Kevin's girl

On 8/20/2024 at 1:19 AM, Texas travelers4fun said:

Kevin’s girl…We were very happy with the Aubrege Vancouver also.  The hotel was perfect to walk to the port. Not a hard walk at all. It was a great choice and we would stay there again. Hope you have a wonderful trip! We just got back a couple of weeks ago on a 14 day b2b and it was wonderful.  This was our 8th trip! We obviously love Alaska

Thank you for coming back to let me know. I'm really happy to know that you were happy there. We are getting so excited for our trip.

Thank you so much for taking the time to write your review. I will be cruising on the Solstice in September and can't wait. It will be our third sailing on the Solstice and second in Alaska. Your review helps pass the last 34 days of waiting 🙂

On 6/24/2024 at 1:51 PM, goofy2010 said:

We stayed there last year for our trip and enjoyed it.  It was close to everything we wanted and were able to walk to and from the Vancouver port.  We would definitely stay there in the future if we get the opportunity.

Thank you for the positive thoughts. Really looking forward to our trip.

Thank you for the link and the simplified explanations. I have ordered a four pack and will give them a go. We have Tile fobs for our keys but airtags seem more user friendly and more up to date technology.

Would someone please do a simple Air Tag for Dummies kind of explanation of how these work? I understand it would pair with my iphone and I can somehow find where my bag "is", but what do I need to do to pair it and then retrieve info from it? If I were to fly into Vancouver for my cruise, but my bag doesn't, say it stays in my connecting airport of Dallas. How will I know that? What do I need to do to see? Not being dense about it, just want to know what I have to do to get the most out of it if I buy one. Thank you for any help.

16 hours ago, TMLAalum said:

@bigbenboys Found the way, thanks!

Purchased my class. How do I reserve the date/time?

Our very 1st Celebrity cruise was on the Eclipse in 2010. We've sailed her 4 more times since and never experienced the Hot Glass show or class. Looking forward to bringing home an amazing souvenir.

I've been told to go straight to the Hot Glass area as soon as we board to sign up for day and time for my class. I can't wait to do this, it will be our 4th Solstice class cruise but my first time trying this.

I have pre-booked my class for our September cruise. Thank you to everyone for the help.

12 hours ago, GlitterFemme said:

 

For what it's worth, last month on Eclipse there were no pieces under $120 (the base cost of the class).

Good thing to keep in mind. Thank you.

On 6/7/2024 at 4:34 PM, LeeW said:

The demo show will be during sailaway, and once they start the show they quit signing you up for times until done with the large glass piece they are doing.  So get there ahead of the scheduled time.  Don't book for the last day - glass really needs to sit overnight in a warm oven to avoid cracking.  Normally you do your piece and pick it up the next day.

 

Prices onboard may be cheaper if you choose a smaller piece than booking in advance where the price is fixed.  Recommend you bring some bubble wrap/tape with you.  They wrap them pretty well but we prefer more.  

Bringing bubble wrap is a great idea. Thanks.

On 6/13/2024 at 1:13 AM, Texas travelers4fun said:

We are booked there for July 19th! Would love to know more about the hotel.  Thanks!

Please post your thoughts after your trip. I would love to hear what you think of the hotel.

2 minutes ago, CaroleSS said:

As an addendum......use the search feature and look for hot glass. There are lots of photos of the items you can make and how the payment goes for the different pieces.

Thank you so much for the help.

I would really like to do this class on our Solstice cruise in September. When I selected the class and added it to my cart it went directly to payment for the class. There were no choices for days or times for class choices. Has anyone done the class? If so, were you ever given a chance to pick day/time or was it just assigned?

My husband and I will be staying here before our cruise in September and would love to hear about recent stays.

Okay, I called Flights by Celebrity and they got our flight changed to the next day. We will be flying out at 07:32 with a 40 minute connection in DFW and home by 5:30 pm. Celebrity "guarantees" me that if our flight is late and we miss the connection they will fix it and get us on another flight without worry.

It will be nice to have an extra day to explore. I did really want to go to Capilano Suspension Bridge Park.

Celebrity also told me that the 11:40 flight that American had changed us to, did not meet the acceptable flight times for the Cruise line. They also said that changing us to another flight because of this was not supposed to cost us anything extra because of that.

On 3/20/2024 at 11:54 AM, cruiseryyc said:

I would seriously consider staying overnight in Vancouver and taking the early flight the next day.  Take your time getting off the ship, enjoy Vancouver for the day, have a nice dinner and then you have no hassles getting to the airport the next morning.

Okay, I called Flights by Celebrity and they got our flight changed to the next day. We will be flying out at 07:32 with a 40 minute connection in DFW and home by 5:30 pm. Celebrity "guarantees" me that if our flight is late and we miss the connection they will fix it and get us on another flight without worry. Again, fingers, toes and paws crossed.

It will be nice to have an extra day to explore. I did really want to go to Capilano Suspension Bridge Park.

9 hours ago, DogLover said:

Fingers, toes and paws crossed you will have no problem with the 11:40 departure!

Exactly! We will have two dogs and a cat also crossing paws, hoping that we make that flight.

3 hours ago, NavyVeteran said:

I've changed my plans completely. I booked the Princess transfer from the ship to SEA and a flight leaving SEA at 6:07 pm. The information on the Princess Travel Summary on TRANSFER VANCOUVER TO SEATTLE AIRPORT says "Passengers making their own arrangements out of Seattle must depart no earlier than 4:00 P.M." so I should be OK with a 6:07 pm domestic flight. The total cost of the flight and transfer is less than the cost of a flight from Vancouver. We do have a five hour bus ride however.

That really is a total change of plan. It's also nice that it's going to save you some money too. Enjoy your cruise and safe travel to you both.

23 hours ago, NavyVeteran said:

I had the same change on my nonstop flight from 1:42 pm to 11:40 am. Unfortunately, all of the later flights have connections. I can book a flight leaving at 1:30 pm but it has a connection, and we don't arrive at our final airport until about midnight.

 

If we were to book the 1:30 flight, the connection will be in Chicago and only a 40 minute connection time. O'Hare had been our return airport for over 20 years and I know it is usual to spend 15-45 minutes holding on a taxi way waiting for our gate to open. If that were to happen on this flight we would miss our connection and not be back to the Indianapolis area until the next day.

I think we will do a pre-booked limo and self disembark as soon as we can. We will have our happy little faces in a waiting line for Canada Customs as soon as they come on duty, the hustle to YVR and get through Security and US Customs as quickly as we can. Fingers crossed for success.

On 3/15/2024 at 12:39 AM, jeromep said:

Sailed out of Canada Place a few years ago.  Our sailing was the first Princess ship calling at Vancouver for the spring/summer season.  With only one ship in port, I wouldn't call it chaotic, but unlike other embarkation ports, there were very slow lines and many switchback queues.  It isn't a huge open facility like most modern cruise ship port buildings.  It's a lot like waiting in line at the DMV... with all your luggage.  On the outside Canada Place is a striking piece of mid-80s architecture, on the inside (at least in the cruise terminal portion) it looks like a Carter administration government building.  My local post office was built during the Carter administration, so I know how drab and boring that looks.  Come to think of it, when Canada Place is filled with cruisers trying to embark, it looks a lot like our local Social Security office... but everyone has luggage.

Something to truly look forward to 🤣

4 hours ago, Jim_Iain said:

Check your airline rules.   Most have a provision that if they change your flight by more than XXX number of minutes and you find it unacceptable, you can call in and have changed to a flight of your choice at no additional cost or full refund.   If booked with agent you will have to have the agent call.

 

That's great to know. Thank you.

10 hours ago, DogLover said:

Since you don't mention your date of arrival, I would check to see how many ships are in port for your debarkation date .... that could make a huge difference. We have done several cruises from YVR and wouldn't even consider a flight before noon, especially with multiple ships.

 

https://claalaska.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/03/VAN-Vancouver-2024.pdf

Thank you for the port schedule. It seems there will be us and two others in port when we arrive on the 22nd of September. It's going to be busy. It seems we have some thinking to do.

7 minutes ago, martincath said:

With several Ifs, it might be fine - but since you have another option just take that! Worst case you are indeed mobile enough to drag all your own bags off, use SkyTrain, are the only ship in port and end up at YVR very early... but if you don't check off all of those boxes, there's definitely a risk of missing it.

 

I really don't understand why Celebrity would even give that option, all the lines generally use 'arrival time plus 5 hours' here in Vancouver and even if it's a theoretical 6am docking, they know that nobody gets cleared before CBSA show up to start work at 7am so the earliest 'safe' flight time is never before noon!

You are saying exactly what I was thinking. I would have never booked it myself. Celebrity did not even explain what the change was. They said in the email that there was a change in this Record Locator and they would notify me of the details in 30 days. I had to go to the American Airlines website to see what was happening myself.

4 hours ago, lovecruzin said:

We generally fly from YVR around noon. We collect our bags in the terminal and catch a taxi, usually arrive at the airport by 9ish

We did Uber once, won’t  do it again, flat rate taxi in the terminal was easy and convenient. 

Thank you, I was going to handle the transfer next. Nice to know the taxi is a good idea and that the timing should be okay.

6 hours ago, Milhouse said:

I think the general concensus you'll receive is that 11:40am is going to be enough time.  

 

As mentioned by leaveitallbehind, the airport is reasonably close to Canada Place/the terminal.  30mins is a good estimate.

Just as a data point, I left my house (which is slightly further than Canada Place) for the airport at 6:30am for a 9am transborder flight on a recent Tuesday morning, got to YVR at 7am, and had plenty of time to spare to browse duty free and grab some food in a lounge. You may need a bit more time due to the added cruise pax volume.  I think many airlines recommend being at YVR about 2.5hr to 3hrs before a transborder flight (though I think 3hrs is a bit excessive).  

 

Addressing some of the potential bottlenecks:  

There aren't any labour disputes on the horizon at the port to delay luggage. (knock on wood)

Skytrain to the airport is pretty quick and convenient if you don't have a lot of luggage.  There is a short walk from the terminal to the skytrain station and from the YVR station into the airport.  And if you are travelling midweek on the Skytrain, it does get kind of crowded in the morning.  There are some open areas for luggage (and bikes) but it's generally not as convenient to sit with your luggage (vs standing with your luggage)

If you take a taxi or uber, there are multiple routes to the airport (save for the final stretch) in the event one gets congested due to an accident.  If you take an uber, you do have to walk about a block outside the terminal to get to the designated ride sharing pick up areas.

The check-in lines at YVR can get long but you can mitigage this by doing online check-in & baggage drop off of course.    

The security and US pre-clearance lines can be long.  They do have a Nexus lane.  (Funny that the regular security lane was faster than the Nexus lane when I flew recently.)  You can also potentially pre-book a security screening time to avoid the line.  They also seem to have a new Nexus process for US pre-clearance which is much streamlined IMO.  

Thank you very much, I really appreciate the info about the possible bottlenecks too. This does make me feel better about this change and our chances of making the flight.

39 minutes ago, Rick&Jeannie said:

If they did not offer any type of "warning" that the flight was no longer "legal" then they must feel that it is doable.

Thank you.