Leaving Monday from Vancouver ending in Anchorage. Any last minute tips?

Pack shorts. There may be some days warmer than you expect.

Make sure to have your passport. Be aware that the World Cup is going on in Vancouver and so traffic and everything will be much worse. My clients are going to do the SkyTrain both directions.

At which hotel in Vancouver are you staying?

Caladan said:

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At which hotel in Vancouver are you staying?

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Wound up w/ a VRBO. Hotels were stupid prices w/ FIFA in town.

I just got back from an Alaska cruise out of Vancouver a week and a half ago. Don't go visit the downtown East side district of Vancouver. It is absolutely depressing, people in various states of stupor using drugs all over the place. Make sure you have lots of clothing for cold and wet weather. Push away from the food and drink every once in a while. Small binoculars were a nice thing to have. Otherwise, have a great time.

Downtown Vancouver is a **** show on cruise port days. I couldn't imagine adding World Cup traffic and people on top of that. It would almost make it un enjoyable. Good luck, getting dinner, reservations or movies to a show.

Take binoculars. Take a book. Take a camera. Be prepared for lots of daylight and long sunsets. We found Vancouver to be a great city to tour and stayed two extra days there going to the market, eating seafood, and hiking/biking around.

Go fishing. The king salmon fishing was a blast and the lake we fished on was picturesque. Even if you don't catch anything the scenery was amazing.

Did this a few years ago & biggest surprise was having to take city streets from airport to downtown area. No major highways.

The big question at the moment - for two days in Vancouver - Uber or rental?

We went the Uber route in San Deigo once and were in a rental by noon the first day. Just adds up so quickly. Looks like I can get a rental for ~$100 / day, but then there's parking / etc.

We'll be a group of 6 if it makes a difference.

JMac03 said:

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Make sure to have your passport. Be aware that the World Cup is going on in Vancouver and so traffic and everything will be much worse. My clients are going to do the SkyTrain both directions.

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We left yesterday from Vancouver on Holland America. We actually grabbed a taxi from airport to our hotel downtown near the cruise terminal. It was super easy. According to our taxi driver traffic was not really much worse with FIFA going on. We will probably take the sky train back to airport. I would not want to drive a rental in Vancouver. They drive like crazy people. Taxi driver scared the crap out of us. Other cars around us were also darting in and out of lanes like crazy. No way I'm driving in that mess.

The train from the wharf to the airport is incredibly easy. A few blocks walk to the station and it's a straight shot to the airport.

Will second the shorts and jacket, ha!
I thought it was crazy to bring both but I definitely wore both at various times during our trip and was glad I had them.

Also binoculars were super cool to have to whale watch and wildlife watch.

Enjoy your trip!

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No way I'm driving in that mess.

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If it makes any difference we're arriving on Monday to Vancouver and boat leaves Wednesday. Our VRBO is outside of downtown. I'm just thinking the Ubers are going to add up hopping around for 2.5 days. Not to mention we arrive around 10:30 and probably can't get into the place until 4. Really don't want to be lugging massive suitcases all over town.

wcb said:

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No way I'm driving in that mess.

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If it makes any difference we're arriving on Monday to Vancouver and boat leaves Wednesday. Our VRBO is outside of downtown. I'm just thinking the Ubers are going to add up hopping around for 2.5 days. Not to mention we arrive around 10:30 and probably can't get into the place until 4. Really don't want to be lugging massive suitcases all over town.

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I get what you're saying and makes sense. I just wouldn't want to drive there after seeing how the locals drive.

I would message the vrbo host and see if yall can drop the bags early. If so, I would do that and stick with uber. Sure, you will save a couple bucks by renting a big suv, but you will lose a fair bit of time picking up the car and returning it. Some business school dropout at the rental counter with the world's last dot matrix printer always finds a way to take a 6 minute job and make it 45.

Leaving on the 5th to cruise with American Cruise Line. Less than 200 passengers.

I just read this. We were also on the Koningsdam. Fun trip.

Texaspainter said:

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Visited Juneau today. Was awesome / beautiful views the last two - three hours before we got into Juneau. Did the helicopter glacier tour. What an experience. Can't recommend it enough. You'll see stuff only viewable by being in the air.

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Doing the same thing on the 5th. Flying to Anchorage right now.

New World Ag said:

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Texaspainter said:

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Visited Juneau today. Was awesome / beautiful views the last two - three hours before we got into Juneau. Did the helicopter glacier tour. What an experience. Can't recommend it enough. You'll see stuff only viewable by being in the air.

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Doing the same thing on the 5th. Flying to Anchorage right now.

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Your going to love it!

Mega Lops said:

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In Alaska, the bald eagles are buzzards.

It is nuts to see so many dang bald eagles just hanging out on light poles and chilling.

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True and they dont sound like you hear them on tv.