Canceled TA, Vancouver help please

Before anyone comes on to scold me and tell me to post this in the West Coast board stop. There are many that cruise Princess that have had an extra day pre/post cruise that don't go to the West Coast board and I would like to hear their experiences also.

I had a stroke in October and have some days that are better than others. Some days I walk like I am on a ship on rough seas and that is on solid ground. :eek:

We were hoping that it would get better but after spending more time in the hospital this week I have come to the conclusion that being on a ship crossing the big pond this spring is just not in the cards for me. So the cruise has been cancelled and we will try again for 2019.

In place of the cruise and to give me more time to improve we are going to spend 2 weeks in Vancouver the end of September. Trying to be realistic we are planning to build in rest days so we are looking at 6-7 days of touring with the rest days maybe being foodie days.

For those who live there or are foodies I am looking for some non tourist foodie spots, places the locals love and are glad the tourists haven't found yet.

Some suggestions on what places to pair with each other to maximize the enjoyment but not wear out the body. We love to learn about the places we visit from the locals point of view not some tourist book. We love to people watch, learn the history of places and people.

Suggestions on what area to stay in would be appreciated. We will probably come in on the train and use public transit if possible.

Thanks in advance for any and all suggestions.

There is Stanley park, the Maritime Museum, the Conservitory and the SunYet Sun museum along with just walking along the Gaston area. Also look into the Richmond BC area for things to do. No need for transportation as the Skytrain/ bus system can get you to most places. Daughter lives there and we visit a few times per year. If you want some really good dim sum find the Jade Dynasty restaurant in China Town. Really great food.

Vicki of http://vickieandbernietravel.blogspot.ca/ writes a great Blog. She lives in Vancouver. Suggest you read her pages on Vancouver.

A couple of ideas for you... This is a case where you might get more comprehensive information from a good guide book and/or TripAdvisor. Most people on Cruise Critic will probably spend only a few days in Vancouver and hit the highlights, and not have the broad spectrum that you want. There are a couple of CC posters who live in Vancouver and provide quite thorough information - see the "Vancouver Info if Needed..." thread on the Canada (Alaska/Pac. Coastal) board.

We've often thought about renting a small apartment unit in Vancouver thru VRBO or AirBNB, mainly so that we'd have a kitchen to prepare all the wonderful ingredients that you can find at the local markets, Granville Island, or the market near the ferry terminal in North Vancouver. A couple of our favorite spots to visit every trip - dinner at sunset at Cardero's near Coal Harbor, and quick, inexpensive, and satisfying breakfasts at any of the White Spot locations. Since you'll have plenty of time there, you could do a ferry trip to Victoria (with or without an overnight), or visit Whistler via train or rental car.

Plan a couple of rainy day activities, since rain is a definite possibility by late September. The Hop-On/Hop-Off buses offer a great way to do an overview of the city and park areas to identify where you might want to return and spend more time. One caution - sometimes waiting to get back on the buses can be a pain with nowhere to sit, so scout out rest areas at some of the stops in advance if you can (maybe check Google Maps Satellite View?). Good luck with plans for your adventure and best wishes for a speedy recovery.

Also a trip to the Capilono Bridge if the weather is clear. Catch the bus at Canada Place.

If you're up to it. Take a float plane ride. They leave from next to the cruise port.

Fortunately for you it appears the Mods have already moved this post from it's original home (Princess board?) to West Coast - since you would not only have missed out on the opinions of every other cruise line's pax, but much more relevantly for your expressed interests now all of the local posters can see it!

Regardless of post location, you're making a great choice - September is a good time to visit Vancouver and a fortnight is actually enough to really get to know the place, even if you take some side trips. Those dang kids will be back in school, even if there are still plenty of those annoying cruisers around;-)

Unfortunately, anywhere that I don't want tourists to find I would never post openly on these boards! Fortunately there are vanishingly few spots that I want to keep quiet that are likely to be overrun, since most folks here won't get out of the downtown core except on bus tours - so I might be willing to let a few slip out. However before I do, I need to know more about your budget and tastes in food. No point me recommending a hole in the wall Sushi joint if you hate raw fish, or a superb resto that costs $100 a head if you only want to spend $30. If you're not happy sharing that sort of info, then there are two really simple rules about avoiding tourists in restos around here - don't eat in the downtown core, and avoid anywhere with a view!

I'd pencil in a car rental for 4 days of your 14. Take a leisurely loop across to the Island and see the bits that are not available on cruiseline buses from the pier in Victoria - by all means overnight in Victoria itself, and skipping Butchart when you're over there would be very silly, but also get yourself further north to see the wilder parts. Tofino, Telegraph Cove (Orca watching from here is spectacular, and unlike many of the cruises which pass through you'll be doing so in daylight so can see the outrageous scenery), Cathedral Grove, Salt Spring Island etc etc. There's also some VERY serious foodie food, especially in Tofino.

Cross back on the Horseshoe Bay ferry or even to Powell River depending how much coastal driving you want to do, before heading up into the mountains (the Sea to Sky highway is world-famous for it's views, even if you're not interested in Whistler as a destination, but you can do a couple of low-impact things up there like the huge Peak to Peak gondola ride and the Squamish Lil'wat Cultural Centre - which incidentally has an excellent cafe serving native food for very keen prices). Britannia mining museum - unless you're claustrophobic! - and Shannon Falls involve not much walking, and if you didn't get enough of dangling from a cable in the sky at Whistler then you could try the newer gondola ride too.

Otherwise, a rental car in the city tends to be more of a hassle than a convenience, unless you do an AirBnB in the 'burbs. Speaking of - by next September we should hopefully have a much more stable and safe AirBnB landscape. Right now they are all illegal - but licenses will be issued next year, which will weed out many of the illegal rentals (no more short notice cancellations because the owner got found out...) and guarantee anything being rented is actually safe, up to fire code, and generally fit for human habitation. For a longer stay like yours, a home rental for an extended time might be a big saving compared to downtown hotels.

I'd suggest getting hold of an up-to-date guidebook, like Rough Guides, that goes into history as well as current things to see and do, and Compass Cards for everyone - the reloadable transit passes. You can add a day pass to them, for any day when you'll be on and off transit 3+ times, and it'll save any hassle with exact change on buses plus give you discounted fares compared to cash for ad hoc travel. Being able to hop on and off literally any service passing you means saving some wear & tear so the low cost of a day pass ($10 or less) might be worthwhile to you every day you're in the city just to shave off some walking.

Google Maps has all of our transit options fully-integrated - for flexibility, I'd suggest ensuring that you have a phone which can access the net up here for mapping on the go. If you can't add that to your existing cell service, then arranging a SIM from a local provider is well worth doing on a longer stay - SpeakOut from 7-11 is the cheapest PAYG option for light use, and you can get phones and cards for reloading in any 7-11 branch so it's easy to find too.

A few specific suggestions for you to research further:

Mount Pleasant is the most historic neighbourhood outside Gastown - it was the original 'commuter suburb' served by trams across a bridge (which is now where my condo is, as much of False Creek was infilled to gain more land and drain the swamps). It's also currently the most interesting 'hood in terms of changes - we've become brewery central, and have more public art than you can shake a stick at (two consecutive years of large scale mural festivals, plus more galleries than anywhere else in the city), and while we've certainly had more than a few condos going up there are still plenty of historic buildings (well, by Vancouver standards!) and plenty of local culture, totally untouristy shops & restos & bars, and (unfortunately) more hipsters than you can shake a stick at too;-)

Commercial Drive and Kitsilano are probably the next two 'hoods to go spend a day in - both easily reached from downtown by transit, the Drive more so as SkyTrain runs through it. The Drive is a remarkably active haven of development refuseniks - you won't find any high rises at all and almost all the businesses are independents. Kits is the 'hippy' part of the city - well, it was, and it still has that rep, but there have been many new houses added (mostly relatively small townhome blocks) since the heyday of flower power. The beach is still popular there, but there's also a very solid run of shops & restos along 4th Avenue so it's a very convenient place to shop, dine, and Do Stuff in on foot.

Another day out on UBCs main campus should be a must - there are many museums, gardens, and quirky architecture. Express buses run from downtown and East Van but should be avoided early and late - so many students live off-campus that the 99 regularly misses stops due to being full even though they run multitudes of buses along it at peak times.

Richmond is worth a dinner visit (more if you're big fans of Chinese food), perhaps combined with one of the Night Markets, and the Steveston area on the southern edge is also worth a half-day (longer if you are big fans of Once Upon A Time which is filmed there). The Gulf of Georgia Cannery Museum is outstanding, and whalewatching trips run from here too.

If your balance remain iffy, bike rentals aren't a good idea - but if you have an able-bodied helper a tandem could work, and some places also rent adult tricycles. Bikes are hands-down the best way to see Stanley and the Seawall - faster and less energy than walking, but you can still get to anywhere you want. Depending on your accommodation you may be able to borrow bikes for free (several hotels do this) but I've yet to see anyone offering anything except cruisers/regular mountain bikes, so a tandem or tricycle would need to be rented from a cycle shop.

Seeing Stanley Park without being mobile under your own power means pretty much skirting the edges and a small amount of internal roadways - only the seasonal Park Shuttle comes close to seeing all of it, with 15 stops (if it's running - the window varies yearly). Other HOHOs only skirt the park, with maybe 6 stops, although these are still better than the horse & 'carriage' rides which jam 25 people on a trolley that only 10 can actually see well from, and those only to one side or the other. If you budget allows for a real carriage rental that will take you wherever you like for hourly rates around $300+, well that's dandy - but renting a taxi by the hour would be about 30% of that price...

If you do feel up to walking around, there are lots of walking tours at various price points. The free ones though Tour Guys are just as good as any non-specialist walk, but the pace is less leisurely than others. They want to ensure you feel like you're getting your money's worth so you tip well I guess! I like the AIBC tours best - they're cheap, run by actual architects, and focus on a small area at a time with lots of looking and talking, not as much walking. Technically they're summer only, so depending when in Sep you are here you may not be able to do one...

Some of the foodie walking tours may be of interest, but do be aware that none of them really get much off the beaten path and the price is a hefty markup compared to just buying the equivalent dishes in each resto/bakery etc visited. If you were only here for a day or two, perhaps worthwhile, but since you could go out to lunch every day somewhere different you're more likely to find the value poor. The food cart tours are the only ones which are unequivocally just plain terrible value all the time - you could stuff yourself stupid at every cart they visit and spend less than half what the tour costs, they're trivial to walk between as they have their own App with maps on, and the 'history' of carts in Vancouver is simply too recent to add any value to what the guide does for the extra money.

I have to go feed the missus now so I'll stop here - by all means come back with further questions though!

We were in Vancouver in September. Had a great lunch at Dunn’s for smoked meat. Kind of like pastrami/corned beef hybrid, it’s more of an East Coast thing. We were the only tourists in the place. http://www.dunnsfamousbc.com

We like getting foods local to the area-

-A few blocks away from Dunn’s is a Murchie’s tea shop. https://www.murchies.com/store/

-Mackintosh Toffees (hard and soft) we got our bags at a CVS downtown. http://mackintoshtoffee.com

Thoughts....

• if you have problems walking in September... consider a rollator or a transport wheelchair to make your travels easier
  
• if not a cruise ship.... research where you plan to stay those two weeks.... suburb hotels will have lower rates compared to downtown hotels
  
• Don't give up on that cruise just yet.... there are many months til September. Reassess a few weeks before you trip and check for availability. Cabin pickings are slim.... but you get to go on your cruise.
  
• Not sure about which September dates.... but September is also known as "repo" or reposition season for the ships. You might even get an opportunity to explore California or other ports with shorter cruises to fill your Vancouver time
  
• some Vancouver attractions may not be friendly to people with balance issues.... eg Capilano, gondola's, whale watches and long road trips.
  

Two weeks in Vancouver? This is a compressed one week suggested itinerary. With your situation.... you can stretch it out to two weeks.

• Day 1 arrive and get adjusted to the time zone
  
• Day 2 Dim Sum in the morning, Grouse in the afternoon, Capilano after 5pm for the twilight discount
  
• Day 3 Hop on shuttle with emphasis on Gastown, Granville Island and Stanley Park
  
• Day 4 Whistler with Peak2Peak Gondola. Some may choose an overnight stay to also enjoy Sea2Sky activities.
  
• Day 5 check out the parks of Vandusen, Queen Elizabeth, UBC Botanical gardens.
  
• Day 6 Richmond, Steveston (Storybrooke) with a whale watch. Prince of Whales offers a Victoria combo.
  
• Day 7 Victoria, Butchart and Vancouver Island.... some may choose and overnight stay to extend their day. Some may want to continue their journey to Seattle for a flight home.
  
• Banff road trip to Calgary?
  

Before anyone comes on to scold me and tell me to post this in the West Coast board stop. There are many that cruise Princess that have had an extra day pre/post cruise that don't go to the West Coast board and I would like to hear their experiences also.

 

 

 

I had a stroke in October and have some days that are better than others. Some days I walk like I am on a ship on rough seas and that is on solid ground. :eek:

 

 

 

We were hoping that it would get better but after spending more time in the hospital this week I have come to the conclusion that being on a ship crossing the big pond this spring is just not in the cards for me. So the cruise has been cancelled and we will try again for 2019.

 

 

 

In place of the cruise and to give me more time to improve we are going to spend 2 weeks in Vancouver the end of September. Trying to be realistic we are planning to build in rest days so we are looking at 6-7 days of touring with the rest days maybe being foodie days.

 

 

 

For those who live there or are foodies I am looking for some non tourist foodie spots, places the locals love and are glad the tourists haven't found yet.

 

 

 

Some suggestions on what places to pair with each other to maximize the enjoyment but not wear out the body. We love to learn about the places we visit from the locals point of view not some tourist book. We love to people watch, learn the history of places and people.

 

 

 

Suggestions on what area to stay in would be appreciated. We will probably come in on the train and use public transit if possible.

 

 

 

Thanks in advance for any and all suggestions.

Just stumbled across this thread, if you are feeling better by end of September there is a 5 day California Coastal on the new NCL Bliss from Vancouver to LA departing on the 30th September.

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