Does the post-cruise Airport Drop Off tour in Vancouver take you to the airport or to a train station to YVR?

[nogard13]

Hey guys,

 

I was debating booking one of the post-cruise excursions that tours the city and then says airport drop-off.  There are four excursions listed, including one that is just the YVR transfer, and one of them mentions that you will be dropped off at a train station (a hop on, hop off tour).  Has anyone done one of these and can confirm if the excursion bus actually drives you to the airport?  I have no interest in trying to haul two young kids and all our luggage on a train to the airport, so I want to make sure they take us to YVR before I book it.

 

Thanks in advance!

[rotoal]

5 minutes ago, nogard13 said:

Hey guys,

 

I was debating booking one of the post-cruise excursions that tours the city and then says airport drop-off.  There are four excursions listed, including one that is just the YVR transfer, and one of them mentions that you will be dropped off at a train station (a hop on, hop off tour).  Has anyone done one of these and can confirm if the excursion bus actually drives you to the airport?  I have no interest in trying to haul two young kids and all our luggage on a train to the airport, so I want to make sure they take us to YVR before I book it.

 

Thanks in advance!

We were on a tour last year that sounded as if they were going to drop us off in Vancouver and then we would somehow have to get to the airport.   I wouldn't have minded that too much, there were 3 adults traveling together.   In our case the description was lacking some information, there was no city drop off, we were taken to the airport.   In fact the luggage was loaded onto the bus based on whether or not people were on domestic or International flights.   

It was a cold, rainy day and we were happy not to be lugging luggage around Vancouver.

I can't remember the title of the excursion, it took us on the Sea to Sky Highway, and we took the Sea to Sky Gondola to what would have been a very nice view, but it was foggy and raining that day.   

 

[martincath]

10 hours ago, nogard13 said:

Hey guys,

 

I was debating booking one of the post-cruise excursions that tours the city and then says airport drop-off.  There are four excursions listed, including one that is just the YVR transfer, and one of them mentions that you will be dropped off at a train station (a hop on, hop off tour).  Has anyone done one of these and can confirm if the excursion bus actually drives you to the airport?  I have no interest in trying to haul two young kids and all our luggage on a train to the airport, so I want to make sure they take us to YVR before I book it.

 

Thanks in advance!

The HOHO Tours are the exception to the general rule of 'always an airport drop' - because all local HOHO tours explicitly forbid luggage.(even if the vehicles had some sort of trunk/underfloor storage, the extra time to load and unload bags as well as pax makes a HOHO concept much harder to operate!)

 

If in doubt though, book the much-cheaper (especially since priced in Canadian $, although the actual number is also often lower than the ship's resold USD price too!) tours direct from the folks they charter most of the services from anyway... there are only two really big local tour companies, Westcoast and LandSea - the latter offers Pre- and Post-cruise specific tours right from/to the pier, with airport drop/pickup included, the former operates the only HOHO as well as the official pier luggage storage (too pricey, but with a 50% discount if you book a tour that brings it back down to in line with other bag storage options...). Book the HOHO and pay for luggage storage, you'll still likely save more than enough to take a cab to the airport (~CAD$35-40) and still have cash left in your pocket compared to a cruiseline booked tour & transfer... and that way you don't need to wait for hours at the airport, unable to check bags if your flight is later in the day, but can instead make optimum use of any available sightseeing time downtown where all the stuff to see is!

[sanger727]

We did the HOHO on our own. Can’t remember what we did with our luggage but think there was storage at the port. Not sure how a HOHO would include luggage and transport to the airport - it’s a public tour where you can travel on your own time frame.

 

any other NCL excursion probably would include the airport drop off; but it doesn’t surprise me at all that the HOHO doesn’t. The airport isn’t a stop on the Vancouver HOHO; so they would essentially do what u can do on your own - store ur luggage at the port,  then have u return to the port a specific time and arrange transportation to the airport.

Edited May 26, 2023 by sanger727

[Tee & Chilli]

8 minutes ago, sanger727 said:

We did the HOHO on our own. Can’t remember what we did with our luggage but think there was storage at the port. Not sure how a HOHO would include luggage and transport to the airport - it’s a public tour where you can travel on your own time frame.

 

any other NCL excursion probably would include the airport drop off; but it doesn’t surprise me at all that the HOHO doesn’t.

NCL? I’m confused because this is Celebrity

[prmssk]

Just this past Sunday, we did the Sea to Sky Gondola excursion which also included Shannon Falls.  It was an excellent excursion with breathtaking views and at the end we were dropped off at the airport (between the domestic and international terminals so both were a very easy walk).  Our luggage went under the same bus that took us to the various points of interest and so after disembarking and before starting the tour, we collected our luggage and brought it to the bus.

 

Those on the Hop on Hop Off excursion were told they would NOT collect their luggage in the terminal before going on their excursion which made me think luggage was being delivered directly to the airport but I can't speak to how exactly it worked or where their tour ended.

[sanger727]

3 minutes ago, Tee & Chilli said:

NCL? I’m confused because this is Celebrity

sorry. Celebrity. Same concept. They don’t run their own HOHO buses; they use someone else’s. The point is to travel

on ur time frame, not theirs.

[nogard13]

Thanks everyone.  I called Celebrity and they confirmed that the HOHO ones do not transfer directly to the airport, but the one I wanted to book does.  I booked it and am pretty confident now with all this info that I won't have to hop a train 🙂