Does QE enforce boarding times in Vancouver?

[westcoasttech]

Does anyone have experience in Cunard checkin at Vancouver for this season?  

 

Boarding time "appointments" seem to be extremely late (compared to other cruiselines).  I have been given an appointment time of 14:15, as a local I would normally stroll up to Canada Place around 11am to 11:30am in order to miss the "rush hours" at checkin.  I know from experience earlier this year that the other cruiselines are not enforcing checkin appointments (or at least the one I sailed in June didn't even look at the time on the pass!).

 

I can appreciate if they are not allowing boarding till later to allow for turnaround of the cabins, but saw someone on an earlier sailing didn't have a checkin appointment till after 3pm, which seems extremely late in the day!  I can vaguely remember my last Cunard sailing (in the before times), I had a later checkin (from FLL) and it seemed that a lot of the ship had already boarded by the time I got onboard.  

 

I've read that some of the earlier Vancouver embarkations were a mess with mass confusion about ArriveCAN ... I will have all my paperwork in order, having done this before, and would prefer to be onboard as early as possible and sipping a suitable celebratory beverage by lunchtime!  

[57eric]

Does Cunard enforce boarding times anywhere?

[david,Mississauga]

We boarded the QE in Vancouver on the 14th. We arrived earlier than our allotted time of 1:15 p.m. because I had requested wheelchair assistance for my wife. The Vancouver terminal can be as bad as an airport, as many know.  

 

I had walked around the terminal area about 10:30 just to make sure that the wheelchair assistance area was the same as the last time. (It was.)  People were already queuing outside the convention hall where Cunard  check-in is located. I believe it opened about 11:00.

 

We showed up about 11:15 on the lower level and were taken up to the check-in area. The only delay was at the ArriveCan verification desk. A lot of people were confused about the first port of Canada which was Victoria on this cruise. Once that was sorted there was no delay even for those without priority check-in. 

 

Going through security and the US border control was easy, probably because the QE was the only ship that day. Boarding started with Queen's Grill at 12:15. Princess Grill started about two minutes later. It appeared that everyone else who was waiting boarded just a few minutes later. 

 

 

 

 

[westcoasttech]

Thanks for the reply @david,Mississauga.  I appreciate the information.  I had a feeling that Cunard was opening boarding a little later than the other lines.  Hmmm, so if I arrive earlier enough to avoid security/customs delays I may have to wait for boarding, but if I arrive at my appointment time I'm more likely to have security/customs delays but be able to walk on.  I'm sailing July 1, so sharing Canada Place with RCCL and Odyssey ships and Canada Day crowds and traffic.  Guess I'll wait and see how lucky I feel on the day...!