Vancouver lodging

[makingwaves]

We live in Vancouver so this is the insiders view.

Take a Vancouver Trolley Bus tour. Stops at all the major downtown hotels and takes you to all the best spots. You can get on and off wherever you like, buses come along every 20 minutes or so. You just catch the next one when you're ready to move on. Your ticket lasts all day. Best value in town - we even do it with out of town guests.
Gastown is OK. Can be very busy at peak tourist time. Touristy shops if you like that kind of thing. Walking distance from the Canada Place terminal.
Granville Island is a must for me. Lovely waterfront property with a great public market, restaurants, marina, brewery. 10 minute taxi ride from downtown hotels.
Stanley Park is our jewel and is lovely to walk and just take in our marvelous vistas.

If I can provide any other info , let me know.

[goin' cruisin']

We stayed at the Sheraton Wall Centre before our cruise in 7/05. The accomodations were fine. We were disappointed with their customer service: check in was at 3pm, we arrived at about 1:30, so our room was not ready. I can live with that. When it still wasn't ready at 5:30pm, I was mildly irked. More than anything, I was ticked at the attitude we received; the front desk attendant just didn't give a rip that we had been up since 3:30 am, we had an elderly couple (78 and 84) with us, and we had a 10 and 14 year old, who wanted nothing more than to stretch out on a bed. Attitude is everything; following our cruise, I sent a letter to the manager, and received no reply. Again, the accomodations were great, but the attitude was not. On principle, I will not stay there again.

[makingwaves]

Best value hotel in downtown I think is the Marriot Pinnacle ( short walk to cruise ship terminal) or the Westin Bayshore ( fabulous views, near stanley Park). Sadly, nothing is cheap in Vancouver at that time of year or if it is you don't want to stay there. Try the Tourism Vancouver website for booking hotels and tours , it's very helpul. Also a great place is the Carmangh Plaza, this is a condo hotel with limited faclities but very clean and ultra comfy. Lots of restaurants around to eat at.

[mob122906]

Princess has us booked for 2 pre-cruise nights at The Westin. Are there things to do/see within walking distance?
Also, does anyone know an approximate time frame as to what time we could expect Princess to pick us up from the hotel to go to the ship on departure day? We are trying to decide if we want to squeeze in an excursion of some sort. Departure is at 4:30. Our itinerary states to check in at 1:00.