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Port Review: Vancouver, British Columbia
August 11-
By Lisa Plotnick
Our cruise to Alaska in 2008 marked the first time in a long while that every port
would be new to us—including our port of embarkation and disembarkation, Vancouver,
British Columbia. This city of nearly 600,000 is the eighth most populous city in
Canada and covers 115 square kilometers (44 square miles), thereby offering myriad
options for visitors. Our limited time enabled us to visit just a few parts of the
city—some of them in depth—and we enjoyed what we saw. Still, a full review of Vancouver
would require several visits, so please keep this in mind as I share how we spent
our all-
Hotel
Our home during our two nights in Vancouver was the Pan Pacific Hotel at Canada Place, located just above the cruise terminal our ship would be using. We decided to book the hotel through Holland America due to its great location for touring and its reasonable cost (that included transfers for the three of us from the airport). The Pan Pacific Hotel was very comfortable, and I’d highly recommend it. It is very modern in design, which is typically not my taste, yet it was welcoming and offered spectacular views of the city and harbor from both the guest rooms and public areas.
We enjoyed our harbor-
Whether booked through a cruise line or independently, I would recommend the Pan
Pacific Hotel very highly. Aside from the comfortable rooms—including a large-
Touring
We had just one full day in Vancouver, and wanted to make the most of this quick
visit. Knowing it would be impossible to experience a good amount of this large city
in this short period, we decided to focus on two historic areas within walking distance
of our hotel—Gastown and Chinatown. Armed with a printout of a walking tour found
on the Frommer’s Web site, and some additional guidance from the hotel concierge,
we set out on a day-
The walking tour, conveniently, started at Canada Place, a convention center and
cruise terminal flanked by a quintet of white sails made to resemble a ship. We started
with a walk along the 270-
We made our way toward Gastown, just east of Canada Place. Along the way, we stopped
in the nearly 100-
Continuing down Water Street, we encountered the famed Steam Clock. According to
a plaque on its base the clock, which towers over the streetscape, it is the world’s
first steam-
We made a quick stop at Maple Tree Square (where Vancouver was founded in the 1860s), where we posed with a statue of “Gassy” Jack Deighton, who established a saloon there in the 1860s. (The nickname was supposedly given in honor of his ability to ramble.) We noted a lot of construction in this part of town, hoping that it signaled an upcoming rebirth of the area.
The rest of the afternoon was spent in Vancouver’s Chinatown, an area we enjoyed
greatly. After a wonderful lunch of dim sum (which I will describe in the next section),
we walked around Dr. Sun Yat-
If you choose to do this route, please take our advice and wear the most comfortable walking shoes you own. At the time, I regularly walked two to three miles a day (to and from work), and even I found this hard on the feet by the end of the day. It was well worth it, though, as there’s no better way to visit a city than to walk it, as our next day would demonstrate.
Although we were staying atop Canada Place, where our cruise ship was docked, HAL
offered a transfer to the ship that included a city tour by bus. The tour was nice,
particularly Stanley Park with its Totem poles and views of downtown Vancouver. Our
guide was wonderful. We started in the downtown area, and then drove past the beaches
of English Bay and through the ritzy Yaletown neighborhood of modern apartment towers,
restaurants, and boutiques. How nice it must be to live here! Then it was back to
the Gastown District, where we hung out at Starbucks with our tour guide while others
explored the areas we had seen the prior day. It seemed odd to have a 3-
Dining
As we had just a day-
We returned to Café Pacifica in the morning for breakfast. This time, we chose to
eat indoors, and it was a lovely setting, as well. The breakfast was served at a
buffet, and included cheese, fresh fruit, smoothies, cereal, mueseli, eggs (pre-
Although we enjoyed this breakfast, we decided to go lighter on the wallet the following morning, and had breakfast at Tim Horton’s in the shopping area beneath the hotel.
The highlight of our dining experiences was a dim sum lunch at Floata Seafood Restaurant
in Chinatown, recommended by the hotel concierge. Rather nondescript on the outside,
a feast awaited us one flight up. (An elevator is available, as well.) The meal was
superb, and offered a tremendous variety. Neil had chicken feet, I had sharkfin soup,
and we shared orders of eggrolls, dumplings, sticky rice with chicken, fried wontons,
and scallop-
Closing Thoughts
As Vancouver serves as both an embarkation point for many Alaska cruises and a port of call on others, time is often limited, so wise planning is paramount. In our case, we managed to see a lot in a short period of time, yet this is just the beginning. Several return trips are necessary to fully appreciate a large city, yet this one left a very good first impression. We look forward to subsequent visits to Vancouver to learn more about this fascinating port city.
Vancouver, British Columbia
The Gastown District
Above: Several of Stanley Park’s totem poles
Bottom right: View of downtown Vancouver from Stanley Park
Bottom right: View of Lion’s Gate Bridge from Stanley Park