martincath

Not necessarily - while some cruise lines have been incorrectly demanding ArriveCAN when it is not needed, official gov't regs are that only cruises which either start outside Canada or, if starting inside, return here need it completed. So on a QC-NYC route, unless the ship goes to at least one US port, then back to at least one Canadian port afterward, then finally back into US waters to finish up in NYC there is no Gov't requirement for a cruise entry. Again, the clue is in the name - whatever the mode of transport, does it ARRIVE (not depart!) in CANADA at some point during the trip? Your flight obviously does, but unless the cruise takes a rather unusual route it does not.

Exactly - because your flight did not Arrive in CANada, only your cruise, so you only crossed our border once. The poster I replied to is both flying in and then also taking an RT cruise, as spotted by our NooJoysian cavalryman friend above 😉

While worrying about the whys & wherefores of any decision made by any government is a recipe for hairloss, this one actually has pretty straightforward reasoning if you approach it from the right angle. The clue is in the name - it's not CruiseCAN, but ArriveCAN. Every time you cross the border inbound, you need to file a submission. For planes, trains, and automobiles the timing makes it more obvious: cruising is 'special' because historically, for the convenience of cruise passengers, immigration processing to Canada has always happened 'behind the scenes' rather than making everyone line up to speak to CBSA after disembarking. What's tripping you up Ashland is the timing - forget about the whole 'two checks on the same day' thing and remember, again, the name of the app! The cruiseline might be checking you have completed ArriveCAN when you embark, but it is not checked by the folks who actually matter - CBSA - until just before you Arrive in Canada toward the end of the cruise! CBSA will get eyes on the QR code just after the ship leaves the last US port. The only difference between the visual prechecks by staff of the transportation company or their agents and the CBSA actual checks when flying compared to cruising is the length of the timeline - when you fly up, you'll be asked to show your QR code at boarding then in a couple of hours be handing your passport over to CBSA at YVR (which is linked to your ArriveCAN behind the scenes, so they see that flash up onscreen too). When cruising there are several days in-between, but the actual events are the same - a port minion visually checks your QR code right before boarding, CBSA see the system data just before you actually get allowed cross the border.

You seem to have forgotten that I warned of you of this requirement 3 weeks ago when you first posted about ArriveCAN Ashland. You responded to my post so I assumed you had read it - we certainly bounced back & forth a few times on the need to bring a device for checking email in case you were to be randomly tested. Section 3) within my post was specific to this exact situation, that because you are doing an RT cruise you must make a Marine Entry trip on ArriveCAN after crossing the border but before boarding... I even went on to help you identify which port of entry you needed to use for the cruise. I honestly don't know if I can be any more explicit in what you need to do where and when, but I'll give it one more try as a single short plan of recommended actions that will cover both your ArriveCAN second entry and checking the possibility of random test selection: When you get off the plane, collect your bags, and get through both Immigration and Customs into the unsecured areas of YVR, look for a seat. Sit down, take out your phone and turn the darned thing on - tap into the expertise of your accompanying offspring if needed to figure out how to ensure all you have on is the WiFi, no roaming calls enabled! While you are waiting the required 15mins for the email about being selected for random testing, take that time to do your second ArriveCAN - with all the hard bits already completed, Travelers saved with their Vaxx status and ID scanned in, adding a single Trip entry is literally a matter of a couple of minutes. Your son will have to do the same for him/spouse and grandkids, using their saved Traveler info. Your worst case if you do these actions is that you screw up turning your phone on and have to pay for a few minutes of roaming data while you think you are using the free WiFi - but you will be in compliance with both sets of gov't regulations, so you'll avoid the risk of fines that would cost an awful lot more! Personally I would not use the website ArriveCAN at home, but the App - so that you can get plenty of practise using the exact same method you will be using here, with plenty of time to get it right. You can enter fake trips and delete them over and over until you feel confident using the app. Email the QR code to yourself, then open that email on your desktop if you want to print it at home - but since you will not easily be able to print off the second ArriveCAN entry, I'd suggest instead trying to do it all on your phone so you always do the same thing every time, no change of procedure for the flight vs the cruise. Practise finding the QR code after you have entered a trip and then turned your phone off again - many folks recommend taking a Screenshot of the QR code, even making it your phone's home screen so it literally appears as soon as the phone is turned on, so that you do not have to reopen the app just to display the code. Since exactly how to do those things depends on your phone and it's operating system, I can't help with specifics there I'm afraid.

Honestly, depends what YOU want out of a hotel! Personally I demand a comfy bed, AC, and a location that's convenient for the transportation method(s) I'm using in the place - everything else is gravy. In general, our rule of thumb is that if there's a Hampton Inn, that'll do nicely - we've done a lot of travel for conferency things, fancy weddings, embassy dos and whatnot so I've spent plenty of nights in very swanky digs too and my opinion now is the same as it was 40 years ago... if someone else is paying, fine, but otherwise a hotel room with a view ain't worth diddly extra to me as I'm going to be out sightseeing and dining all day so why spend the extra for stuff I'm not using? Before we lived here, we visited and stayed a week in the YWCA Hotel, which was not just the cheapest in the region but is consistently well-reviewed now as well as waaaaaaay back then, in a great location, has in-house massive kitchens, laundry rooms etc. for guests that are ideal for extended stays, and this Y has regular private en suite bathroom double rooms, shared-with-just-next-door Jack & Jill bathrooms doubles, and 5 single bed family rooms - no dorms. A view is great - but how much time will you actually spend enjoying it? Vancouver, like all the ports you'll visit on an AK cruise, is certainly a very pretty location but if you're not out of your room Doing Stuff... you're doing it wrong;-)

Being a proper, urban, living-downtown type local I can't give you a personal opinion of room comfort etc., but I'm familiar with the locations of both, and I can offer a second-hand opinion of the rooms via friends who have stayed in both. BH is the better hotel for views, for resto options in the near vicinity, for fancy shopping, and is more convenient if you are going to do any bus-based touring e.g. HOHO bus has a stop right outside, as does the shuttle to Capilano, and other coach tours are much more likely to pick up at this hotel on a busy main street than Sunset on a more residential block. BH also has very generous bedroom size (all rooms are corners too, so two different angles) - but Sunset does offer much better long-stay conveniences as it's one of our 'condo hotels' so rather than just a room you have access to kitchen facilities etc. and that lack of restos & shopping means less likely you hear any noises at night while sleeping. They're both useful for walking around tourism - each is closer to some areas, further from others, but really it's a well under a mile difference so no big whoop!

Yes, it's been worded (in respect of Molecular tests anyway, with their more specific 72 hour deadline) as YOUR boarding time - not the first available boarding time, not scheduled departure time, but whatever your specific paperwork lists as the time YOU are supposed to be embarking. Same principal should apply, just looser as no time of day element, for Antigen tests. The crux is that Canada's 'special treatment' of cruiseships begins as soon as you join the onboard experience, that is when the extra riskiness of cruising begins (our Feds still assume more danger from cruising therefore the extra testing requirements no longer needed for any other mode of travel). A few Princess megaship departures are after midnight this season, with boarding perhaps a little later than normal (I've seen some folks say they have got emails about 7pm embarkation times for example, rather than the usual 11am-3pm ish slots) but still on the calendar day before: if you're on one of those, you'll definitely need to have your Covid test valid at the time of your embarkation - that's when they'll check the paperwork after all! If you are able to of course the sensible option is to ensure you comply with BOTH - then even if an incompetent, ill-trained idiot looks at your paperwork you're still good to go... in other words, get an Antigen test on Friday for a Saturday boarding/Sunday departure, you're good regardless of how the clock is interpreted!

When they first opened, it was our regular hotel in Seattle - the main thing that stopped us continuing was the fact they got busier and couldn't guarantee parking on-site any more, but if you're not driving there that's not going to affect you! Good location for walking around, and the lack of included 'free' breakfast was actually an advantage for us as there are some great restos nearby for brunch. The rooms are also comparatively huge. We did stay here and other Pineapple hotels after the brand expanded now & again, when we have not been driving - but it's been at least five years so I have no idea whether the decor, mattresses, service etc. remain up-to-snuff in the Maxwell, so take my review with a pinch of salt.

Since you're a Vancouverite, then hands-down the best place to take the test is at home using a video proctoring service - gov't issed tests have been confirmed acceptable, so that way you only pay for the service of being watched and issuing the confirmation, much cheaper than even Shoppers. Antigen tests remain 'up to 2 days' before, with the day of departure counting as Day Zero, time of day has never been relevant for antigen testing only Molecular which has always been 72hrs. As long as scheduled embarkation time is before midnight, you can test any time on Friday or Thursday as well as Saturday right up until you head to the pier provided results arrive in time.

Try this thread, it's from earlier this summer (CCs search appears to be completely broken right now, but you can always search using G00gle or any other search engine simply by typing site:boards.cruisecritic.com after your search terms - frankly, even when it's working the built-in search is pretty bad compared to any actual search engine, so it's not a bad idea using an external search any time you'te trying to track something down)

Oh, and just in case you were not aware you actually cross the border into BC, then drive across that Province for a while before reaching Yukon (which IIRC does have a signpost in case you want a photo, but no checkpoint to worry about!)

Very flattering, thank you Julia. That weekend we're most likely out of town - the better half still has many vaycay days to be taken! At least two of my fellow Buddies are active though, so if you go make a request on the site there's a decent chance someone will be free to Stroll with you that weekend. Don't miss out on brunch downstairs in Medina Cafe though - asuming you're not vegantarians you should be able to polish off the Wolf's brekkie for two and still have room for at least one waffle, it'll give you plenty of energy for a good wander!

Nope - if you were returning home same day by any means of transportation you would use the 'Returning Home' option 😉

The hotel - whether this is a pre- or post-cruise hotel night, ArriveCAN for a land or flight or cruise arrival, the first address where you are staying after entering Canada is the address to choose (same deal for folks on e.g. a coach tour, there's only one address field so they put the address of their accommodation on their first night in Canada as they cannot list all the hotels).

Won't work for you - while there is as yet no confirmed timetable, there's no reason to believe things will be any different than they were in terms of timing... which means the Southbound morning train has already left, most likely before your ship is even sailing into port. The schedule did vary a few minutes here and there, but for a decade the morning train was always ~6:30am departure with the evening train around 5:30pm. To get to Seattle that early, your options are either Quickshuttle (they leave from the pier 9am, so they are convenient but not cheap compared to other buses - extra charges these days for even 1 suitcase as well but ballpark $60 for 1 person and case to Seattle) or, if the cruiseline is running one, a cruiseline transfer (also not cheap, this year reports have been $80-100pp) but with no stops unlike QS so quicker. A little later in the morning there's the Amtrak Bus service (operated by Cantrail), depending on the day of the week Flixbus (should be cheapest too, if booked early, as their pricing is very dynamic with more seats sold = price goes up), or good old Greyhound (might get a steal of a price with Senior rates, Companion fares etc.) all of which I think have a bus between 10 and 11am - ample time to disembark and get to the bus station.

Edit - dang CC lost my text again when I tried Posting! I refreshed and the editor seemed to have captured and restored it, so second attempt to post worked - but it might have missed the last few spelling tweaks and it's too late at night for a detailed re-read... if any spelling etc. doesn't make sense, ask and I'll fix tomorrow! Most welcome - answers in order of shortest to waffliest: 4) I seriously doubt there will be any changes this year - the random testing was stopped but came back very quickly afterwards, cruise season is ending in not very long, it's not really a priority to Federal authorities as almost all of the cash made from cruising stays local, so the simplest and most logical assumption is No Changes on Cruises until next season begins, with the 2023 approach perhaps altering. I'd love to think it will be in the hands of our medical folks, stats of cruise covid cases compared to others, so only if there's data that backs up cruising being more plague-y than flights, cars, trains etc. would the special cruise-only extra testing come back next season - but no doubt there will be politics and business interests involved, so who the heck knows! 1) No idea - but given the lack of profitability of good buffets and the general huge hike in food prices across the board, AYCE anything is a concept that would be suffering even without the issues of COVID-induced behavioural and legal changes around 'shared serving utensil' food hygiene matters, so overall I think that we need to get back to Real Normal rather than the current Sort-of Normal before there's a chance of it returning - and if it does it will have to be hugely hiked in price so may just not be workable any more. 3) These days it's not radically different from in TheBeforeTimes - obviously some businesses did not survive, but fundamentally there's still a mix of grocers, butchers, fishmongers for stuff to eat raw/take home & cook; restos of various types for pre-cooked foods; fancy artisanal pastries/choccies/macarons etc. Opening hours are mostly 9-6 in the public market, so aside from lots of folks who choose to mask up in busy indoor spaces - and of course prices of a lot of food being mad pricey compared to a couple of years ago! - it's much the same overall. One potentially random tidbit that could be of use - if you want to grab some seafood, the best deals on the island aren't in the market! For a crab or lobster that you point at in a tank and have steamed right there for you to take away, hit up the Lobster Man - given you're in a hotel so won't be cooking, this is as fresh a prep as it gets for a lobster or dungeness crab, and they'll sell you picks, bibs & crackers for a modest price if you can't be bothered to hit up a Dollar Store for some really cheap tools! 4) Some of those items I'd recommend against delivery for, no matter how good the resto - the subtler and more texture- or temp-crucial steamed dumplings especially just do not travel well, especially Siu Mai, Har Gow (and definitely XLB if you like those). These are things you eat as close to the kitchen as possible, so worst case go get them yourself as takeout if you reeeaaalllly don't want to dine inside a resto - all the delivery options have pretty poor speed of service these days, drivers want to amalgamate multiple orders so unless you get real lucky and are the first stop en route your food is often heading to luke warm even inside a keepie-hottie bag. That said, I've checked who uses Doordash and delivers to Canada Place area, and I'd have no hesitation recommending Chinatown BBQ for any the BBQ meats (and Soy chicken); Dinesty Dumpling House is probably the best overall option for any kind of dumpling - I'd still recommend walking there yourself, it's only a mile away, but they will send food via Dashers; Dynasty Seafood resto is one of the best dim sum and fancy banquet joints in the region, pricier than other options and a bit of a shame to miss out on the lovely big room and the view over downtown for delivery, but they will send you a wide range of topend Cantonese dishes by Doordash. While everything you mentioned falls into fairly typical Cantonese style food, we also have many rarer regional Chinese foods that are a lot more difficult to find most parts of the world - e.g. if you didn't try Peaceful last time, get stuck into any noodle dish from them (hand-pulled, very rare anywhere these days), the beef rolls, and especially try the Xinjiang Cumin Lamb (or beef if you're not sheep eaters). You can Dash from Peaceful to the PP. Another random thing - Ginger Beef is a Canadian invention (Albertan actually) which you are unlikely to see elsewhere, and if you like crispy/hot/sweet you might really enjoy. It's arguably a Szechuan style of cooking, but it's fairly ubiqitous here in Vancouver with many restos doing it. This is another thing I feel that keeping warm inside a container causes trouble - the crispiness of the beef disappears as it steams itself on the way to you - so best to eat in a resto for optimal texture. Unless you plan to eat like four meals of Chinese takeout, that's probably already too much info so I'll shut up now 😉

Bummer on not having a closer Biron than the airport! Now, as natives, I do have a few Montreal questions for you: St Viateur or Fairmount? Schwartz' or Main Deli? Fatty or lean? ArriveCAN only accepts Trip entries within 72 hours - you can enter all of the personal info like ID, vaxx status in advance (and it's sensible that you have!) but you'll have to wait until 72hrs before you scheduled flight to be able to add that Trip. If your cruise also needs ArriveCAN (e.g. if it's RT, rather than a one-way that leaves Canada and never comes back) then the rules are slightly different - the countdown clock starts from embarkation day, rather than arrival-in-Canada day - but you likewise have to wait until just before the cruise to be able to enter the Trip. Note also that ArriveCAN only holds a single Trip entry - do not complete your Cruise until after you have been processed at the airport!

Warning - this will be a bit long, but it should cover everything! Standard procedure is to first drop your bags (same level that taxis etc. drop people off, below ground, so if you do walk look for the car ramp - there's a barrier-separated sidewalk on the left for pedestrians). Personally I prefer to take them direct to the longshoremen working the belts, rather than hand over to one of the porters with luggage cages near the parking, to ensure they go straight onto the correct ship - it's rare but not unheard of for bags to get put on the wrong ship, especially if 2 from the same line are in dock! Then you head upstairs to check-in - each line has their own desks, look for signs, listen to staff announcements for which of the rooms will be for yours. Suites, High Status get priority embark groups, early-comers get lower numbers than late-comers, same as you're used to in Florida on that front - in past years scheduled check-in times have been utterly worthless, but there have been some reports this season of enforcement but they've been inconsistent. Try your arm if you're early, worst case is you'll have to hang around Canada Place until your actual scheduled time. Once you're checked-in, it's sit around waiting time! As soon as the ships are cleared and CBP are ready to start processing, groups will be called to head to Security (one setup here, no matter how many ships are in port, everyone goes through the same security area). After Security, all the pax for ships heading directly in to the US then go see CBP (a small number of ships, usually those doing end of season repo cruises, skip this stage as they hit Victoria after Vancouver so no Preclearance happens as they're staying in Canadian waters). But for all the AK cruises, it's basically the same deal as when you fly home from abroad - desks manned by CBP, and kiosks where you can 'self serve' more quickly. If you have Global Entry there's a priority lane - usually furthest left, often shared with Crew as well as GE pax - which should have signs but they are usually small and just stuck on the poles used for setting up walkways, so barely over waist height. If you see anything saying NEXUS - that's the right lineup, it covers all of the Trusted Traveler options that expedite US immigration like SENTRI and GE (not TSA Precheck - that's strictly domestic US security, no immigration benefit). Once you are done with Immigration (customs happens at the same time, so if you did a lot of shopping here you might have something to declare on that front, but preclearance is far more focused on verifying who people are than what stuff they're bringing, cruisers aren't a big concern for moving drugs or guns to Alaska!) if your ship is ready you walk right on - if not, then if you're lucky there might be some snacks available in a 'lounge' which is really just more of the same folding chairs that you waited on in the check-in hall.

You're welcome again! Random tidbits I have a-plenty, but the odds of any given one being useful are slim enough I try to keep the trivial knowledge for pub quizzes and stick to relatively focused material - so more info about you and your traveling companions like what you already saw on prior visit(s) and if any of that was so beloved you'll be doing it again, tolerance for 'urban grit' while sightseeing or dining out, mobility, arty-farty-culture-vulture stuff or outdoorsy stuff or both, a ballpark budget for transport/food/entry tickets, which hotel(s) you're in Pre- and Post-cruise, all helps filter the data toward the potentially-useful-to-you! A few notes I always find applicable: 1) Tripadvisor is very useful to help cut down on the noise, especially if all of your party look at it individually and make their own short list of things. Sounds like you have maybe 3 days for sightseeing, so you can check off several downtownish areas while still having time to relax and eat well rather than constantly rushing from site to site - so if everyone picks a 'top 5 things I would like to do' then compares the lists you should quickly find out which sites are tops for everyone and become Must Dos for you; whether there's a split opinion on Site X & Y (so maybe a couple of folks go to X, a couple to Y, and then meet up for lunch after) 2) If everyone is mobile enough to walk at a leisurely pace for a couple of miles, then especially as repeat visitors the 'meet up with a local and get off the beaten track a bit' sites are fantastic - here in Vancouver that would be Stroll Buddy (full disclosure, I am one of the local Buddies, but given the service is entirely free and exactly who you meet with has a whole mess of random factors involved, I don't think I'm breaking the rules in mentioning!) If you go put in your dates, interests, contact details etc. all the local Buddies will be notified and the ones available on your dates will reach out - end result is a custom walking tour just for you, no payment or tips expected. 3) Free city wifi network (broadcasts as #VanWiFi all over the place) is the ideal way to keep in touch if you don't have free Canadian data/calls. If your party does end up splitting to do different things, you can coordinate meetups with email, messenger apps, VOIP calls etc. and also make use of maps to avoid getting lost.

A good warning for your fellow travelers - the mechanics of the testing is that the email is sent within 15mins of clearing customs, so turning on a device, connecting to free airport WiFi, and ensuring you don't leave for 15mins is the simplest way to comply with the rules with minimal hassle. All random testing was supposed to be moved off-site since it restarted in July - testing everyone inside the airports themselves was causing all sorts of logistical problems - but for some insane reason Calgary and Montreal kept the walk-in lab inside the airport itself. Toronto and Vancouver have their walk-in labs close by but not in the airport - regardless, the idea is that folks who get the email while still at the airport can visit them conveniently before they head elsewhere, but the Feds also have contracts with multiple labs across the country and can even ship a Telehealth remote proctored PCR kit to you (useful for Canucks living in small towns without a contracted lab). If you end up already downtown before you check your email, there's a helpline number on the email and you can also dig around on this webpage to see which labs are contracted in your location (scroll down to Find Your Test Provider heading) then make an appointment at one of their nearby locations to cut down on your hassles - e.g. here in Vancouver you could easily pop in to one of several Shoppers Drugmart stores around the city, so choosing one in-between your hotel and Stanley Park or wherever you are going to be sightseeing minimises your delays. In Montreal other Biron sites can do the mandatory random arrival tests - this doesn't help you after the fact @Gpilon, but you could have avoided the notoriously omnipresent Montreal roadworks!

Unless it's an insanely busy day you'll wait inside rather than out - and there's a very good chance that if you're early you will be able to drop your suitcases and get checked-in, then sit down in one of the big convention halls while you wait. The key difference from Florida is that your government preclears all pax entering the US before they board, so cruiselines have very limited influence on operational timing. Until CBP is ready to let folks into their immigration area, nobody gets to leave the check-in waiting area. Even in TheBeforeTimes I was always an advocate of arriving late - now that there's even more delays that's an even better idea IMO. There's nothing to stop you dropping bags early, then going sightseeing unencumbered. As long as you are sensible - leave the stuff close to the pier for last, if you can walk there's no need to worry about traffic delays that way so you can safely shave the margins very tight. Instead of sitting around, then joining slowly moving queues for each stage if you arrive close to the deadline (2 hours predeparture) you can just keep walking, only stopping when you have to interact with the check-in staff, X-ray, and CBP officer/kiosk - we've been curb to cabin in 20mins in the past, compared to a pretty-much-guaranteed 90min or more in Canada Place if you show up early. But some folks think the holiday only starts when they step onboard - if you're one of those, then 2 hours of sitting around and shuffling through queues might be well worth it if you get to be on the ship as early as possible!!! If so, then at least you won't have to stand outdoors in the hot Florida sun if you're too early 😉

You're welcome - for your outbound flight I'd go three hours early, there's not really much 'win' from an hour spent doing something fun while you're going to be stressing about the airport! Late Sep might actually be back almost to normal, when 2 hours is plenty for US-bound flights, but if you are coming right off the ship and heading to YVR on a day with a couple of big ships/3 or more of any size then instead of three hours early you need to beat the bulk of your fellow pax... you definitely want to be at YVR by 9am if at all possible, even if your flight is more like 1pm than noon, as the busloads of transfer pax start rolling in by 9:30am and it's those 50-at-a-time chunks that really overload the queues. If you're doing a post-cruise stay with a flight early afternoon, you might want to check the cruise timetable just to make sure if there are multiple ships rather than risk showing up at 10 to find yourself at the back of multiple busloads! It's much more comfortable to be hanging around after security, able to at least sit down with a book and a Timmies, than to be standing in the slowly-moving bag drop, security, and immigration queues stressing about whether you'll make it through in time. Unless something unexpected happens, your worst case if you are this early might be that YVR starts enforcing their 'cannot drop bags more than 3 hours early' rule again - if so, that does means operations are back to normal so you're definitely not going to miss your flight.

Hard to say overall, but I'll give it a try (skip the the end if you don't care about Whys & Wheefores!) If you flew in 4 years ago, you should have had access to the Kiosks for immigration - that tech has been by far the biggest improvement in the arrival process, as it enables way more people to get through each minute compared to old-school 'talk to a guy in a fishbowl one family at a time' - which means that compared to your last trip we are still running a bit less efficiently. If me mentioning the kiosks has you scratching your head, and you remember lining up to speak to a CBSA agent maybe your trip was longer ago than you thought in which case 'Yay for kiosks!' and you can assume your delay to do immigration will be cut in half - but luggage etc. will be as bad or worse then before, so it might end up being a wash! Exact time of day does make a difference at YVR - it's all about how many other pax land in the same ballpark time as you and need to get through immigration, so if a few full widebodies land close to your own it will always suck, and late morning has never been great especially on weekends. In fact your prior wait of an hour sounds pretty decent if that was a Saturday morning like your upcoming flight! I'm never more happy to have a NEXUS card than when I land at YVR and find that the general entry queue is 2-3 hours and I can swan past and join the handful of other NEXUS peeps!!! In general everything is still slower now than it was pre-Covid as staffing remains not quite up to snuff in any aspect from security to luggage handling to folks working the cafes & restos, but on the inbound front I believe that the reduced volumes of pax flying has kept the worst delays in check (i.e. you will definitely find hour long waits are common, but the truly awful 3 hour situations don't seem to be happening this year). Security staffing (lack of) was the major flaw earlier in the year - but that only hit outbound flyers. Inbound, you do have the possiblity of 1 or more of your party being asked to do a Covid test on arrival - testing happens off-site now but you should probably factor in an extra 15mins while you wait to see if you have been selected if you want to be able to use the walk-in lab near YVR conveniently... but if you have a downtown hotel for at least a night precruise it's probably easier to just head to your hotel and make an appointment at a downtown lab, as you have until midnight the next day to take the test under the rules. TL;DR - Personally I would assume you'll face at least as much of a delay as you did last time, add an extra 15-30mins to play safe, and be pleased with anything shorter. Late Sep at least means you are avoiding the People with Families Vacationing During Summer Break peaks, so odds are good it won't get much worse than ~90mins.

You can't change a Trip on ArriveCAN, only replace it - after you board, any time before your drive from Haines to the border, make a new Trip. Then when you get back to the ship, if there are other US ports of call after Haines you will need to make another Trip with Vancouver as the port of entry, as you have left Canada and will Arrive again!

You don't need phone coverage - only email access which can be done using WiFi rather than data. The regulations do say that you will be notified on the email address you use for your ArriveCAN account; that the notification will arrive within 15mins; and YVR has free WiFi. So all that needs to be done to be compliant is turn on your cellphone (airplane mode to avoid charges!) or any other device that can receive email as soon as you are through immigration, make sure you don't leave for 15 mins, and check your email... No email? Good to go! Email? Then follow the instructions in that email - either head straight to the walk-in lab near YVR, get tested, then head to hotel/pier or if you have some pre-cruise time you might find it more convenient to instead go straight to your hotel and use a contracted downtown Shoppers Drugmart for the test while you are sightseeing. Bonus - if your results come back before you cruise, they are totally valid to let you board! Think of it like getting a free government issued PCR test for you own piece of mind - how much would most of us have loved to get one of those a year back??? Other countries with similar systems have similar expectations, e.g. New Zealand explicitly states you must travel with a suitable device to run their tracking app.