martincath

If you don't want to book something in advance, the Pan Pacific hotel right above the pier holds bags ($10ea last year, accepts non-guest clients); with your flight time the overpriced official pier storage also works ($13 last year; but reduced price if you book a tour through WestCoast - who run the HOHO as well as various coach tours) as you would need to collect them again by 4pm to get out to YVR (the worst thing about the pier storage is that they shut down at 4:30pm, so it's both the most expensive in the city and craptastic for anyone with a real redeye!) If you are considering a bus tour on your last day though, the price becomes reasonable and the hours work fine for a 7pm flight. Various local establishments have also signed up with online services like Bounce, Luggage Hero etc. - just google "baggage storage in vancouver BC" and a long list will appear - with prices from about $6 up. Some are limited hours, some are 24/7, some give exact locations in advance and others only an approximate location until booked (like AirBnB etc.) Being local, I've never had to use any local storage so I cannot give a qualitative comparison of the options - but personally I'd only book one that I can see exactly where it is, and the hours operated, before payment!

By all means ride the HOHO, but be aware that this is a massively overpriced package which you can buy individual parts of easily and save buckets of cash by doing so... Even without any discounts - which are frequently available online, and worst-case you can literally pick up a flyer with a discount code on at the tourist office just downt the street from the pier - the HOHO 'rack rate' price is CAD$65. Riding SkyTrain to the airport is at most CAD$4.55pp (go after 6:30pm weekdays, or any time on weekends, and that drops to $3.15 - Seniors and kids pay about a buck less per ticket), and you don't even have to use a ticket machine any more... simply tap a Smartphone with wallet enabled or a Visa/MC with the NFC chip to open the gates, do the same when you leave, and the system even does the math for you for the fare price based on day/time traveled! The only component you cannot replicate these days is moving your bag - but if the markup remains the same this season as in the past, with adult rates of approx. US$80pp, that gives you at least CAD$37pp to pay for storing a bag for the day downtown (no more than $10 per bag) and could be $50pp if you buy the HOHO at a discount. If you really cannot manage to roll your suitcase around at all - as in you always get a porter at the airport and pier - then going DIY won't work, but for anyone capable of rolling their own bags around an airport you can absolutely manage the very short distance involved getting to SkyTrain from the pier (about 400 yards). If there's two of you, the savings would buy you a cheap lunch AND cab fare to the airport instead of taking the train (expect to pay under CAD$40 unless you're traveling in rush hour). Plus, you won't have to go anywhere to find your bags in an unfamiliar airport!

Doable? Absolutely. Nice? Probably very nice, but I can't really advise on whether there would be even nicer opportunities you miss by visiting these as I don't know your personal tastes! If you're looking for the most generally-popular overview of the city, most bus tours manage to get you around those in ~3-4 hours albeit with very few real stops - the HOHO has the advantage of far more stops, and flexibility in how long you take at them, as well as being priced a little less, but they won't let you take suitcases onboard so popping over to your hotel first (even if room not ready, they should hold bags no problem) is required. On the practical front, logistics of your listed sites so far - yes, a cab will be quicker than the bus to Grouse almost every time, BUT as soon as you cross a bridge onto the North Shore traffic becomes problematic. Since you're here midweek, both morning and evening rush hours just plain suck - far too many commuters drive from the north shore for the number of bridge lanes! In a bus you might lose time with traffic - but in a cab that meteralso keeps on ticking! Plus, with the one-way roads, cabbies hate calls to pick people up at certain points inside the park (they're driving to you for free!) but then love it when your destination means that you have to circle the park really slowly to get out again, so depending exactly where you are in the park you may find it hard to get a cab to come or the cab fare is already ka-ching before you even leave the park! Personally, if I were going to combine Stanley Park and Capilano or Grouse same day I'd be inclined to take transit - several services pass through the park and over Lions Gate bridge, and you can transfer to the 232 or 236 bus (which both go to Grouse; most bus drivers are good about helping out with reminders if you ask them when you board where is best to make a transfer). Stops for these buses are just outside the park entrance - very close to your hotel, so if you wanted to pop back to refill water bottles, grab fresh socks, use your own loo etc. it would be convenient. On the way back down the mountain rather than hustle to meet the last 'free' shuttlebus of the day if you're still enjoying yourselves you could even consider dining up at Grouse - outstanding views of downtown from the Observatory resto. Ride the 236 all the way to Lonsdale Quay - there's a lot of casual but decent dining around the quay, the nearby Shipyards area, and streets between them - then take the Seabus back across to Vancouver for a dirt-cheap extra 'cruise'! Or stop at Capilano on the way down if you're inclined to do even more outdoorsy stuff - they drop their prices in the evening after 5pm, and with sunlight until after 9pm in June there's ample time to see it all without the hordes of bus tours earlier in the day. Combo bus tours that take you to Cap and Grouse generally run about 5 hours - not quite enough time at either site to do everything, but with an entire day you could easily spend 3+ hours on-site at Grouse, and Cap is easily done in 2hrs if you avoid the worst crowds. It's just Stanley Park that is problematic - even folks very familiar with the park have almost never seen all of it, it's just so darn big at over a thousand acres! The Seawall trail around the outside is over 5 miles - assuming you cut back across via Lost Lagoon to where you started but otherwise don't go anywhere else on the interior. But that means missing Prospect Point, the Rose Garden, Beaver Lake, the Hollow Tree... you could literally walk around the trails for days! Bike rentals are a big win - and your hotel offers free bikes to guests (although limited to 2 hours, and first-come, first-served!) which you could try making use of. Due to the one-way Seawall (no, it's highly unlikely any cops will enforce it, but the sheer insanity of trying to bike headlong into a sea of other cyclists dissuades anyone with an ounce of self-preservation instinct from trying it in summer!) it would probably be best to try and snag bikes at the hotel, do a loop all the way around (even with photostops, 2 hours is plenty) then go do your Grouse etc. and go for a second ride later, or early next morning, to the Rose Garden, Prospect Point, Beaver Lake and any other interior parts - you can ride back out on Pipeline Rd and various trails which are not one-way but do be aware the hill up to Prospect is pretty steep!. Day two, with a 7pm flight, even if it's to the US I would not show up at YVR before 5pm - if you are very nervous travelers, 3 hours early is the official line for US/Int'l flights but that is only ever needed mid-morning through early afternoon. You can prebook a slot at security for free (I'd suggest doing this for 60mins preflight, so if anything goes wrong and you are running late and barely manage to check your bags in time you can go right to the short security queue... I would be genuinely shocked if security and Preclearance took more than 40mins total around the time you're going to be there) to play safe. That means you can safely plan to be Doing Stuff Downtown until at least 3pm - even if you're in Chinatown and need to go all the way back to the Bayshore for your bags, you can be out at YVR in an hour total. What to do though? Honestly, the Things To Do list in Chinatown is very short other than Eat and Shop - see the new Gate and the copy of the old one, the skinniest building, visit the new Storytelling Centre if you want to learn something (an hour or so), visit Dr Sun Yat-Sen garden (if you take the docent guided walk, allow an hour unless you plan to chill and meditate), compare with the free park nextdoor (10 mins if you've already done the 'real' garden). Gastown has even less in the way of specific sites (the Steamclock requires a visit on the hour for the 'full' show, or any quarter hour for a shorter one, and that's the only specific Thing now that the statue got pulled down - Generic Ye Olde Cobbled Street vibe can be absorbed just walking a couple of blocks on Water St) so it's basically down to again how much shopping or eating you want to do that determines how long you'll need. Touristy T-shirts and the like are cheaper in Chinatown - most cruisers only get as far as Water St on foot and all the shops there are just a wee bit gouge-y in their pricing (never, ever, ever buy Maple Syrup in a tourist shop - Costco is by far the best value if you're a member, but any supermarket you pass by still spanks the souvenir shops - Safeway on Robson would be closest to your hotel). The good stuff in both 'hoods IMO, other than dining, is what you find out from a tour guide about the history, architecture etc. There are some virtual guides online these days (free city wifi, look for #VanWiFi broadcasting if you don't have free roaming data), lots of paid guides offering private tours, but you could also take a free ('tip what you like') Toonie Tour which run 10am-1pm; get in touch with AIBC to see if they will have one of their superb walking tours running on your dates (pre-Covid this was the most informative $10 you could ever spend!); or reach out to Stroll Buddy to see if a local is available for a free (no tips expected) walk just with your party (2 caveats here - firstly, I'm a Buddy but since it's entirely free I don't feel it's a conflict of interest to inform you about the service; secondly, all Buddies are volunteers so whether any of us are free during your short stay is a bit of a crapshoot - but for the price of ~five minutes of your time to fill out the request form, you might get a private custom tour for zero bucks...) Personally I'd consider Granville Island to be another of the places which most tourists visit and enjoy - and with your overnight, you have the luxury of not being forced to visit it during the horribly-busy chunk of time that all the pre- and post-cruise bus tours drop people off! While the Public Market is a great place to lunch in theory - soooooo many food options - it's a far more pleasant place to visit either as soon as the shops start opening (9am is good), or mid-afternoon and later (there's a comedy club, a theatre, various restos open at night) when you can stroll the streets and especially the interiors of the shops without feeling like you're the filling in a tourist sandwich! Regardless of your tastes, I would also plan for a Rainy Day Alternate unless you are happy wandering around in the rain - many of us locals use the term 'June-uary' as it seems that we quite often get a rather toasty warm dry chunk of time in May but then have a string of several days of drearier, drizzly weather come June. You should of course be packing layers anyway for your cruise, but especially if the 6th is wet you might not want to get too damp when you have to load yourselves onto a plane rather than having a night to let wet socks etc. dry out. Various general and more-niche museums and art galleries abound; Scienceworld, the Aquarium, and the indoor bits of Granville Island might entice more than outdoor parks and gardens when the liquid sunshine is flowing! Sorry if this just adds more work for you in your planning - but with less than two full days it's crucial to prioritise, see the places and do the things that YOU like most rather than what Joe Q Public says a visitor to Vancouver 'must do'... there's no such thing as a must do tourist site, so the more research you do now to figure out which of the many options in our fair city appeal most to you, the better time you'll have here!

If they're that close in price, BH - it gives you a view and a bigger room ( every room is a corner). While there have been a few reports of service standards dropping since Covid, the location is also a little superior for cruisers and first-timers. Personally I think the walkability of the YWCA is better for food - though there are some genuinely excellent restos close to BH too - and it's nearer Gastown/Chinatown/Yaletown, but English Bay and Stanley Park are closer to BH, plus there's a stop right outside for the Capilano shuttle and the HOHO bus which are both very popular things to do. The pier is very slightly closer to BH - and if you planned to walk, any vaguely direct route is fine from BH whereas the most direct walking route from the Y would pass through a couple of pretty seedy intersections, and some folks are more comfortable avoiding such things. Whether BH have started cutting their prices to entice back some of the folks who were a bit disappointed with them post-Covid, or the Y has finally started pricing more reflectiveky of its excellent standards, I'm still a bit shocked that the pricing matches!

In case it doesn't work out finding an alternate OP @dmacleod, we've stayed at that LaQ a couple of times and found that it was actually a great hotel for us - the lack of pubs/clubs/restos very close by meant it was the quietest Seattle hotel we ever stayed in!!! Yeah, you might need to do a bit of walking or cabubering around - but a $10 ride gets you to a shedload of nice places in the 'hoods already mentioned above and it sounds like you'd have to spend a lot more than the price of some cabs to swap hotels!

If you haven't already checked (it sells out regularly) the YWCA Hotel is usually the cheapest downtown option, as well as one of the best-reviewed at any price... it's also one of the closest to the train station (although given how small the downtown core is, staying in the furthest hotels would barely be an extra 10mins cab ride...) Otherwise, if you can handle schlepping bags up stairs there are a couple of older properties with decent reviews just lacking in froo-froo stuff like elevators 😉 The Buchan remains 'cheap & cheerful' across the board, but The Victorian seems to be positioning itself as Ye Olde Authentice Heritagee Hotele these days with fancy mattresses and linens and trying to call shared bathrooms 'a European Experience' - their rates aren't as good a deal as it used to be, but the lack of en suites and elevators puts enough people off that they are still often much cheaper than others.

+1 to what Andy said - there's parking right at the pier for ~$25/day, you won't save much at all anywhere else downtown (indeed, some other lots are even pricier!) Longterm airport works out around $13 a day, with a SkyTrain station literally in the longterm lot which you can take downtown for ~$9pp... depending on group size though, cab fare might be very reasonable (fixed rate per vehicle of $37 to most of downtown, $41 to pier) so with 4 bums on seats only a couple of bucks pp more than SkyTrain... You could try for suburban hotels with longterm parking rates though - e.g. the local chain Accent Inns has a Burnaby and Airport location. I don't think they offer 'park & cruise' deals anymore, but that's not a problem for groups (it added a shuttle ride into town on the already-running local 'milk run to the pier' service that booked separately is poor value for anyone except a solo at about $20pp - i.e. 2 people cost as much as a cab which you can fit potentially four in!) YWCA Hotel also offers unique 5-bed rooms as well as regular hotel type 1 & 2 bed rooms - if you plan to stay for a while and do some touristy stuff, a downtown hotel location is more convenient and the Y is usually less than airport hotels anyway!

If you're boarding at Richmond-Brighouse it should be just as easy as at YVR (another terminus station, so almost nobody stays onboard, and a longer delay from train arriving to when it departs again which gives you ample time to slide your big cases under the seats) If it's one of the other stations on the Brighouse fork, e.g. Aberdeen which has the Radisson just across the way, then every additional station will add some bodies but Sunday morning shouldn't be too bad in terms of commuter numbers; I'd say that finding a seat is still likely but you'll only have about 30 seconds to stash your cases underneath (there are no luggage racks, but every seat has significant legroom and space underneath as well - if you're short then a big case may even fit between your knees and the back of the seat ahead so you can get away without slipping it underneath). Bridgeport station is the only one in Richmond I'd be at all worried about - because you'll have all the YVR folks aboard every second train, so lots of fellow suitcase folks plus perhaps a few early shoppers at the big airport mall also taking up space with their purchases. If it's the River Rock casino hotel you're staying in and the first train is packed, wait for the next one - they alternate as to which fork they're from so it should be mostly regular Richmond commuters on the next train, far fewer suitcases. Worst case, you can always ride it backwards to either terminus standing up then when everyone else piles off you can claim a seat, stash your bag, and ride it to Waterfront. The actual ride time is only 25mins on the Brighouse fork, 26mins from YVR, all the way to the Waterfront end so if you were expecting to take 35 you've got a bit of padding to skip a train or take a cheeky backwards trip!

Sure, if the weather's nice enough to dine outside the timing would be great to do that while crusing the IP; or perhaps a 'pay extra' resto which would likely be a smaller room, proportionately more window tables? But unless you're really late eaters, sunset in June is probably more 'take a cocktail to somewhere with a nice view' and with just a drink in hand you can wander the decks to find the best viewing spot ("Oh no, woe is me, the sun is setting over on the portside but the scenery off starboard is even prettier!" means being somewhere up top where you can see both sides is better than almost any balcony, even a corner... And if some a**hole dolphins decide to start playing in the bow wave at sunset you really need as close to a 360 view as possible to see it all!!!! 😉)

If the sun's up and the temperature is tolerable, you should be outside - if the temp isn't tolerable, you should have brought more layers of clothes 😉 Some of the narrowest, most spectacular land-on-both-sides views of your entire cruise are on that first day (and in June, especially around the solstice, you'll have until ~9:30pm for sunset and then a good chunk of viable twilight scenery-watching even after that!)

Love me a nice clam dish! Fried, strips, bellies, baked, chowder (well, not that heathen Manhattan nonsense with tomato, blech!), spaghetti (oddly enough no problem with tomato based sauces and pasta, just not soup!) - though given my druthers, I'd eat razor clams every time in preference to regular manillas (fortunately I can usually find them pretty easily along the Oregon coast in Mom & Pops, even some chains). Unfortunately all open-at-lunch clam places I would have personally recommended near the pier closed during or not long after the 'vid. I can still give you one reliable downtown location, Rodney's Oyster House in Yaletown - they offer both the good and bad kind of chowder, plus two pounds(!) of steamed manilla clams, on their lunch menu. I've got plenty of friends who love Rodneys, never had a food issue, I just find the resto a bit loud so only go if I've been invited by one of the folks who love it. You can also get Ivar's chowder onboard the Amtrak, I think $5 a bowl in the bistro car these days - a couple of bowls would make a passable dinner onboard if you really want to slam as many clams as possible in a day 😉

While I'm sure you'd have gotten a useful reply from F_W, we've literally done exactly what you want to - stayed at the Med while coming in from Seatac on the light rail! There are transit options to get you closer, but we weighed the additional hassle of schlepping bags on buses or using the monorail and walking the ~half-mile across Seattle Center's greenspace, and in the end we decided to keep it simple, disembarked the train at Westlake then took a cab (~1.5 miles, ~$10 on the meter without traffic). A little under $20 for both of us, compared to over double that plus tip for the fixed rate cars from Seatac - though if we'd been traveling heavily laden with more than 1 modest suitcase case each we'd have taken a car all the way (and if there's 3 or 4 of you rather than a couple, I would just say take a car even if you are counting pennies carefully...)

There are certainly train stations around the world with more and swankier on-site food options than Pac Central, which only has three which are all pretty casual (A&W, a sushi joint, and a coffee shop) - but that's still three more than Seattle's King St! As to 'middle of nowhere' - Thornton Park with its many trees does a great job at making the station feel a bit isolated, and obviously the corridor eastward for the railway lines stays mostly light industrial for a mile or two, but Main Street is literally the other side of Thornton Park. It has several indy restos just in the 1 block immediately north of the park, with at least a dozen more if you head another couple of blocks north or south; Chinatown and the Athlete's Village are both less than 800 yards which adds dozens more dining options; for drink, two pubs and several coffee shops within less than 400 yards (personally I'd walk further to Johnny Fox's - much better food than the Ivanhoe, worth the extra 150yds!); I'm not even counting purely fastfood in those resto counts - two different Tim Hortons, a McDs, Subway, and another A&W are all within two blocks, as well as the White Spot at Science World which sells via a window to folks who haven't bought a ticket. Even with in the very industrial Flats area around the tracks there's a bunch of art galleries and breweries these days, and some food carts always appear around the station at lunchtime. Baggage storage on site open at 6am allowing a leisurely wander without bags - and you can usually check bags well over an hour before the evening train departs if some sort of takeout food on the train for dinner appeals more than the bistro car (which I've always found decent and not too overpriced). Next time you're in town, reach out - unless I'm out of town myself I'd be happy to let you stash your bags at my condo and show you around the 'hood a little, including the best value foodie sit-down lunch spot in the city (I don't like to spread the world online, it's already busy enough, but I always take visitors - CAD cash or Interac only, but I'll swap you for greenbacks at current FX rate since we can use 'em in Portland!) Same goes for OP @JLMcruise - we'll almost certainly be home the first couple of weeks in May, even if DH can only handle short walks with places to sit-down between legs there's a ton of quirky stuff most visitors never see close to the station (first nations longhouse, hundreds of murals, some of our best local coffee and beer, all sorts of stuff) I'd be happy to show you. Unless you got well off the beaten track on those prior visits, likely a whole different side of city for you!

I wouldn't be worried about arriving at King St station - cabs pull up right outside, so whatever hotel you book you won't need to worry about wandering the streets downtown! There is also a morning train (even though your ship in theory docks at 5am the hours that CBSA work mean you probably won't be able to actually disembark until ~7am at the earliest so it only works after at least one night in Vancouver) and a few bus-based options including one that leaves right from the pier at 9am (QuickShuttle) which cruisers find convenient (NB: pricing does tend to be higher than the buses which run from the regular station plus cab fare to that station from the pier as soon as more than 1 person is being priced up, but if you are dealing with mobility problems the extra bucks might feel well-spent). But since you're here already, with time and money to spare originally allocated to the second leg of the cruise, maybe consider spending a little time here after the now-only-leg? Chances are that local hotels, food etc. for the full 6 nights of the original second cruise would work out a lot pricier, but you might be able to find a cheaper day to swap your flight home to if you went midweek, so a night or two or three here in Vancouver before Amtraking to Seattle might make a decent consolation for losing out on your expected B2B?

They're both going to give you a guarantee of whale sightings, but Juneau has a lot more alternatives available - so unless you are mad keen to do either the huge zipline or a bear tour in ISP, there's pretty much nothing else except a whalewatch in ISP that would eat more than an hour (wandering into Hoonah proper is quick and easy, there's a cultural dance performance at the pier several times a day IIRC, and the cannery that the cruise tender dock was built from has a 'museum' which is basically like a Disney ride queue zone, various little exhibits to look at as you shuffled slowly along waiting to board your tender - now that there's a proper pier so you won't have that experience unless you're unlucky enough to be on a multi-ship-day it would take maybe 15minutes to read all the signs in the building)

Firstly, being a Torontonian you'll likely be awake at oh-dark-hundred thanks to your body clock so you should take advantage of that extra local-time hour or two! And unlike others, you don't even have to check your own bags so no need to wait for the drop to open, early or regular... hand over your bags in your room to one of the bell staff, it's one of the perks of being in the PP. Others have posted pics in prior seasons of the little reminder card you may find in your room, which helpfully gives the suggested tip per bag for this service - you do need to ask for the service the night before, so I'd just do that as soon as you have your room number at check-in. Secondly, Granville 'Island' despite the name isn't one - it's firmly attached to shore, just on the wrong side of False Creek. You can ride the 50 bus back to the core for dirt-cheap in <30mins, or take one of the wee water taxis for about $4 across to the right side of the creek and walk <3klicks total, or walk about half again as far if you walk over a bridge (you have to backtrack a lot up a hill to reach deck level). Long story short, it's WAY less risky than being at e.g. Capilano, over Lions Gate with its notorious traffic disasters on a regular basis. I would have zero worries about getting from GI to the pier with 2 hours in hand - but I would not be taking a small boat trip right before that deadline! Anything at all goes awry on that boat ride and who knows how long you bob around awaiting a tow or transfer, or how much extra time limping back to port takes... unless it's a tour around the city's waterfront, rather than say up Howe Sound, in which case you'd never be far from somewhere to land and call a cab or even hop on a bus back to downtown and there would be loads of other boats around to lend a hand. If it is an out-of-town tour, and the same tour goes in the morning, take THAT one - you could easily walk from the PP to GI to board it before 9am. Every time we fly back here from TeeDot we're up at 6am next day whether we want to be or not, so if you make use of the PPs bag delivery you could be out hunting down a decent brekkie by 7am easily, and have plenty time to either walk the long way or have a nice wander around GIs industrial achitecture while you wait until boat-boarding time... To illustrate, here's a Google map with the default 'walking' route from PP to GI (not sure which pier your boat would leave from, but most of the tours tend to be on the side of the island I ended the map at, and while you do need to use a water taxi it's almost a straight line!) - flip it to Transit to see the bus route, choose Option: Avoid Ferries to see the longer routes all-on-foot. In T.O. terms, it's pretty much like visiting Centreville from somewhere near Union Station in terms of distance/difficulty to get back to the core (i.e. about 4Klicks, could use transit or just walk it, best to spend a few bucks for a boat unless you're a great swimmer!)

You will probably walk further from your plane to the train, and again 'curb to cabin' at the pier, than the distance from SkyTrain platform to pier! Google Map for the best route with bags is here - this assumes you pay a little attention on the platform and take the exit to Granville Street (if you board the rear of the train, it's that end of the station, but there are signs). Worst case and you follow the crowds to pop out into the main Waterfront station lobby, it's actually an even simpler route just a little uphill instead of a little downhill! Walk out the doors onto Cordova Street, walk to your right/uphill until you reach Howe St, turn right again, follow the sidewalk, arrive at pier. Train itself ~26mins end to end, you are boarding at one terminus and exiting at the other so the train stops and waits - let any crowds clear before pulling your bags out from under the seats rather than fighting your way through to near the doors while the train is moving!

It depends how early you arrive! Anyone cruising that day can drop bags, but since the official start time is listed as 'between 10 and 10:30am' any time before that for early bag drop is a bonus, there is no official policy about when it starts but logic dictates it can't possibly be earlier than the longshoremen show up for work (unlike the industrial docks, the cruise pier is not a 24/7 operation). I've personally used it ~9:30am and have seen others report using it around 9am several times, so if your flight is say 8am or even a little earlier you should give it a go, it'll probably take at least an hour from touchdown to get through immigration, baggage pickup, customs, then SkyTrain downtown even if the queues are very light (~26min ride). Look for signs at the pier telling you which level to head to on the elevators, and there should be big metal wheely cages and some longshoremen supervising them, with (quite small!) signs indicating which cage goes to which vessel - they'll also have luggage tags. Personally I would use the tags the line sends you by email, print them at home and bring them along already written out - you'll have ample time to pull off the plane tags and replace with the cruise tags while riding the train in, one more little bit of efficiency improvement! If you have a flight at say 6am though, then I'd consider spending a few bucks and using a nearby luggage storage option - the Pan Pacific hotel bell staff are on the ground floor, right above the pier, so it doesn't get more convenient than that... reported rates last season were $10 (CAD if you have it, no change given for USD) per bag, and the hotel does run 24/7! Note also that Vancouver is not a city of early-risers! Anything involving tickets almost never opens before 9am even in peak summer season, but fortunately our parks are not locked up after hours so even if you arrive pre-Dawn (officially parks are open 'dawn to dusk') you could wander the seawalll to catch the sunrise (head for Brockton Point Lighthouse, but anywhere along that sweep of land from the yacht club past HMCS Discovery and Hallelujah Point looks back toward the city and should give a nice view when the sun pops up) You can also use that map link to check bus schedules - quicker than walking! If you wanted to wander Stanley Park, then as early as possible is the time to do it. Avoid Seawall crowds, and have plenty of time to get back to the pier - I would save the closest things which entice you to the period right before you plan to board, especially if you're trying to push it as late as possible... with US CBP to deal with on top of regular cruise check-in/security, 2 hours before your ship is supposed to leave is as late as you should attempt, but in general the later the better for lighter queues. FlyOver Canada is right at the pier, takes about 45mins for the whole program; Gastown is only ~10mins walk away and is very popular for cruisers to wander Pre and Post; maybe the Harbour Centre lookout, also <10mins walk? These are the places you want to be visiting as your boarding time approaches to avoid risk of traffic delays - never a good idea to be on the other side of a bridge from the pier with less than an hour to go!!!

Hmmm - even a full week of extra time you could entertain yourselves in Vancouver without going anywhere else! But without knowing you, your other party members, the things you all enjoy most it's really hard to say what would be best for your group - there's no such thing as a Must See anywhere IMO, and while a week would give you enough time to probably do everything you might like in Vancouver, as soon as you start considering road trips then a week becomes incredibly short and it's absolutely necessary to focus on your priorities. Given that you indicate it's split into pre- and post-cruise though OP, so you need to be in Vancouver at least twice right before and after, I'd be inclined to consider open jaw flights for efficiency if it's not too late to (re)book those... you may actually save both money and time by not flying across the border and opening up more non-stop flight options, even in summer there are not many nonstops YVR-MCO. If you flew in and out of different airports, you could easily avoid retracing your route within a fortnight. If you're stuck with expensive-to-change flights both in and out of Vancouver, then consider spending some days either Pre or Post on Vancouver Island, with the other time sticking local to Van proper - if there's even just two of you, taking a rental car over on the ferry gives flexibility of timing and routes; head from Vancouver to Tsawwassen, RORO to Swartz Bay for a night in Victoria, then head further north to see Cathedral Grove, maybe even across to Tofino on the outside (great surfing and storm-watching) or Campbell River on the inside (excellent Orca watching, with trips into spectacularly narrow waters of the Inside Passage in daylight unlike most cruises) for a second night. Return on the Nanaimo-Horseshoe Bay ferry, and head up to Squamish, maybe Whistler before coming back to Vancouver and you'll add a lot of mountain viewing, which tends to be popular with Floridians in my experience given you guys live in the flattest state!

If it just was a choice between fancy hotels @KY_Tom, I'd do the Fairmont YVR rather than the PP in your situation - even if the flight lands on time, that's a 2am arrival by body clock and while immigration shouldn't take too long it could be another hour from touchdown to leaving YVR... picking the hotel right at the airport instead of right at the pier makes more sense to me. But if you're looking for a more budget-friendly option, the time you'll wait for a shuttle to cheap airport area hotels could easily exceed the drive time for a cab downtown in the wee small hours - that time of night you'll have to call, the driver will have to be found and stopped doing whatever else their other hotel duties are, fire up the bus, and drive to YVR (most 'airport' hotels are across a bridge, with a traffic-free drive time anywhere from ~10 to 20+ minutes) then drive you back again to check-in. Whereas cabs are lined up waiting and can get downtown in <30mins at that time of night - so if the YWCA Hotel still has a room available to book, that's your win for a good-but-cheap hotel hands-down!

The Clipper operates a whalewatch in tourist season from downtown - all the above arguments about distance apply, and it's absolutely not designed for whale-watching, but it does go from right downtown! Depending how many other pax are onboard you might find railspace easily or have to go claim a space while it's still moving (fast, windy!) to ensure you can see the water well without glass in the way. Personally I'd rather rent a car for the day and drive up nearer the San Juans; if you can spare a day there's lots of pretty places around to visit as well as getting out on a smaller boat that's actually designed for the purpose...

Sorry, bad grammar and wrong street, I should have said Pender rather than Cordova - and I thought I'd managed to link a map last time around - doesn't look like that worked, so here's a second try with both walking routes listed, from pier to park and back by Seawall or most direct route. You can just flip the mode of transport to Transit to explore which bus stops are convenient, and it will also provide an accurate schedule as Google has all of Translinks route data. Renting a bike is also an excellent choice, as while that will be pricier than a bus it means your travel around the park is significantly speeded up without losing access to anywhere (all of the trails and paths are bike accessible, although interior ones can be steep so if you want to see Prospect Point either an eBike or strong legs are a good idea!), and if you stick to Seawall and park trails you won't have to ride in traffic.

Princess would not accept that time if your flights are through them - the earliest flight slots in Vancouver tend to be 12:30pm, and on a busy day you can need that long if you wait for those slow-as-molasses cruise transfers! If you are independent travelers though, and as Bruce says are mobile (at least enough to carry your own bags off with one hand free to hold escalator rail) I would not worry about a flight at 11:45am in the slightest. Personally I'd always recommend a flight next day, avoid all the hassle, hang out in one of the best cities on the planet - but if you must get home same day, that flight is low risk unless you need help with bags... Princess will prioritise pax booked on their own flights for all those slots, then high status folks, but given it seems like 75% of Princess AK cruisers are Platinum or Elite I would hesitate to assume any chance of leveraging Status alone to get an early slot if you cannot walk off...

Yes - in fact I'd strongly advise pushing your arrival even later, aiming for 2pm (the later the better for lack of crowds, but you do not want to risk missing the boat - with both CBP preclearance and Canadian authorities also needing pax manifests you really want to be there by the 2hr predeparture mark) so while the park is fine to visit, I'd advise planning lunch or something very close to the pier (Gastown, maybe ride FlyOverCanada right on the pier) as your thing to do in the 1pm-2pm slot! Earliest I know I've been able to drop a bag is ~9:30am; officially it doesn't start until some time between 10 and 10:30am but that's the normal location, there is always an Early Drop down in the bowels of the parking levels, literally some longshoremen with luggage cages, probably one for each vessel in port that day. Make sure you hand your bags to the right guy! Walking along the Seawall (scenic) is ~45mins, a straight shot back along Georgia and Cordova saves at least 10mins, so allow 60-90mins walk time there and back - personally I'd hop on a bus to save time! The 19 has a stop right inside the park, near the Rose garden and pavilion, but several others also stop at Denman & Georgia just outside the entrance. You might also consider a bike rental - you'll move much faster but still be able to get anywhere in the park you can walk to. It's been a while, but the gym at Canada Place west (Club16) used to rent bikes, it doesn't get much more convenient from the pier than that, but if they don't there's a Spokes rental on Cordova just the far side of the Fairmont Waterfront hotel, so only a block away.

You'll have to ask the mods to kill your other one @kayehall - 'report' the post! As to an informal brekkie, when in Rome (or rather, Canada)... eat at Timmies! - there's one in the mall across the street, you can even use tunnels under the road to avoid crossing Canada Place. I'd suggest dropping bags, then going for brekky given the minimal distances. Personally I think the best super-casual brekkie these days is at A&W - we have a different menu in Canada, which includes almost a real UK Fry Up (if they had black pudding, I'd never eat anywhere else...) if somebody wants a more substantial affair, plus the usual biscuity brekkie sammich type options that MickieDs, Timmies etc. offer. The nearest A&W is inside Waterfront Station, so if any of you are coming downtown by SkyTrain it's a super-convenient meetup location.