Vancouver Calling: The Perfect Start to an Alaskan Cruise

Our family checked an Alaskan Cruise off our Bucket List this summer! 

We sailed this July on the Serenade of the Seas with Royal Caribbean. Our sailing left from Vancouver, BC. We flew in from Texas on Friday night and didn’t cruise until Sunday which gave us a day to see Vancouver and our plan was NO PLAN. This was the first time my husband or I had ever been to Vancouver so we were exploring it together with our kids (ages 15 & 12). We opted to stay at the Pan Pacific which is the hotel above the port. You can not get any closer and we decided to go all out this trip and stay close to the port so we would walk everywhere. 10/10 Glad we did! 

I’ve always heard that there’s so much to do in Vancouver and now I can say that I agree. One could easily come in Thursday or Wednesday night and have a few days to explore. There’s tons of activities in walking distance the Port/Convention Center area. Our first morning my family of 4 walked around the area and ate at Tap & Barrel on the water for lunch. We watched sea planes take off every 10 minutes and decided we should book a flight for added fun! (There’s a handful of Sea plane companies at the port so it’s not hard to find a flight on the Sea plane). We flew to a nearby Canadian city and came back. Each flight was around 30 minutes. Some companies did offer a scenic tour of Vancouver that I would do (they were sold out by the time I was seriously interested) next time. 

Our sea plane tour was so worth it! 

Grouse Mountain & Capilano Suspension bridge park are two big attractions to go to and if we had another day we would have done those. There’s a free bus in front of our hotel that takes you to both of those places! It couldn’t be any easier. Our friends did the suspension bridge and loved it. (Little tip they learned was DO NOT go to the suspension bridge in the morning as they waited forever in a line. As they left at 3pm it was a walk on experience).  It was nice and warm in the 70s so we wore shorts and T-shirts during the day. 

We ate dinner at Mahony’s Tavern which was an Irish pub and of course… I got Fish and chips. I was prepared to eat seafood as much as possible all week! And our dinner was great. I fell in love with the area on the water and would certainly recommend all the places we went to! 

The Pan Pacific was expensive but we felt it was worth it. If you can stay a little cheaper a block or two back that would also be a great alternative. We had a room with a view of the water and it was breathtaking. There’s nothing like a room with a view. The view from the rooftop swimming pool was also amazing. 

All in all, I’m really glad we sailed from Vancouver and would love to go back one day! 

Stay tuned for part 2 … Our Alaskan Cruise!

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Lisa Wainwright is a Senior Travel Advisor & Mentor with Coasters & Castles Travel.

She has been part the agency for the past 8+ years. Lisa specializes in All Inclusive Mexico & Caribbean vacations, Cruises and Disney/Universal Destinations. 

“Fun Travel fact” about Lisa is at the age of 19 she became a flight attendant with USAirways because she loved flying so much as a child!

Travel has always been a very big part of her life and she loves sharing that with others while planning their vacations!