Hotel Review: Days Inn Vancouver Downtown

Vancouver (Alaska Pre Cruise) . 2012 . September 14

This post is part of our Alaska Pre and Post Cruise Report and follow-up of our popular Alaska cruise series. Do check out our Alaska Cruise story too if this is your first time here! :)

Vancouver is the boarding place for our cruise to Alaska.  For convenience sake, we scouted around for a budget hotel located near to the Canada Place Cruise Ship Terminal where our cruise ship departs for Alaska.

Room rates will sky rocket during the cruising season starting from May – September due to the sheer number of tourists waiting to board their cruise at the Canada Cruise Ship Terminal.   On busy port days, as many as 4 cruise ships can depart from the terminal, each carrying thousands of cruisers, so you can imagine how difficult it would be to secure a room at Vancouver Downtown.

Our stay in Vancouver in mid September was at the end of the cruising season, but we still considered ourselves lucky to be able to get a room at the Days Inn Vancouver Downtown at a fairly reasonable rate of CAD $170  per night. If budget is not an issue, you may want to stay at Pan Pacific Vancouver, which is directly linked  to the Canada Place Cruise Terminal. Other nearby options include Fairmont Waterfront and Fairmont Pacific Rim.

The Location

The Days Inn Vancouver Downtown is a small outfit centrally located at the heart of Vancouver Downtown.   It is within walking distance from the Convention Centre and the Canada Place Cruise Ship Terminal.  As such, meals were never an issue as we had plenty of options at these places.   It is also near the Waterfront Skytrain Station which means easy access from the Airport and to other places of interest such as Chinatown and Gastown.

Waterfront Sky Train Station Entrance (Credits: http://www.barraclou.com/stations/britishcolumbia/vancouver/)

Check In

The check-in area is perpetually busy with many cruising tourists coming and going.  However, service was still fast and efficient, and we got our room keys within a matter of minutes, even though we arrived earlier than the check-in time.

The Surroundings

There’s a small business centre next to the reception area.

The corridors had a strange musky smell as we made our way to our room.

The Room

As the name suggests, this is just an inn and not a luxury hotel.  The room tends to be small with very little walking space around its essential furniture.   However, everything in the room worked fine and the furnishings were all kept clean.  We also enjoyed free wifi connection in the room.  In a nutshell, we were relatively comfortable even within a small space.

 

The Bathroom

The bathroom is reasonably clean and spacious with amenities such as soap, shampoo and conditioner.  There’s only a shower area and no bath tub.

The Service

Our one night stay at the Days Inn Vancouver Downtown went without a hitch.  The room was kept clean and comfortable, and service staff was generally helpful and polite.

 

Days Inn provides a shuttle service to the Canada Cruise Ship Terminal, but as it is very popular, you will have to reserve a seat with the front desk in advance.  We tried our luck during check-out and were told that the shuttle was full.  It didn't matter much anyway, for the cruise terminal was right behind the hotel and an approximate 5 mins easy walk away.  Very manageable even with heavy luggage.

Final Verdict

The Days Inn Vancouver Downtown is perfect for a short stay on a budget.  It occupies an excellent location, especially for cruising tourists.  It is also strategically located near the Waterfront train station and offers a convenient way of getting to other parts of the city.   Although its facilities are a little old and worn, it is generally clean and comfortable and comes with reasonable rates.  We would certainly stay here again if we come back to Vancouver!

How to Get There

From Vancouver Ineternational Airport (YVR), take the Skytrain to Waterfront Station on the Canada Line, Vancouver’s new rapid transit rail link connecting the airport to downtown Vancouver in 26 minutes. You can conveniently access trains from both the International and Domestic Terminals.

Canada Line (Credits: http://www.thecanadaline.com/index.tsp)

Buy a 2-zone ticket.  It cost $9 per ticket one way at the time of writing.

Days Inn Vancouver Downtown
921 West Pender Street, 
Vancouver, 
BC V6C 1M2 CA 

This post is part of our Alaska Pre and Post Cruise Report and follow-up of our popular Alaska cruise series. Do check out our Alaska Cruise story too if this is your first time here! :)

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Surabaya - Singapore Short Getaway Series

This post is the 1st post of our Singapore Short Getaway series. In this series, we will review some of the short getaway places that you can visit from Singapore.

DESTINATION - SURABAYA

Surabaya is Indonesia's second-largest city with a population of over 3.1 million (5.6 million in the metropolitan area), and the capital of the province of East Java. It is located on the northern shore of eastern Java at the mouth of the Mas River and along the edge of the Madura Strait. (Credit: Wikipedia).

The Legend of Surabaya (Credits: grhapakadit.blogspot.com)

 

How to Go

By Flight

There are 5 to 6 flights per day from Singapore to Surabaya Juanda International Airport.
- Operated by Silkair, Mandala, Jetstar Asia (Valuair), Lion and China Airlines.
- Flight time is around 2h 20 mins.

Flight times as follows:

7:50 am    →    9:10 am    SIN-SUB    S    M    T    W    T    F    S    Silkair 222
11:25 am    →    12:50 pm    SIN-SUB    S    M    T    W    T    F    S    Mandala 881
11:40 am    →    12:55 pm    SIN-SUB    S    M    T    -    T    F    S    Valuair 247
12:10 pm    →    1:30 pm    SIN-SUB    S    M    T    W    T    F    S    Lion 105
4:30 pm    →    5:50 pm    SIN-SUB    S    M    T    W    T    F    S    Silkair 226
9:45 pm    →    11:00 pm    SIN-SUB    S    M    T    W    T    F    S    China Airlines 751

Information correct as of 5 May 2013. For latest updates on Flight Schedules, Type Singapore to Surbaya in Google search engine.

We took Silkair from Singapore to Surabaya for our 4D3N Trip.
Do check out our review of the flight here.

Surabaya Juanda International Airport (Credits: commons.wikimedia.org)

When to Go

Temperature in Surabaya varies slightly throughout the year with temperature ranges from 23°C and 33°C.

Surabaya Weather (Credits: www.weather-and-climate.com)

There are two seasons in Surabaya: the Wet season (November to June) and the Dry season (July to October). The months of December to March have the highest rainfalls with January the wettest month. For Singaporeans, July to September might be the best time to visit as the city has a reduced level of rainfall.

Where to Stay

We stayed in Sheraton Surabaya Hotels & Towers, which is just next to Tunjungan Plaza, a mega shopping mall. Do read our review of the hotel here. We would highly recommend the hotel after an enjoyable time there.

Other 5 star hotels that ranked highly in Tripadvisor include Hotel Majapahit Surabaya, Shangri-La Hotel Surabaya and JW Marriott Hotel Surabaya.

For the budget conscious travellers, there are good options like the Midtown Hotel Surabaya, ELMI Hotel and Hotel Santika Surabaya.


For more options, check out the list of hotels in Hotels Combined here.

What to Do

1. Explore Mount Bromo, the most well-known active volcano and part of the Tengger massif, in East Java, Indonesia.  The volcano belongs to the Bromo Tengger Semeru National Park with its name of Bromo derived from Javanese pronunciation of Brahma, the Hindu creator god.

Mount Bromo (Credits: indonesia.gunadarma.ac.id)

2. Visit Museum Sempoerna, rated #1 in Tripadvisor. By the end of your visit, you would be able to relate the story of the founding family after watching a real hand-roll production facility with an unforgettable experience of rolling a stick of Dji Sam Soe cigarette yourself.

Museum Sempoerna (Credits: architectureforthefuture.blogspot.com)

3. Check out the Suramadu National Bridge, the longest bridge in Indonesia. Connected between MADURA and SURABAYA. The beauty of the bridge can be watch along of Kenjeran beach area in Surabaya.

Suramadu National Bridge (Credits: saraung.blogspot.com)

4. Have a fun day with animals @ Taman Safari II. Check out our review of the Safari in a two-part series here.

5. Go shopping at Tunjungan Plaza, the biggest Plaza in Surabaya. The complex is integrated with Sheraton Surabaya Hotels & Towers, 1 Office building, and include 2 mega department stores, SOGO and Matahari. Do remember to buy some batik back as they are considered quite cheap for their good quality.

Interested in Travelling to Surabaya? Read our Reviews!

What Airline? - Silkair Flight Review
Where We Stay? Sheraton Surabaya Hotels & Towers Review, Dining Options @ Hotel
What We Did? Shopping @ Tanjungan Plaza, Fun Day @ Taman Safari II Part 1, 2

We hope you enjoyed reading the 1st post of our Singapore Short Getaway series. Do check out the next post on Langkawi in the series!

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Fun day with animals @ Taman Safari II, Surabaya ( Part 2 of 2)

Surabaya . 2012 . Nov 18 - 21

This post is a continuation of our previous post on Fun day with animals @ Taman Safari II, Surabaya ( Part 1 of 2).

After visiting the Lion's Den, it was time to have some fun with the orang utans.

The Orang Utan playground.  These playful creatures look like they are performing a  trapeze for us!

Trees are covered with a layer of metal gauze to prevent the animals from chewing on the tree bark and injuring themselves.

 Bambi!!!!!

Lot and lots of Bambi!

Can’t remember the name of this species, but they belong to the deer family as well.

This is a very good example of how animals blend in with their environment either for defence or to catch their prey.  Can you spot what is lurking in the shadows?

 Did you manage to spot the Leopard?

How about this one? Clue: Look closely at the bushes....

This one is more difficult...its the Monitor Lizard!

 Beware of Crocodiles!

We saw some rhinos as well.

And some zebras..

 This Zebra seems to have missed his bus....just joking.. :)

The Eland, a member of either species of the Taurotragus genus of antelope.

The Elephant Habitat.  Most of the elephants here are female, judging from the fact that most of them do not have tusks.

Last look at the Elephants before we leave their habitat..

It was time to look at some humps...the camels!

 Crossing the river.

and we saw a hidden hippo...

This are the tallest feeding huts in the safari, for they are for the giraffes.

Out of the Safari and into the Baby Zoo

Taman Safari consists of not just the safari area, but educational shows, stuntman shows, and a safari elephant tracking ride amongst others.

We dropped by the baby zoo to look at some cuddly animals.  Photo-opportunities are available, but we had to pay for the ticket to do so.

From what we have learnt from the keepers, there are always 2 different baby animals every day for photo-taking.  These animals vary from day to day to give them sufficient rest.   We had a baby orang utan and a baby white tiger on our day!

The baby orang utan is pretty tame and easy to handle!  If you are lucky, he'll also look at you endearingly just like a human!

Kenzo the male white tiger is merely 7 months old, but he already weighs much more than me.

Kenzo became impatient and irritated after a day of photo-taking and I was somewhat apprehensive when it was my turn.  It didn’t help that the keeper kept making noise to wake him up for the photoshoot.  Although the keeper kept reassuring me that it was safe to be near the tiger, it was a pretty scary experience I will never want to do this again.

For those who are interested, Kenzo’s parents are kept in a sanctuary just behind his enclosure.

Overall, we had a GREAT time at Taman Safari II!. So the next time you visit Surabaya, we would recommend that you make a visit to the Safari.

If you had come to this page through a search engine, you might want to read Part 1 of this post for our complete review.

Taman Safari Indonesia II

Opens every day from 08:30 until 17:00.
Ticket Price: Foreign Tourist Rp 100.000
Website:  http://tamansafari2.net/

Guide Map (From Taman Safari II Website)
Click on the map to view a larger image. 

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