thanks H & G for the information and the Discovery Passage imagery!!!

 

Folks in this thread were asking about dusk time.  I'm in Campbell River this week and while the official sunset time yesterday was 7:57, it was light out until after 8:30.  The sunset time is shorter by about 4 minutes per day, so by mid next week that would mean dusk around 8 PM

And what an absolutely gorgeous dusk it was last night as the Volendam was slipping by in the Discovery Passage. 

Woo Hoo.   H & G

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We are taking the train from SEA to Vancouver and it is costing us $180.  We tried using Military, AAA discounts and it ended up being even more expensive.  So we just purchased them with no discounts.  Even with no discounts it was still cheaper to Fly from El Paso to Seattle, then take the Amtrak to Vancouver and back then it was to Fly from ELP to Vancouver with the Olivia Discount.  It is a lot of traveling but it saved us close to $500 doing it this way. I'll take the $500 bucks saving anyday.

Good luck everyone booking your travels.

Rachel & Shirl

Renting a car and dropping it off across the border can be incredibly expensive......not to mention potential border hassles as you would have a "Canadian" car.  Seattle would need to send it back to Canada.  I know it sounds weird, but I've had business colleages who would never do it again.

I suspect that one of the hotels right beside the cruise ship terminal may be willing to lock up your luggage for you for a few hours if you ask. They are so tourist focused.  Maybe a phone call to the Pan Pacific or the Fairmont Waterfront and ask the question.

H & G

Thank you so much!  We may just rent a car and drive back to Seattle but we wanted to check out our options.  We are soooo excited about this trip.  Can't wait to see you all there!

Years back we were able to check our bags at the station early as we had to be out of our hotel room at 11am…they also had locker storage for rent…unless things have changed…they still should  http://www.amtrakcascades.com/VancouverBC.htm

It's easy to get there from the cruise port via the SkyTrain  http://www.translink.ca/

We need some advice...When we get off the ship at the end of the cruise, we need to get back to Seattle for a flight leaving Monday at 11:30am.  I looked at the train schedule and there is a train that leaves at 5:45pm on Sunday.  Does anyone have any suggestions of what to do between getting off the ship and getting on the train? Also advice on what we could do with our luggage instead of having to haul it all around Vancouver.  Does the train station have a place to lock up luggage?  Thanks girls!!

 

Thanks Heather and Jana for your great info, even tho it was not particually good news, it will  certainly help us plan. We will make sure we are the first on the train to get any seats that are vacated at Seattle and not have the expectation we will all get to sit together. It's not so bad for Angela and I cos we are going back down on the train to Portland so will get a chance to to the scenery then but our friends who are flying out of Vancover won't be so lucky. They are doing a train trip round the Rockies thou so we won't feel too sorry for them!

we had to take the evening train once on a business trip...around the beginning of Sept a few years back

it did get dark outside sooner than we thought it would...so we didn't see as much

also, the train is coming from Southern Washington State so it was already filled with passengers...so we were not able to get seats together...until some people got off in Bellingham, WA (the half way point)...we usually book business class but on this train those were all booked

that's why...even though it's early...we now always take the morning train!

You will get a fairly long dusk, as the sun is setting over the ocean, so not blocked, unless the train goes inland.  h

We get to Seattle on Tue night,   so we can have a look around Seattle we are getting the 6 50pm train on Wed the 12th, was carefull to make sure it was the train and not a bus !!  Do any of you locals know if it will still be light enough to see the scenery? know from other postings the sun goes down about 7 30pm in Sept , but what can you see at dusk ?

Others going to Vancover a few days early are welcome to join our group on the train, Jayne 

Abbi and I have booked our train tickets also... We are flying into Seattle on the afternoon of the 14th and staying with some friends (whom we met on a previous Olivia trip... Then we will be on the train with the rest of you Saturday morning! Abbi used to take a train all the time for work - but this will be my very first ever train ride! I am as excited as a 3 year old on Christmas morning! ROFLMAO!!!

~ Marcia }|{ 

Thank you!!! I was booked on a bus...not my idea of a good time. Now I'm on the 7:40am train and it says "510 Amtrak Cascades" to Vancouver with a return "517 Amtrak Cascades" to Seattle. Very much appreciated.

If you care, you may want to make sure you are on the train and not the amtrak-----bus service.  i believe cascades is just the name of the route.