Desert Dawg14

Thanks martincath! There's some good advice there that I will use. The wife and I missed a flight several years ago due to some unforeseen congestion and I was told (in no uncertain terms) that it better never happen again, no matter how long we had to wait at the airport... So in order to keep peace and harmony, and as a matter of self preservation 😉, I now make sure to factor in a little more time pre-flight since the better-half doesnt care how long she sits in the airport...just she is there and ready to go. As a side note, we have an early check-in for the airport hotel (1030a) after getting off the ship so we were planning on taking Skytrain up and dropping off our bags. Is there a type of "day-pass" available for the Skytrain we can purchase that morning after getting off the ship which would allow us to go back to downtown, etc. and see the sights instead of having to keep buying tix or tapping our CCs?? It would be for Sunday but I don't quite get all the 'zone' issues for the tix. It would be nice to just buy it once and then scan the pass and go where ever we decide to. Thanks very much for all your help!

We are staying at the Fairmont Airport Hotel the night before our departure back to Seattle so I'm trying to get an idea of timing for a 6am flight. . If I read the above right, we will go thru Security first before we see CBP?? If our flight is at 6am to Seattle, I'm trying to figure out what time to begin the process since CBP doesnt get going until 4:45am. If we check in at 4:30am at the airline counter and then go thru security, will that put us at CBP at enough time to make the gate?? Or should we check-in earlier around 4am and possibly be among that "huge queue of folks" waiting on the doors to open?? I really hate running through the airport to my gate with luggage...

Headed to Alaska from Vancouver on HAL in May. From reading the very helpful info here on CC, we've decided the plan will be to drop our checked luggage early (say at 11am) and then wait till around 1-1:30p to actually check-in so that hopefully we can avoid the AM rush to board. Ship leaves at 4p so we know we gotta be checked in before the 90 min deadline. Questions I have are: - Is this still a good idea since the Marathon is also on embarkation day and finish line will be close by and may fill local eateries, venues etc with participants? Our idea is to get some lunch/coffee, etc nearby but are concerned we may face packed shops with the marathon folks. We'd probably just do the food court or a coffee shop as opposed to a sit-down restaurant. - The checked luggage drop off appears to be on Level P2. Any "tips" on which entrance and/or elevator to take to get down to P-2 from the street (we're walking over from another hotel downtown) to try and avoid some of the congestion? - I have also read there is a tunnel passageway to the Fairmont food court from Canada Place lower levels. Can you access the passageway from the P2 level or vice versa, in that we could actually get TO the CP P2 level for bag drop-off FROM the food court?? Then use it to get back out of CP and to the food court and AVOID the upper levels completely? - If the underground passage is not doable, is there a "best" way out of Level P2 back to the street out front to avoid the check-in area congestion until we return later in the afternoon? I appreciate any advice on it to make this as smooth as possible...

Thanks martincath and Crew News. Really appreciate the advice. I hadn't factored in the time involved for other passengers who may also want to self disembark and realize that delay could really push our time schedule back if there is a large group. Since the later flight departure times involve long connections, we are limited in our choices. I think we will take martincath's suggestion and look into staying that extra night and fly out early the next morning instead. It would definitely make for a less hectic disembark off the ship that last morning. And save us from maybe having to run through the airport with luggage in tow and hurdling chairs to make the gate like in those old car rental TV commercials...'cause I know who would be carrying all the luggage... Thanks again for your help. I'm sure I'll be back with more questions about Vancouver as we get closer to the trip.

I know this is quite a bit after the last post but maybe someone with experience will see this and offer some advice. Wondering if we can make an 11:20a flight out of YVR from our disembark off Holland Alaska cruise next year at Canada Place. I already learned that we need to do our own disembark with luggage asap at 7:30a (or when first available) and we will take the SkyTrain from the Cordova St station to YVR as suggested above. I estimated we would arrive at YVR at 8:15a or so, as long as there are no delays in docking etc of course. So will this allow for enough time to clear security AND US Customs?? We are trying to hop a flight back to the east coast and trying to avoid long waits at the airport, BUT dont want to push it time-wise either if it's cutting it too close based on past experiences or delays. Thanks for any help!