r/celebritycruises • u/Due-Cranberry-9928 • 14h ago
Discussion Alaskan cruise out of Vancouver - need advice pre or post cruise stay in Vancouver
Hoping for some advice from the locals and seasoned cruisers. We are from Toronto and just booked a last-minute Alaskan cruise on Celebrity Solstice end end of August 2026 for our 30th wedding anniversary. My husband and I plan to visit for a couple of days before or after the cruise and are trying to get some advice on things to do and which area to stay in for hotels. Should we stay near the airport and rent a car for a couple of days and drive around? Or stay more downtown near the cruise port and take the sea bus around? Take a ferry to Victoria? That might be a separate trip for us another year where we come out and stay on Vancouver Island. But for 2 or 3 days before or after a cruise - what do you think would be worth doing or seeing? Hotels are crazy expensive but it's for our 30th so willing to spend more and most are over $1000 for 2 nights. Air bnbs are even more! Would love to stay in an area where we can walk around near the water. But if we have to stay near the airport where it's cheaper and rent a car that would be good too. Saw the Radisson Blu near the airport and some hotels in Richmond I believe that are less expensive than downtown. Just want to make sure we are staying in a nice area. Any advice is much appreciated!
5
u/sofiarosepan 13h ago
We stayed at the Hyatt regency. There’s a Starbucks inside and it a close walk to Gastown / restaurants. It’s a straight quick walk to the terminal.
3
u/Metengineer 13h ago
We are staying at the Hyatt Regency in July. We are coming in on the train the night before so our stay in Vancouver is not as long as I would like. Can you recommend any interesting places to eat breakfast near the hotel? We plan on walking from the hotel to the ship on embarkation day.
4
u/Wise-Expert2857 13h ago
Vancouver is nice, has some good parks to walk. Seaplane trips are fun. But ultimately it’s just a large city and for me there wasn’t too much to see/do that really interested me.
Victoria was very beautiful, lots more enjoyable to walk around. Took a car to the famous gardens and they didn’t disappoint.
Before is good because you can get there early, see the city and can wrap up an extra day hotel cost into the trip vs flying in a day early, getting a hotel for the night and getting on the ship the next day (day is basically a wash)
The big advantage to after is a little time to relax before heading home. Depending on how you cruise you can really wear yourself out trying to get as much in as possible.
3
u/OgasMaitai 12h ago
Im from vancouver looking at your dates, youve just left this so late. This is not a normal time to book hotels for such a big tourist destination. This is the downside of the late booking for the cruise. I dont see any good options
Youre right, prices are brutal. Anything reasonable is a horrible hotel I wouldnt stay in for 50 dollars a night.
Air bnbs are basically illegal in vancouver. So the ones on there are either illegal or shared spaces. If you book an illiegal air bnb, ie not shared space, be aware the people in the building might be VERY VERY hostile. It is not uncommon for illegal air bnbs to have the police called and the city and them go out to check. The legal ones are shared spaces where the owner lives there basically.
That's a legal air bnb basically, private room but shared house. It's a 25 dollar uber ride from downtown and the cruise terminal. Definitely not ideal but cheap.
This is on the skytrain line, 20 minutes to vancouver, 7 to the airport.
This is a 10 minute walk to skytrain, and 30 minutes from there downtown.
2
u/thatCRUISEagent 14h ago
I like renting a car in Vancouver so you can get out and explore the mountains. You can stay at the Fairmont at YVR rent and return a car right at the airport, and then take the train right to the port. That’s what we typically do at least
2
u/OgasMaitai 12h ago
No, this is awful advice. Dont stay in richmond and then have to drive through some of the worst traffic there is.
Stay in Vancouver, they're in vancouver 2 days. There is not enough time to explore the mountais, I dont even know what that means.
2
u/thatCRUISEagent 12h ago
Hey to each their own, this is just my opinion and what I like to do when in the area
2
u/UnlikelyHand7638 13h ago
If the budget allows I would recommend staying downtown. A lot of places will be walkable. To get a little further out my wife and I did the Hop On Hop Off bus tour which was a good way to spend a day. If you stay downtown you will most likely be within a few blocks of a stop.
2
u/Yellow2345 13h ago
Just some ideas and my opinions... If you don't think you'll leave Vancouver then public transit and/or Uber is fine. I use the Skytrain whenever in Vancouver because of the cost of a rental car and then paying for parking everywhere.
I stay in Richmond as a personal preference to be near a lot of Asian food options and because the hotels cost less. Then I'll take public transit to the water -- the Harbour, Seawall, False Creek, English Bay. I'm also from Toronto so a 30-40 minute commute is relatively quick compared to home.
If I were celebrating something I'd probably consider a fancy hotel as well. I think the Radisson Blu Airport because of its location would actually require having a rental car.
2
u/Front_Page_5350 12h ago
We stayed at the Pan Pacific and our bellman took our luggage straight to the ship the morning we left. Can walk all over to restaurants and the hotels food was excellent
2
u/stitch_cruise 10h ago
We stayed at the Pan Pacific Canada Place. Great location to get around town and of course the cruise terminal is downstairs. They offer porter service to take your luggage down to the cruise terminal that is gratuity based.
2
u/GamesCatsComics 10h ago
Vancouver generally has a hotel shortage, booking a hotel only a couple of months out is going to be damn expensive, sorry.
To get to Victoria your option is essentially taking a ferry that is no where near the either the airport, or flying. I highly recommend the seaplanes to get there, but luggage weight is extremly limited on them, so maybe best to leave this for another trip.
Since you're only here for a couple days, you probably want to stay near downtown if you can afford it. Ignore the advice of the person who suggested renting a car, that's terrible advice in Vancouver. Skytrain is great, busses are pretty good, and Uber will fill any gaps that you have and will be a lot cheaper then a car rental.
Grab a hotel near the skytrain (preferably Canada line as it is goes to both the airport and pretty close to cruise ship terminal. Have a great trip, Vancouver is a pretty cool city despite what a lot of the locals say.
1
u/Due-Cranberry-9928 9h ago
Thanks everyone! We know it's late to be booking but it was last minute so we will eat the cost. I was a travel agent years ago so I understand booking close to the departure date is risky. But you only live once. So we will splurge and book in the downtown Vancouver area near the cruise port and maybe take the sea bus over to Lonsdale Quay Market - that looks fun! Thanks for all of your suggestions! We will just have to make another trip out to visit Victoria and Vancouver Island as I have family there and we always say that once we visit we will want to move out west and retire there. I have never been out west but I'm an ocean girl and something is calling me out there.
2
u/LeanSippinWizard 7h ago
Sounds like a great trip! I did a similar trip recently with my parents and they loved Lonsdale Quay, Granville Island and taking the Aquabus to other spots along the water. Enjoy!
1
u/AffectionateQuit5684 9h ago
We stayed at the Pinnacle Harbourfront which was nice and a short walking distance to the port. Maybe we just caught a bad day, but I will say the Vancouver airport was HORRIBLE when we were just there yesterday. Security lines that winded all over the place with no obvious start point and just super busy everywhere. Not to mention the signage is lacking, and everything in general is outdated in there
1
u/Mattynice75 6h ago
A warning for the departure day of the cruise. Vancouver isn’t a cruise terminal. The luggage drop off, check in and security all take place in the convention centre on the pier. It’s nothing like any other cruise terminal.
And it’s a disaster!! All ships passengers all get funnelled through the same queue for bag drop, check in, security and immigration.
Yesterday there were 3 ships departing, all at 4pm. The lines to drop off bags weren’t too bad around midday. But then security took nearly an hour. And then non-US passports had another hour queuing to get cleared to re-enter the US.
Considering Vancouver does these cruises every day for half the year you’d think they would set up a better system for departure days.
For me it created a lot of hassle and confusion and the long wait times put everyone on edge. It wasn’t a pleasant way to start a cruise and made me honestly rethink booking anything that starts on Vancouver again.
Just be aware of the time it will take to board, take plenty of patience and allow a few hours to make it all happen.
1
u/Moss-cle 1h ago
I like to stay at the Marriott Pinnacle downtown. I get a high room facing the harbor. It’s magnificent. Ubers are plentiful and there is so much to see.
1
u/Few_Refrigerator_906 12h ago
Depends what you are looking for. Do you like big cities? Stay in Vancouver if you like the big city. If you like a slower pace with similar tourist vibe go to Victoria. Often cheaper and has a lot to do in 2-3 days. Really depends what you want to see really. Shopping is better in Vancouver, but still loads of it in Victoria as well.
0
u/snarkprovider 12h ago
You're about 10 months late in booking a hotel for an August Alaska cruise. If you're willing to "commute" from the airport (and it's really not that far), stay somewhere there within your budget.
7
u/bingo0619 14h ago edited 11h ago
We stayed at The Fairmont Waterfront which is directly across from the cruise terminal a few years ago. It was within walking distance of everything we wanted to do and the morning of the cruise we just rolled ourselves and suitcases across the street.
We like to walk and I don’t recall taking any cabs except from the airport. The prices were reasonable for our budget but we booked well in advance. It will probably be pricier now given the proximity of your cruise and the prices for everything travel related at the moment.
Happy anniversary and enjoy. Celebrity does an incredible job. Our Alaskan cruise is definitely one of the best we have been on