Vancouver disembarking with late flight out with mobility issue

[Kat915]

Hi.  I will be disembarking in Vancouver with my sister who has a mobility issue.  She will be using scooter on cruise and rollator  in Vancouver.  We both have a VERY late flight out (10 and 11:45 pm). 

 

I currently have LandSea North shore Mountain tour (7 hours) booked for both of us but can be cancelled.  We realize she won't be able to do all of the tour but was hoping to hear from people who actually went how much you think she can do:

-Capilano Bridge (realize that she can't go over the bridge but looks like there is a few totem poles, cafe and shopping)

-Grouse mountain (I don't see this as an issue since it a gondola up but not sure what can be done once we get up there)

-Capilano salmon hatchery

If we keep this tour,  what time should we get off the ship to meet at the convention center east lobby at 10:45am?

 

Nothing else really interested us and I don't think there is anything we can do in the airport, so unless whale watching can be done we would either do the tour above or get a day hotel.

 

TIA

[martincath]

Frankly I recommend against this tour even for able-bodied folks due to insufficient time at the sites; while Capilano can be just about squeezed into the time available if you hustle, Grouse is massive with various timed events like a Raptor show, so unless you have 4-6 hours free you simply cannot see everything and this tour will give you at most 3 hours on-site. Someone who needs a walking aid will have many issues getting around (Grouse is not level, paths are uneven, gravel, woodchip) making the value for them significantly worse, and it's already weak. The hatchery itself should be easily navigated, but the trails around here are even less developed than Grouse or Cap, so pootling about to view the dam isn't on the cards - and I always feel including this free government run place is a bit cheeky instead of simply spending the same length of tour but giving people an extra hour+ at Grouse!

 

Whalewatching can be done easily though - either by bus from downtown to Steveston or else from Granville Island. The latter gives you more time on the water (tours run 3-5hrs, if you spot whales early they'll return at about the 3 hour mark but if the whales are further out you'll get the full 5), and effectively a free 'city tour' as generally the boats from GI still head out into the same waters that the Steveston boats visit.

 

All the local companies offer the same guarantee (whale sighting or free tours for life until you do see one) - Prince of Whales run some bigger cats, seating up to 95, while Wild Whales operate 12 seater Zodiacs (not a good idea if your sister has any kind of back issue, very bouncy ride!) and smaller 30ish pax cats, pricing is also a little less with WW. Steveston trips are a bit cheaper - but if you add on the per person extra charge for a bus ride, it's pretty much a wash.

 

So assuming you're comfortable on a boat for most of the day, storing bags downtown, taking a whalewatch from Granville Island, dinner downtown, then retrieve bags and head to YVR would be a nice way to fill a day IMO.

 

Also note that CBP have extended their operating hours at YVR, now listing a finish time of 11:30pm daily instead of 8:30pm! That means even the later of your two redeyes should now benefit from prescreening, so you'll get your customs & immigration done here instead of having to wait forever at understaffed US airports in the wee small hours at your first stop south of the border.

 

Note that if you had planned to be three hours early for flight 1 you probably will not be allowed to drop bags for flight 2 (there's limited space for prescreening luggage, so while evenings are less busy I would still not be at all surprised if they enforce the 'no bag drop more than 3 hours in advance' policy) so if you want to go through Security together and hang out until flight 1, any earlier than 8:45pm risks one of you being forced to wait outside Security... I would recommend prebooking your Security slots, so you can definitely both get into the short queue if you do need to wait until 8:45pm (it's free, do it any time up to 72hrs in advance), and then get there a little earlier - if they let you drop both bags at say 8pm, great, but if not you can risk both waiting outside Security until you can drop the second bag without worrying about a long wait for the Security check.

 

Personally I would also request assistance for your Sis at the airport - a wheelchair and pusher might seem overkill if she can move around with a rollator, but there's often a long walk to the gate so take advantage of the offered services!

[Kat915]

Thanks, Martincath,

Where would we store our luggage if we did the whale watch?

 

I would prefer larger catamaran which looks like Prince of Whales. It might be tough taking a bus.  How much would taxi/uber be to Granville Island?

Edited May 5 by Kat915

[martincath]

51 minutes ago, Kat915 said:

Thanks, Martincath,

Where would we store our luggage if we did the whale watch?

 

I would prefer larger catamaran which looks like Prince of Whales. It might be tough taking a bus.  How much would taxi/uber be to Granville Island?

For maximum simplicity and convenience, I'd store the bags with the bell staff of the Pan Pacific right above the pier. That way you have a 'one-stop shop' - somewhere that will call you a cab if there isn't one already waiting, that's at street level so you can call and Uber/Lyft if you wish (they're not allowed to pick up inside the terminal), and that you can repeat the above again when you want to go to YVR.

 

From the PP to Prince of Whales may run close to $20 on the meter, because you might hit a bit of commuter traffic and road access is very indirect (despite the name, it's not actually an island but only has access from the south side of False Creek so you either overshoot on Granville bridge or go a roundabout way via the other bridges, and driving on GI is always painfully slow - lots of pedestrians! On the way back, maybe a bit less depending on time of day/traffic.

 

Uber will likely be about the same if not Surge - it actually costs more to get in a rideshare than a cab, they have extra fees that cabs are not subject to, so even though the 'per mile' rate usually runs less it takes a couple of miles to actually see any savings so the differences would be marginal on a ride within downtown like this. I'd check Uber if you're used to using it - see how long the app says the nearest car is, and if there isn't a cab visible then weight up the wait time!

 

The bus isn't just cheap, but also pretty convenient - as long as your sis can walk/roll along flat sidewalks it might be quite doable evewn if she's slow (disembark even as late as 9am, whalewatch 10am, bus would be ~30mins total incl walk time at regular 3mph walking speed). The 50 runs from <400yds away from the pier, to as close as possible to GI without actually getting on it (map from the stop to PoW office on Duranleau - slightly further than pier to bus stop)

 

GI is also a good spot to do a bit of souvenir shopping before or after your whalewatch, and has a plethora of dining options - from sweet treats, sammiches and deli food to take aboard for lunch, to a sitdown steak dinner afterward, it covers the bases well. Depending what time you book the boat at, you might even have time to do a little minicruise - a cab to e.g. Davie Marina is a much shorter ride than going over the bridges, and you can hop on a water taxi. Price would likely be in the same ballpark as cabbing all the way, maybe $8 for the cab but then 2 tix on Aquabus or False Creek Ferries probably $3-6 each (various ticket prices based on distance, but decent Senior discounts).

[Kat915]

Martincath,

Thanks so much for the information. 

We decided to do the whale watch on Granville Island. 

 

You think we can disembark at 9, leave luggage at pan pacific and get to GI by 10?

 

What time should we leave the pan pacific for the 10pm flight?

 

We will use the wheelchair assistance in the airport.  How do we book a time for security check?

 

Thanks 

 

[martincath]

1 hour ago, Kat915 said:

Martincath,

Thanks so much for the information. 

We decided to do the whale watch on Granville Island. 

 

You think we can disembark at 9, leave luggage at pan pacific and get to GI by 10?

 

What time should we leave the pan pacific for the 10pm flight?

 

We will use the wheelchair assistance in the airport.  How do we book a time for security check?

 

Thanks

I'd disembark earlier myself, just in case. Much better to be off the ship at 8ish, bags dropped by 8:30, find a cab and get to GI an hour early - where you can easily pootle around a bit and check out various stores, grab some snacks etc. if you need to kill time - than worry about not getting there in time to check-in for the required safety briefing pre-whalewatch.

 

If you haven't booked yet, you are asked to be 30mins early - while you won't have to get fitted for a survival suit like on the Zodiac rides, there is a waiver form to complete that has a fair bit of small print if you're the kind of person who actually reads things before signing, and with your sis having limited mobility you'll want a bit of extra time to actually board (the boats are docked at the end of the street the office is on, another hundred yards or so to walk).

 

YVR from the PP should not take much more than 35mins driving in the evening - even if you're trying to get there for 8pm, rush hour will have tamped down, but if you want to pad that to 45mins assumed travel time that's sensible enough to cover unexpected traffic issues. I thought I'd already linked the free security 'express pass' booking page further up the page, but in case I didn't it's right here. You will have to wait until no more than 72hrs in advance to be able to book.

[Kat915]

To leave the luggage at the Pan Pacific, do we need $10 in cash or would they take credit card?

 

What's the easiest way to get to the Pan Pacific after picking up our luggage?  I thought I saw a picture on another post but couldn't find it.

[martincath]

On 5/12/2024 at 1:44 PM, Kat915 said:

To leave the luggage at the Pan Pacific, do we need $10 in cash or would they take credit card?

 

What's the easiest way to get to the Pan Pacific after picking up our luggage?  I thought I saw a picture on another post but couldn't find it.

Sorry for the delay, haven't been on the site for a few days. If you Quote a post, or ping a user directly by typing @ then their handle, it sends me an email - I can usually find a couple of minutes to answer a specific question!

 

These unfortunately I'm not going to be a great deal of help with - I know the bell staff take cash, either USD or CAD but $10 bill of either gets no change (i.e. if you have Canadian money, use it, it'll save you about 25% of the cost).

 

On the second part, since I always self-disembark I've never collected bags offloaded for me and living local I've never had to store a bag! PP always has at least one member of bell staff on the ground floor right by the door out onto Canada Place so for me the easiest is simply to walk out to the street - but with your sis maybe needing some extra help with bags/preferring an elevator to change levels, hopefully someone else who has used the PPs bag storage can chip in...