When to schedule private transfers?

newbie here...

Booking transport from YVR airport hotel to port, and return to YVR.

Ship departure is 4:30pm, what time should I set for hotel pick-up? When will I know my boarding time?

Ship returns at 7am, flight is currently 11:42am. What time again, as I don’t know when we will get off ship. We are self-disembarking .

Thanks! Couldn’t do this trip without y’all’s help!!

I'd head down to the pier for 9:30am, so you can drop your checked bags with the longshoremen and then go sightseeing. Any one large attraction, even the out-of-town ones like Capilano Suspension Bridge or Grouse Mountain that have shuttles, can be seen, or a couple of smaller ones. HOHO buses could be ridden for a complete circuit around downtown (~2.5 hours) as well as getting off at a couple of stops to see things.

Then have a good lunch on land before boarding as late as you can without being too stressed (NB: 90 mins before ship departure is 100% required or you won't be allowed to board - but the closer you are willing to push your arrival to that deadline, the shorter the queues to board...)

You also have time to do a pre-cruise tour (which depending on your budget for the transfers may actually be great value for you - they're generally about $75pp for 4 hours being bused around with your bags and will pick you up at airport hotels for no extra charge so it includes your transportation to pier). These generally run 9am-1pm, so airport hotel pickup would be ~8:30am depending exactly which hotel, and again you could drop bags with longshoremen then go for lunch before actually boarding to reduce your queues.

Since you're new to the area, the key thing to know about Vancouver compared to any US cruise port is that you have to do US immigration here before boarding vessels bound for US ports. This adds an extra step to the process, so boarding is always longer, and also tends to cause a bottleneck depending how many ships need cleared and how many CBP agents are despatched to work that day. We get a lot of flack about being a horrible port, and much of blame can actually be laid at the feet of the US Government!

The crux is that unless you are among the very first people who arrive in the morning (before 10am) or among the very last to board (at least after 2pm, sometimes even later) all the queues are long as CBP only process so many folks at a time and will not allow others to be sent through Security until they are ready for the next batch. The worst time to arrive is always in the noonish to 1pmish zone, with exactly how bad it will be determined by how many other pax (you can check how many ships are in port with you and figure this out) and how many CBP agents (nobody knows this except CBP).

In short - ignore completely any suggested boarding time unless it's a 2pm or later slot. You need to be really early, really late, or be happy to hang around in very, very long queues!

I too would arrive around 9:30 AM.

For your return I would look at 8:00 AM.

You want to give yourself a lot of time at the airport.

It can be a long process.

Keith

Thank you both. Will the ship let me off for an 8am pick up, 11:40am flight? Guaranteed?

Thank you both. Will the ship let me off for an 8am pick up, 11:40am flight? Guaranteed?

Sorry, I got so caught up in warnings about boarding I forgot to give any advice re: disembarking.

Cruiselines never sell transfers for flights before noon or even 12:30pm depending on the line - but that's very conservative. Personally I wouldn't be concerned about an 11:42am flight, since you already said you plan to self-disembark. We've been off the ship by 7:15am in Vancouver before, and have never failed to be completely free of the pier (all customs/immigration done) by ~7:45am when we self-disembark, so an 8am pickup as Keith suggests should be a sensible and achievable goal. An 8am car will get you to YVR by ~8:30am, pretty much bang on the recommended 3 hours pre-flight for US-bound departures (2 hours pre-flight is usually more than sufficient).

There are no guarantees though! Your ship, and any others that day, do still have to deal with Canadian customs & immigration at the pier. While this is usually a token question or two for US citizens leaving same day, it's one queue - so even if you are the first people off your ship there could be two others that start unloading pax before yours... and of course there's always a small chance of bad weather, engine failure etc. delaying your arrival in port, or a huge power failure that impacts the pier or YVRs computer systems, or a crash on the airport bridge causing long traffic delays. All of these things have happened in the past - but they are very rare, and odds are that if they happen again a noon or even early afternoon flight could still be impacted.

There is one other thing you can do to weight the odds in your favour - if you don't already have a Trusted Traveler Card, get your application in ASAP for Global Entry or NEXUS (although from your chosen handle I'm guessing you are not close to a Canadian border, so the interview for the latter might be simply infeasible for you even though it provides more benefits). GE will get you through Security and US Immigration/Customs at YVR quicker - and as a bonus, it will also get you onto the ship quicker on Embarkation day. TSA Pre is no use though - no TSA up here!

I checked the port link and only one other ship embarks the same day as our Golden Princess. Thank you for the link.

Question? Can we go to Canada Place and Check our luggage onto the actual ship in the morning? Then go sightsee for a few hours?

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...Can we go to Canada Place and Check our luggage onto the actual ship in the morning? Then go sightsee for a few hours?

Yes - longshoremen should start taking bags for embarking passengers by 10am. With 2 ships in port they might manage earlier than that, so arriving 9:30ish will maximise your time sightseeing. I'd still come back after 2pm to begin boarding, even a 2 shipper can be busy with inbound flights and Amtrak passengers all getting to the pier around midday-1pm.

Thanks. We wanted to look around Canada Place and it sounds like we would have 3-4hours to do that. We want to see the movie there too.

Is it possible to take the shuttle to the suspension bridge and back in 3 hours?

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"Is it possible to take the shuttle to the suspension bridge and back in 3 hours?"

Possible - yes

Practical - maybe

Provided there are no traffic issues on the Lions Gate Bridge it should take around 30 minutes to reach the bridge - another five minutes or so to get your tickets unless there are several tour buses there as well.

You can see most of the sights at the Bridge - the Cliff Walk - the Tree Walk and the Nature trails in an hour.

Then another 30 minutes or so back to Canada Place.

I say maybe because if there are any accidents on the bridge you could be sitting for quite some time.

While there are other ways to cross the harbour either by the Ironworkers Bridge or Sea Bus they will eat up a lot of time.

There is also the possibility that the bus will be fill and it is usually a 30 minute walk for the next one but I have seen on especially busy days extra buses are put into service.

Hope this helps.

Cheers!

Dennis

Oh it helps! It says no way! Can’t take those kind of chances! We will hang around Canada Place and have a great day. Thanks!!!

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^While Dennis is of course correct that a bridge problem causes delays it only adds maybe 30mins max (i.e. doubling the normal travel time) if you have to head over by Seabus instead (and frankly it's worth actually PLANNING it that way if you have time, because the cost is minimal, Lonsdale Quay is a great spot to grab lunch, and the view across to downtown Vancouver is quite delightful).

Plus, if you have a downtown hotel - or store bags at the terminal/Pan Pacific hotel directly above it which you can do from 7am- you can leave bags there and be on the first shuttle of the day, giving yourself an extra hour or more padding. Plus if your cruise leaves at the usual 4:30/5pm you don't actually have to be back at the pier until 3pm or later.

In short, you almost certainly have more time than you think and even if you do only have 4 hours there would have to be an absolute clusterf*ck of multiple issues to make you actually miss the boat...

Sorry, I got so caught up in warnings about boarding I forgot to give any advice re: disembarking.

 

Cruiselines never sell transfers for flights before noon or even 12:30pm depending on the line - but that's very conservative. Personally I wouldn't be concerned about an 11:42am flight, since you already said you plan to self-disembark. We've been off the ship by 7:15am in Vancouver before, and have never failed to be completely free of the pier (all customs/immigration done) by ~7:45am when we self-disembark, so an 8am pickup as Keith suggests should be a sensible and achievable goal. An 8am car will get you to YVR by ~8:30am, pretty much bang on the recommended 3 hours pre-flight for US-bound departures (2 hours pre-flight is usually more than sufficient).

 

There are no guarantees though! Your ship, and any others that day, do still have to deal with Canadian customs & immigration at the pier. While this is usually a token question or two for US citizens leaving same day, it's one queue - so even if you are the first people off your ship there could be two others that start unloading pax before yours... and of course there's always a small chance of bad weather, engine failure etc. delaying your arrival in port, or a huge power failure that impacts the pier or YVRs computer systems, or a crash on the airport bridge causing long traffic delays. All of these things have happened in the past - but they are very rare, and odds are that if they happen again a noon or even early afternoon flight could still be impacted.

 

There is one other thing you can do to weight the odds in your favour - if you don't already have a Trusted Traveler Card, get your application in ASAP for Global Entry or NEXUS (although from your chosen handle I'm guessing you are not close to a Canadian border, so the interview for the latter might be simply infeasible for you even though it provides more benefits). GE will get you through Security and US Immigration/Customs at YVR quicker - and as a bonus, it will also get you onto the ship quicker on Embarkation day. TSA Pre is no use though - no TSA up here!

Our itinerary is round trip from Vancouver but we have 3 stops in BC in the Inland Passage just before we arrive back in Vancouver. Will we go through Canadian customs at our first BC port, Prince Rupert?

Thanks for all the good info.

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Our itinerary is round trip from Vancouver but we have 3 stops in BC in the Inland Passage just before we arrive back in Vancouver. Will we go through Canadian customs at our first BC port, Prince Rupert?

 

Thanks for all the good info.

I don't have personal experience with any Canadian ports of entry other than Victoria and Vancouver, so I can only comment on the theory. From other posts looks like you are on Seabourn Sojourn, so it's Klemtu and Alert Bay after Prince Rupert?

Assuming your cruise from Vancouver also goes to the US then you should do immigration at your first Canadian port (the 'port of entry'). The fact you're starting the cruise in Vancouver means the 'heavy lifting' has already been done (i.e. inadmissibility to Canada due to a criminal record etc. decision will have been made, so unless you commit some felonies while cruising you shouldn't have any problems at Prince Rupert!)

Customs will almost certainly happen there too - looks like the ship remains strictly in Canadian waters from Prince Rupert onward, so no chance of sneaking out of the country to acquire shiny things! I'd guess that you will just hand in the customs declaration card to the front desk the night before arriving in PR and they'll take care of passing them along to CBSA - if you buy a bucket of diamonds or an armful or Rolexes and don't declare them you might get snitched on and be asked to come speak to an officer, but since I'm guessing from your handle you're a US resident and will be taking any Stuff back home with you there's not much concern from a Customs perspective about anything except illegal items.

Be very careful if you buy any Alaskan Ivory products as importing that to Canada, even while 'just passing through,' requires appropriate permits under CITES rules (and many US states have individual bans too, so even mailing yourself walrus ivory souvenirs from an AK port to avoid bringing it into Canada isn't always a viable workaround - getting appropriate certification is the only sensible choice). The onus is on the owner to prove it's a legal piece.

I don't have personal experience with any Canadian ports of entry other than Victoria and Vancouver, so I can only comment on the theory. From other posts looks like you are on Seabourn Sojourn, so it's Klemtu and Alert Bay after Prince Rupert?

 

Assuming your cruise from Vancouver also goes to the US then you should do immigration at your first Canadian port (the 'port of entry'). The fact you're starting the cruise in Vancouver means the 'heavy lifting' has already been done (i.e. inadmissibility to Canada due to a criminal record etc. decision will have been made, so unless you commit some felonies while cruising you shouldn't have any problems at Prince Rupert!)

 

Customs will almost certainly happen there too - looks like the ship remains strictly in Canadian waters from Prince Rupert onward, so no chance of sneaking out of the country to acquire shiny things! I'd guess that you will just hand in the customs declaration card to the front desk the night before arriving in PR and they'll take care of passing them along to CBSA - if you buy a bucket of diamonds or an armful or Rolexes and don't declare them you might get snitched on and be asked to come speak to an officer, but since I'm guessing from your handle you're a US resident and will be taking any Stuff back home with you there's not much concern from a Customs perspective about anything except illegal items.

 

Be very careful if you buy any Alaskan Ivory products as importing that to Canada, even while 'just passing through,' requires appropriate permits under CITES rules (and many US states have individual bans too, so even mailing yourself walrus ivory souvenirs from an AK port to avoid bringing it into Canada isn't always a viable workaround - getting appropriate certification is the only sensible choice). The onus is on the owner to prove it's a legal piece.

Thank you for your helpful reply. Yes we will be on Seabourn Sojourn. So we will be going into Alaska before returning to BC waters.

Hopefully we will have our GE card by then so that should be helpful on this trip also. I appreciate the info you shared about Canada Place. We will be flying in the night before and staying at the Metropolitan. Even though it’s a fairly short distance, would you suggest taking a cab? I think our ship will be on the north end.

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^2 other good sized ships in port means cabs will be at a premium - and it would almost certainly be faster to walk from the Met than to drive in a cab on any cruise embarkation day (Canada Place has a single entrance, congestion on any cruise day is the norm, but 3-shippers magnify the issue). Unless the weather is foul, burn some preemptive calories on the ~600 yard walk straight down Howe St;-)

^2 other good sized ships in port means cabs will be at a premium - and it would almost certainly be faster to walk from the Met than to drive in a cab on any cruise embarkation day (Canada Place has a single entrance, congestion on any cruise day is the norm, but 3-shippers magnify the issue). Unless the weather is foul, burn some preemptive calories on the ~600 yard walk straight down Howe St;-)

Thanks! Love local knowledge!

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