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Trip Reports

Dan, AJK here and here , Chapshnell, UshDadude, sam28, YudiG, Tzfas, mochada, jagstangz, Neil, dpk4588, BKYW, tzifanya54, stever, mordechain, nafnaf12, SLMYRCB, Friars500


Flight Options (as of 04/18)

Cathay Pacific flies directly to/from JFK (777-300ER).         

Final date for this route, 02/23/20

Economy:
12.5K BA OW
17.5K AS OW
20K CX OW (30K RT)

Premium Economy:
25K BA OW
20K AS OW
24K CX OW (36K RT)

Business Class:
37.5K BA OW
25K AS OW
25K CX OW (50K RT)

First Class:
50K BA OW
35K AS OW
40K CX OW (70K RT)
Air Canada flies directly to/from EWR (787-800).
Economy:
12.5K SQ, UA, AC OW

Premium Economy:
20K AC OW

Business Class:
20K SQ OW
25K UA, AC OW

There is also a Delta flight direct to/from JFK in the summer months (prices vary as expected from Delta).   

DP01 (07/13): CX availability becomes better closer to the flight. (MEIR613)
DP02 (04/18): CX availability disappears 3-5 days out on BA and AS. (SLMYRCB)
DP03 (08/18): CX availability can only show up on BA or AS if there is more than 1 seat remaining, if it's only 1 seat, it will only be available on CX.com Use CX.com to see actual # of seats available. (@Yehuda)


Food - BC Kosher List

Cafe Forty One (dairy - cholov yisrael) formerly Shuk Eat/Play
5750 Oak Street
Vancouver, BC
V6M 2V9, Canada
Tel: 604-563-4141
Delivery Service via Skip The Dishes (Fairmont Pacific Rim is not within the deliverable area)
"Really great, everything tasty good value, best Caesar Salad ever, and order pizza in advance for good "camp" like homemade yummyness." (shiframeir)
"Nice selection of pastries in addition to their dairy menu. The pizzas and sandwiches are very good." (SLMYRCB)

Nava Creative Cusine (dairy/pareve - non cholov yisrael)
950 West 41st Avenue
Vancouver, BC
Tel: (604) 676-7579
Located at the JCC - right around corner from Cafe Forty One

Omnitsky's Kosher (meat)
5775 Oak Street,
Vancouver, BC
Tel: (604) 321-1818
Just across the street from Cafe Forty One

Sabra Bakery (meat)
3844 Oak Street
Vancouver, BC
Tel: (604) 733-4912
Two miles down Oak Street near the Sharei Tzedek Shul

Maple Grill (meat)
1967 W Broadway
Vancouver, BC
V6J 1Z3, Canada
Tel: (604) 568-4885

Mount Royal Bagels - North Vancouver
701 Queensbury Ave
North Vancouver, BC
V7L 3V9, Canada
Tel: (604) 904-1116

Real Canadian Superstore
Marine Drive
Has kosher products

Kosher Food Warehouse
612 Kingsway (rear)
Vancouver, BC
Tel: (604) 709-9889


Shabbos

Chabad Downtown - walkable from many hotels, no Eruv, Shacharis on Shabbos followed by Kiddush, Friday night Minyan last weekend each month.
TheKollel - in the community, yes Eruv, Holiday Inn Vancouver Centre only points hotel in the Eruv, Airbnb options, all Minyanim, free Shabbos meals. Some hotels downtown (outside the Eruv) are about an hour walk.
Eruv - https://goo.gl/maps/D2oLBC39GT72


Activities

Stanley park - trolley, rent bikes at Bayshore Bike/Spokes/lots of other places (Westin Bayshore provides 2 hours of free bikes), playground/water are, 9 o'clock gun
Aquarium in Stanley Park
Capilano suspension bridge - also tree walk and cliff walk
Capilano Salmon Hatchery
Lynn Canyon suspension bridge and hikes (Twin Falls, 30 Foot Pool) - free
Grouse Mountain - gondola up, can take chairlift even higher, then an elevator to top of windmill, view of Vancouver, ziplining, parasailing, lumberjack show, see grizzly bears, Grouse Grind - way to hike up the mountain instead
Granville island - market, street performers, kayaking, stand up paddleboat, false creek ferries, brewery tour, kids play area, rent a boat, can bike to here
Seaplane around Vancouver harbor or to Whistler -  http://www.harbour-air.com/index.php 
Whale watching
Victoria Island - ferry to the island/back, Butchart Gardens (expensive, underwhelming), Miniature World, Fisherman's Wharf, oldest Synagogue in Canada. Victoria seems to be very expensive, ferry $30, to bring a car $100, gardens $30.
Bowen Island
Seabus - cheap ferry across harbor and back
Deep Cove kayaking
UBC Garden - Greenheart TreeWalk (look for Groupon)
Zoo
Harbor boat tours - boatrent.ca, Harbor Cruises was terrible - dpk4588
Sea wall
Watch sea planes
Cypress Mountain
Seymour Mountain
Art Museum
Science center imax
Pacific Center Mall
See Olympic torch
"Tour Guys" free walking tour
Rivers to see salmon spawn (swim upstream)
Robson street
Denman street
Vancouver Convention Center - Olympics memorabilia
Kitsilano Beach
Kids Bowl Free
Takaya golf centre
Poets cove
Elizabeth gardens
Van dusen gardens - better than Elizabeth gardens
Canada Place - fly over canada ride experience
Brittania Mine Museum
Vancouver Lookout
Gastown - steam clock
Chinatown
Yaletown
http://scenicrush.com/ - exotic car drive up the Sea to sky highway
Dr SunYatSen Chinese Garden (Dan and a DDFer said not worth it)
Free Chinese Garden
Lighthouse park
Safari Eco Boat Tour and Seaplane flight  Sewellsmarina.com

On the way to Whistler: (see Whistler Master Thread)
Sea to sky highway
Sea to sky gondola in Squamish, can hike up and take gondola down
River rafting in Squamish
Shannon Falls
Brandywine Falls
Panorama Ridge Hike in Lake Garibaldi in between Squamish and Whistler

« Last edited by pointer on February 16, 2020, 11:32:24 PM »

Author Topic: Vancouver Master Thread  (Read 316612 times)

Offline casualchurner

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Re: Vancouver Master Thread
« Reply #580 on: June 16, 2015, 11:08:34 AM »
Any ideas for breakfast in Vancouver? Has anyone tried Cafe41's?

Offline BKYW

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Re: Vancouver Master Thread
« Reply #581 on: June 16, 2015, 12:31:31 PM »
Any ideas for breakfast in Vancouver? Has anyone tried Cafe41's?

Excellent food. Fresh pastries right out the oven.

Generally I can second what everyone above wrote. Kosher food in Vancouver is much better then expected for a place with maybe 150 - 200 frum families.

Offline ddfried

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Re: Vancouver Master Thread
« Reply #582 on: June 16, 2015, 01:59:14 PM »
I've become obsessed with checking availability on ba.com on Cathay flights.  Any way to get alerts when flights become available??

Offline lunatic

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Re: Vancouver Master Thread
« Reply #583 on: June 16, 2015, 02:16:22 PM »
I've become obsessed with checking availability on ba.com on Cathay flights.  Any way to get alerts when flights become available??
Expert flyer. But you need to pay

Offline Marco Polo

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Re: Vancouver Master Thread
« Reply #584 on: June 16, 2015, 02:17:44 PM »
I've become obsessed with checking availability on ba.com on Cathay flights.  Any way to get alerts when flights become available??
Expert flyer. But you need to pay
Try the Wandering Arameans tool.
Quaerite et Invenietis.

Offline D93

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Re: Vancouver Master Thread
« Reply #585 on: June 16, 2015, 02:29:25 PM »

Offline ddfried

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Re: Vancouver Master Thread
« Reply #586 on: June 16, 2015, 02:35:43 PM »
Try the Wandering Arameans tool.
Correct me if I'm wrong.. They currently only have star alliance searches. They say one world is coming soon..

Offline Marco Polo

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Re: Vancouver Master Thread
« Reply #587 on: June 16, 2015, 03:01:42 PM »
Correct me if I'm wrong.. They currently only have star alliance searches. They say one world is coming soon..
Pretty sure there is OW search.
Quaerite et Invenietis.

Online tzifanya54

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Re: Vancouver Master Thread
« Reply #588 on: June 16, 2015, 09:16:46 PM »
I've become obsessed with checking availability on ba.com on Cathay flights.  Any way to get alerts when flights become available??
There is a method to the madness. IME they (Cathay) release their business/first class with some amount of predictability. After going through the same thing last year, I found that they release about 5 days at a time, and it's IIRC about 5 weeks before the flight, keep on checking the whole month not just the day. Unless they switched things significantly from last year, you will notice a pattern.

Offline BKYW

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Re: Vancouver Master Thread
« Reply #589 on: June 17, 2015, 12:07:29 AM »
Some notes from last shabbos / weekend:

Chinatown - I didn't find it interesting at all. It has really shrunk & some streets near it are really shady. It's a stone's throw from downtown but you feel in a different world. As I stood looking at a tourist map someone came over to me telling me to turn back as next corner is an open drug market. (Around the corner from the free Chinese garden) 

While I guess frequent out of town / NYC traveled are aware of such, I wasn't, so let me advise novices like me who rarely travel outside for shabbos that while the food is great, if you need heimish type of food (chulent, kugel) you need to order that 24 hours in advance. You can do what we did & buy raw beans, and sabra told us in July & august he does have chulent, I would still recommend you order in advance. Omnisky / sabra /  Chabad catering (Menachem) or anyone else listed.

There are really nice hotels downtown, but for shabbos we stayed at park inn on west Broadway 1 block off oak st. (We tried several b&b closer to the Shuls but they were all booked). It's not brand new or a fancy place, but is decent & the front desk staff were all aware of shabbos issues (automatic doors, coming up to the room to insert the keys, Etc.) and were really great. We took a bigger room which comes with a little Kitchenette (large fridge, sink microwave & counter). It's 25-30 min walk to the kollel on top of maple grill (Chabad place but under the name kollel) Down west Broadway (commercial strip). Under 15 min to Schara tczedek (MO shul & the Mikva in town) at oak & 19. And I guess around 40 min to Chabad at oak & 41.



Online tzifanya54

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Re: Vancouver Master Thread
« Reply #590 on: June 17, 2015, 01:39:10 AM »
Some notes from last shabbos / weekend:

Chinatown - I didn't find it interesting at all. It has really shrunk & some streets near it are really shady. It's a stone's throw from downtown but you feel in a different world. As I stood looking at a tourist map someone came over to me telling me to turn back as next corner is an open drug market. (Around the corner from the free Chinese garden) 

While I guess frequent out of town / NYC traveled are aware of such, I wasn't, so let me advise novices like me who rarely travel outside for shabbos that while the food is great, if you need heimish type of food (chulent, kugel) you need to order that 24 hours in advance. You can do what we did & buy raw beans, and sabra told us in July & august he does have chulent, I would still recommend you order in advance. Omnisky / sabra /  Chabad catering (Menachem) or anyone else listed.

There are really nice hotels downtown, but for shabbos we stayed at park inn on west Broadway 1 block off oak st. (We tried several b&b closer to the Shuls but they were all booked). It's not brand new or a fancy place, but is decent & the front desk staff were all aware of shabbos issues (automatic doors, coming up to the room to insert the keys, Etc.) and were really great. We took a bigger room which comes with a little Kitchenette (large fridge, sink microwave & counter). It's 25-30 min walk to the kollel on top of maple grill (Chabad place but under the name kollel) Down west Broadway (commercial strip). Under 15 min to Schara tczedek (MO shul & the Mikva in town) at oak & 19. And I guess around 40 min to Chabad at oak & 41.
Funny, the same exact thing happened to me last year in Chinatown. A guy just walked over to me and said "you look like your not from here stay away from the next block" . DW was totally freaked out!

Offline ddfried

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Re: Vancouver Master Thread
« Reply #591 on: June 17, 2015, 10:35:50 AM »
There is a method to the madness. IME they (Cathay) release their business/first class with some amount of predictability. After going through the same thing last year, I found that they release about 5 days at a time, and it's IIRC about 5 weeks before the flight, keep on checking the whole month not just the day. Unless they switched things significantly from last year, you will notice a pattern.
Thanks you.
At least I could relax for the next couple of days ..

Online tzifanya54

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Re: Vancouver Master Thread
« Reply #592 on: June 17, 2015, 02:23:56 PM »
Thanks you.
At least I could relax for the next couple of days ..
My pleasure... I know the feeling. One more point as soon as you notice availability, have your card in hand (taxes) and book right away. These things go fast..

Offline reed

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Re: Vancouver Master Thread
« Reply #593 on: June 23, 2015, 07:13:46 PM »
Can I look at Cathay pacific's award availability and then call AA. I.e. Can I skip the BA step?

Offline ushdadude

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Re: Vancouver Master Thread
« Reply #594 on: June 23, 2015, 07:42:15 PM »
Can I look at Cathay pacific's award availability and then call AA. I.e. Can I skip the BA step?

What miles you planning to use?

Offline reed

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Re: Vancouver Master Thread
« Reply #595 on: June 23, 2015, 07:45:03 PM »

Offline Suz

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Re: Vancouver Master Thread
« Reply #596 on: June 23, 2015, 07:48:53 PM »
Can I look at Cathay pacific's award availability and then call AA. I.e. Can I skip the BA step?

You can call AA but to save time, you should look at the CX availability on BA then if available call AA with the flights you want.

Offline reed

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Re: Vancouver Master Thread
« Reply #597 on: June 23, 2015, 07:51:05 PM »
You can call AA but to save time, you should look at the CX availability on BA then if available call AA with the flights you want.

My shailah is why not check Cathay pacific's site and then call AA. Why do I need to go through BA

Offline PlatinumGuy

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Re: Vancouver Master Thread
« Reply #598 on: June 23, 2015, 07:54:13 PM »
Cathay has more inventory for it's own members than CX/BA
״וזה כלל גדול: שישנא אדם כל דבר שקר. וכל מה שיוסיף שנאה לדרכי השקר – יוסיף אהבה לתורה.״ - אורחות צדיקים

Offline reed

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Re: Vancouver Master Thread
« Reply #599 on: June 23, 2015, 07:56:48 PM »
Cathay has more inventory for it's own members than CX/BA

Meaning if it's on Cathay but not BA then it cannot be booked with AA miles?