Vancouver tour and luggage questions

[cusematt4]

Hi all,

 

Our cruise finishes in Vancouver.  With a flight not until 10pm, we are going to do the hop on hop off tour as many have suggested.  We have a few questions regarding recommendations.

 

Tour price through Princess with baggage storage/transfer: $160pp

 

Tour price on our own would be $45pp

Given the substantial price difference, we are leaning towards doing this on our own.  We have read about a number of luggage options but are unsure of both the most efficient and cheapest.

 

-Are we better off dropping/storing luggage by the cruise terminal or at the airport?  

 

-Would it be better to drop bags at the airport before ubering the to tour, or drop bags near the port, return to the port area after the tour day, and then Uber to the airport?

 

-Does the hop on hop off your pickup and drop off by the port?  By the airport?

-Do any airlines allow for morning bag drop off for an evening flight, or is it only 3 hours prior?  JetBlue?

 

-What is the best and cheapest luggage storage option each at the airport and near the port?

 

Thank you.

[CruiserBruce]

Hmmm....I don't know the actual answers to your questions, but adding up the various extras, it's seems like a ton of work and bopping around to save a few dollars.

[martincath]

On 5/12/2024 at 4:30 PM, cusematt4 said:

Hi all,

 

Our cruise finishes in Vancouver.  With a flight not until 10pm, we are going to do the hop on hop off tour as many have suggested.  We have a few questions regarding recommendations.

Alrighty - first, absolutely do not waste your time going to YVR twice!!! You have limited hours, efficiency is key, and thanks to US preclearance it is illegal to check bags early! Until very recently, your flight would not have been precleared - but CBP expanded their hours to 11:30pm, which means virtually every US-bound flight will now see them here before boarding, and all US layovers become Domestic.

 

Store bags with the Pan Pacific ($10) right above the pier, which is also right next to HOHO main stop, is the only sensible 'no advance booking' option. If you're willing to reserve things in advance you might save a buck or two a bag. Google 'luggage storage vancouver BC' and you'll get a bunch of hits for various Uberesque companies who provide the online tools and partner with local businesses for actual storage. Pick one that confirms the locations before booking, so you can choose one that is as close as possible to Canada Place. Under no circumstances use the official pier storage - it's not just the most expensive, their hours are far too limited for you (you must have your bags collected before 5pm). I can't recommend any of these storage options from personal experience, as I live close enough to walk home with my bags after disembarking, but you can find various reviews online about Bounce, Luggage Hero, and similar.

 

Assuming you get anything but the last few disembark slots, you can easily be queueing for the HOHO well before 9am - you need to be in the first 50 people if you want to be on the first bus! Unless you want to go places other than the HOHO route, you won't need to Cabuberlyft anywhere as pier, hotel, and HOHO stop are contiguous - and your transport to YVR that Princess include in their insanely overpriced package is literally a SkyTrain ticket, which is all of 400 yards away on foot...

 

Can't be bothered schlepping bags even that far? Get a cab at the pier and it's a fixed price even TO the airport these days - CAD$41 per vehicle. In the evening, metered cab fare is probably less than this and the various rideshares, assuming no Surge, likely even less than that but expect at least US$25 per vehicle even without traffic. Even if you had three bags each to store, and loaded every person in your family into their own taxi, you would still spend only ~US$100pp; and if you take SkyTrain like you would with Princess, you'd save another ~$US28pp off that!