OP, here is how the husband and I spent3 days in Vancouver before/after our cruise:
Day 1: Stanley Park. There is a great bike rental place just a couple of blocks away from the park. We walked from our hotel (the Westin Grand) to Canada Place, strolled along the seawall all the way to the bike rental place (a gorgeous walk, and not terribly far), then rented bikes and spent most of the day in Stanley Park. We didn't see the Aquarium, but had we gotten an earlier start we would have had time. (We had a delayed flight and needed the rest.) When we were finished, we took a city bus to Gastown and explored there a bit, seeing the steam clock and finding a lovely little gastropub for dinner.
Day 2: Capilano and Grouse Mountain. We booked a dinner reservation at the restaurant on Grouse Mountain, which gave us a free ride up the tram to get there. (The dinner wasn't our most favorite meal, but the view was lovely and we would have had a spendy dinner anyway, so it was well worth it.) We started the day at Capilano and were finished there within a couple of hours. In theory, we should have made lunch reservations rather than dinner at Grouse, given how much time we had. We wound up taking the shuttle back to Canada Place, browsing the shops on Robson St. and having a Japadog for lunch (so good! Must eat!) , and then taking the shuttle back up to Grouse later in the day. The Lumberjack show is cute, as is the bird show. We didn't opt to do ziplining or anything else that cost extra and still thought it a worthwhile venture.
Day 3, post-cruise: We took a stroll around False Creek and visited Granville Island, which was adorable, beautiful, and had an awesome market well worth seeing. We live in Philadelphia, and it reminded me of a cleaner, friendlier Reading Terminal Market.
We did Fly Over Canada the morning that our cruise left, and it was quite fun. We made an early reservation - around 9 or 9:30 AM - and they were more than happy to let us leave or luggage with them while we rode. We boarded the cruise not long after our ride.
Hope that's helpful. We LOVED Vancouver, and if I had it to do over again the only thing I'd change is doing lunch at Grouse rather than dinner so we could have squeezed in a meal at Vij's, an Indian place a little ways from downtown that I would have happily cabbed it to and from because I hear it's that good.