I'm Begining to Regret Flying In a Day Early . . .

If I knew that - by arriving and departing Vancouver on the same day - I could expedite going through customs at YVR airport, and avoid handling luggage to and from the pier, I would not have planned to get in a day earlier (and stay over one day post-cruise, too) . . . :(

Anybody else having regrets?

Personally, I found it sooooo much less stressful to have leeway on both ends----just in case.

We came into Vancouver but flew out of Seattle. Sure enough, it took 1.5 hours to get through the border crossing. We would never made the 3:30 flight (which is the only flight I could get with my miles).

Vancouver is beautiful, you'll enjoy your time there.

And what if you had a flight delay and missed the ship??? Does happen. Relax and enjoy the extra touring. You are already all the way to Vancouver, plenty to see and do and enjoy!!!! :)

If I knew that - by arriving and departing Vancouver on the same day - I could expedite going through customs at YVR airport, and avoid handling luggage to and from the pier, I would not have planned to get in a day earlier (and stay over one day post-cruise, too) . . . :(

 

Anybody else having regrets?

By not handling your luggage to/from the pier, if your luggage never made it to Vancouver, you would not have known it until after you were on the ship. Suggestion multiple times on this board is to claim your luggage in Vancouver yourself to be sure it has arrived, and not assume it will automatically appear in your stateroom on the ship.

I think you made a good choice. Hey, I read a thread on the boards yesterday about a person whose flight to Anchorage was diverted to the Yukon due to the death of a passenger en route. They arrived hours late into Anchorage and barely made their ship (arriving 9pm for a 9.30pm departure!). Sure, Princess knew about their delay, but can you imagine how stressed out they must have been!

I'm with you- a little luggage hassle is nothing compared to stressing about a possible missed flight/cruise, etc;

I'm flying into Vancouver 2 days before our cruise leaves because I've always wanted to see the city. I'm really looking forward to my time there! :D

I just gotta admit, I've never seen anyone post this concern before! I understand why the OP might feel this way, but like I say, first time I've seen it. And to me the peace of mind of not missing the ship outweighs that concern.

-Monte

I just gotta admit, I've never seen anyone post this concern before! I understand why the OP might feel this way, but like I say, first time I've seen it. And to me the peace of mind of not missing the ship outweighs that concern.

 

-Monte

Also would rather have the hassle of getting the luggage than have no luggage at all or even worse miss the ship.

We always try get out at least the day before and are so much less stressed when getting on the ship.:D

Please do not regret flying in a day early, Vancouver is a very beautiful city, one which I absolutely fell in love with, and there is SO much to do and see. Also, customs in Vancouver, for us at least, was a breeze as was embarkation day with our luggage - we got out of our taxi, the guy at the pier took our bags from the taxi driver and voila they appeared in our stateroom later that evening - see NO hassle :) .

Make the most of your time in Vancouver, relax and enjoy!!

Thanks, everyone - needed to hear this - I'm better now.:D

Flight delays caused us to miss sailaway for our first cruise. It was a long frustrating day. NEVER AGAIN.

If luggage handling is that big of a concern, take less luggage.

Vancouver airport and customs were a snap. We spent no more than five minutes getting through customs and as we walked up to the luggage area are bags were just starting to come out. There were four of us so quite a few bags. I sky cap asked us if we needed help. He took all the bags off the belt, escorted us through the baggae check area and got us a taxi van to the Westin. We never really had to handle our bags. For a $10 tip it was just simple.

Vancouver was lovely. I actually wished we had booked another day there.

Enjoy your cruise and don't worry about customs. It was so much eadier than NY or PHL.

Vancouver airport and customs were a snap. We spent no more than five minutes getting through customs and as we walked up to the luggage area are bags were just starting to come out. There were four of us so quite a few bags. I sky cap asked us if we needed help. He took all the bags off the belt, escorted us through the baggae check area and got us a taxi van to the Westin. We never really had to handle our bags. For a $10 tip it was just simple.

Vancouver was lovely. I actually wished we had booked another day there.

Enjoy your cruise and don't worry about customs. It was so much eadier than NY or PHL.

By any chance, was your experience at Vancouver airport during a weekday?

I have a feeling that if you landed on a Saturday or Sunday, or if you arrived around noon (when many international flights land) the wait at customs would have been considerably longer.

Let me tell if we didn't leave a day early for our cruise we would of missed the ship. If I told you the whole travel day from hell story it would make War and Peace a short story. Enjoy your day of stress free travel and relax, your on vacation.

We arrived in Vancouver a day early and thoroughly enjoyed our time there. On the morning of the cruise we took a tour of the city, then they took us directly to the ship. We didn't have to handle our luggage at all. It was a wonderful day, and we had a wonderful cruise.

Yes we did arrive on a Tuesday since we sailed on Carnival Spirit. We arrived about 12:50 PM. I guess that Wednesday departure helped us out a bit. I was really pleasnatly surprised. We flown internationally into some of the airports on the East Coast and this just seemed so much more organized. Every immigration booth was manned so the short line moved in no time. Our flight was full and a few other flights were arriving at the same time but it all ran smoothly.

Anyway, imagine if you were trying to fly on a day like today!!!

I'm with you- a little luggage hassle is nothing compared to stressing about a possible missed flight/cruise, etc;

I'm flying into Vancouver 2 days before our cruise leaves because I've always wanted to see the city. I'm really looking forward to my time there! :D

Whatever you do, SEE STANLEY PARK! It was beautiful! We really enjoyed our carriage ride and then made a stop at the aquarium. You can buy a combo ticket at the carriage ride stand for a small discount.

Our first cruise we made it to the boat by the skin or our teeth, including a 3 hour wait in line for ticketing after a snowstorm dumped 8 inches the morning we were to take off (and then we only made it to the terminal because we begged the TSA agent to let us cut through the "airport workers only" security checkpoint) only to have to sprint across the entirety of O'Hare in the span of a 5 minute layover after the first leg of our flight.....

On our most recent cruise, we had a direct flight in with about 5 hours of buffer to get to the cruise ship so we were never rushed and it was much less stressful, but it was still a long and tiring day and we were not prepared to enjoy the cruise until about half way through the first day of the cruise as we were just recouping from the travel day the day before.

Lastly, there are much worse places to be stuck in for a day of exploration than Vancouver.

-Suntan

We arrived in Vancouver a day early and thoroughly enjoyed our time there. On the morning of the cruise we took a tour of the city, then they took us directly to the ship. We didn't have to handle our luggage at all. It was a wonderful day, and we had a wonderful cruise.

Hi - We are arriving into Vancouver a day early - a "tour of the city" sounds great !!!- especially if they then take you directly to the ship...

Who did you book the tour with ?

THANKS !!

I'll bet a lot of people were missing their ship connections on Thursday, especially those flying in the same day from London.

Whatever cruise I am going on I always fly into the departure city at least a day early just in case (as has happened several times) my flight is delayed.

Much easier to only have to cancel a hotel room for a night because you are stuck in your connection city than have to try to swim to catch your ship!!!!

Unless you are a one hour flight from the port or less. the hassle of packing the night before, last minute arrangements so you can leave kids, pets, etc makes trying to travel and then go from airport to pier just too much stress. one or two days in the departure city is a must.

Secondly, i live in L.A. and work in vancouver for the past 11 years. unless you have the bad luck of coming in 15 minutes after a china air and japan air flight with 400 passengers each who do not speak english customs is a 3-10 minute stop.

Last of all, vancouver is the most beautiful city in all of north america!

We had no problem with customs in Vancouver. We were southbound, so we were only there one day after the cruise (our flight left at 8:30 AM the next morning). Customs was a breeze and the folks were very nice.

Flight delays caused us to miss sailaway for our first cruise. It was a long frustrating day. NEVER AGAIN.

 

If luggage handling is that big of a concern, take less luggage.

We missed our first sailaway too. NEVER AGAIN WILL WE FLY IN THE DAY OF THE CRUISE!

We loved Vancouver. Two nights were not enough.