Travel Options from Bellingham, WA to Vancouver, BC Cruise Terminal

[Purple Gallinule]

For us, travel to Vancouver is a very difficult and expensive affair. When we sailed on Majestic Princess in July 2022, we were exhausted by the time we got to our hotel in downtown Vancouver.

We know we can easily fly to Bellingham, WA on Southwest, but have no idea about possible transfers or other means of travel to get from there to the cruise port.

Do any CC members have information or tips about possible Princess transfers, buses, trains, or other shuttle/taxi services?

[VibeGuy]

The easiest option is QuickShuttle, which operates buses directly from the Bellingham Airport to Canada Place.   QuickCoach.com. Amtrak and Greyhound would require a substantial backtrack to the other end of Bellingham via cab or Uber. 

 

Princess does not market transfers from Bellingham.  
 

Uber and Lyft no longer allow booking of transborder rides, which is not to say you couldn’t negotiate with an individual driver for outside-the-app payment.  Same with taxis.  

 

One way car rentals are legal - Avis and Alamo are both willing for a price for pickup at BLI. 
 

Finally, for the thrifty and adventurous, it’s actually possible to use public transit with a brief walk across the border.   Really.   One uses the Whatcom Transportation Authority from the airport to Blaine, walks through a lovely park-like setting, on sidewalks, to the border, clears customs and immigration on foot, and then walks about a mile and a quarter to pick up TransLink to a light rail station. This isn’t theoretical - I’ve actually done it to board in Vancouver.    There are enough moving parts that you’ll wish you’d flown into YVR, however. 
 

 

 

[nini]

If you fly into Seatac, there are Princess transfers for the day of the cruise to the ship.

[Arizona Wildcat]

Quick Shuttle is great.  . . . and easy.

[Sprocket]

Check out Evergreen Limos they can take you right up to Vancouver, when we looked into possibly using them I thought they were quite reasonable.

[Purple Gallinule]

On 11/27/2022 at 2:42 PM, VibeGuy said:

The easiest option is QuickShuttle, which operates buses directly from the Bellingham Airport to Canada Place.   QuickCoach.com. Amtrak and Greyhound would require a substantial backtrack to the other end of Bellingham via cab or Uber. 

 

Princess does not market transfers from Bellingham.  
 

Uber and Lyft no longer allow booking of transborder rides, which is not to say you couldn’t negotiate with an individual driver for outside-the-app payment.  Same with taxis.  

 

One way car rentals are legal - Avis and Alamo are both willing for a price for pickup at BLI. 
 

Finally, for the thrifty and adventurous, it’s actually possible to use public transit with a brief walk across the border.   Really.   One uses the Whatcom Transportation Authority from the airport to Blaine, walks through a lovely park-like setting, on sidewalks, to the border, clears customs and immigration on foot, and then walks about a mile and a quarter to pick up TransLink to a light rail station. This isn’t theoretical - I’ve actually done it to board in Vancouver.    There are enough moving parts that you’ll wish you’d flown into YVR, however. 
 

 

 

Thanks a lot. We will definitely look into QuickShuttle.

[GTJ]

On 11/27/2022 at 4:42 PM, VibeGuy said:

The easiest option is QuickShuttle, which operates buses directly from the Bellingham Airport to Canada Place. QuickCoach.com. Amtrak and Greyhound would require a substantial backtrack to the other end of Bellingham via cab or Uber.

If the schedule works out, Quick Coach Lines is certainly the least complicated service to use, given its pick-up at the airport in Bellingham and its drop-off at the port in Vancouver. The company is still recovering from the pandemic, and has not yet revived its full schedule. Thus, do check to see if, at the time of your anticipated travels, that the schedule will be sufficient. One other option to consider is the bus line MTR Western, for which tickets are sold by FlixBus.

On 11/27/2022 at 4:42 PM, VibeGuy said:

Finally, for the thrifty and adventurous, it’s actually possible to use public transit with a brief walk across the border. Really. One uses the Whatcom Transportation Authority from the airport to Blaine, walks through a lovely park-like setting, on sidewalks, to the border, clears customs and immigration on foot, and then walks about a mile and a quarter to pick up TransLink to a light rail station. This isn’t theoretical - I’ve actually done it to board in Vancouver.

Okay, I'm impressed here. Time permitting I would be tempted. That said, I am not particularly thrilled with having to walk alongside highway 99 between the border and Eighth Avenue. Nonetheless, there does appear to be, on the east side of the highway, a parallel local road, and a pathway, both of which lead to the exit ramp for Eighth Avenue, all of which could be walked with reasonable safety. The bus stop on King George Boulevard appears to be a bit desolate and remote, with only a bench and waste can, but the half-hour frequency on weekdays, and every 20 minutes minutes on weekends, on route 375 to the Guildford Exchange, is not bad service. You imply that the 321 route is better, since it goes direct to the King George station, but that route only makes a few trips in the morning and late night, and would seemingly be impracticable at most times.

[VibeGuy]

Yes, the walk path along the E side of Pacific Highway, parallel to the golf course fence is perfectly pleasant.  The part skirting the roundabout wasn’t as bad as I thought it might be, and yes, that bus stop is rather isolated.  
 

I’m pretty sure I  didn’t go via Guildford, though (I stay at the Sheraton nearby there fairly often).  I made a connect somewhere that took me either to either Richmond-Brighouse or Bridgeport.  The details are fuzzy. 
 

I had a waitlist clear very, very late for one of the one-night repositioning cruises on Princess, and NOTHING was available from Seattle - Bolt, Greyhound, Amtrak (train and bus), Quick, cruise line transfers, all three airlines.   Even with my corporate code, Avis wanted more than I was willing to stomach, so I started noodling how to do it with public transit.  I started in Tacoma about 0500, and sat down to lunch in the dining room just before 1300, using Sound Transit bus, Community Transit, Skagit Transit, Whatcom Transit x 2, Translink x 2 and Canada Line.   Everything ended up lining up absolutely perfectly - if it hadn’t, I was going to grab an Avis in Bellingham and worry about the cost later.  
 

Not exactly recommended, but it’s actually a very scenic ride from Bellingham to Blaine and you can stop for an ice cream cone at Edaleen Dairy, which makes any trip better.