Vancouver Information Sheet - Updated Feb 2004

While allot of you are thinking of booking a Alaska cruise this summer
and some have already booked it, I thought I would write about what is
available here in Vancouver. Having lived in Vancouver for 40+ years I
thought a general email on Vancouver may help some of you plan your
Cruise better.

Generally the weather in Vancouver is mild and the summers can be warm
with temps in the 70's F or 20's C . In June darkness doesn't fall till
after 10:00 PM. Twilight starts again at 4:00 AM.

Vancouver moves more cruise passengers than any other port in the world
during the Alaska season.

Vancouver has 2 cruise docks one called Canada Place and one called
Ballantyne. Now Canada Place was built for Expo 86 as the Host Pavilion
for Expo 86 and to be used as a Convention Centre and Cruise ship
terminal in the years after Expo 86. Canada Place has under gone a
addition of a 3rd berth and is open. Ballantyne was rebuilt in 1995 and
offers modern and clean facilities. While Ballantyne is in the middle of
commercial shipping it offers little for the public to do around it.
What I am saying is there is no where to go around there for shopping
without taking a taxi or bus. Ballantyne is located in the downtown east
side part of Vancouver which is not one of the better parts of town. The
Port of Vancouver Cruise ship schedule is located at
http://www.portvancouver.com/cruise/schedule.html and the 2004 schedule
will be posted on March 1 2004.

Canada Place is under the Pan Pacific Hotel and across the street from
the Fairmont Waterfront Hotel. This makes it very easy to get to if you
are staying at either hotel on pre/post cruise. Since Canada Place is
under the Pan Pacific Hotel it is sheltered and thus you won't suffer
from the elements of outside when getting out/in of taxis or buses.
Canada Place is right outside Waterfront Station and the Seabus. Thrifty
Rent a Car has a office inside the Pan Pacific entrance on the right
side. It has limited hours. All other rental car companies have counters
as you exit the terminal to the buses on the right side. Almost all do
not have cars on site but offer pickup/drop off service to their lots in
the Downtown core.

There is still allot of construction going on west of Canada Place on
the waterfront. Renaissance hotel has construction out in front and
beside it. There is a new Office building and Car Parkade being built.

Getting to/from Vancouver

Most cruise lines use Seattle for flying into and out of and then
bussing the passengers to Vancouver. The bus ride is about 3 -3.5 hours.
Airline flights are very limited to and from Vancouver to the USA with
most flights going to Chicago, Minneapolis, Denver, Dallas, Los Angeles,
San Francisco, New York and a shuttle flight to Seattle. The limited
flights are due to the bilateral air agreement between Canada and the
USA.

There are several options to get to from Seattle/Vancouver.

-take the cruise transfer- likely the easiest
-rent a car and drop it off in downtown Vancouver
-Quick Shuttle bus connection- All day service
-Amtrak train- arrives Vancouver at 11:40 AM

Now if you decide on driving on your own I would recommend that you use
the Truck Crossing for crossing into Canada. It is well marked and about
2 miles south of Peace Arch/Douglas Crossing. It is very well signed to
get back onto Hwy. 99 to Vancouver. Take note that the boarder line-ups
can be 2 hours in the summer months especially on long weekends of May
24 2004 for the Queens Birthday, July 1st 2004 for Canada Day and August
2nd 2004 for BC Day and September 6th 2004 for Labour Day. The truck
crossing is normally shorter but not always. For the brave of heart
there is always Lynden/Aldergove crossing which is always much shorter.
Now remember you WILL need photo ID and a birth certificate when
crossing the Border now. Almost all cars have their trunks searched now
entering back into the USA so it does take longer to cross into the USA
than it did before. If the USA raises the Terror Alert then lines get
much longer.

Arriving in Vancouver by aeroplane the day of the cruise and heading to
the ship can be done a few ways.

-take the cruise line transfer- I see most cruiselines are charging
$10.00 US each way now
-take a taxi from the airport- about $28.00 CDN
-take a limo from the airport - Limousines comfortably accommodate
between six passengers and charge flat rates to all destinations. The
rate to downtown Vancouver is $41.73 while Canada Place/Ballantyne
Cruise Ship Terminal, is about $50.29, taxes included. Now I am not sure
if you were going to The Waterfront Hotel or Pan Pacific Hotel what rate
they would charge you with them being at Canada Place. Visit
http://www.yvr.ca/guide/toandfrom/limos.asp for rates.

Now this brings up something that you will get a hundred different
answers on and that is the exchange rate of the US and CDN dollar. The
current exchange rate is about 1.32 which means in simple terms $10.00
US is worth $13.20 CDN so you can see how much a bargain the CDN dollar
is to those from the US. Now most places accept US dollars including
taxis, but and I stress this, they may NOT offer you a very good
exchange rate on the US dollar. Each cab or business sets their own
exchange rate. US money is NOT accepted on Public Transit.

Leaving Vancouver after your cruise

Vancouver Airport http://www.yvr.ca offers some of the best facilities
in the world. Vancouver has been rated in the top 10 from Airports
around the world for the last few years. There are more than ample
choices of Restaurants at the airport and more located in the Domestic
Terminal. They all offer street pricing which means you won't be paying
inflated pricing.

Most cruiselines recommend no flights before 11:00 AM from Vancouver
Airport. There is good reason for this. Most ships clear between 8:00 AM
- 9:00 AM. There is about 30 minutes drive to the Airport. There is the
check-in at the airlines then one must clear US Customs PRIOR to going
to the gate. The lines for US Customs can be as long as 1-2 hours. Once
one clears Customs then there is Security. Vancouver has a Airport
Improvement Fee (AIF) of $10.00 CDN that is NOT included in your ticket
for flights to the USA. You can purchase this from machines and booths
around the airport and just before you go through security.

Now having said that Vancouver Airport has a new terminal for check-in
for cruiseship passengers only headed to the USA. It is my understanding
that only those that buy cruiseship transfers will get to use this new
terminal. One will disembark the ship and board buses in a secure area
and be whisked to the new terminal.
In the past cruiseship passengers that were headed to Seattle for their
flights have been placed on buses and didn't have to go through US
Customs at the Border because they were considered "under bond" or "in
transit" from one US port to another. Now the same thing is expected to
happen when headed to the new terminal at Vancouver Airport. This should
shorten wait times at the airport and make catching a earlier flight
possible in time.

Where to stay?

Vancouver offers all the major hotels. By Canada place you have Pan
Pacific, Waterfront Hotel, Days Inn Downtown, Renaissance Hotel, and the
Delta Vancouver Suites, Delta Pinnacle all within a few blocks of Canada
Place. Now if you don't mind being a 5 min cab ride out, the number of
hotels goes way up. The Hotel Vancouver, Four Seasons, The Crown Plaza,
Sheraton Wall Centre, Hyatt and lots more. In fact I have posted a large
list of them on the Seacruise site under links. Now remember that a
$200.00 CDN hotel room is about $148.00 US.

What to do in Vancouver?

Most people will tell you the must do's of Vancouver such as Stanley
Park and Gastown (check out the steam clock here) There are so many
other things to do such as:

-Science World
-Imax at Canada Place
-Capilano Suspension Bridge in North Vancouver
-Grouse Mountain in North Vancouver
-Capilano Fish hatchery- Free
-UBC Botanical Garden
-Vancouver Art Gallery
-Vancouver Aquarium in Stanley Park
-Queen Elizabeth Gardens- Free

In Gastown there is a new attraction called Storyeum opening this
spring. It has been built under the Car Park in Gastown. It is said to
be a live story telling experience of the History of Canada's West
Coast. Visit http://www.storyeum.com for more info.

Links to all these can be found on the Seacruise links page as well.

Shopping can be done at Pacific Centre Mall at Georgia and Granville and
all along Robson Street.

In the summer months Vancouver offers the Celebration of Light Fireworks
in the West End. Nightly attendance is large, at 250K people a night.
Some cruiseships will anchor in the outer harbour for the passengers to
watch the show. http://www.celebration-of-light.com

This years shows a

28 July 2004
31 July 2004
4 August 2004
Grand Finale - 7 August 2004

All shows start at 10:00 PM last about 25 minutes and are free.

Getting around Vancouver:

There is several choices from renting a car, to the Vancouver Trolley to
Transit. Transit in Vancouver has 3 modes of transport from the Skytrain
(driver less trains) Seabus (small 400 seat ferries) and buses. There is
a Day pass which starts after 9:30 AM Monday - Friday and all day
Saturday and Sunday and most holidays. The fare you pay is good on all
forms of Transit and you get a transfer good for a minimum of 90 minutes
to be used on all forms of transit. All the places I listed above have
transit to them. Transit Information http://www.translink.bc.ca/

Gastown and Pacific Centre Mall is a short walk from most major hotels
in the downtown core.

Staying in Vancouver or Richmond or Metrotown which is better?

That depends. The Vancouver airport itself is NOT in Vancouver but in
the City of Richmond just south of Vancouver. It is about 20-30 minutes
driving to downtown depending on traffic and how lost you become.
Vancouver in the downtown core has one way streets and streets that
don't allow left turns (Georgia Street mainly) Vancouver itself has NO
freeway system.

So I say to people if you stay in Richmond to save a few dollars and
want to see Vancouver how do you plan on doing it? Rent a car? Take a
bus? It is a personal preference but I say if you want to make it easier
on yourself stay downtown.

Staying out at Metrotown is in the City of Burnaby and either a Skytrain
ride (20 min) to Vancouver or you need a rent a car. If you don't mind
transit then this will work for you.

Restaurants

I am going to include a list of some of the more well known names in
Vancouver but this is only meant to give you some idea of cost. This is
by no means the only list of restaurants, in fact there are more than
enough choices in just the Westend of Vancouver (Robson, Denman, and
Davie streets) to satisfy all those out there.

The Cannery Seafood House - http://www.canneryseafood.com/
The Fish House in Stanley Park - http://www.fishhousestanleypark.com/
Joe Fortes - http://www.joefortes.ca/
Bridges on Granville Island - http://bridgesrestaurant.com/
The Thai House- several locations - http://www.thaihouse.com/
The Five Sails at Canada Place -
http://www.dinepanpacific.com/fivesails.php
The Diva at the Metropolitan Hotel -
http://www.metropolitan.com/diva/diva.htm
The Aquariva by Canada Place - http://www.aquariva.com/
The William Tell - http://www.thewilliamtellrestaurant.com/
Misaka at Canada Place - http://www.dinepanpacific.com/misaki.php
La Gavroche - http://www.legavroche.com/
Villa Del Lupo - http://www.villadellupo.com/
Steamworks Pub in Gastown - http://www.steamworks.com/

Getting to Vancouver Island and Victoria

Victoria is on the Southern tip of Vancouver Island. In fact it is said
Victoria is more British than Britain itself. There is Buchart Gardens,
The Royal BC Museum , The Parliament Buildings and The Empress Hotel for
afternoon tea.

Now getting there is an ALL day tour. You would either take a tour or
catch the bus to Victoria via BC Ferry. The Ferry ride is about 1 hour
30 min each way. The ride alone from Downtown Vancouver to the
Tsawwassen Ferry terminal is 60 minutes. It is about a 30 minute ride
from Swartz Bay (where the ferry docks on Vancouver Island) to downtown
Victoria. BC Ferries site is http://bcferries.com

GST Rebate Program

There is also the GST Visitor Rebate Program for those that visit Canada
and buy things. This includes Hotels. Visit
http://www.ccra-adrc.gc.ca/visitors/ for complete details. Here is what
it says:

- you are not a resident of Canada;
- you purchased eligible goods, short term accommodation or both;
- you paid GST/HST on these purchases;
- you have original receipts
- the total of your purchase amounts (before taxes) for eligible goods
and accommodation must be at least CAN$200;
- each individual receipt for eligible goods shows a minimum total
purchase amount (before taxes) of CAN$50;
- the goods are removed from Canada within 60 days of the date they were
purchased.

Now I have just scratched the surface of what there is in Vancouver and
you can visit the links I have posted on the Seacruise page and take a
look at some of the other Vancouver links I have for far more
information. I know many people will add to this list but this is just
to give some idea.

I hope this helps you.

Phil
Webmaster
Seacruise
--
Seacruise http://www.seacruisechat.com
Canal Cam Schedule http://www.seacruisechat.com/panamacanal/
Cruise Review Archive http://www.seacruisereviews.com

English you say?
1) I did not object to to object.
2) How can I intimate this to my most intimate friend?

Phil

Thanks for the information. If I had only read this information before
posting my question about not having to clear when using the
cruiselines transfers to SEA.

M. Graham

Phil wrote in message ...
While allot of you are thinking of booking a Alaska cruise this summer
and some have already booked it, I thought I would write about what is
available here in Vancouver. Having lived in Vancouver for 40+ years I
thought a general email on Vancouver may help some of you plan your
Cruise better.

Generally the weather in Vancouver is mild and the summers can be warm
with temps in the 70's F or 20's C . In June darkness doesn't fall till
after 10:00 PM. Twilight starts again at 4:00 AM.

Vancouver moves more cruise passengers than any other port in the world
during the Alaska season.

Vancouver has 2 cruise docks one called Canada Place and one called
Ballantyne. Now Canada Place was built for Expo 86 as the Host Pavilion
for Expo 86 and to be used as a Convention Centre and Cruise ship
terminal in the years after Expo 86. Canada Place has under gone a
addition of a 3rd berth and is open. Ballantyne was rebuilt in 1995 and
offers modern and clean facilities. While Ballantyne is in the middle of
commercial shipping it offers little for the public to do around it.
What I am saying is there is no where to go around there for shopping
without taking a taxi or bus. Ballantyne is located in the downtown east
side part of Vancouver which is not one of the better parts of town. The
Port of Vancouver Cruise ship schedule is located at
http://www.portvancouver.com/cruise/schedule.html and the 2004 schedule
will be posted on March 1 2004.

Canada Place is under the Pan Pacific Hotel and across the street from
the Fairmont Waterfront Hotel. This makes it very easy to get to if you
are staying at either hotel on pre/post cruise. Since Canada Place is
under the Pan Pacific Hotel it is sheltered and thus you won't suffer
from the elements of outside when getting out/in of taxis or buses.
Canada Place is right outside Waterfront Station and the Seabus. Thrifty
Rent a Car has a office inside the Pan Pacific entrance on the right
side. It has limited hours. All other rental car companies have counters
as you exit the terminal to the buses on the right side. Almost all do
not have cars on site but offer pickup/drop off service to their lots in
the Downtown core.

There is still allot of construction going on west of Canada Place on
the waterfront. Renaissance hotel has construction out in front and
beside it. There is a new Office building and Car Parkade being built.

Getting to/from Vancouver

Most cruise lines use Seattle for flying into and out of and then
bussing the passengers to Vancouver. The bus ride is about 3 -3.5 hours.
Airline flights are very limited to and from Vancouver to the USA with
most flights going to Chicago, Minneapolis, Denver, Dallas, Los Angeles,
San Francisco, New York and a shuttle flight to Seattle. The limited
flights are due to the bilateral air agreement between Canada and the
USA.

There are several options to get to from Seattle/Vancouver.

-take the cruise transfer- likely the easiest
-rent a car and drop it off in downtown Vancouver
-Quick Shuttle bus connection- All day service
-Amtrak train- arrives Vancouver at 11:40 AM

Now if you decide on driving on your own I would recommend that you use
the Truck Crossing for crossing into Canada. It is well marked and about
2 miles south of Peace Arch/Douglas Crossing. It is very well signed to
get back onto Hwy. 99 to Vancouver. Take note that the boarder line-ups
can be 2 hours in the summer months especially on long weekends of May
24 2004 for the Queens Birthday, July 1st 2004 for Canada Day and August
2nd 2004 for BC Day and September 6th 2004 for Labour Day. The truck
crossing is normally shorter but not always. For the brave of heart
there is always Lynden/Aldergove crossing which is always much shorter.
Now remember you WILL need photo ID and a birth certificate when
crossing the Border now. Almost all cars have their trunks searched now
entering back into the USA so it does take longer to cross into the USA
than it did before. If the USA raises the Terror Alert then lines get
much longer.

Arriving in Vancouver by aeroplane the day of the cruise and heading to
the ship can be done a few ways.

-take the cruise line transfer- I see most cruiselines are charging
$10.00 US each way now
-take a taxi from the airport- about $28.00 CDN
-take a limo from the airport - Limousines comfortably accommodate
between six passengers and charge flat rates to all destinations. The
rate to downtown Vancouver is $41.73 while Canada Place/Ballantyne
Cruise Ship Terminal, is about $50.29, taxes included. Now I am not sure
if you were going to The Waterfront Hotel or Pan Pacific Hotel what rate
they would charge you with them being at Canada Place. Visit
http://www.yvr.ca/guide/toandfrom/limos.asp for rates.

Now this brings up something that you will get a hundred different
answers on and that is the exchange rate of the US and CDN dollar. The
current exchange rate is about 1.32 which means in simple terms $10.00
US is worth $13.20 CDN so you can see how much a bargain the CDN dollar
is to those from the US. Now most places accept US dollars including
taxis, but and I stress this, they may NOT offer you a very good
exchange rate on the US dollar. Each cab or business sets their own
exchange rate. US money is NOT accepted on Public Transit.

Leaving Vancouver after your cruise

Vancouver Airport http://www.yvr.ca offers some of the best facilities
in the world. Vancouver has been rated in the top 10 from Airports
around the world for the last few years. There are more than ample
choices of Restaurants at the airport and more located in the Domestic
Terminal. They all offer street pricing which means you won't be paying
inflated pricing.

Most cruiselines recommend no flights before 11:00 AM from Vancouver
Airport. There is good reason for this. Most ships clear between 8:00 AM
- 9:00 AM. There is about 30 minutes drive to the Airport. There is the
check-in at the airlines then one must clear US Customs PRIOR to going
to the gate. The lines for US Customs can be as long as 1-2 hours. Once
one clears Customs then there is Security. Vancouver has a Airport
Improvement Fee (AIF) of $10.00 CDN that is NOT included in your ticket
for flights to the USA. You can purchase this from machines and booths
around the airport and just before you go through security.

Now having said that Vancouver Airport has a new terminal for check-in
for cruiseship passengers only headed to the USA. It is my understanding
that only those that buy cruiseship transfers will get to use this new
terminal. One will disembark the ship and board buses in a secure area
and be whisked to the new terminal.
In the past cruiseship passengers that were headed to Seattle for their
flights have been placed on buses and didn't have to go through US
Customs at the Border because they were considered "under bond" or "in
transit" from one US port to another. Now the same thing is expected to
happen when headed to the new terminal at Vancouver Airport. This should
shorten wait times at the airport and make catching a earlier flight
possible in time.

Where to stay?

Vancouver offers all the major hotels. By Canada place you have Pan
Pacific, Waterfront Hotel, Days Inn Downtown, Renaissance Hotel, and the
Delta Vancouver Suites, Delta Pinnacle all within a few blocks of Canada
Place. Now if you don't mind being a 5 min cab ride out, the number of
hotels goes way up. The Hotel Vancouver, Four Seasons, The Crown Plaza,
Sheraton Wall Centre, Hyatt and lots more. In fact I have posted a large
list of them on the Seacruise site under links. Now remember that a
$200.00 CDN hotel room is about $148.00 US.

What to do in Vancouver?

Most people will tell you the must do's of Vancouver such as Stanley
Park and Gastown (check out the steam clock here) There are so many
other things to do such as:

-Science World
-Imax at Canada Place
-Capilano Suspension Bridge in North Vancouver
-Grouse Mountain in North Vancouver
-Capilano Fish hatchery- Free
-UBC Botanical Garden
-Vancouver Art Gallery
-Vancouver Aquarium in Stanley Park
-Queen Elizabeth Gardens- Free

In Gastown there is a new attraction called Storyeum opening this
spring. It has been built under the Car Park in Gastown. It is said to
be a live story telling experience of the History of Canada's West
Coast. Visit http://www.storyeum.com for more info.

Links to all these can be found on the Seacruise links page as well.

Shopping can be done at Pacific Centre Mall at Georgia and Granville and
all along Robson Street.

In the summer months Vancouver offers the Celebration of Light Fireworks
in the West End. Nightly attendance is large, at 250K people a night.
Some cruiseships will anchor in the outer harbour for the passengers to
watch the show. http://www.celebration-of-light.com

This years shows a

28 July 2004
31 July 2004
4 August 2004
Grand Finale - 7 August 2004

All shows start at 10:00 PM last about 25 minutes and are free.

Getting around Vancouver:

There is several choices from renting a car, to the Vancouver Trolley to
Transit. Transit in Vancouver has 3 modes of transport from the Skytrain
(driver less trains) Seabus (small 400 seat ferries) and buses. There is
a Day pass which starts after 9:30 AM Monday - Friday and all day
Saturday and Sunday and most holidays. The fare you pay is good on all
forms of Transit and you get a transfer good for a minimum of 90 minutes
to be used on all forms of transit. All the places I listed above have
transit to them. Transit Information http://www.translink.bc.ca/

Gastown and Pacific Centre Mall is a short walk from most major hotels
in the downtown core.

Staying in Vancouver or Richmond or Metrotown which is better?

That depends. The Vancouver airport itself is NOT in Vancouver but in
the City of Richmond just south of Vancouver. It is about 20-30 minutes
driving to downtown depending on traffic and how lost you become.
Vancouver in the downtown core has one way streets and streets that
don't allow left turns (Georgia Street mainly) Vancouver itself has NO
freeway system.

So I say to people if you stay in Richmond to save a few dollars and
want to see Vancouver how do you plan on doing it? Rent a car? Take a
bus? It is a personal preference but I say if you want to make it easier
on yourself stay downtown.

Staying out at Metrotown is in the City of Burnaby and either a Skytrain
ride (20 min) to Vancouver or you need a rent a car. If you don't mind
transit then this will work for you.

Restaurants

I am going to include a list of some of the more well known names in
Vancouver but this is only meant to give you some idea of cost. This is
by no means the only list of restaurants, in fact there are more than
enough choices in just the Westend of Vancouver (Robson, Denman, and
Davie streets) to satisfy all those out there.

The Cannery Seafood House - http://www.canneryseafood.com/
The Fish House in Stanley Park - http://www.fishhousestanleypark.com/
Joe Fortes - http://www.joefortes.ca/
Bridges on Granville Island - http://bridgesrestaurant.com/
The Thai House- several locations - http://www.thaihouse.com/
The Five Sails at Canada Place -
http://www.dinepanpacific.com/fivesails.php
The Diva at the Metropolitan Hotel -
http://www.metropolitan.com/diva/diva.htm
The Aquariva by Canada Place - http://www.aquariva.com/
The William Tell - http://www.thewilliamtellrestaurant.com/
Misaka at Canada Place - http://www.dinepanpacific.com/misaki.php
La Gavroche - http://www.legavroche.com/
Villa Del Lupo - http://www.villadellupo.com/
Steamworks Pub in Gastown - http://www.steamworks.com/

Getting to Vancouver Island and Victoria

Victoria is on the Southern tip of Vancouver Island. In fact it is said
Victoria is more British than Britain itself. There is Buchart Gardens,
The Royal BC Museum , The Parliament Buildings and The Empress Hotel for
afternoon tea.

Now getting there is an ALL day tour. You would either take a tour or
catch the bus to Victoria via BC Ferry. The Ferry ride is about 1 hour
30 min each way. The ride alone from Downtown Vancouver to the
Tsawwassen Ferry terminal is 60 minutes. It is about a 30 minute ride
from Swartz Bay (where the ferry docks on Vancouver Island) to downtown
Victoria. BC Ferries site is http://bcferries.com

GST Rebate Program

There is also the GST Visitor Rebate Program for those that visit Canada
and buy things. This includes Hotels. Visit
http://www.ccra-adrc.gc.ca/visitors/ for complete details. Here is what
it says:

- you are not a resident of Canada;
- you purchased eligible goods, short term accommodation or both;
- you paid GST/HST on these purchases;
- you have original receipts
- the total of your purchase amounts (before taxes) for eligible goods
and accommodation must be at least CAN$200;
- each individual receipt for eligible goods shows a minimum total
purchase amount (before taxes) of CAN$50;
- the goods are removed from Canada within 60 days of the date they were
purchased.

Now I have just scratched the surface of what there is in Vancouver and
you can visit the links I have posted on the Seacruise page and take a
look at some of the other Vancouver links I have for far more
information. I know many people will add to this list but this is just
to give some idea.

I hope this helps you.

Phil
Webmaster
Seacruise
--
Seacruise http://www.seacruisechat.com
Canal Cam Schedule http://www.seacruisechat.com/panamacanal/
Cruise Review Archive http://www.seacruisereviews.com

English you say?
1) I did not object to to object.
2) How can I intimate this to my most intimate friend?


--

Phil,

Thank you for this excellent informational piece. I ahven't decided yet when
I will book an Alaska cruise but I copied your information on my computer
for the excellent information you provided.

Thanks again,
George in NY
"Phil" wrote in message
...
While allot of you are thinking of booking a Alaska cruise this summer and
some have already booked it, I thought I would write about what is available
here in Vancouver. Having lived in Vancouver for 40+ years I thought a
general email on Vancouver may help some of you plan your Cruise better.

So did I--thanks Bill!

"George in NY" wrote in message
...
Phil,

Thank you for this excellent informational piece. I ahven't decided yet
when
I will book an Alaska cruise but I copied your information on my computer
for the excellent information you provided.

Thanks again,
George in NY
"Phil" wrote in message
...
While allot of you are thinking of booking a Alaska cruise this summer and
some have already booked it, I thought I would write about what is
available
here in Vancouver. Having lived in Vancouver for 40+ years I thought a
general email on Vancouver may help some of you plan your Cruise better.