Milhouse

Add me to the curious list too! 🙂 Also just saw it on our cruise planner for our August cruise in addition to a "Taste of Argentina: Hands-on Steak Class."

We're debating which train to take to get us into Rotterdam at different times: 11:32am, 1:32pm, or 3:32pm. There's a slight/neglible price difference but we're also trying to factor in how early we want to wake up and balancing a bit of the morning in Paris versus enough time to see a bit of Rotterdam. ie How much time/priority to give to Markt Binnenrotte; which is likely falling low on the list based on the feedback. We did see the Euromast on various lists. But it didn't make the first cut because it was a bit further out from where we wanted to initially explore. If we're able to get up early and explore the next morning before we board, we might jump on the metro and go a bit further afield and visit the broader areas of the Euromast, Delfshaven, and Heemraadspark. It's really going to be dependent on how we feel (might still be a bit jetlaggy).

Beat me to the punch but just to top up: The Canada Line cars have "normal" 2x2 seating on one end and a more open area (kind of for bikes, etc) on the other end. Travelling with large suitcases in the normal seating area and door area is kind of awkward IMO. More comfortable in the open area. I forget if the set of four across from the open area are designated seating for the elderly, etc though. Grabbed these photos off the internet which are a good view of the open area I mention. https://buzzer.translink.ca/wp-content/uploads/2009/05/img_0623.jpg https://farm4.static.flickr.com/3328/3444306028_b34f7b3ea8_b.jpg

Grabbed these photos off the internet. https://buzzer.translink.ca/wp-content/uploads/2009/05/img_0623.jpg https://farm4.static.flickr.com/3328/3444306028_b34f7b3ea8_b.jpg

The long term lot at YVR is one the cheaper options, it's pretty safe, it's pretty easy navigate, and it's a simple option. However, it is starting to get pricier and the value prop starts to dimish a bit when you factor in transportation costs between YVR and downtown. Eg. One week of reserved parking (~$120), YVR to downtown on Skytrain for two during offpeak (~$16.30), back to YVR offpeak (~$6.30) = ~$142 For base comparison, there's a parking lot by the sea planes that is about a 10min walk to Canada Place for about $177 for a week. That $35 gap narrows if there's four instead of two travelling and if your take the skytrain during peak hours. Note: Parking at Canada Place, as you may have researched, is kind of ridiculous. I forget the specific price but our jaw dropped when we checked the long term parking costs recently. Maybe search for lots on Easy Park which is a major parking operator in Vancouver. Or on Parkopedia which I find is a good initial resource but requires further follow up. I caution that some parkades are not open 24x7 so you might not be able to get your car out at all times, some do not allow overnight parking, some are in sketchy areas, etc. Hence why the YVR long term lot can be a good simple option.

Yes but thanks for also helping do a search.

Similar thoughts. From my perspective, I'm not sure if there are any must do's per se but there are a few iconic areas and landmarks. My favourite stretch is also basically by the totem poles and Hallelujah Point with a classic view of the downtown Coal Harbour waterfront. Just for timing context, I occasionally do a 2.25-2.5 hour walking loop (steady pace but not really brisk) that kind of hits or gets near a lot of the bigger sights. The path is roughy: Start at Starbucks on Denman Denman to English Bay Seawall to Second Beach. Path that runs the north side of Lost Lagoon (I occasionally do the south loop too) Under the causeway to the Rose Garden/Shakespear Garden Past the Stanley Park Pavillion towards the Aquarium Before the Aquarium, hang a left towards Lumbermen's Arch Take the seawall towards Brockton Point and around back to Coal Harbour. The seawall will take you past: the Girl in Wetsuit statue, the totem poles, Brockton Point Lighthouse, Nine O'Clock Gun, Hallelujah Point, Deadman's Island/HMCS Discovery, Yacht Club, Rowing Club, near the Robbie Burns statue, and near the Lord Stanley statue. It's fairly flat except for a somewhat slight incline from under the causeway to the Pavillion. With this route, you're missing out on Prospect point and a great view of the North Shore & Lions Gate Bridge or under the Lions Gate Bridge if you went along the seawall, the Hollow Tree, Siwash Rock, Third Beach & the Teahouse, and Mini Railway, and Beaver Lake. Again, debateable how desireable each of these are to you. As martincath mentions, there are various ways to visit these other areas but it's an effort/reward thing.

Maybe check out APA hotels to see if the brand fits what you are looking for. It's a chain of business class hotels with multiple locations in Tokyo (and Japan). We've stayed at a few of them during previous trips to Japan. While I find them modern, they are kind of basic (eg. Generally not much of a lobby area) and the rooms are fairly small. A few reviews for some locations aren't flattering but we've never had any issues. YMMV of course.

Follow up question! We will be in Rotterdam on a Tuesday and see that the the Markt Binnenrotte seems to be happening nearby the Markthal. We've pulled up some youtube videos and reviews on it but was hoping for some additional commentary to determing if it's worth it for us to try to arrive into Rotterdam earlier to visit it. Thanks!

We had a slight issue with that (seapasses accessible outside the cabin) on our last cruise. Someone incorrectly entered our stateroom (seapasses are obviously right there), yucked up the washroom 🤐 and kind of gave the cabin a bit of a lived in feel before likely realizing they were in the wrong room and got the heck out of Dodge. (Would have been nice to have told the attendant they messed up so he could have quickly redone the room though, yeesh.) Anyways, we kind of figured something was a bit off when we saw the envelope containing our seapasses was already torn open. Our stateroom attendant and his manager were great though. Cleaned and reset the room with nice follow-up with us.

FWIW, for two previous visits, our itinerary showed we were tendering but we ended up docking at the port. On our most recent visit it said we were tendering and we did tender to the old bus station (versus the pier in town). Tendering to these areas does save having to take a shuttle (bus or boat) from the port to Chora/Mykonos town. (It is walkable and I've seen people do it but doesn't seem very enjoyable IMO.)

Personally, we try to visit both Kyoto and Osaka whenever we travel to the Kansai region of Japan. But the variables are obviously kind of different with an overnight port of call. On the surface, I kind of find it ambitious to try to do both (particularly if DIY and possibly struggling with transportation) but not impractical, particularly if this is going to be a rare visit to Japan. If you are arriving in the morning and departing late afternoon/early evening the next day and really want to visit both, consider heading to Kyoto your first day. On your return, maybe try to hit up Dotonbori/Namba in Osaka at night before heading back to the ship. Then on day 2, you can hit up the rest of the stuff you want to see in Osaka. I prefer to spend more time in Kyoto because I find it more pedestrian friendly and cultural. Whereas, I find Osaka has more of a big city vibe (though both are big cities). It's also kind of influenced by where we like to visit in each city. In Kyoto, we love visiting Nishiki Market and Teramachi covered shopping street/arcade, Gion district to catch a glimpse of maikos/geisha and check out the architecture, Pontocho alley, the Arashiyama bamboo forest, etc. In Osaka, my main goal is to revisit the Dotonbori/Namba neighbourhood at night. It's just a really vibrant area at night with shopping, restaurants/eateries, classic neon signs, a waterfronty canal area, etc. There are other attractions of course (castle, Kuromon market, etc) but with limited time, I'd prefer to spend it in Kyoto. YMMV of course.

I suspect the extra foot traffic around Canada Place may slow vehicle flow slightly more than usual from the terminal/parkade area out onto Howe Street but there are typically traffic control cops in the intersection coordinating things. Also, IIRC scheduled events typically don't get going until later in the morning (11'ish). Canada Day celebrations in downtown have kind of been scaled back in varying degrees over the last few years (eg Parade and Fireworks dropped) mainly due to a lack of funding so it can be a bit of a guess in terms of what ends up year to year. However, Canada Place road is typically closed to traffic for a block party from Jack Poole Plaza to about the entrance to the convention area in Canada Place, roughly leaving the driveway of the Fairmont Waterfront and entrace to the Canada Place/Pan Pacific's parkade (down to the cruise terminal) open/accessible. (There are also events normally happening in Jack Poole Plaza and around Canada Place's promenade that should not impact traffic.)

Some great options. One update though: Daisy Garden I believe is permanently closed. Google Maps shows temporarily closed but I think there's a For Sale or For Lease sign up now.

Yeah I think the multiple locations to get onshore can be confusing. On our most recent visit last year, we were tendered close to the Old Port Bus Station which was close enough for us and many to hoof it into Chora. On previous visits, we docked at the cruise port way further north and shuttled (bus or seabus) into Chora. And we've previously seen tenders right to the dock in Chora. In terms of navigation in Chora, I thought Google Maps worked fairly well but not perfect. A lot of the lanes are fairly narrow and some can lead to dead ends. (I also find this makes walking around the laneways in town in the morning a bit of a chore with the crowds and delivery vehicles.) However, the town is small enough that if you have a general sense of where the water is, you can walk in that direction, reach the water, and reorientate yourself. Kind of hard to get too lost.

Do know where the Vista will be docking? I know there's a small harbour/marina right by the old town but wouldn't think it would be able to support a cruise ship. We were in San Sebastian for a few days in 2019 and agree that most of the town and vicinity is very walkable though. We stayed just outside of the old town and walked in. Fairly flat (apart from Monte Urgull that overlooks the old town) and pedestrian friendly including neighbourhoods beyond. Reasonable bus system too.

Thank you for sharing your experience. We'll be in Lisbon in the summer. Always a good reminder to exercise caution and try to always be aware.

We'll eventually hit you up on that as we enjoy eventually sailing on the Royal Caribbean's latest mega ships out of one of the Florida ports. 🙂 One more area likely to be avoided I forgot to mention was Granville Street (roughly between Robson and Helmcken) on Friday and Saturday nights which turns into a pedestrian orientated bar/club/lounge scene but leans towards a younger crowd. There's occasionally some disorder but there's also a reasonable police presence to keep the peace. And there's also appears to be a football game at BC Place stadium Saturday night. They typically have a free "street party" along the plaza by Robson Street. Definitely not as festive as games in the US though. So you'll get some volume/crowds at the venues around the stadium pregame (4pm) and postgame (7pm).

Our summers have been getting drier over the years so yes, you'll likely avoid getting rained on in July. However, we've also experienced the occasional hot spells as early as June. Though being from Florida, you'll likely be better equipped to handle some low 30C/90F'ish and occasionally somewhat muggy temps than a sweaty mess like me. I'm assuming you'll be pull up some of these locations on Google Maps or some other mapping software. Core area to avoid is Hastings Street between Carrall Street and Main Street. It's basically the worst neighbourhood in Canada with street disorder, drug use, etc. A tourist would not normally go here but the mayhem also spills over a bit into adjacent streets and neighbourhoods so you might encounter some of it if you visit Chinatown (to get a bun/dim sum or to see the gardens) or Gastown. You also get some seediness around social housing buildings like near south Granville Street by Helmcken Street or near Pender Street by Richards Street. If you stick to the main tourist areas/routes, it's generally fine. FWIW, I regularly walk around various parts of downtown. While Vancouver has some decent commercial tourist attractions (though obviously not on a scale of Disney, Universal, etc), I've said in previous posts that my favourite parts of Vancouver are by the water like walking the seawall which takes you to places like: Granville Island, English Bay, Stanley Park, Kits Beach, etc. While I regularly walk portions of it, a couple of times in the summers, we'll dedicate a day to walk a significant portion of it but you can obviously take shortcuts (eg you don't have to walk around the entire perimeter of Stanley Park), Uber/Lyft, transit, aqua ferries, etc to cut down on distance. Even though it's very touristy, I think Granville Island is a good option with the Public Market and a variety of food vendors. Great views, buskers/entertainment, etc. We love going there regularly. Go Fish located in a container just off of Granville Island is one of my favourite fish and chip places. They have tempura beer battered local fish (cod, halibut, & salmon). Their fries are only meh tho IMO. Their grilled salmon tacone are really good too. Line and wait for food can be insanely long though (30+mins). Another type of local fish to check out is sablefish which is very buttery but some parts can have a lot of bones (worth it tho). There's a farmer's market on Saturdays by Nelson Park that you might want to check out which doesn't just have fresh produce & products but some ready to eat (eg bakery items). I also always like suggesting the Shipyards Night Market which runs Friday nights across the inlet in North Vancouver with live music, beer garden, food trucks, and a great view of downtown Vancouver. The effort isn't too bad with taking the seabus across the inlet and there is also the Lonsdale Quay Public Market which is nearby. Vancouver has a bit of a microbrewery scene but a lot of the smaller independent producers are located outside of the downtown core. You may come across some of the bigger brands like Steamworks, Granville Island Brewing, and Stanley Park Brewing in and around downtown. If you want to do a bit of a microbrewery crawl, there are a bunch somewhat clustered south of Olympic Village. I recently hit up a bunch for a stag last year and I found the walk pretty reasonable. (It also looks like the Carnival del Sol Latin Festival will be taking place nearby at Jonathan Rogers Park this year if that interests you.) There's another cluster of microbreweries and distillers east of downtown. They used to hold a kind of annual open house crawl that the missus and I loved going to. However, parts of area can feel a bit sketchy and industrial so I'm not sure if this is the best for a tourist. There's also a cluster somewhat near the Shipyards area that we see when we drive to the nightmarket but we haven't visited yet. Vancouver has a bit of a Food Truck scene. There have been some really good ones over the years but I haven't kept up after I stopped working downtown. Many of my faves now have brick and mortar locations or have shutdown. Tacofino was one of my faves (delicious fish tacos) that made the jump to brick and mortar with a few locations in and around downtown (which are actually better because their trucks' quality started to degrade a bit in trying to cycle through orders faster so you didn't have to wait 20+mins for your taco.) I thought we hit peak ramen a few years ago but the number of ramen shops in Vancouver seem to just keep growing. You'll always see a line-up outside of Ramen Danbo which I think is good but not worth the wait (we occasionally go to one outside of the downtown core). I kind of like Menya ITTO but it's a bit pricey. Anyways, just a few ideas from me. I'm sure others will chime in with some great suggestions based on their experiences.

I think we were planning to just snack throughout the day but the Oude Haven looks like a fantastic waterfront area. We may have to stop for a bite here too while visiting it. Thanks for the tip! We're still debating the order along similar lines of thought. We considered visiting Markthal closer to the end as it is also probably the furthest point on our route. But it's also one of the key places we want to visit and I want to make sure we're there early enough that most of the vendors are still open. I think their website shows they are open until 8pm (with only some restaurants with separate entrances open later). And I suppose we could also visit the morning before we board. So, yup, need to work on the timing.

We're sailing out of Rotterdam this August 2024 and were hoping for a bit of a sanity check with what we're planning. We have never been to Rotterdam but have been to Amsterdam and vicinity a few times. The plan is to take the train after a couple of days in Paris (long story but that's where we're flying into) and arrive in Rotterdam in the early afternoon the day before our cruise departs. We're planning to stay at the Marriott across from Rotterdam Centraal. Is it realistic to visit these places and neighbourhoods (on foot) that afternoon and evening: Markthal Cube Houses Hoogstraat Beurstraverse Lijnbaan Witte de Withstraat We want to keep the pace fairly leisurely and not too ambitious. Also want to make sure the areas are active and fairly safe into the evening (ie Back to the hotel by around 10pm'ish?) And the morning of departure, I was hoping to confirm we could check-in our bags at the terminal and exit so that we could explore the area near the terminal a bit: Hotel New York, Fenix Food Factory, etc.

Yeah while we were sitting there waiting for our food, the missus and I were chatting about the history and the state of the business today😄. I don't know if it's true but I think gossip has it that the original owner back in the day, lost the business due to gambling debts. Pure speculation though. And we were curious how these fast casual restaurants are related to the Hons branded noodles and potstickers you find in some grocery stores (??). We're pretty much halfway between Congee Noodle House and King. We go to House when convenient like sometimes after an event/game downtown. Also when eating with my sister, she will direct us there because she's become friendly with the staff. We generally end up going to King because parking is somewhat more convenient than House (I still hate their parking lot and refuse to park there😵‍💫) and their prices are a tad less expensive. The missus went to Carleton for a few years as a kid and loves to drop a story or two any time we drive by it. 😄

IMO, I find tipping percentages can be somewhat regional. However, I think 15-20% is within spec. I'm curious if your credit cards have a chip & PIN which is the standard in Canada nowadays. I also ask because many businesses (and taxis) use mobile credit card machines and a lot of the machines are set up with various preset tip percentage options, though some are set on the high side.

We're there in September and have been researching too. IIRC, I think some historical posts indicate that taxi/shuttle vans are generally only willing to take you to Casemate Square as most taxis hold out for more lucurative full tours. https://boards.cruisecritic.com/topic/2912404-gibraltar-itinerary/#comment-64754759

We did end up popping into Hons Olympic Village for a snack after walking the seawall to Granville Island on a beautiful Sunday afternoon. Ordered their big hitters: wonton noodle soup and potstickers. The noodles were on point and the wontons were good. The soup was a bit light in flavour for our taste though. We thought the potstickers were only ok/average. Didn't disappoint but didn't align with our memories of them.