Post Alaska Cruise Out Of Vancouver......Is There A Princess Transfer Available To Seattle?

[CruizinSusan70]

Going to be sailing on the Majestic next year for a 14 day cruise RT out of Vancouver and was wondering if Princess offers transfers to Seattle or not.  Airfares for the back end of our trip open up in 10 days and being able to get nonstop flights out of Seattle is much better than connecting flights out of Vancouver.   If not it's either a short layover in DFW (1.5 hrs) or a much longer one in LAX (6.5 hrs).  Thanks

[memoak]

5 minutes ago, CruizinSusan70 said:

Going to be sailing on the Majestic next year for a 14 day cruise RT out of Vancouver and was wondering if Princess offers transfers to Seattle or not.  Airfares for the back end of our trip open up in 10 days and being able to get nonstop flights out of Seattle is much better than connecting flights out of Vancouver.   If not it's either a short layover in DFW (1.5 hrs) or a much longer one in LAX (6.5 hrs).  Thanks

There is a Princess shuttle to SeaTac but be advised it will take 3.5 to 5 hours depending on border crossing time. I believe the coast is $79

[Glaciers]

Yes, $79pp.  We received booking info in our cabin a couple days prior to disembarkation. Some have said you can book online or with your TA. They drop at the Seattle airport.

[CruizinSusan70]

Thanks.  The only PM nonstop flight isn't until 1030.   There's a 600 PM that connects through PHX, so it would only be worth it if that flight is substantially cheaper than the two options we have out of YVR.

[CruizinSusan70]

On 7/4/2022 at 11:01 AM, memoak said:

There is a Princess shuttle to SeaTac but be advised it will take 3.5 to 5 hours depending on border crossing time. I believe the coast is $79

Do you happen to know what times the shuttle leaves the ship?   We have options at 600 and 630 out of Seattle that we'll easily make but we may have two options at 130.  I have to assume if the shuttle leaves at 900 and it takes 5 hours getting to SeaTac at 200  then it would be a moot point.

[MudderBear]

• Yes.  We departed the terminal around 10:00am ish.  Got into Seattle about 2:00 ish.  There is MUCHO construction on that major highway in Seattle which slows things down.

[CruizinSusan70]

7 hours ago, MudderBear said:

• Yes.  We departed the terminal around 10:00am ish.  Got into Seattle about 2:00 ish.  There is MUCHO construction on that major highway in Seattle which slows things down.

Thanks, that's what I assumed.  If our flight out of Vancouver is too high, we'll have 4  options out of Seattle between 600 and 1030.

[Italy52]

We just did this last week and we will NEVER do it again.  It was a VERY long trip and LOTS of construction traffic getting into Seattle like MudderBear said.  Our bus driver told us we were lucky as all we had to do was get off the bus, go through border patrol, security screening and then back onto the bus.  It could have been worse had we been instructed to offload our luggage.  If there had been long haul buses we could have potentially been stuck at the border much longer as they would take priority over us.  Our bus bathroom was not working --- the bus driver was kind enough to make a couple of rest stops after we left the border for those passengers that needed the bathroom.  It took us about 5 hours and then a little more for offloading our luggage.  Fortunately, we didn't have to worry about catching a flight as we had made plans to overnight in Seattle and then catch an early flight out the next morning.

[Urban trekker]

Italy52 - did you load your luggage onto the bus or did it come straight from the ship. If the latter it is considered to be in a secure place and doesn't need to be screened as the ship will have done it.

If the former you get a lucky break but normally you have to bring it in for inspection.

[caribill]

6 hours ago, Italy52 said:

We just did this last week and we will NEVER do it again.  It was a VERY long trip and LOTS of construction traffic getting into Seattle like MudderBear said.  Our bus driver told us we were lucky as all we had to do was get off the bus, go through border patrol, security screening and then back onto the bus.  It could have been worse had we been instructed to offload our luggage. 

 

It has been several years since we took this bus.

 

When we did it we did not have to get off of the bus. Our passports were collected, brought to a building to be checked, and then brought back to us.

[caribill]

2 hours ago, Urban trekker said:

Italy52 - did you load your luggage onto the bus or did it come straight from the ship.

 

When we did it, Princess took care of getting the luggage to the bus. From the time we left the suitcases outside of our cabin until we reached the Seattle airport we did not see or handle them.

[Italy52]

7 hours ago, Urban trekker said:

Italy52 - did you load your luggage onto the bus or did it come straight from the ship. If the latter it is considered to be in a secure place and doesn't need to be screened as the ship will have done it.

If the former you get a lucky break but normally you have to bring it in for inspection.

We had to claim our luggage in the terminal like usual and then we took it to the bus and handed it over to the bus driver (or someone who was loading the bus).  Our bus contained Princess as well as Holland America passengers.

[Italy52]

5 hours ago, caribill said:

 

It has been several years since we took this bus.

 

When we did it we did not have to get off of the bus. Our passports were collected, brought to a building to be checked, and then brought back to us.

That would have been nice but it didn't happen for us.  The passengers in the bus ahead of us had to also exit the bus and go through the checkpoints.  In fact, at the security checkpoint one lady had to remove the tomato from her sandwich because she was advised that tomatoes could not be brought across the border. 

[Italy52]

Just a heads up for those wanting to use the Princess shuttle, make reservations ASAP as I think they operated with limited capacity.  When our TA made our reservations we were fine.  However, I did hear stories of some people having trouble securing reservations with Princess.

[partybarbie]

I got off the Vancouver transfer bus yesterday. The bus didn’t leave until 11:00 am. Due to the construction on 5, we didn’t arrive until 5:00 pm. Several passengers missed their flights and were scrambling to re-book while on the bus. 
 

The cost was $58 per person. You pick up your own luggage in the terminal, take it through Canadian customs and load it on the bus. When we crossed the border into the USA, everyone had to get off the bus, show their passports, and go through US customs. Any hand luggage comes off the bus with you and is X-rayed. The luggage under the bus stayed on, but the bins were opened for the drug sniffing dogs. Everyone in line was also sniffed by the dogs. Luckily no had any drugs. 
 

The entire experience was a Royal pain in the butt, but so is flying. You will have to pick your own poison.