Originally Posted by
Antonio8069
I suggest a re-do, bearing in mind the ferries. There is excellent ferry service from downtown Victoria-or-Sydney to Seattle-or-Anacortes Penninsula. BC Ferries, by contrast, is expensive and somewhat unreliable e.g. $50 res fee for a car -or-wait 2 h in a line waiting!
Unfortunately the U.S. ferries are not cheap (being stuck on the Island, it's my business to know).
Black Ball (Coho) is USD 18.50 / adult pax and USD 64 / vehicle + driver up to 18', USD 5.25 per extra. Reservations are USD 11 OW / USD 16 RT.
WSF isn't cheap either but reservations are free, between Sidney and Anacortes. USD 19.85 per adult pax, USD 55.20 per vehicle up to 22' and driver October-April, USD 68.95 May-September.
By contrast, BC Ferries big ship routes are CAD 17.20 per adult pax and CAD 57.50 per 20' vehicle, CAD 6.50 per extra.
Where did you get the CAD 50 reservation fee from? It's only C$10 if made at least a week in advance, $21 day of departure.
Child/youth fares seem to be overall less in CAD on BC Ferries than Baclkball in USD. WSF fortunately only charges 50% of the children in OP's party.
W/O reservations and assuming they'd all fit into a 18' low vehicle, the OP would pay USD 165.75 per direction for Black Ball, USD 158.05 on WSF, CAD 169.3 (~USD 133.75) on BC Ferries.