First time sailing from Vancouver Need Help!

This will be our first cruise that will be leaving from Vancouver and I am a little unsure of what to expect. We will be driving there so where do we Park our car? What is the cheapest place? I have never cruised from a port outside of the US what do I need to expect? We will also be cruising for the first time with a baby, anything I should know ahead of time? (We do already have our passports). We are staying at a hotel within a couple of miles from the pier the other families we are cruising with do not have a car we had considered taking trips to bring each of them to the pier and drop off will this end up being more of a hassle with traffic? Is it easy to get in and out? Or should we tell them they need to rent a taxi? Any other tips or advice would be greatly appreciated. We are traveling to Alaska and will have my 12 year old, 10 year old, 7 month old, my aunt/uncle, and my parents (my mom has Parkinson's). Thank you for the help!

Thoughts...

• there's a few hotels that offer park, stay and fly/cruise packages for your vehicle
  
• don't leave valuables (luggage) visible in your vehicle. Vancouver has frequent vehicle break-ins... especially with non local license plates
  
• which hotel are you and friends staying at.... downtown hotels charge a premium for parking. How many days are you in the city pre-cruise?
  
• when are you crossing the border? weekends, especially long weekends can be a multi-hour wait at peak times. If you share your sailing date... we can advise of potential traffic congestion issues due to local festivals.
  

Thoughts...

• there's a few hotels that offer park, stay and fly/cruise packages for your vehicle
  
• don't leave valuables (luggage) visible in your vehicle. Vancouver has frequent vehicle break-ins... especially with non local license plates
  
• which hotel are you and friends staying at.... downtown hotels charge a premium for parking. How many days are you in the city pre-cruise?
  
• when are you crossing the border? weekends, especially long weekends can be a multi-hour wait at peak times. If you share your sailing date... we can advise of potential traffic congestion issues due to local festivals.
  

As of right now we are staying at the GEC Granville Suites Downtown. The website says it has free parking but I'm assuming that means for the stay not for the whole cruise. We don't have an issue finding a new place to stay if it includes parking and ends up being cheaper in the long run.

Good to know about leaving things in the car! We will have 1 suitcase that will be staying in the car. This will be our bag of clothes that we have for our trip out to Vancouver. Do you think that will be an issue?

We will be getting into Vancouver on Thursday, June 15th and our cruise leaves on Friday, June 16th. So we will only have 1 day in Vancouver. What time of day do you think is best to cross the border. It will be my husband, myself, and 3 kids (12, 10, and 7 months)

Additionally, when cruising to Alaska from the port of Vancouver, you will go through US Customs and Border Protection before boarding the ship. This is so you do not have to clear Customs at the first US port. You will technically be in US waters as of that point. It's nothing to worry about and no big deal - just letting you know.

Here is more information for you from the Port of Vancouver website:

https://www.portvancouver.com/cruise/passenger-information/

.

Booked and paid in advance, the parking at Canada Place isn't a bad deal for a week. I've also dropped family and friends and the pier, drove out to the airport, parked in the airport's most-economical lot and taken the Canada Line back. (long cruise and I'm frugal on some things).

...drove out to the airport, parked in the airport's most-economical lot and taken the Canada Line back. (long cruise and I'm frugal on some things).

Ooo, good idea. There is always a coupon/discount online but you pay in advance (usually no big deal).

Your profile says Illinois - so I assume you're driving I90/94 westbound, then up I5? On a Thursday that isn't a holiday weekend you shouldn't face any particular difficulty, but generally-speaking northbound into Canada both convenient I5 crossings get busier as the afternoon progresses, so earlier in the day is better unless you wait until after 8 or even 9pm when it gets quiet again.

Downtown, the only 'leave your car while you cruise' deal I know of is at Coast Hotel - downtown parking is pricey. There are other deals in the 'burbs e.g. Accent Inns. Actually touring around with your own car is something us locals generally recommend against - parking sucks, in both availability near many tourist sites and price. With a baby in tow though, the convenience of having your own car seat installed etc. could offset the parking hassles - and if you shifted hotels to the 'burbs the price drop should pay for several hours of parking even in the expensive downtown spots. There are also some downtownish sights that aren't too bad for parking, e.g. Stanley Park which operates on a 'pay once and park anywhere for the number of hours on your ticket' method.

Do not drive everyone in shifts to the pier! Even single-ship days like yours suck for traffic - it's a huge bottleneck with cars, taxis, buses all trying to filter into the same spot through one entry. A cab ride from most downtown hotels would be about $10 for the rest of the family to get there. Taking the car there once to drop your bags and spouse/kids, then driving yourself to the airport, parking, and taking SkyTrain back would be worth considering if you're happy with your hotel location - only $9 for one person to come back from YVR on a Friday daytime, and you save about that each day of parking compared to the pier.

Airport long-term parking runs about $13 a day; pier is about $23. With our dollar about 75c US, that makes parking even at the pier pretty decent value compared to many US ports - so if you feel that the price at the pier is within budget, for convenience it certainly can't be beat! Theft from cars isn't so much a problem out at airport parking lots, but downtown it is endemic. If you're leaving a suitcase, be sure it's in the trunk and not visible from outside: mostly car thefts downtown are opportunistic "Aha! A shiny thing I can sell!" leading to smash window, grab thing, run away.

If you have a minivan/station wagon with an open trunk space, personally I wouldn't risk it - you know there are only used clothes in there, but local thieves see a foreign plate parked at the pier = someone who can afford to tour Vancouver/take a cruise = there could be valuable things in that suitcase! Instead ask your hotel to hold onto it for the week, or just take it onboard with you.

On 4/20/2017 at 12:50 PM, shorti503 said:

 

As of right now we are staying at the GEC Granville Suites Downtown. The website says it has free parking but I'm assuming that means for the stay not for the whole cruise. We don't have an issue finding a new place to stay if it includes parking and ends up being cheaper in the long run.

 

Good to know about leaving things in the car! We will have 1 suitcase that will be staying in the car. This will be our bag of clothes that we have for our trip out to Vancouver. Do you think that will be an issue?

 

We will be getting into Vancouver on Thursday, June 15th and our cruise leaves on Friday, June 16th. So we will only have 1 day in Vancouver. What time of day do you think is best to cross the border. It will be my husband, myself, and 3 kids (12, 10, and 7 months)

how was you stay at GEC granville ?