Vancouver answers from a Vancouverite

[Tweedy]

I need a bit of help of what a cab ride would cost and the amount of time this ride would be from YVR to the pier.

Thanks!

 

Depending on the time of day, it could be anywhere between 30 - 45min by cab costing approximately $35-40 w/tip.

[ShantanuThakur]

Very helpful thread. Thanks for the tips here. :cool:

[remarcm]

Thanks to the "regulars" who answers our never ending questions.

Happy Canada Day to all of you Canadians, hope you enjoy your 3 day holiday!!!!!

Thanks

[WeRockChalkKU]

Thanks to the "regulars" who answers our never ending questions.

Happy Canada Day to all of you Canadians, hope you enjoy your 3 day holiday!!!!!

Thanks

 

I second the greeting and the thank you for being so patient/tolerant/and helpful.

 

You guys ROCK!!!!!!!!

[SnorkelBabe]

A couple of dumb questions.

 

1. Do cabs take credit cards? We'll probably take one from the airport to our hotel downtown. If they don't take credit cards, approximately how much cash will we need for the ride from the airport to the Hampton Inn at 111 Robson Street?

 

2. Canadian electric outlets are the same as the U.S., right?

 

Thank you!

[Aorlmac]

A couple of dumb questions.

 

1. Do cabs take credit cards? We'll probably take one from the airport to our hotel downtown. If they don't take credit cards, approximately how much cash will we need for the ride from the airport to the Hampton Inn at 111 Robson Street?

 

2. Canadian electric outlets are the same as the U.S., right?

 

Thank you!

 

I can answer these ( being a Vancouverite as well).... Yes, all cabs take credit cards. As for cash I would estimate $40-60. And Yes outlets are the same.

 

 

 

 

Sent using the Cruise Critic forums app

[cruisingherrons]

I can answer these ( being a Vancouverite as well).... Yes, all cabs take credit cards. As for cash I would estimate $40-60. And Yes outlets are the same.

 

 

 

 

Sent using the Cruise Critic forums app

 

I thought the Hampton Inn had an airport shuttle that you could make arrangements for (maybe I'm wrong, but worth asking about).

[scottbee]

I thought the Hampton Inn had an airport shuttle that you could make arrangements for (maybe I'm wrong, but worth asking about).

 

Depends which Hampton Inn you're talking about.. There is one downtown (w/ a free shuttle to Canada Place), and one in Richmond with a free shuttle to the airport.

 

Vancouver is quite a large city (metro population 2.5million)...

[cruisingherrons]

Depends which Hampton Inn you're talking about.. There is one downtown (w/ a free shuttle to Canada Place), and one in Richmond with a free shuttle to the airport.

 

Vancouver is quite a large city (metro population 2.5million)...

 

Thanks, good to know. I just remember the name Hampton Inn and that we considered staying there (downtown) because of the shuttle offer. Always good to keep up with info. It's been quite a few years since our last visit.

[scottbee]

Thanks, good to know. I just remember the name Hampton Inn and that we considered staying there (downtown) because of the shuttle offer. Always good to keep up with info. It's been quite a few years since our last visit.

 

Don't get too caught up on the 'free shuttle the cruise terminal'. From any downtown hotel, you're looking at a $10 taxi ride to the cruise terminal, as it is also right downtown. Getting a room for $150 w/ a free shuttle vs a room for $120 w/o one, is a false economy.

[cruisingherrons]

Don't get too caught up on the 'free shuttle the cruise terminal'. From any downtown hotel, you're looking at a $10 taxi ride to the cruise terminal, as it is also right downtown. Getting a room for $150 w/ a free shuttle vs a room for $120 w/o one, is a false economy.

 

 

Thanks again....I was hoping to be able to stay at the Pan Pacific right there by the terminal for our next cruise, but we'll just have to wait and see.

[scottbee]

Thanks again....I was hoping to be able to stay at the Pan Pacific right there by the terminal for our next cruise, but we'll just have to wait and see.

 

Glad to help. The Pan Pacific is definitely the crown jewel for anyone cruising you don't even leave the building to board.

[highlandmom]

I'll first apologize if this has been covered!

 

We're getting off the Celebrity Solstice in Seattle on July 19th and have to make our way over to Vancouver Island (preferably Nanaimo) where grandma & granddad will have our kids.

 

One option is the Clipper Ferry to Victoria but we are worried about disembarking and making the 8:30 am departure. Then we'd have to take the island bus to Nanaimo.

 

The other option, and why I'm posting, is to take a shuttle bus to Vancouver then somehow get to one of the 2 ferry terminals and then be walk on passengers on the ferry over to Nanaimo.

 

My question: If the Boltbus gets us to the main bus station (I think it was 1150 Main, or something like that), does it really take 2 bus transfers and 1.5 hours to get to the ferry terminal? I searched Tswassen (?spelling). That seems excessive and a real hassle with luggage. Any other suggestions on getting from the bus terminal to the ferry? I don't think it matters which terminal. They both have ferries to Nanaimo, I think. Okay, I'm not positive on that.

 

How much would a cab be?

 

Thanks for any help, this process seems to be turning into the movie planes, trains & automobiles but it's ships and buses and ferries :) Oh, and yes, I know we could get off the Solstice one night early in Victoria and not even bother going back to Seattle.

[scottbee]

I'll first apologize if this has been covered!

 

We're getting off the Celebrity Solstice in Seattle on July 19th and have to make our way over to Vancouver Island (preferably Nanaimo) where grandma & granddad will have our kids.

 

One option is the Clipper Ferry to Victoria but we are worried about disembarking and making the 8:30 am departure. Then we'd have to take the island bus to Nanaimo.

 

The other option, and why I'm posting, is to take a shuttle bus to Vancouver then somehow get to one of the 2 ferry terminals and then be walk on passengers on the ferry over to Nanaimo.

 

My question: If the Boltbus gets us to the main bus station (I think it was 1150 Main, or something like that), does it really take 2 bus transfers and 1.5 hours to get to the ferry terminal? I searched Tswassen (?spelling). That seems excessive and a real hassle with luggage. Any other suggestions on getting from the bus terminal to the ferry? I don't think it matters which terminal. They both have ferries to Nanaimo, I think. Okay, I'm not positive on that.

 

How much would a cab be?

 

Thanks for any help, this process seems to be turning into the movie planes, trains & automobiles but it's ships and buses and ferries :) Oh, and yes, I know we could get off the Solstice one night early in Victoria and not even bother going back to Seattle.

 

I think you hit the nail on the head. Get off at Victoria and don't bother heading back to Seattle. The Pacific Coach Line depot (Victoria-Nanaimo) is at the corner of Douglas and Belleville (right behind the Empress hotel). I was a long time Victoria resident, and have done the sort of thing you're talking about many times, and here's the transfer options

 

1) Fly SEA-YYJ/Victoria. Bit of a pain given the geography of Vancouver Island. From YYJ to Nanaimo you're looking at a 2 hour drive, or a combination of buses via downtown Victoria

2) Fly SEA-YVR-YCD/Nanaimo. Easy, but likely quite expensive

3) Bus or train Seattle-Vancouver, followed by bus to Horseshoe Bay (you don't really want the ferry from Tsawwassen). The transfer you'd need (all one two-zone ticket at least) is Skytrain from Main Street to either Stadium or Granville, followed by the express bus to Horseshoe Bay (#257)

4) Bus or train Seattle-Vancouber, followed by floatplane from Vancouver Harbour to Nanaimo Harbour (scenic, but can be pricey).

5) Fly on Kenmore Air from Seattle's Lake Washington to Nanaimo Harbour! Floatplane service, but at $219/ea one way, it's quite pricey

 

Nanaimo has long been campaigning for an airline to operate YCD-SEA service, but no airline operates the route yet. One day I'm sure it will happen.

[goodml]

Currently have a rental car booked for pick up at YVR and drop off downtown, and rooms booked at Times Square Suites for pre-Jewel repositioning cruise this September. I'm now seriously considering cancelling the car and just taking the train into the city. Friends are coming in on later flights and we already have them taking the train in because they land right around evening rush hour and the drive to and from the airport at that time of day to pick them up will be bedlam. I just picked up a HOHO groupon for the 4 of us for the Friday so we'll see the sights that way.

 

If we do take the train in, which stop would be best to put us closest to Times Square Suites? Any clue what it might cost to taxi from the hotel to Ballantyne Pier on a Saturday morning? If we keep the car we'd have to drop it downtown and taxi part way anyway so I'm starting to feel there's not much benefit to having it. As an aside we have a great package booked at the hotel so there is no parking fee for the car therefore that cost isn't a factor when considering the economies of the whole thing. TIA for any assistance. :)

Edited July 4, 2013 by goodml

[martincath]

... If we do take the train in, which stop would be best to put us closest to Times Square Suites? Any clue what it might cost to taxi from the hotel to Ballantyne Pier on a Saturday morning?

Nearest station on the Canada Line will be City Centre - here's a Google map. It's probably a little far to walk with suitcases, so suggest you use your transit ticket to transfer to a bus along Georgia Street (I've preselected transit for you on Google).

 

From Times Sq to Ballantyne will probably run you $15 - it's a little over 3 miles by road.

 

If all you were using your hire car for is getting downtown, cancel it! Parking is normally $15 a day at TSS, so you might be able to change your package and save a few bucks if you don't need the parking...

[goodml]

That's great! Thanks so much.

[notes4theheart]

Hi, I'm coming into Vancouver on a Friday night on the late cascades train. We arrive in Vancouver at 10:50pm. We have a hotel that night at the Best Western Plus at 718 Drake Street. I'm assuming the best way to get there is by taxi this late at night. Does anyone know about how much that would cost? In addition, are there a lot of taxi's at the train station around that time or do I need to do anything special to make sure we get one?

 

Thanks in advance!!!

[martincath]

Taxis always turn up to meet the Amtrak train arrivals - just walk out the front of the station and wait. You could get to the BW by transit, the C21 bus runs from right outside the station to within a couple of blocks of the hotel, but a cab should only run you $10 - it might even be cheaper than transit which is $2.75pp cash fare.

[SnorkelBabe]

I'm sorry to ask a question that's probably been answered in this thread multiple times before, but I searched and can't seem to find the answer right now.

 

We'll be coming in next Friday night and our cruise leaves the following Monday. We already have transportation planned from airport to hotel and hotel to Canada Place, so now we're just trying to plan how to get around for sightseeing on Saturday and Sunday. There are four of us, 2 adults and two kids, ages 15 and 10. We want to spend one day at Grouse Mountain and Capilano Suspension Bridge. The other day, we aren't 100 sure on yet, maybe Stanley Park, rent bikes and ride the sea wall, Granville Island... We're staying at the Hampton Inn on Robson downtown.

 

So, the bus is the way to get around, right? Is there somewhere to buy all-day passes at the airport or near our hotel? I also read about the books of 10 tickets, would that be a better option? We really don't want to have to deal with having the right cash on hand every time we hop on a bus.

 

I also read something about the bus zones. Do I need more than one ticket to travel to another zone if using the book of 10, or are there separate multi-zone tickets? Is downtown all in the same zone? Are Grouse Mtn/Capilano within the downtown zone? Is an all-day pass good across multiple zones? Are there children's prices for tickets/passes for the 10yo? (I assume the 15yo would be considered an adult).

 

Thank you!

[martincath]

All your questions can be answered on the Translink website but you would have to check several pages so I'll summarise:

 

Good news on Zones - Sat/Sun everywhere counts as 1 zone, so no problems for you (Cap & Grouse would be 2 zones midweek, as is the airport, but everywhere downtown is within 1 zone).

 

You can buy day passes basically anywhere that you can buy Faresavers (the books of 10 tickets) - nearest location to the Hampton is the 7-11 at 310 Robson St (Google Map - it's literally just 2 blocks away). You can also get them at the airport 7-11, but it's probably a longer walk!

 

Best option between Faresavers and Day Passes? Depends how many trips you take - there's really no convenience difference between them, so it all comes down to cost.

 

3 of your party (adults and the 15yo - as not a *local* student not eligible for Concession fare) would need regular day passes at $9.75 and the 10yo would need a concession day pass at $7.50 - day passes are always valid for all zones, so cost is 6*9.75 + 2*7.50 for a total of $73.50.

 

Since it's the weekend you don't need to worry about Zones so you can buy 1 Zone Faresaver books, again at the full rate of $21 per book for everyone except the 10yo. You have to buy a full book for the 10yo ($17.50) but the number of books required for the rest of you depends how many trips you're going to take...

 

For example, if you used 3 tickets per person per day (to go somewhere from the hotel in the morning, then to somewhere else in the afternoon, then back to the hotel) you need 18 tickets so 2 books would be enough costing 21+21+17.50 = $59.50 (and you'd have 2 regular tickets and 4 concession tickets left over...)

 

The breakeven where the day passes become cheaper than the faresavers is obviously anything over $73.50 - which assuming you always travel together would be a total of 10 trips as a family (each trip costs 3*2.10 + 1.75 = $8.05; 10 trips is $80.50 using Faresaver 10-packs).

 

You'll almost certainly find 2 books of full price single zone tickets enough - that's enough for 5 trips for the whole family if you hand over a full price ticket for your 10yo (which is totally legit - you're overpaying!) Buying a full book of concession tickets is often wasteful - the saving is only 35 cents per trip so unless you use most of the book it's often cheaper for a group to just stick to full price fares if the number of trips/people works out closer to a multiple of 10.

 

Your Grouse/Capilano day you could make use of the free shuttles from downtown - walking to Canada Place is less than a mile - and then you'd only have to worry about using tickets to get between Cap Bridge & Grouse, so you'd only need 1 ticket per person for that whole days activities - leaving you 4 trips each on the other day if you've picked up 2 faresaver packs.

[notes4theheart]

Taxis always turn up to meet the Amtrak train arrivals - just walk out the front of the station and wait. You could get to the BW by transit, the C21 bus runs from right outside the station to within a couple of blocks of the hotel, but a cab should only run you $10 - it might even be cheaper than transit which is $2.75pp cash fare.

 

thanks so much! I'm so glad I don't need to book that in advance.

[SnorkelBabe]

All your questions can be answered on the Translink website but you would have to check several pages so I'll summarise:

 

Good news on Zones - Sat/Sun everywhere counts as 1 zone, so no problems for you (Cap & Grouse would be 2 zones midweek, as is the airport, but everywhere downtown is within 1 zone).

 

You can buy day passes basically anywhere that you can buy Faresavers (the books of 10 tickets) - nearest location to the Hampton is the 7-11 at 310 Robson St (Google Map - it's literally just 2 blocks away). You can also get them at the airport 7-11, but it's probably a longer walk!

 

Best option between Faresavers and Day Passes? Depends how many trips you take - there's really no convenience difference between them, so it all comes down to cost.

 

3 of your party (adults and the 15yo - as not a *local* student not eligible for Concession fare) would need regular day passes at $9.75 and the 10yo would need a concession day pass at $7.50 - day passes are always valid for all zones, so cost is 6*9.75 + 2*7.50 for a total of $73.50.

 

Since it's the weekend you don't need to worry about Zones so you can buy 1 Zone Faresaver books, again at the full rate of $21 per book for everyone except the 10yo. You have to buy a full book for the 10yo ($17.50) but the number of books required for the rest of you depends how many trips you're going to take...

 

For example, if you used 3 tickets per person per day (to go somewhere from the hotel in the morning, then to somewhere else in the afternoon, then back to the hotel) you need 18 tickets so 2 books would be enough costing 21+21+17.50 = $59.50 (and you'd have 2 regular tickets and 4 concession tickets left over...)

 

The breakeven where the day passes become cheaper than the faresavers is obviously anything over $73.50 - which assuming you always travel together would be a total of 10 trips as a family (each trip costs 3*2.10 + 1.75 = $8.05; 10 trips is $80.50 using Faresaver 10-packs).

 

You'll almost certainly find 2 books of full price single zone tickets enough - that's enough for 5 trips for the whole family if you hand over a full price ticket for your 10yo (which is totally legit - you're overpaying!) Buying a full book of concession tickets is often wasteful - the saving is only 35 cents per trip so unless you use most of the book it's often cheaper for a group to just stick to full price fares if the number of trips/people works out closer to a multiple of 10.

 

Your Grouse/Capilano day you could make use of the free shuttles from downtown - walking to Canada Place is less than a mile - and then you'd only have to worry about using tickets to get between Cap Bridge & Grouse, so you'd only need 1 ticket per person for that whole days activities - leaving you 4 trips each on the other day if you've picked up 2 faresaver packs.

 

Thank you so much for your detailed explanation. I didn't know about the free shuttles. Is that a city shuttle or is it run by Grouse/Capilano? Meaning, where would I find information about how often they run and their pickup spots?

 

Thanks!

[Urban trekker]

They are privately run - both will go from Canada Place

 

Here's a link to Grouse's:

 

http://www.grousemountain.com/shuttle

[Urban trekker]

They are privately run - both will go from Canada Place

 

Here's a link to Grouse's:

 

http://www.grousemountain.com/shuttle

 

and here's the one for the Capliano Suspension Bridge:

 

http://www.capbridge.com/visit/shuttle-service/

 

Hope this helps

 

Cheers

 

Dennis