Alaska with kids - best plan?

[Betty4]

We have booked an Alaska cruise out of and returning to Vancouver. We are flying in from Newark, NJ. For those of you who know where I'm coming from (4 kids 3,4,8 and 9) should we fly from Newark to Vancouver; or to Seattle and take the train to Vancouver. Would love a couple of days prior to cruise to sightsee Vancouver/Seattle/both BUT want this trip to be pleasurable, not stressful. How long is the train ride? Could you recommend a hotel in Vancouver that would be within walking distance of restaurants/sites that might be of interest to our gang? Thanks.

[NancyIL]

We have booked an Alaska cruise out of and returning to Vancouver. We are flying in from Newark, NJ. For those of you who know where I'm coming from (4 kids 3,4,8 and 9) should we fly from Newark to Vancouver; or to Seattle and take the train to Vancouver. Would love a couple of days prior to cruise to sightsee Vancouver/Seattle/both BUT want this trip to be pleasurable, not stressful. How long is the train ride? Could you recommend a hotel in Vancouver that would be within walking distance of restaurants/sites that might be of interest to our gang? Thanks.

 

If it were me with 4 young kids, I'd want to fly to Vancouver. We loved the Westin Bayshore in Vancouver. It's along the waterfront and an easy walk to Stanley Park, as well as the restaurants on Denman Street. It's also a stop for one of the hop-on/hop-off trolleys.

[Chat Noir]

If budgeting isn't a consideration, I would fly direct to Vancouver mainly for less stress with 4 young children and all that luggage!

 

Budgeting is a consideration for us, and savings were significant for us (family of 4) to fly into Seattle, overnight, then Amtrak to Vancouver. I believe Seattle is ''typically'' less expensive than Vancouver with regard to airfare.

 

Either way, you really can't go wrong. The scenery along the train tracks is just fabulous! Children would probably enjoy it, and it's only a morning ride, departing Seattle around 730 and arriving Vancouver around 1130. Seattle is a wonderful city to explore, as is Vancouver.

[irisheileen]

If it were me with 4 young kids, I'd want to fly to Vancouver. We loved the Westin Bayshore in Vancouver. It's along the waterfront and an easy walk to Stanley Park, as well as the restaurants on Denman Street. It's also a stop for one of the hop-on/hop-off trolleys.

I agree with Nancy- the Westin is right next to Stanley Park, which is the best buy in Vancouver. It's FREE! With 4 kids, $$ adds up, so look for free or inexpensive tours. Stanley Park offers so much for the family. Look it up on these boards or look for it's website on google. I don't have it at my fingertips.

Enjoy

[mncruizr]

Everyone will have an opinion on this so I will too. My wife and I and our two kids (8 & 11) stayed at vancouver, post cruise, and found that it was very expensive so if you are trying to cut costs I would avoid Vancouver. Now - we did stay at the Rennaisance, which was $200 a night and we went to Butchart, which also expensive, so there are cheaper alternatives, but in my opinion Vancouver is not a cheap or family friendly locale. Just my opinion.

 

Oh - the hop on hop off trolley was very unreliable for us as well. We waited for 3 hours to pick one up at Stanley park, even though they are supposed to come by every 20 minutes. Lots of angry customers.

[NancyIL]

Everyone will have an opinion on this so I will too. My wife and I and our two kids (8 & 11) stayed at vancouver, post cruise, and found that it was very expensive so if you are trying to cut costs I would avoid Vancouver. Now - we did stay at the Rennaisance, which was $200 a night and we went to Butchart, which also expensive, so there are cheaper alternatives, but in my opinion Vancouver is not a cheap or family friendly locale. Just my opinion.

 

Oh - the hop on hop off trolley was very unreliable for us as well. We waited for 3 hours to pick one up at Stanley park, even though they are supposed to come by every 20 minutes. Lots of angry customers.

 

Butchart Gardens is in Victoria - so that would be somewhat expensive from Vancouver - especially without a rental car.

 

I disagree about Vancouver not being family friendly. Stanley Park is a wonderful place for a family, with a great Aquarium. We also found the dining to be quite reasonable. Yes, hotels are expensive - but quite a few people here have stayed at comparable hotels for under $100/night by using Priceline or Hotwire. We stayed at the Westin Bayshore for free using Starwood points.

 

Were you waiting for Stanley Park's trolley, which I believe is free - or the one that goes all over town? You can get a 2-day trolley ticket for ~ $33 CAD.

[mbisson]

Butchart Gardens is in Victoria - so that would be somewhat expensive from Vancouver - especially without a rental car.

 

I haven't looked into the price for taking a car on the ferry between Vancouver & Victoria. It could be expensive that way as well.

 

-Monte

[NancyIL]

I haven't looked into the price for taking a car on the ferry between Vancouver & Victoria. It could be expensive that way as well.

 

-Monte

 

The BC Ferry between Tsawwassen and Swartz Bay costs $11.60/adult and $6.20/child 5-11 each way. The cost for the vehicle is $40.65 each way on the weekend. http://www.bcferries.com/fares/vanvicpeak.html

 

My point was that Butchart Gardens is NOT in Vancouver. There are plenty of things to see and do in Vancouver that don't require taking ferries or guided bus tours.

[mncruizr]

"Were you waiting for Stanley Park's trolley, which I believe is free - or the one that goes all over town? You can get a 2-day trolley ticket for ~ $33 CAD."

 

We used the one that goes all over town. Never again. It took us an hour to get to our hotel but if we had walked we could have gotten there in the same or less time.

 

We did go to Vancouver and you are right - its a long trip. We took a bus tour and it was 13 hours. We looked into a car but with the lines to get onto the water shuttle, we may have had to wait a long time. The bus just rolled right on with no wait and ahead of everyone.

 

On the family friendly part - We never ran into rude people or people that didn't like our kids, but I just felt uncomfortable bringing my kids around at night mostly. One night a cross dresser in lingerie came by our hotel, and another time two scantily clad ladies were groping/kissing and there were numerous other situations that I prefer my kids not to see. I have a hard time explaining those things to my kids. I'm a little old fashioned I guess

[CassCruise]

Betty4 I personally would go straight to Vancouver - part. with 4 young children (ie sooooo much luggage) I really think it would be way more relaxing for all of you - we have just returned and had our 2 dds aged 6&8 in tow - they loved it!! We stayed at the Westin for $60 pn (using priceline) which was a wonderful location - easy walk everywhere with lots of little cafes around - we found the staff bent over backwards and there was an indoor and outdoor pool which we utilised at least once daily - you might like to look at puchasing a See Vancouver Card http://www.seevancouvercard.com/pages_menuitems/home.html which we used and found great value - we used the card extensively from Imax theatre (which is at Canada Place and again an easy walk) to a day tour to Whistler, Storyeum, Vancouver Aquarium and even going on the horse drawn trolley twice as the girls enjoyed it so much:) plus lots of other entrances which to be honest we wouldn't have done without the card...... my 2c

 

Jane

[Bluenose Sandy]

Well, if I had 6 airfares to pay I'd have to vote for flying into Seattle and renting a van to drive up to Vancouver, doing some sightseeing along the way so your kids don't go road-crazy. I hear the train's nice too but luggage is harder to cope with than if you just throw it into a rental car. Flying into Vancouver is EXPENSIVE... flying anywhere in Canada is expensive compared to the US. Once you've arrived, the city isn't that much more expensive than any big city in North America.

 

But really, Seattle and Vancouver are both great cities for family sightseeing. If you have more time than money, fly into Seattle a few days early and spend some time on the road... if you have more money than time, fly into Vancouver and tour around there. Both will be great trips.

[kruisecat]

Don't have kids but I'll throw my 2 cents in anyway :D

 

We are flying into Seattle the morning before the cruise, sightseeing a little while there, spending the night and then heading up to Vancouver on the train the morning of the cruise.

 

When the cruise returns to Vancouver we will spend the day there sightseeing before catching the 6pm train back to Seattle. Unfortunately there are no flights out that night so we will spend another night in Seattle and catch an early am flight back to FL. The 2 hotel night stays are the same price as the 1 night I was going to book in Van if we stayed there.

 

We'll do business class on the train at least going to Van. It's a little bit more $$ but from what I've read you get off the train first and through customs quicker.

 

All that said, if I had 4 kids I probably would fly direct to Van :D as once you add in the cost of the train and the time involved you probably spend the same amount of $$$

[Terpnut]

We've visited both Seattle and Vancouver multiple times over the years, and recently visited Vancouver for back-to-back summers (2005 and 2006) with our kids in your age range (mine are 8 and 6 yrs old now). I agree that Vancouver is comparatively expensive to fly to and to stay in, but assuming you are not on a tight budget, I feel it's worth flying directly there (instead of Seattle) to cut down on transfer/travel time. I personally would not do both Seattle and Vancouver unless you have a full week pre-cruise.

 

While alot of Vancouver seems geared toward young professionals and is not kid-friendly, the city is super-friendly and there are many family things to do: walk/bike in Stanley Park, Vancouver Aquarium, Grouse Mtn, Capilano Bridge, shopping (and people watching) on Robson, water taxis in False Creek/Granville Island, and Chinatown/Gastown/Storyeum are some of our favorite to-dos. Outdoor activities/nature, friendly people and excellent eats are what I like most about Vancouver. And FWIW, Vancouver has one of the nicest airports in North America. Have a great trip!