Purchasing transfer at airport

[quillwercruisers]

Is it possible to purchase a transfer to the port at the airport? (YVR) if it makes a difference. Purchased it for hubby and I and our travel companions thought their TA added the transfers to their reservation, but just realized that didn't happen. We board tomorrow. I know there are other means of getting to the port, but they would feel more comfortable riding the transfer with us instead of by themselves. TIA.

[julig22]

It just depends - they charter as many busses as they think they need, there is usually space for a few extras. So there is a good chance it will be OK - but be prepared to come up with a plan B if necessary.

[UKstages]

i don't think the problem will be finding available space on the bus. the real issue is whether or not they accept "walk-ups." i don't know that they have any capacity to charge your friends. they are not in the habit of accommodating people who haven't prebooked transfers. NCL won't accept a credit card at the airport and nobody is set up to run the charge through, anyway. it's possible they would give them a slip of paper and tell them to turn it in to guest services once onboard so they could be charged. but without a prearranged transfer there may be liability issues that would prevent them from taking your friends. but if they do welcome your friends and transport them to the pier, my best guess is that they won't be charged at all. i simply don't know that they have a way to do that. 

[julig22]

28 minutes ago, UKstages said:

i don't think the problem will be finding available space on the bus. the real issue is whether or not they accept "walk-ups." i don't know that they have any capacity to charge your friends. they are not in the habit of accommodating people who haven't prebooked transfers.

I'm not sure how they handle walk-ups but I know they have taken them in the past.  I suspect they take your cabin # and let NCL know and it gets charged to your onboard account.  In fact, I've been told by NCL to just be a walk-up more than once, when I was wanting to book a transfer even though I was arriving the day before, planning to return to the airport. I said absolutely not, I wanted a guarantee they had room.

But it might also depend on the port.

Edited May 13 by julig22

[hallux]

5 hours ago, julig22 said:

I'm not sure how they handle walk-ups but I know they have taken them in the past.  I suspect they take your cabin # and let NCL know and it gets charged to your onboard account

This EXACT thing happened to me and my sister in 2019.  We had transfers booked and paid for (sailing from LA), we should have been on the list.  The agent took names and cabin numbers when we checked in for the transfer and the next day we had charges to our cabins for the transfer.  It took a couple visits to GS to get the charges reversed.

[quillwercruisers]

As a follow up for those interested:

 

We checked in with the NCL folks at the airport (YVR). They took down their cabin number and charged it directly to the their cabin. We then checked in our luggage that was delivered to our room. It was a very seamless process, and appreciated that we didn't have to claim our luggage at Canada Place and check it in there.

 

Thanks for those that had responded.

[Raleigh Traveler]

Years ago we booked the transfers in advance.  A few years ago we spotted the NCL rep at the airport (I think Tampa) and asked about joining their bus as we had not booked. Was told yes, maybe $75 for us both and we could go wait on the bus until full. We stepped outside and right into a taxi for half the price. 

[schmoopie17]

On 5/13/2024 at 1:20 AM, julig22 said:

I was wanting to book a transfer even though I was arriving the day before, planning to return to the airport.

This is going to be our plan from LAX to the port, since we arrive a day early, staying at an airport hotel. My question is, how do you know the time and the location for the transfer if we decide to do this? I'm sure we'll end up scheduling the transfer ahead of time, just wondering about the logistics. If it's too much of a hassle, we might look into alternate arrangements.

[cruiseny4life]

19 hours ago, quillwercruisers said:

As a follow up for those interested:

 

We checked in with the NCL folks at the airport (YVR). They took down their cabin number and charged it directly to the their cabin. We then checked in our luggage that was delivered to our room. It was a very seamless process, and appreciated that we didn't have to claim our luggage at Canada Place and check it in there.

 

Thanks for those that had responded.

Just a quick word of thanks for coming back to let us know how this transfer worked out for your friends. I'm glad it worked swimmingly! 

[erisajd]

Glad to hear it didn't become a whiny complaint about how they could not be accommodated at the last minute because someone did not want to plan ahead . . . . it could have - very easily.  

[PugM0m]

37 minutes ago, schmoopie17 said:

This is going to be our plan from LAX to the port, since we arrive a day early, staying at an airport hotel. My question is, how do you know the time and the location for the transfer if we decide to do this? I'm sure we'll end up scheduling the transfer ahead of time, just wondering about the logistics. If it's too much of a hassle, we might look into alternate arrangements.

I would suggest try calling NCL. My husband and I have booked on the Joy in September with the BOGO air thru NCL, but did the 1 day pre-cruise deviation. They removed our transfer and I called and told them I was planning on going back to the airport the next day to take the NCL shuttle. Said they couldn't leave it on our bill, but told me where to go in the airport and what time to be there by. Since we are leaving out of Canada and they may fly us into Montreal instead of Quebec, he was also able to give me the time I would need to be back to the Montreal airport if that was were we ended up. 

 

[hallux]

1 hour ago, schmoopie17 said:

This is going to be our plan from LAX to the port, since we arrive a day early, staying at an airport hotel. My question is, how do you know the time and the location for the transfer if we decide to do this? I'm sure we'll end up scheduling the transfer ahead of time, just wondering about the logistics. If it's too much of a hassle, we might look into alternate arrangements.

Both times I sailed from LA I flew in the day before and used the NCL transfer.  Both times I used the hotel shuttle and returned to one of the baggage claim areas as directed by the TA I used for each trip.  I believe there's an NCL rep at each baggage claim to meet arriving airline passengers.

[julig22]

2 hours ago, schmoopie17 said:

This is going to be our plan from LAX to the port, since we arrive a day early, staying at an airport hotel. My question is, how do you know the time and the location for the transfer if we decide to do this? I'm sure we'll end up scheduling the transfer ahead of time, just wondering about the logistics. If it's too much of a hassle, we might look into alternate arrangements.

The NCL reps will be hanging out near baggage claim. They tend to not bring busses around until around 9 because they don't want to take you to the port any earlier. But the reps will be there earlier and take passengers to a waiting area. They should be around at least until early afternoon.

I've sometimes asked in the Roll Call what airline & time others are arriving to try to get an idea. So far, it's always worked out.

[quillwercruisers]

We flew in the day before and booked ours ahead of time. When we got our edcos, there was a transfer voucher that told us what time to be back at the airport and where.