mindydaile

We played pickleball in P.E. growing up. I always assumed it was a game the teachers made up since they didn't want us winging tennis balls at each other!

I've been to HMC twice and never yet made it to the BBQ! Both trips we've had the Violet Cabana (furthest one down - hardly anyone goes down that far so it's very peaceful down there) and found that with the snacks provided there was really no need to go eat a full meal.

I am certain that anyone receiving a tip from you in US dollars will be very pleased to get it.

 

For many months the CDN dollar was worth more than the US dollar but that has changed in the last 6 weeks so that the US dollar is worth about 2 cents more than the CDN dollar. We no longer have 1 & 2 dollar bills in Canada having opted about 20 years ago for 1 and 2 dollar coins which we call loonies and toonies. Because of the coin a lot of US banks would prefer not to have it and you probably would have trouble getting anything smaller than a $5 bill.

 

I would be quite curious about the name of the hotel you are staying in as the free shuttle question is one we are often asked about and really don't have an answer to.

We opted to stay at the Hampton Inn by the airport (I believe in Richmond, not in Vancouver proper). They have a "cruise rate package" which includes free shuttle from the airport and free transportation for two to the cruise pier. The hotel also offers a free continental breakfast.

For the date we needed (mid-June) the total with tax ended up $194 CAN. Based on the info I got on this board (thanks everyone!) about hotel rates and taxi fare, this seemed like the best deal since we'll only be in town long enough to sleep and not really explore the area.

From what I've read the area around the hotel isn't the best for those wanting to go out exploring on their own, but we felt that for our purposes it would work.

We will be flying into Vancouver and taking the complimentary shuttle run by our hotel both from the airport and then from the hotel to the cruise pier. When tipping the shuttle driver, is CAN $ preferred or would US $ be ok? If I need to have some small CAN bills on hand I can get those before we leave to save time at the airport, but if people accept American currency for tips I can skip that step.

Thanks for any insight!

By reasonable price I was meaning more like under

$300 :) I'm used to Chicago hotel prices so anything under that I consider "reasonable." I should have included that in my original post.

Since I'm only going to be in the hotel for a few hours and most of that time I'll be asleep, I don't really see the point in staying in a top of the line hotel. Now if I was spending a few days there, by all means yes I'd like to be somewhere nice with all the amenities, but I'm just looking for a clean room and a bed to sleep on before taking off on my cruise.

I'm looking for a recommendation for a hotel in Vancouver to use the night prior to our cruise. Location isn't really important, but a reasonable price is. If the hotel included free (or low priced) shuttles from the airport to the hotel and then from the hotel to the pier, that would be a great bonus.

Any suggestions from anyone?