Tell me about departure day at Vancouver Airport

We are considering a 4 hour tour with Vancouver Tours on our departure day after getting off the Radiance of the Seas. The tour is 10:00 to 2:00 pm. The tour ends at Canada Place and then they transfer us to the airport after dropping folks off first at the cruise terminal.

They added that they may put us on a different vehicle to go to the airport, but they aren't sure yet. So anyway, as long as we get to the airport by 3:30 for our 5:30 flight back to the USA.

My question is this, is 2 hours enough time to get our luggage checked and get to our gate? Will we have to go through customs or immigration at the airport? Or will we have done that already getting off the ship.

The last time we were at Vancouver Airport was just after the 09/11 tragedy and it was a mess getting through the airport. I remember they lined us up to pay a 20$ airport fee, but I think that fee is now worked into our tickets.

Can someone walk me through what we will encounter at the airport step by step? Thanks!!

2 hours should be plenty.

On the presumption you're returning to the States, the process is as follows: Check in to your airline's desk, drop off luggage, go through security, go through customs and immigration and then find your gate.

As you are travelling later in the day, hopefully the main cruiseline passenger rush will have gone through earlier in the morning.

For US flights I usually allow around 90 minutes from arriving at YVR to getting to the gate, and usually have plenty of time to shop for water/snacks/get something to eat in the gate area. Most times, I've got through security and customs/immigration in around 30 mins max. Only one time did I have a problem (when travelling mid morning during cruise season), when there was a backlog at security, and I ended up dashing to my gate and getting there just as they started boarding.

By the way customs is now electronic, no more forms to fill in - they will direct you to a machine and you answer all the normal customs questions on the machine, it spits out a "receipt" and you take that to the officer.

Just to clarify - you will go through Canadian Customs/Immigration getting off the ship; you go through US Customs/Immigration at the airport before your flight home.

Two hours mid-day should be enough time to check in, clear security and customs.

Good point - I forgot to differentiate the customs/immigration.

And on that subject, you will (probably) get a Canadian customs form to fill in when leaving the ship - either on the ship or handed to you as you leave the ship. You will need to fill that in and hand it in as you leave the luggage hall at Canada Place (the cruise terminal). (Please do fill it out before you pick up your suitcases, it's really frustrating when the lineup to get out of the luggage hall is held up by someone who hasn't filled it out - one form per household.)

Then once you get to the airport, and go through US customs, that part is now automated and done on machine.

Thank you so much. I knew about the form to be completed before exiting the ship, I just could not remember the order of events once at the airport. Thank you!!

By the way, on this 4 hour city tour, there's a 45 minute break at Granville Island to try to purchase and eat some lunch. We will be 2 adults and 1 child. He's 10 years old. 45 minutes is not long, any suggestions on where we should walk directly too at Granville? I saw a place listed as Beanstalk Bistro that offers pizza & grilled cheese sandwiches, but it is now listed as closed. Do you happen to know a good spot to get kid friendly fast food at Granville? I pulled up some youtube video's of Granville and I was seeing a lot of vendors with uncooked meats and such. I did see a yummy bakery, but we might want something more substantial than a cupcake.

Thank you so much. I knew about the form to be completed before exiting the ship, I just could not remember the order of events once at the airport. Thank you!!

 

By the way, on this 4 hour city tour, there's a 45 minute break at Granville Island to try to purchase and eat some lunch. We will be 2 adults and 1 child. He's 10 years old. 45 minutes is not long, any suggestions on where we should walk directly too at Granville? I saw a place listed as Beanstalk Bistro that offers pizza & grilled cheese sandwiches, but it is now listed as closed. Do you happen to know a good spot to get kid friendly fast food at Granville? I pulled up some youtube video's of Granville and I was seeing a lot of vendors with uncooked meats and such. I did see a yummy bakery, but we might want something more substantial than a cupcake.

It's not just raw food - there are dozens of prepared-food vendors inside the Public Market too. Here's a link to the list. I suggest grabbing something you can eat while walking and heading outside again if the weather's nice - there are many buskers around so you can sit and be entertained while you eat, or grab some snaps of downtown Vancouver across the creek, or watch the totem-pole carvers working.

Lunchtime can be especially busy though, so the best advice I can offer is GO GET FOOD AS SOON AS YOU ARE OFF THE BUS (caps deliberate). Usually I see people being dropped off by large coaches outside Ocean Concrete and the hordes then slowly meander along the street, stopping immediately for photos of the concrete tanks (now beautifully painted), the crazy marble machine, the concrete trucks painted like fruit & veg, then stopping again at the totem carvers, then finally moving along and into the public market. Go past everyone, get food, then come back and see it all - you'll probably get back on the bus at the same spot you got off it, so all the stuff is still there to see...

It's not just raw food - there are dozens of prepared-food vendors inside the Public Market too. Here's a link to the list. I suggest grabbing something you can eat while walking and heading outside again if the weather's nice - there are many buskers around so you can sit and be entertained while you eat, or grab some snaps of downtown Vancouver across the creek, or watch the totem-pole carvers working.

 

Lunchtime can be especially busy though, so the best advice I can offer is GO GET FOOD AS SOON AS YOU ARE OFF THE BUS (caps deliberate). Usually I see people being dropped off by large coaches outside Ocean Concrete and the hordes then slowly meander along the street, stopping immediately for photos of the concrete tanks (now beautifully painted), the crazy marble machine, the concrete trucks painted like fruit & veg, then stopping again at the totem carvers, then finally moving along and into the public market. Go past everyone, get food, then come back and see it all - you'll probably get back on the bus at the same spot you got off it, so all the stuff is still there to see...

That's exactly what I was thinking...so which direction do we head after getting off the bus? I'm looking at a map, but I'm not sure where the drop off is. Do we head straight for the public market? Is that where the majority of the fast food is?

Here's a map to the Johnston Street/Ocean Concrete location.... walk West or forward from the bus to find the public market.

https://maps.google.com/maps?q=restaurants&hl=en&ll=49.27169,-123.134433&spn=0.002485,0.012467&sll=49.271298,-123.134197&sspn=0.002506,0.012467&oq=restaur&t=h&radius=0.34&layer=c&cbll=49.2713,-123.134204&panoid=GY2dOq_f0FWwxfu_eISTug&cbp=11,1.02,,0,9.91&hq=restaurants&z=17

There is no McD on Granville Island... however there's lots of independents. Inside the market is a food court with lots of variety to choose from. From the description.... Bridges, Sandbar, and the Keg are premium restaurants for sit down meals you won't have time for....

https://maps.google.com/maps?q=restaurants&hl=en&ll=49.271637,-123.134674&spn=0.002765,0.006233&sll=49.271357,-123.134058&sspn=0.002765,0.006233&oq=restaur&t=m&radius=0.17&hq=restaurants&z=18

Here's a quick directory of some food vendors...

http://granvilleisland.com/directory?name=&type=87&location=88

Thank you both! Actually looking at the list Martincath included, I found a pizza place that has carry out slices of pizza and gelato. That sounds perfect. It says it's inside the public market so we'll head straight for that.

Thank you Martincath!! I remember that you helped me know where the cauldron is from the Pan Pacific. We are still planning to check out the cauldron and the Tap & Barrell restaurant the first day we arrive. Plus Capilano.

Thanks everyone.

No worries Cheryl. As xlxo already provided a Streetview link of the likely dropoff point you should be fine - the driver/guide/both will certainly point out where the Public Market is so even if the bus lets you off somewhere else you'll be able to find it very easily (it does get very, very busy with vehicular traffic on GI, usually cars & buses crawl along at walking pace or less).

Another thing to go see that you can easily do in a few minutes are the floating homes of 'Sea Village' docked on the creek side of the island - if you're using the map on the granville island website you should see Public Market at the top-left? Sea Village is number 14, towards the top right. All the homes are different with some very quirky features - I'd recommend grabbing your grub, coming back along Johnston past Ocean, then heading left under the big crane in the parking lot, it's very hard to get lost that way.