logistics from Canada Place to Fairmont Waterfront

Good morning all...DH and I are on Celebrity Solstice this fall and will be disembarking in Vancouver. We are spending the night at Fairmont Waterfront, which by google maps looks to be directly across from the cruise ship terminal. DH has knee issues and cannot walk more than 20-50 feet without use of a creeper...which if he uses a creeper, I will have to handle the luggage...which will be at least 3 cases. So....here is my question...is this walkable? Are there porters that would walk the luggage to the hotel? Should we just plan to cab it? Thanks for your help. Julie

The Waterfront is directly across the street from the terminal. I can't answer the question about the porters but it might be possible with a generous tip. You could try calling the hotel to find out if they will send a bellman as we have been able to send our luggage to the ship via a bellman when we've stayed there pre-cruise. A taxi will not be worthwhile at all for either you or the driver as taxis are no longer permitted to go down to the terminal level. One seems to have to take their luggage to street level to catch a taxi in front of the Pan Pacific. (There is an elevator from the cruise terminal level to the street level within the Pan Pacific but it's a farther than 50 feet to get to the elevator.) This is a very recent development and has caused issues with disembarkation.

Some other alternatives, besides asking the bellman to pick up the luggage, are: stay at the Pan Pacific right above the cruise terminal, or use a ship post cruise hotel package. Then they would transfer you and your luggage to the hotel.

Good Luck!

The Waterfront is directly across the street from the terminal. I can't answer the question about the porters but it might be possible with a generous tip. You could try calling the hotel to find out if they will send a bellman as we have been able to send our luggage to the ship via a bellman when we've stayed there pre-cruise. A taxi will not be worthwhile at all for either you or the driver as taxis are no longer permitted to go down to the terminal level. One seems to have to take their luggage to street level to catch a taxi in front of the Pan Pacific. (There is an elevator from the cruise terminal level to the street level within the Pan Pacific but it's a farther than 50 feet to get to the elevator.) This is a very recent development and has caused issues with disembarkation.

 

Some other alternatives, besides asking the bellman to pick up the luggage, are: stay at the Pan Pacific right above the cruise terminal, or use a ship post cruise hotel package. Then they would transfer you and your luggage to the hotel.

 

Good Luck!

Thanks for the info...I used miles to book the Fairmont to it is what it is...I will call and inquire about a bell man though. Thanks for that. Julie

If your husband can handle the walk with a creeper or would be willing to use a wheelchair then I am certain that either the hotel will send over a bellman to help you with your luggage, however that is going to require a phone call once you clear the customs hall. The other alternative, and I confess I have never tried it, would be to ask the luggage porter that you engage at Canada Place to take your luggage across the street the hotel....for a nice tip of course.

Thanks for the info...I used miles to book the Fairmont to it is what it is...I will call and inquire about a bell man though. Thanks for that. Julie

I hope that will work for you; I can't see them refusing but I really don't know. My other thought is to leave your husband with one or two pieces of luggage, take the third across the street to the bellman, go back as many times as necessary to get the rest of the luggage and then go back again to get your husband. That would be a real pain in the butt, though.

Please come back and post here if the Waterfront will do that for you. This will be good information for others in the same situation. I travel with my 80 year old mother so can relate a wee bit.

One last question - what's a creeper? I've never heard of it before, or don't know it by that name.

It's what he calls his collapsible wheeled Walker...he found it easier to use then a cane

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Taxi's do come to the cruise ship terminal level but as the Fairmont Waterfront is directly across street they would not be happy if that was their fare and yoru destination. If you can get your DH to use a ships wheel chair to disembark the Celebrity staff will wheel him all the way to the Fairmont Waterfront. You can get a luggage cart in the terminal for your luggage (for free) but they will not let these carts leave the crusie ship level of the terminal. However the walk from where you have to leave the luggage kart is just before the elevator and once up to the ground level in teh elevator you only have to exit the front entrance and cross the street so I am sure your DH could manage that and use his walker to that point as you would have your luggage on a kart to there.

I remember when I handled multiple luggage pieces when traveling with the disabled... thoughts....

-can one piece of luggage be a backpack

-instead two medium suitcases, can it be one larger suitcase?

-some suitcases can be tied or attached to one another like a train. This was how I traveled at on time.

Unlike the airport, there is NO luggage carts at the cruise terminal.

Here's what I've been recently doing with a wheelchair

-one item between the legs of the wheelchair rider, using the feet supports

-second item on the lap of the wheelchair rider

-hang third and/or forth item on wheelchair handles. Backpack across both handles?

-additional backpack on me as the wheelchair pusher

-free hand pulls suitcase while nudging the wheelchair handle for control

-additional suitcase hooked up to the first suitcase like a train

Ugly.... but doable.

Unlike the airport, there is NO luggage carts at the cruise terminal.

This is why the best bet is the hotel bellman and his luggage cart.

OP, first of all, you will LOVE the hotel. It is phenomenal. :) Great choice. We stayed there last year for our Solstice Alaska cruise and loved every minute of it. I have no doubt that one of the hotel staff would be pleased to help you across the street, and it really is as simple as that. A cab would be far more trouble than it's worth, in my opinion. Plus, I think the driver would be a bit choked because now he's at the back of the line again (no offense intended).

Have a great time! Solstice is fabulous too. The hot glass blowing show is amazing. :)

.

I used to travel with my Mom who was visually impaired and had a Seeing Eye dog. We always seemed to travel with 4 suitcases and 2 carry ons. I used to justify it and say the dog had a lot of gear and food that we had to bring. I doubt that was the case but we always had 6 total pieces of luggage. We did usually travel for 2-3 weeks at a time as it is a lot of effort.

Long story short - I had to carry all the luggage all the time. I would often do what one person suggested and park my Mom and her dog somewhere safe with the luggage and then would move 2 pieces of luggage at a time to the hotel and then eventually walk back and walk with my Mom to the hotel. I did this many of times, if it was at the airport where we would be dropped off to hotels, etc... I am younger so it wasn't an issue.

I am sure the Fairmont would definitely assist. We stayed at the Fairmont Pacific Rim (a few blocks away) last time I was there and their staff was AMAZING.

Coral, Will the staff at the Fairmont Pacific Rim take your luggage to the ship? I'm staying there pre-cruise (twice) in July.

~Nancy

Coral, Will the staff at the Fairmont Pacific Rim take your luggage to the ship? I'm staying there pre-cruise (twice) in July.

 

~Nancy

Yes they will, however you must call the bell desk and they will want you to stay in your room until a bellman comes to pick up the luggage from you.

Thanks Putterdude. I have received so much good information from you and the other locals about Vancouver......it's really building up my excitement for this trip! Who knows, maybe some day we will meet.

~Nancy

Coral, Will the staff at the Fairmont Pacific Rim take your luggage to the ship? I'm staying there pre-cruise (twice) in July.

 

~Nancy

Yes they will, however you must call the bell desk and they will want you to stay in your room until a bellman comes to pick up the luggage from you.

Thanks once again, PDude.

Your help is terrific.

And what a great view you must have from home if you are able to see the cruise ships pass by. Wow!

I remember when I handled multiple luggage pieces when traveling with the disabled... thoughts....

-can one piece of luggage be a backpack

-instead two medium suitcases, can it be one larger suitcase?

-some suitcases can be tied or attached to one another like a train. This was how I traveled at on time.

 

Unlike the airport, there is NO luggage carts at the cruise terminal.

Yes they do have airport style luggage carts at the cruise ship terminal (I was just there) You just have to look for them & they are free

However you cannot take these carts out of the cruise ship terminal. They will let you go only as far as the elevators up to ground level & the Pan Pacific Hotel.

Coral, Will the staff at the Fairmont Pacific Rim take your luggage to the ship? I'm staying there pre-cruise (twice) in July.

 

~Nancy

Yes they will take your luggage to the cruise ship for you :)

Here's details on the Waterfront hotel's cruise luggage service...

http://www.fairmont.com/waterfront-vancouver/special-offers/hotel-offers/discovery/connect-with-your-cruiseship/

Personally I prefer to take my luggage myself.... hate to see it "bulk transferred" to the wrong boat.

 

Personally I prefer to take my luggage myself.... hate to see it "bulk transferred" to the wrong boat.

What boat.....the SeaBus? Canada Place only has ships....a little way to remember, ships have boats. You best not call a cruise ship a boat in the presence of the captain.

What about the Love Boat?

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What about the Love Boat?

 

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No question they were ships, not everyone realizes that there was more than one Princess ship in the show and each had boats, however remember that Gavin McLeod was just a pretend captain.:):)

Coral, Will the staff at the Fairmont Pacific Rim take your luggage to the ship? I'm staying there pre-cruise (twice) in July.

 

~Nancy

Sorry for delay. We did them post cruise so don't know the answer.

You will love that hotel! I loved it much more then Pan Pacific in Vancouver. It was also the most high tech room I have ever had. Beds were amazing. This probably is my 2nd most favorite hotel I have stayed at, the first being Pan Pacific in Whistler.

Our view outside was of the Olympic Cauldron with it's lights on at night. Stunning!

I read somewhere that there is a tunnel underground from Pacific Rim to Canada Place. I read this after I was there so I didn't know about it.

I read somewhere that there is a tunnel underground from Pacific Rim to Canada Place. I read this after I was there so I didn't know about it.

Sorry for delay. We did them post cruise so don't know the answer.

 

You will love that hotel! I loved it much more then Pan Pacific in Vancouver. It was also the most high tech room I have ever had. Beds were amazing. This probably is my 2nd most favorite hotel I have stayed at, the first being Pan Pacific in Whistler.

 

Our view outside was of the Olympic Cauldron with it's lights on at night. Stunning!

 

I read somewhere that there is a tunnel underground from Pacific Rim to Canada Place. I read this after I was there so I didn't know about it.

We felt the same way about those two hotels.

We stayed at the Pacific Rim in Vancouver and *loved* it. We were in the Club level, and their Club had great food and was very pleasant... with an amazing view. And our room had one off the best bathrooms we've ever had for a regular room (not counting suites).

Then we stayed at the Pan Pacific, and for the money, we hated it.

The bad experience started at check in, and nothing got much better.

It was one of the smallest rooms we've had in the USA. There were just a few narrow drawers, and none in either bedside table.

Oh, wait... there was only ONE bedside table...

And the bathroom was, well, straight out of a 1950's Holiday Inn in both size and style.

This was in the Club Level. Can't imagine what it was like elsewhere there.

The experiences were so different in every way.

Now... we need to double check if there is indeed a special passage to Canada Place. If not, it isn't far.

Thanks for the suggestion.

We felt the same way about those two hotels.

 

We stayed at the Pacific Rim in Vancouver and *loved* it. We were in the Club level, and their Club had great food and was very pleasant... with an amazing view. And our room had one off the best bathrooms we've ever had for a regular room (not counting suites).

 

Then we stayed at the Pan Pacific, and for the money, we hated it.

The bad experience started at check in, and nothing got much better.

It was one of the smallest rooms we've had in the USA. There were just a few narrow drawers, and none in either bedside table.

Oh, wait... there was only ONE bedside table...

And the bathroom was, well, straight out of a 1950's Holiday Inn in both size and style.

This was in the Club Level. Can't imagine what it was like elsewhere there.

 

The experiences were so different in every way.

 

Now... we need to double check if there is indeed a special passage to Canada Place. If not, it isn't far.

Thanks for the suggestion.

We had stayed at Pan Pacific in Whistler/Village Center and LOVED it. Much smaller hotel but service was amazing! Loved those rooms, loved their breakfast, loved their service - amazing!

We then went to Pan Pacific Canada Place right after. Now this was before the Olympics. I know it has had a face lift since then. Location, great! It took 45 minutes to check in. I had mailed a package to the hotel to wait for us and that took hours to find (I had asked ahead of time if this was ok). I spent an hour in line waiting to talk to someone and waited in our room for hours as they going to bring it right up. Ultimately they did. Long story short - it was dog food for my Mom's Seeing Eye dog and we were going to be on a 3 week cruise so I needed that and carrying it on the plane would have cost a lot due to the weight. So if I didn't get it, I would have had to take a taxi to a pet store that day to get it. We were not in Club Level and our room was nothing special.

Except for the easiness of having the luggage brought to the ship, I far preferred the Pacific Rim where everything was perfect. This was the 2nd hotel where the tv was in the mirror but I agree, I loved the bathroom. Even the maids were amazing as she showed my Mom how to use the Nespresso coffee machine. Loved the linens, large windows, beds. Everything perfect.

Would definitely stay at Pacific Rim again.

Thank you all for your help...I contacted the Concierge at Fairmont Waterfront and was assured that someone would be able to help from the point that we are left by the port folks.