Info on HAL airport transfer from ship

[Curly-Q]

I've searched this site, but can't find what I'm looking for.  I would like to find out more information on how HAL does the airport transfers from the ship upon disembarkation.  Our flights are the next day but we're staying at an airport hotel.   We've never used this before and are thinking about using it when we disembark in Vancouver.  It's a combination sight-seeing excursion with drop off at the airport.  Does your baggage go with you on the transfer bus; and does the luggage need to be placed outside your cabin the night before or can you walk off with it?    Is it more convenient than using a taxi and not have to worry about having CAD to pay the taxi and we wouldn't get to the airport hotel too early like with a taxi direct from the port?  I'm curious as to others' experiences with it.  Thanks for you help!

[catl331]

Your bags go with you on the bus.  It's been a while since we've done it, but IIRC we put the bags out the night before, because the only times I recall hauling our own bags off were when we had driven to the port. 

 

But, you could take a taxi since most taxis today take credit cards.

Edited July 14, 2019 by catl331

[CruiserBruce]

Or you could the light rail.

 

Yes, your bags go on the bus with you, but you carry them into the terminal. You can just go your own way after being dropped off at the Terminal, which means just going off to your hotel.

[martincath]

Odds are high that you will identify your bags in the terminal on disembarkation (CBSA might want to interrogate you further depending what you put on your Declaration form, so the bags won't leave without you!) and then be loaded onto your tour bus; alternatively they do sometimes just load all luggage on a truck and take it to the airport and have you claim it there - this is generally the case though only if you've chosen a HOHO tour, i.e. one where your bags cannot go on the bus with you.

 

However I'd strongly advise against any cruiseline-bought tour or transfer in Vancouver as unlike some other ports a) there is dirt-cheap baggage storage available right at the pier ($5 a bag at the Pan Pacific Hotel directly upstairs, as well as the official pier storage folks CDS down on the cruise level for an extra $3 a bag); b) the airport is ridiculously easy to get to, with multiple transportation options all of which are both faster and cheaper than a cruise transfer; c) no language barrier in sorting out your own independent tour which means that you will pay significantly less for the same tour and pass all the profits directly along to the tour company thus supporting a local business without any additional risks; d) while the Canadian Dollar is of course the standard means of payment, we are an extremely 'plastic' city with possibly more establishments now refusing to accept payment by cash than ones which demand cash only. Even local transit you can now use your US credit card, provided that it's Visa or Mastercard with a NFC chip on, to jump on and off buses, SkyTrain, and Seabus and have the exact fare calculated for you and billed direct to your card with no ticket required.

 

Since you are overnighting, the typical cruise tour also has the downside that you will be dumped at YVR far too early (around 1pm if it's a city tour, perhaps 3pm if it was an extended tour you were looking at, e.g. to the North Shore attractions of Grouse/Capilano, or even as late as whoop-di-doo 5pm if you went up to Whistler) but then you have to go check-in and drop bags then find your way back downtown for more sightseeing/dinner. Much better to do it independently - stash your bags at the PP hotel, do whatever you like around downtown all day whether that's a much-cheaper directly booked tour, a HOHO, or just wandering around site to site on foot or by rental bike, have dinner downtown, then only collect your bags and head to YVR (Cab approx $40 to most airport hotels, and you can pay with Visa/MC or USD cash but at a crappy exchange rate; SkyTrain in the evenings is CAD$3pp, even less for Seniors and kids) when it's time to go sleepy-time.

 

This maximizes your very limited time in the downtown area where it's best spent - as we very-conveniently-for-tourists, especially cruisers, stuck about 90% of all the popular sites and the pier right in the downtown core which is extremely compact 😉