bcwife76

Thank you for this post. No one likes to be a cautionary tale and now you are. I would say you have grounds for appeal too, but I guess it depends how far you want to push this. I'm sorry this has happened to you though 😞

Holy moly! Husband and I mailed our renewals in via Xpresspost on November 7th (we are in Surrey BC and I just couldn't be bothered to wait at our local passport office or Service Canada office). They were received in ON on November 9th. Our credit cards were charged this past Monday, November 20th and I just received them today, November 24th!! That's less than 10 business days - by mail!!! Colour me happily surprised.

43 minutes ago, gnome12 said:

I had no issues at all mailing my passport in. The only suggestion I have if you do so is to make absolutely sure that you have filled in everything and that you send in all of the requirements. If you don’t, it will slow down the process. 

Oh yes, absolutely. Double and triple checking if we end up going the mail route for sure!

On 9/3/2023 at 9:43 PM, dawnvip said:

A few things to report of my recent passport renewal:

 

-zero appointments available at any office in BC in the next 30 days, so I'm prepared to wait.

 

- spent 2.5 hours in line-up at passport office in Surrey to be told I would not be given a number because they could not process any more that day before closing at 4 PM (I reached the front of line at 10:50 AM)

 

- next morning I went to a smaller (hoping to be quieter) Service Canada office at 8 AM (half hour before opening) to find a line-up outside of about 50 people. Took 2 hours to get to front of line, get a "number" and another 2 hours to actually see the agent for renewal. I clocked the time with an agent at about 15 min per person to renew passport (so I had a good idea how long it would take for my number to be called!)

 

- the "check the status of your passport" website is a joke. Even though I have a file number and all required personal info, the site is actually a request for status update - which takes up to 10 DAYS for a response. My estimated date of arrival is 30 days after submission.

 

- you cannot renew a passport that has more than 6 months remaining unless lost/stolen/out of pages for a visa

 

- new passports have issues with curling/warping, especially in humid environments which some countries have an issue with, and may not accept, so be warned and keep new passports in a ziploc bag and between two heavy books when not in use!

This is very helpful, thank you. My husband and I now have just under 6 months remaining on our current passports. I was hoping the online renewal would be up and running soon but I see no updates since they first announced back in May (shocker). We have no travel plans until summer 2024 so I think we will wait a few more weeks but if online is not up and running by end of October I guess I need to (a) wait at Surrey (my closest passport office) (b) wait in Langley (my closest Service Canada office) or (c) mail it in (which looks favourable to me because I don't feel like wasting half a day in line for this and like I said, no travel plans for the next 10 or so months).

We were on the Dream last month, 11 night Northern Europe from Copenhagen to Southampton. This was our 11th Disney cruise and we had a fantastic time. The food, for the most part, was very good (with some exceptions), the 'free' ice cream was SO MUCH BETTER than the stuff they serve on the ship in North America. The quality of the produce was definitely better too. The ship was quite full, about 85% capacity. Travelled with my family of 4, none of us got Covid. Just giving another perspective 😉

2 hours ago, VibeGuy said:

Not a single Seattle-based sailing stops in Prince Rupert.  The OP was specific in his ask. 
 

Oceania Regatta has 7 night roundtrips this summer from Seattle stopping in Prince Rupert.

7 hours ago, ChanaC said:

Thank you!

 

I'm actually also flying Los Angeles to Vancouver! I've never actually flown into Canada before. Is there anything I should know ahead of time?

I don't think so. All the info they need to know is attached to your passport. It's no different that flying into any US city, though depending on which gate your flight gets in to, you might have a long walk to customs. You will pass at least one set of restrooms as well (trust me, this question gets asked a lot haha). Customs kiosk, then customs agent, pick up your luggage and off you go (you will get a slip of paper at the kiosk that must be handed in to the customs guard that is waiting near the end of baggage claim, can't miss it, everyone goes out the same direction).

We are Canadian (live in Vancouver) and recently flew from Los Angeles home. We did not use ArriveCan, we used the kiosks at customs (which everyone has to use regardless of whether or not you have ArriveCan) and then just a couple of short questions from the customs agents. ArriveCAN is obsolete now as far as we are concerned so I don't know why they even try to push it. 

We flew with Westjet to the US at the end of December; we attested to being vaccinated during online check in but no one asked us at the airport. Still brought our cards (and the QR code) just in case. 

Wonder when the US will drop their final travel restrictions (we are all vaccinated, but still wonder).

I'm assuming they would take the casino out if they actually did buy this ship. Disney doesn't do casinos on their ships. And it would need a lot of modifications to look like the other Disney ships. Interesting prospect though.

Westjet definitely has direct flights to MCO from YVR but I don't know if they are offered all year long and they are only once a week. So probably not a big help to you. Definitely try and break up the flight if you can and spend a day in FL so it doesn't seem as bad. We've looked at PR cruises before too but then looked at flights from Vancouver (or lack thereof as you are finding out) and went nope. Once you get it sorted out it will be worth it in the end to enjoy your fabulous cruises 🙂

You're going to find the answers will vary from cruise line to cruise line. You didn't mention which cruise line you are sailing with. Perhaps you would get more specific answers if you posted on the cruiseline boards (Princess, NCL, etc).

1 hour ago, arxcards said:

Why Disney? What makes Disney cruising most special to you?

So I will preface this by saying we have not cruised on any other liners (yet). We've had a few NCL cruises booked (and cancelled) and one on the Carnival Mardi Gras booked (and cancelled) so I don't have anything to compare it to.  We are a Disney loving family lol We also own DVC at Aulani in Hawaii. So clearly we love the Disney product. It's a people trap, set by a mouse 😉 As for the cruises, it feels like coming 'home' to us, esp the Wonder. The service is fantastic (yes there are hiccups sometimes but we've always had them sorted out). The shows are amazing, the rotational dining is a Disney-only concept and really cool. Your servers get to know you very well (and you, them).  For us it's an environment where there is something for everyone in our family - teen clubs, kids clubs, adult only spaces, pools to share, adult only pools, family dinners, adult only dining, family activities like Bingo, trivia, and silent disco. Adult only like dancing, adult trivia and adult only silent disco.  I don't know if I'm adequately describing why we like (love) Disney cruising but there's a snippet anyway 😉

I'm excited for you all down under to get to experience the Disney Wonder out of your backyard! The Wonder is our fave ship, we live in Vancouver so most of her itineraries are easy for us to get to. Out of 10 cruises we have sailed (or will have come December) on the Wonder 7 times. Someone mentioned why the Dream or Fantasy aren't being sent down under and there are many reasons for this, the most important being that apparently those ships are too large to make the Panama Canal crossing to get to the west coast in order to do a trans pacific crossing. I'm no engineer so can't give you all the stats, but this is mentioned quite frequently on another Disney board I frequent. 

20 hours ago, Ashland said:

Flying on Air Canada next weekend from Los Angeles to Vancouver. Will we need to be masked for the flight and at the YVR airport?

I don't know about the LAX part but during the flight they will ask you to put your mask on once you enter CDN airspace and yes you will need to wear it the entire time you are in the Vancouver airport.

11 hours ago, DLASflyer said:

Doubt it. They still require masks in airports and on airplanes. You also must be vaxxed even for a domestic flight in Canada.

Masked on flights within Canada, yes. But the vaccine requirement to fly within Canada has been dropped.

On 9/3/2022 at 5:40 AM, logan25 said:

Thanks for a really good laugh

 

 

Right? Like I need my 2.5yr old in a bar with me when they should be in bed or the nursery. Thanks but mom and dad need their ADULT time too.

Departure of the Disney Wonder is now delayed due to the tug boat strike 😞

6 hours ago, PookyCat said:

I'm going to be sailing the Wonder soon and I'm curious as to how big the glacier explorer boat was and how rough was the trip?  I have to be careful with seasickness but would love to get closer to a glacier!  Plus, there's a 100% chance it will be raining the day we are there.  LOL - just my luck.
Thank you!!  

We had absolutely gorgeous weather on our excursion and the water was NOT rough at all. Even on a rainy/over cast day I don't think it would be rough to be honest. 

I'd say the boat holds roughly 150 people? You can free donuts holes and hot chocolate on board and there is a small concession to buy other drinks and snacks. I had a glacierita lol and my husband had a beer. We ended up switching drinks half way through, the glacierita was strong and a bit too sweet for me!

No pirate night, no fireworks on a Disney cruise to Alaska. They  have the Frozen night Freezing the Night Away deck party which is being held on glacier day this year.

Yes, we were on the Wonder July 25th to August 1st. 

Happy hour at Signals bar (the bar by the adults only pool) every day from 4:30-5:30

Most of the other bars (they might be Azure and Crown and Fin one night, Cadilac and French Quarter lounge the next night ) usually from 10-11pm would be happy hour. 30% off drinks that were $15 or less. If you ordered a double, they would charge you for two singles and then take the discount off, too 😉

Just got off our cruise on Monday. The day of the glacier our captain announced we would be going up Tracy Arm vs Endicott. We were on the small boat glacier explorer and got SO CLOSE to the glacier, it was fantastic! Our ship, Disney Wonder, was still a fair distance away. We did Endicott in 2017, also on the Wonder, and got way closer on the ship that year. That was end of August 2017 vs end of July 2022.

6 hours ago, mpk said:

 

Please confirm that I have this correct 😀

 

• no virus test required upon initial entry into Vancouver
• virus test required (by Canada) before boarding a cruise embarking from Vancouver

Correct!

3 hours ago, Ashland said:

We cruise out of Amsterdam next Tuesday the 26th....hoping pre-cruise test will stop but doubtful RCI will make the change that fast.

 

But maybe for our Sept 18th cruise out of Vancouver.

Almost zero chance there will be any changes to your cruise out of Vancouver unfortunately. Those fall under the PHAC (public health agency of Canada) and in their return to cruising rules, testing is a part of that. Considering our CDN govt is holding onto ArrivCAN with a death grip and bringing back 'mandatory random testing' at major airports, they won't be making any changes to cruises that leave from Canadian ports this year, no matter what happens in the US.