Post Cruise Day / Airport Hotel

[DT25]

We have a 6 am flight from YVR the day after our cruise. So we are thinking of a hotel at the airport but would like to spend the day near the cruise terminal or downtown for sightseeing. Does anyone have a suggestion for luggage storage near the pier, sightseeing, and transportation to a hotel near the airport? With a 6 am flight we need to stay near the airport. We are staying at the Blue Horizon pre-cruise.

 

Thanks!

[martincath]

We have a 6 am flight from YVR the day after our cruise. So we are thinking of a hotel at the airport but would like to spend the day near the cruise terminal or downtown for sightseeing. Does anyone have a suggestion for luggage storage near the pier, sightseeing, and transportation to a hotel near the airport? With a 6 am flight we need to stay near the airport. We are staying at the Blue Horizon pre-cruise.

 

Thanks!

If you mean a package of all those things, any of the bus tours of Vancouver/surrounding areas will take care of everything (your cases stay on the bus with you, and they will drop you at YVR rather than downtown). Unfortunately even the longest day tour will probably have you at the airport by mid-afternoon unless you take a trip up to Whistler.

 

Doing things a la carte you could store bags with Priority Baggage at the pier and either return to collect them or have them taken to YVR for you to collect there. For the former, you need to come get them by 4pm and pay about $7 per bag; for the latter they will be available at the airport no earlier than 4pm and the counters are staffed until 11pm (domestic) and 1:00 am (International) and it's $40 for up to 4 bags. Prices may go up with the new cruise season, but have been stable for a few years.

 

If you take Skytrain to the airport you can walk inside and collect your bags then call your hotel shuttle to come get you - this would allow you to spend all day downtown or touring, have dinner there, then go out to your hotel without having to backtrack.

 

The no-guarantees-option is to ask (with preemptive tip in hand!) the bell staff at one of the nicer hotels near the pier to hold your bags (Pan Pacific and Fairmont Waterfront are closest), then go do whatever you like all day, come back for your bags and then taxi straight to your hotel/Skytrain to YVR and get shuttle to come for you. It is easy to take large suitcases on the Canada Line Skytrain to the airport, the carriages have huge legroom specifically to let you sit with your bags in front of you.

 

As to the sightseeing - since you're here pre- as well as post-cruise, it depends what you have already done... HOHO tickets always offer a second day free when you pay online in advance; that day can be up to 2 weeks later than the first day you use it, so you could use a HOHO on both stays in Vancouver without paying extra.

 

There are many tour companies that will give you a couple of hour overview or longer in-depth tour around Vancouver - Landsea get a lot of good feedback here, but go look at Tripadvisor for other options.

 

You could easily spend all day in Stanley Park if you like the outdoors - hire bikes, walk around, take a shuttle or horse & carriage tour. We've got plenty of museums, galleries, a science centre, an aquarium and other indoor attractions if that's more your speed.

 

A daypass on transit is under $10, and we have lots of walkable neighbourhoods with as much history as you can expect in a young city - Gastown, Yaletown, Chinatown, Granville Island and more. If you want to putter around independently then post the kind of activities you enjoy and we can give you more focused ideas.

[Atlantis Aura]

Hello ~ We were in Vancouver last spring. We didn't get in until after 10pm and had reservations at the Best Western Sands Hotel which is right on the bay. It was about a 30 minute ride from the airport to the hotel. The next morning we were up at 9am and walked right across the street to the bicycle rental shop. We took our bikes, crossed the street and were literally right on the bicycle path for Stanley Park. It was an easy bicycle ride about 6 miles around the park. We loved it! We took our time, stopped for photos (frequently), and made our way back to the bicycle shop at about 11:30am. We left at noon for the cruise port. Oh and there's a Tim Hortons right across the street too....whatever you do...have fun!

[Atlantis Aura]

...the Sands hotel was about 10 minutes from the cruise terminal..it's not far at all..most of that time was traffic lights.

[mskaufman]

Our airport hotel held our luggage for us. When we got off the boat we went to the airport hotel and they were able to hold the luggage. We then took the train back downtown and were on the HOHO bus before 11 am. After dinner we took the train back out to the hotel. Next morning the hotel shuttle took us to the airport for our early flight.

[krev]

If it were me I'd stay at the Fairmont YVR, it's the hotel at the airport, just can't get anymore convenient than that. Also there's lots of hotels downtown and they pretty much all have shuttles.

 

 

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[no fuss travel]

There is also the Canada Line which takes you directly to the airport. More reasonable than a taxi, unless you are a group of 3 or more, then a taxi is more reasonable. If you are staying a day in Vancouver, buy a book of tickets, more reasonable than taking taxis.

[Putterdude]

If it were me I'd stay at the Fairmont YVR, it's the hotel at the airport, just can't get anymore convenient than that. Also there's lots of hotels downtown and they pretty much all have shuttles.

 

 

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The Fairmont at YVR is an excellent hotel but it is pretty spendy. A good alternative is the Delta Airport which on the east end of the airport. I have stayed there within past 6 months and can recommend it as a very comfortable hotel. You do give up the convenience of walking from your hotel room to your gate in the terminal but they do offer a free shuttle to and from terminal.

 

https://www.deltahotels.com/Hotels/Delta-Vancouver-Airport

[DT25]

Thanks to everyone for the helpful info!

[Rickey 88]

Should you really wish to spend time in the area of YVR airport, I would recommend you consider the River Rock Hotel and Casino. Excellent rooms, good food and other activities. Transportation is available to the airport, and there's a nearby station for the Canada line in case you'd like to go to the downtown area.....

 

http://www.riverrock.com/