Any issues getting off at Victoria on Seattle round-trip cruises?

[JoshZ42301]

My wife and I are taking a Princess cruise to Alaska starting-ending in Seattle, and it has a stop in Victoria before returning to port.  I fully understand the ArriveCAN app, as much as it seems everybody else.  I just wanted to hear if anyone who has gone there post-COVID on a US-based cruise has had any issues going to Victoria.  If anyone could share their experiences in Victoria (what getting off the boat is like, if they had any negative issues (from the QR code to the random testing or being prevented getting off), or anything that is pertinent to know, we'd greatly appreciate it.  Thanks for helping a newbie (Have cruised twice to the Caribbean, and this will be our first since COVID to anywhere)!

[llkoolj40]

1 hour ago, JoshP42301 said:

My wife and I are taking a Princess cruise to Alaska starting-ending in Seattle, and it has a stop in Victoria before returning to port.  I fully understand the ArriveCAN app, as much as it seems everybody else.  I just wanted to hear if anyone who has gone there post-COVID on a US-based cruise has had any issues going to Victoria.  If anyone could share their experiences in Victoria (what getting off the boat is like, if they had any negative issues (from the QR code to the random testing or being prevented getting off), or anything that is pertinent to know, we'd greatly appreciate it.  Thanks for helping a newbie (Have cruised twice to the Caribbean, and this will be our first since COVID to anywhere)!

We just got off the Solstice and had no issues getting off the ship. We had our QR code ready from the ArriveCAN app but no one asked for it at all.

[5waldos]

No reason to ask for code since everyone onboard was required to show it in order to board the ship. So assuming that the ship was doing its job- you were all good to go. And any ship found to not be checking would probably be banned from docking in Canada or sailing in its waters. 

[llkoolj40]

12 hours ago, 5waldos said:

No reason to ask for code since everyone onboard was required to show it in order to board the ship. So assuming that the ship was doing its job- you were all good to go. And any ship found to not be checking would probably be banned from docking in Canada or sailing in its waters. 

We were told to have it ready as we got the ship in Victoria and they did not ask for it as we entered.

[5waldos]

20 minutes ago, llkoolj40 said:

We were told to have it ready as we got the ship in Victoria and they did not ask for it as we entered.

It really does seem like the cruise lines have no idea what they are doing vis a vie Canada. At least based on what you read here on CC. The amount of misinformation given to passengers, and only sometimes corrected, is massive. You would think that if they weren't sure about what people should be doing that they would have someone call the help line and sort it out. 

[Italy52]

You just needed the ArriveCAN QR code to board the ship --- you did not need to update it for Victoria (last stop on itinerary), correct?

[Glaciers]

Since completion of the ArriveCan app can’t be done prior to 72 hours before arriving in Victoria, your cabin steward will leave instructions in your cabin that will include the entry location (specific address) for the port.  The address you’ll input is for the port and this info will be provided by the cruise line.  Once completed your cabin steward will collect the number that is associated with the QR code. He will remind you if you don’t get it done in a timely manner.  Once that was done, we never had to show the QR code to disembark in Victoria.

 

From our experience on board, Princess seemed to have it down with specific instructions. I think most of the confusion is due to speculation and misinformation being provided by Cruise Critic posters.

[Italy52]

Just now, Glaciers said:

Since completion of the ArriveCan app can’t be done prior to 72 hours before arriving in Victoria, your cabin steward will leave instructions in your cabin that will include the entry location (specific address) for the port.  The address you’ll input is for the port and this info will be provided by the cruise line.  Once completed your cabin steward will collect the number that is associated with the QR code. He will remind you if you don’t get it done in a timely manner.  Once that was done, we never had to show the QR code to disembark in Victoria.

 

 

From our experience on board, Princess seemed to have it down with specific instructions. I think most of the confusion is due to speculation and misinformation being provided by Cruise Critic posters.

So, we won't need the ArriveCAN app to board the ship since we are embarking in Seattle, just fill it out 72 hours prior to arrival in Victoria??

[Glaciers]

9 minutes ago, Italy52 said:

So, we won't need the ArriveCAN app to board the ship since we are embarking in Seattle, just fill it out 72 hours prior to arrival in Victoria??

We boarded in Vancouver so not sure of the Seattle embarkation requirements. Also not sure how you’d complete it prior to boarding in Seattle with the 72 hour requirement, unless your first stop is Victoria. Maybe you start it and then complete it within the 72 hours of arriving Victoria. We had to complete it twice with our hotel address in Vancouver the first time and then again prior to arriving Victoria with the new port address.  You might check roll calls for folks who just boarded this month.

 

There's no ship at Pier 66 today but the Sun is there tomorrow. I'll walk over and ask.

 

Edited May 30, 2022 by Glaciers

[Italy52]

1 minute ago, Glaciers said:

We boarded in Vancouver so not sure of the Seattle embarkation requirements. Also not sure how you’d complete it prior to boarding in Seattle with the 72 hour requirement, unless your first stop is Victoria. Maybe you start it and then complete it within the 72 hours of arriving Victoria. We had to complete it twice with our hotel address in Vancouver the first time and then again prior to arriving Victoria with the new port address.  You might check roll calls for folks who just boarded this month.

Thanks.  Our June 14-day will begin in Vancouver so I know I need to do the land border and then the ship embark ArriveCAN.  For our two Seattle trips Victoria will be our last stop -- guess I will pre-load info and then complete it within the 72 hour window.  Will check out the roll calls and the Princess board -- thanks.

[Glaciers]

More info…

“Timing Examples: If your cruise is a round-trip sailing from Vancouver, you would complete your questionnaire 72 hours or less from the time your flight lands in Vancouver, as Canadian Customs and Border Protection will want to see your QR code upon arrival. If your cruise is round trip from Seattle, however, you complete your questions 72 hours or less from the time the ship leaves Seattle -- even though you won’t be arriving in a Canadian port until six days later.”

https://www.cruisecritic.com/articles.cfm?ID=6954

[Italy52]

13 minutes ago, Glaciers said:

More info…

“Timing Examples: If your cruise is a round-trip sailing from Vancouver, you would complete your questionnaire 72 hours or less from the time your flight lands in Vancouver, as Canadian Customs and Border Protection will want to see your QR code upon arrival. If your cruise is round trip from Seattle, however, you complete your questions 72 hours or less from the time the ship leaves Seattle -- even though you won’t be arriving in a Canadian port until six days later.”

https://www.cruisecritic.com/articles.cfm?ID=6954

Thanks for the information.  I thought that I had to do the ArriveCAN before embarkation in Seattle but with all the comments floating around I was beginning to second-guess myself.  OK, one more "to do" item to add to my August cruise list. 🙂

[martincath]

2 hours ago, Italy52 said:

So, we won't need the ArriveCAN app to board the ship since we are embarking in Seattle, just fill it out 72 hours prior to arrival in Victoria??

You absolutely, 100% WILL need this - or you will be denied boarding in Seattle! Despite what's being reported above by Glaciers - which I do not doubt is correct given how much the cruise lines have been screwing this up - the Canadian government demands (and has fined Carnival already for failing to check!) that all pax have their ArriveCAN receipt checked at embarkation.

 

There's a pretty active thread from @Ferry_Watcherabout the sh*tshow that has been happening at the pier in Seattle. Thankfully it died down after the first couple of weeks, but rest assured that while you may indeed still be asked to complete ArriveCAN again onboard (if so, just do it - it's easier than fighting with people who have no idea what they're doing, given that it will take you all of two minutes to pull the Saved Travelers from your account) it's the embarkation check that is the actual requirement.

[Italy52]

4 minutes ago, martincath said:

You absolutely, 100% WILL need this - or you will be denied boarding in Seattle! Despite what's being reported above by Glaciers - which I do not doubt is correct given how much the cruise lines have been screwing this up - the Canadian government demands (and has fined Carnival already for failing to check!) that all pax have their ArriveCAN receipt checked at embarkation.

 

There's a pretty active thread from @Ferry_Watcherabout the sh*tshow that has been happening at the pier in Seattle. Thankfully it died down after the first couple of weeks, but rest assured that while you may indeed still be asked to complete ArriveCAN again onboard (if so, just do it - it's easier than fighting with people who have no idea what they're doing, given that it will take you all of two minutes to pull the Saved Travelers from your account) it's the embarkation check that is the actual requirement.

Thank you.  I believe in post #11, Glaciers provided more information to clarify that I would indeed need to have my ArriveCAN filled out prior to boarding the ship.

[martincath]

5 minutes ago, Italy52 said:

Thank you.  I believe in post #11, Glaciers provided more information to clarify that I would indeed need to have my ArriveCAN filled out prior to boarding the ship.

Yes - I did see that quote, but the article it came from is wrong (at least grammatically) as it should really say '72 hours or less BEFORE leaving Seattle' rather than FROM leaving Seattle... and even that is wrong, as the clock has always been embarkation based not sailaway time... that got clarified back in April when the Cruise-specific ArriveCAN option arrived instead of just the generic Marine entry being available.

 

Further down, it does mention embarkation time; and in the final steps, it does finally use unequivocal grammar that clearly shows the clock runs backward from rather than the woolly 'of/from' in the first parts; but the Copy/Pasted part retains the misleading grammar that implies you can get on and then complete ArriveCAN within up to 72 hours after the ship has sailed...

Again, not Glaciers fault - it's lifted directly from the article, which was obviously not proof-read as it literally contradicts itself!

[Italy52]

4 minutes ago, martincath said:

Yes - I did see that quote, but the article it came from is wrong (at least grammatically) as it should really say '72 hours or less BEFORE leaving Seattle' rather than FROM leaving Seattle... and even that is wrong, as the clock has always been embarkation based not sailaway time... that got clarified back in April when the Cruise-specific ArriveCAN option arrived instead of just the generic Marine entry being available.

 

Further down, it does mention embarkation time; and in the final steps, it does finally use unequivocal grammar that clearly shows the clock runs backward from rather than the woolly 'of/from' in the first parts; but the Copy/Pasted part retains the misleading grammar that implies you can get on and then complete ArriveCAN within up to 72 hours after the ship has sailed...

Again, not Glaciers fault - it's lifted directly from the article, which was obviously not proof-read as it literally contradicts itself!

Thanks for the clarification.

[3rdGenCunarder]

1 hour ago, martincath said:

You absolutely, 100% WILL need this - or you will be denied boarding in Seattle! Despite what's being reported above by Glaciers - which I do not doubt is correct given how much the cruise lines have been screwing this up - the Canadian government demands (and has fined Carnival already for failing to check!) that all pax have their ArriveCAN receipt checked at embarkation.

 

There's a pretty active thread from @Ferry_Watcherabout the sh*tshow that has been happening at the pier in Seattle. Thankfully it died down after the first couple of weeks, but rest assured that while you may indeed still be asked to complete ArriveCAN again onboard (if so, just do it - it's easier than fighting with people who have no idea what they're doing, given that it will take you all of two minutes to pull the Saved Travelers from your account) it's the embarkation check that is the actual requirement.

 

I agree it's easier to just do it and be ready, even if it turns out nobody checks.

 

I have my account set up, but I can't put in my border crossing info until I'm 72 hours (or less) from the time I cross (by land) into Canada. Once that is done, I'll be within 72 hours of embarking the ship. So I put in the ship info, that's easy enough. But I won't have info about going into Canada because the stop in Victoria is more than a week away. So all Arrive CAN will want to know is my embarkation info? And then I go into it again 72 hours (or less) before arriving in Victoria. Is that correct?

[martincath]

30 minutes ago, 3rdGenCunarder said:

...Is that correct?

Honestly I haven't a clue what you will be asked to do in actuality!

 

In theory, you should do it before you fly in; then again after you land in Canada in respect of your cruise embarkation details because you do leave Canada and then Arrive in CANada again by cruise, so it really should not be same entry as your flight - but I've read a few mentions of people showing their existing flight receipt being allowed on...

 

The Embarkation entry should deal with your Victoria stop and any other Canadian stops, no matter whether they are <72 hrs down the line or a week or more, BUT there are also plenty of reports of folks being told to fill it in while onboard as they apporach Victoria so it seems pretty likely you'll be asked to, even though you don't need to... and it's definitely a lot less hassle just to do it than to fight them given the minimal time involved.

 

There's even been some clarification on the 'What about Skagway land trips?' I've seen that now strongly suggests you can show your embarkation ArriveCAN receipt at the border there too! Somebody linked it yesterday from Yukon tourism, a story about how they were basically peeved at the railroad for all the work they did getting the Feds to allow cruisers to be exempt from random testing and additional ArriveCAN entries for daytrips only for WP&YR to cancel all the Canadian train trips anyway... so the important issue, another exemption to normal ArriveCAN criteria for cruisers, was very much a buried lede in the story. Again though, multiple reports of folks completing land border ArriveCAN for the Fraser crossing, then yet another as they have now crossed back into the US so being asked to do yet another entry for arrival in Victoria/Vancouver...

 

"If in doubt, fill it out" is the best advice I can offer! Worst case, you give our government more data than they asked for!

[cruiseryyc]

"If in doubt, fill it out" is the best advice I can offer!"

 

Excellent advice - it doesn't cost anything to fill out and really only takes a few minutes.