Seattle to Vancouver / Best Way?

[pbk917]

We booked our Alaska cruise for July of 2005. It is considerably less money to fly into Seattle instead of Vancouver. What's the best way to get to Vancouver from Seattle & obviously, we also need a return back after the cruise. We are a family of 3. Is this savings worth the hassle of having to get transportation?

 

Thanks in advance for your help.

[ute_fan]

Our family of 4 had the same situation for our cruise in June. $450 pp to fly to Vancouver vs. $150 to fly to Seattle. We flew in to Seattle late Saturday night, drove to Bellingham and spent the night. The next morning we went the rest of the way to Vancouver. Coming back, we stayed overnight in Seattle, as the price for the low fares included a VERY early Monday morning flight home.

 

Even with the cost of the hotels and the car rental (actually a mini-van due to all the luggage :o ), we saved about $800. There is also the option of a bus ride (forget the name of the company) or I guess Amtrack runs between Seattle and Vancouver. With 4 of us, the cost of the van was significantly cheaper than the other transportation options.

[newcruiser99]

how long of a drive was it to vancouver?

[viva vegas]

Two years ago we took a 12 day cruise from Vancouver to Hawaii. We flew into Seattle, got a great rate at the Sheraton from Priceline and took Amtrak the next morning arriving into Vancouver at about 11:15 am. It was a 4-hour ride which I would highly reccommend. They had coach and business class. We opted for business class which included a $6.00 off coupon in the dining car plus free movies. I believe the cost was $36.00 per person, coach was about $25.00 per person. The scenery was unbelievable. It was about a $7.00 US taxi cab ride to the pier.

 

We are going on a 4-day coastal cruise from Vancouver in 2 weeks but this time we have to take the bus because we are flying into Bellingham and our flight arrives too late for the train (Bellingham is one of the stops Amtrak makes on the way to Vancouver).

[merela]

The drive between Seattle and Vancouver is somewhere between 3 hours to 4 hours, depending on traffic and the length of wait at the border. Give yourself 4 hours, you'll be fine.

 

My sister drove down from Vancouver for our cruise on the Diamond Princess and it took her about 3.5 hours from her home to the port in Seattle. That was a Saturday morning.

 

However, there is a bus that goes from Seattle airport directly to either Vancouver International Airport or to Vancouver's sea port. I forgot the name of the bus company, but someone from one of cruisecritic's boards posted it.

 

Search for "Vancouver Seattle" on the Ports of Call boards: United States, Alaska, and Canada....and you will bound to find the answers you are looking for.

 

HTH.

[Budget Queen]

As mentioned there are several options. Amtrak- one train per day- bus service the rest of the trips. You need to add $25++ for the down town Seattle cab and as mentioned about $7 for the cab to Canada Place. There are one way rentals- I have gone with Avis, Budget and National, there is also Hertz. You will want a Seatac pick up and a DOWNTOWN Vancouver drop off. Allow at least 4 hours- especially if you don't know your way around Vancouver- all city driving. Easy to walk to Canada Place without luggage and no mobility impairments from any of the downtown offices. There is Quick Shuttle- allow at least 4 hours are most buses make several stops. There also will be a cruise contracted bus. You are best however arriving the night before. I usually stay in Bellingham- 2 hours north of Seattle. Dont' book any flight the same day as getting off the ship in Vancouver before 3pm flying from Seattle. No guarantees of anything!!!

[ute_fan]

I'd guess our "driving time" would have been between 3 and 3 1/2 hours. We did stop both directions, so I didn't bother to time it. One thing that will affect it is the border crossing into Canada -- we were lucky and only had to wait about 5 minutes going into Canada. On our way back, the peace arch crossing was closed, and we were detoured to the truck crossing. We had to wait about 10 minutes, but the traffic lined up going the other direction looked like it would have been about a 30 minute wait.

 

The driving in Vancouver was a little busy -- especially for a Sunday morning. I sure wouldn't want to be driving there in rush hour during the week. We used Avis one way, and Hertz the other. We dropped the car off at the downtown location, and they provided a shuttle bus to take us to the cruise terminal. One our way back, the car rental company had a desk in Canada Place, and we were able to catch a shuttle bus back. We had been planning on taking a taxi, ( for which they were to reimburse us) but it was a busy disemarkation day, and the wait for taxis was running about 1 1/2 hours.

[New Cruiser1]

We got a terrific deal from Hertz! We took their GPS navigation system and it was great. Took us from SeaTrac right to the dock in Vancouver. We dropped the car at the Hertz lot and they took us back to the dock. On the return they picked us up at the dock, brought us back to their lot, we got the car and made it back to SeaTrac in just over 3 hours and made a 1 PM flight out. The whole trip cost less than $100.

[newcruiser99]

we have never been to alaska and are thinking of next august. is there a good reason to leave from vancouver instead of seattle???

 

i know it sounds like a dumb question, but we are just starting to investigate the alaska routes.

 

thanks.

[ute_fan]

For us, it was a matter of cabin availability/price/itinerary. We needed a quad cabin, and were late enough booking that there weren't many available. I would have preferred to leave from Seattle, but in order to meet our other requirements the NCL Sun leaving from Vancouver ended up being a better option.

 

Read through the boards, identify the ports you're most interested in, compare the length of time that the ship is in each port, factor in pricing, and cabin availability, and let that determine your choice. If your choice leaves from Seattle, that's great. If it leaves from Vancouver, either fly direct to Vancouver or, depending on price, fly into Seattle and choose your transportation to Vancouver.

[Happy ks]

It depends, study the itinerary carefully. Be aware that at some port stops you have to be tendered to shore. I remember a year ago I almost booked us on a cruise out of Seattle, because some in our party wanted to go to Victoria. Upon careful study, the time in Victoria was from 6pm till 12 midnight. When you shave an hour off each way (very realistically), that only left 4 hours at port, hardly worth it. We chose a different cruise with longer port stops.

 

Spend a few hours on this board, reading the different threads regarding port stops, ships, etc..... We learned a ton of info here before we booked our Alaska cruise.

 

Have fun planning!

[mamagina]

We (also family of three) just took the Carnival Spirit from Vancouver on Aug 25th (Wednesday departure). From NYC we flew Jetblue to Seattle ($156 each) on Tuesday, Aug. 24th. A flight to Vancouver would have been about $450 each. We stayed at the Fairfield Inn at the Airport (free Terminal pickup and excellent free breakfast beginning at 5am!) for $95, AAA rate. We took a cab (previously arranged at our request by the Fairfield Inn) to Amtrack ($35) and took the 7:45am train (tickets purchased about 2 months earlier for a total of $50 (also AAA rate) for all three of us ($20 each for the adults and $10 for our 14 year old). The train ride was excellent. We saw a sea lion and much beautiful scenery. We went through Canadian Customs and Immigration at the Vancouver train station (took about 1-2 minutes--officer just wanted to know why we didn't come earlier so we could have spent a few days in Vancouver! Cab (cabs were lined up and waiting) from Amtrack to ship was about $7 American (no need to exchange for Canadian money). We were on the Spirit eating lunch by about 1:30pm! Check-in at the ship was pretty painless. We received a number when we arrived at the port and we only had to wait for two groups to go ahead of us.

[Budget Queen]

Seattle departures usually have more outside passage sailing. It is now common to stay out to sea and just dart in and out of ports. As mentioned, Seattle departures must make a Victoria stop which usually is too short. Rarely do these sailings go to Glacier Bay. You need to consider several factors- time in ports, ports, glacier, route (inside or outside Vancouver Island), price. Be certain to budget fully for costly excursions- you get only half a trip without them. :)

[cod]

Have you checked Air Canada rates?

[ngraystark]

We have flown into Seattle for our last two Alaska cruises (July 2001 and July 2004). On both occasions, our family of 4 has traveled via Amtrak to Vancouver. The train (Amtrak Cascades) travels along the coast and the views are wonderful. We have traveled business class - the 2004 trip was around $143.00, business class, one-way. The train left at 7:45 in the morning, we had breakfast on the way, enjoyed the view, watched a movie and we were in Vancouver. By traveling business class, we were the first off the train, through customs and out the door to the taxi stand for a short ride to the Pan Pacific. The trip is about 3.5-4 hours. It has been a great way to travel for us and our two boys (11 and 16) have loved the train trip.

[snoopy_leogirl]

We drove (7 of us) in a mini van. It was the best experience. I loved it! It was a very picturesque experience. It took us about 3 hours to reach from our hotel in downtown Seattle to our hotel on W. Broadway in Vancouver.

[pbk917]

You have all been very helpful.

Thank You.

[cpal]

Does anyone know which downtown Vancouver drop off for Avis if you rent a car? There are several and I'm not sure which one.

[Budget Queen]

Avis- I have used the drop off on Hornby. Easy walk back to Canada Place- without luggage or mobility limitations. They may also have a Canada Place drop off???

[Giantfan13]

Don't know if you are still interested. As several have already said, it is much, much cheaper to fly into seattle than Vancouver. Many use their 'miles' to fly to Seattle and certain 'miles' cannot be used to vancouver. From Seattle, since you are a family of three, you will have to decide if it's cheaper to rent a car or take the public transportation. The 'Quick shuttle" is a bus service that costs $42.00 a person which picks you up at the Seattle Airport and drops you at the dock in Vancouver or at any of several hotels that are in the vicinity of the dock. We stayed at the Ramada, and it wasn't on the drivers 'approved' list of hotels, but he dropped us off right in front anyway. We did have to exit the bus at customs, and that took about 20 minutes, but that is hit and miss. We did the plane from JFK to Seattle and then the bus and it was a tiring day. If you rent a car, I would advice you to spend the night in /Seattle because a long drive after a long flight could be very tiring. We enjoyed the bus, nice scenery and we were able to catch a few winks.