RickDu

Just got off an Alaska cruise in Vancouver, where we spent the night. No one asked to see our ArrivCan info. All they were concerned with was the declaration form. No passport check as done on previous arrivals in Vancouver either. Can't say everyone will experience the same, but since the ship staff reminded us nearly everyday to get it done it seemed odd that border security never asked for it.

Clicking the link is not an automatic request, it simply takes you to the page where you may submit a bid. That page will also explain the process.

Minimum half hour drive depending on L.A. traffic to Long Beach port. Try to fly into Long Beach if possible, it's a lot closer to the pier and probably not nearly as busy/loud.

Sounds good, but the website is rather ambiguous on IF it will apply to U.S. departures. I guess wait and see is going to be the order of the day.

From my experience booking and re-booking our cruise tour from 2020, to this year (2021 was a wait and see year for us) it was about 12-14 months out when they started to appear on the website. Now some of that may have been the line holding back to see what was going to reopen after the whole mess of covid. What I did was book the cruise, then when the land portion opened up rebooked the cruise tour. That way we knew we'd have the stateroom we wanted instead of waiting it out for the land portions to open up. It actually worked out pretty well seeing that before they disappeared from the website, we had paid about $2000 less than they were going for at the time.

I can't speak to how it is on the Gem, but we stayed in an aft penthouse suite on the Jewel. There was reserved seating in the theater, but as mentioned it was not in a prime viewing area. Stage right upper wing seats.

Is United telling you that you have to travel by that date or book by the date? I had a similar issue with Alaska Air in 2020 when covid hit and we had to cancel. I guess they rethought the use or loose it clause, when everyone had to cancel. We were also able to extend the life by joining their mileage shopping plan, and placing the credit there until we were able to rebook the cruise. I don't know if United has a similar program, but it may pay to check.