule should appear here once firmed up, check the 2023 one currently still there to give you an idea of the sort of stuff that happens) and traffic annoyances from street closure basically just between the pier and Olympic cauldron. Since it's a Monday this year, transit schedules will drop to Weekend levels which might add a few minutes if you try and go places, but generally all the touristy things are exempt from closures on public holidays, so as long as you don't want to spend a day shopping it should pretty much feel like a regular Saturday anywhere that isn't very close next to the pier, except that there will probably be a lot more flags displayed around town. Back to the core of your question - you seem to have already noticed we are not a town of early opening attractions! Assuming you dined onboard well enough to last you for a few hours at least, I'd suggest hitting parks - very few are gated, so if the suns up you can enjoy them. Especially if you wanted to go for a lengthy loop around Stanley on the Seawall, right after dropping your bags at your hotel is ideal - it's at least 5 miles plus getting to the entrance from your hotel, so doing that before the day warms up too much is a good idea. Your hotel might have free bikes - quite a few do, and not just the superfancy ones - and as checked-in guests you should be able to borrow them even if your room isn't ready yet. If not, consider renting a bike - they're especially handy for the Seawall, basically tripling your travel speed for less calories expended! Other than 'do parks first' it really comes down to your taste in what to do - you know you and those you're travelling with a lot better than I ever could! We've got so many options - and like I said, virtually nothing touristy will be closed for the holiday - that it's all about prioritising the things which are most likely to be popular for you. TripAdvisor is a great starting point to see what Joe Q Public mostly thinks are the best things to do overall.

Some cabbies will even happily take USD cash as payment (at a not-even-close-to-Interbank rate!), but since you will literally be prompted to tip on the handheld unit the driver gives you to pay by credit card simply add on your preferred amount when prompted instead of also pfaffing around with notes as well as your card.

I think the issue is because this year a couple of tweaks are being trialled - asking cruiselines to stagger boarding times more, and ADDING an extra opportunity to hand luggage over as you enter the convention hall! So folks who get dropped off by cab etc. downstairs don't need to schlep bags up any levels, nor do folks who walk in from street level have to schlep bags down any levels... everybody wins! NB: can't guarantee the convention centre level bag drop is every day; all season; only busy days; or gets stopped because it's not working as well as hoped! But for OP @dces1 to ensure you get wheelchair assistance in the right place you are supposed to do that via your cruise line - in case you get the runaround from CSRs going by scripts with no local knowledge of the Vancouver terminal, you could try contacting their shoreside agency (last year Princess used Destination North America who you can contact by phone: +1 (604) 641 1221) or reach out to the port directly about accessibility services by email: cruiseservices@portvancouver.com Hope that helps!

@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!