turnin50

Thanks yeah we've stayed at the Hilton twice before love the location buyt wanted to stay somewhere different this time, so we ended up choosing Riverside for 2 nights before the cruise and Hyatt Place for 1 night after. Tons of people have recommended those two so I'm happy with those choices.

Thank you! As soon as we decide on how many pre-cruise nights we're staying I'm gonna book it!

Thank you! It def looks like a good option the Hilton Marina is over double the price

I've just spotted The Riverside online, have stayed at the Hilton Marina a couple times in the past but I like what the Riverside looks like (at least on their website) and the price is reasonable for Oct 2024. Is it close enough to airport and cruiseport to make it worthwhile?

We just got back (yesterday) from an 11 day cruise on Royal Vancouver to Hawaii. All crew and officers were masked everywhere, the ship seemed clean although didn't really notice constant sanitizing like I'd heard was going on. Most passengers unmasked and we were often packed in elevators with coughing and sneezing passengers, none of us really seemed bothered by that. No toiletries in the cabin bathrooms, room service would take sometimes over 2 hrs if they answered the phones at all so overall I think there was huge staff shortages. Having said that, I ended up getting covid (fully vax'd and boosted) and had to quarantine the last 5 days of the cruise.

My husband always brings his camera, he has a good quality backpack that fits all his lenses etc, it does take awesome pictures but I just use my phone. I think if you can carry it in a case without too much trouble take it.

Great tips thank you for sharing!

Yes we definitely need to hear from Canadians leaving on a cruise from Canada and not returning to Canada whether they were required to fill out the app hopefully before our cruise Sept 23

Will do. No doubt we won’t be the first at check in to question this so the check in agent should be able to advise us whether we need to fill it out and if so how.

Thank you Foremco for going through all this for us, the cruiselines really need to update their requirements as the government rules change its stupid to fill out ArriveCan if one is not technically arriving! We are sailing with Royal Sept 23 from Vancouver to Hawaii not returning to Vancouver on the ship, we are not going to fill it out and if for some reason upon check in the person asks us I guess we'll do it right there! Hopefully Royal isn't as clueless and HAL.

My husband also let his expire before he started the renewal process, approval took 14 months no interview and his card came 2 weeks after approval, also doesn't expire till Mar 2028. I think they're finally getting thru the backlog.

Fingers crossed you get it soon

Oooops I'm sorry I didn't know I couldn't use that word, my bad. 🤐

My husband had retired since his last Nexus activity but I dunno if that had anything to do with the long wait, he did apply to renew right smack dab in the middle of Covid chaos so I'm thinking that played a part and I might add he got NO notification of his card expiring, nether of us had even looked at our Nexus cards since our last trip to the US Nov 2019. Wouldn't have even realized it expired if he hadn't dragged it out for picture ID for one of his pension applications. Glad they may be getting their ***** together finally.

Finally eh? Mine expires Oct 2024, you can bet I'll start the renewal process as soon as the website allows me, Oct of next year.

Thats ok I'm glad his came. I'm guessing your husband's was slightly quicker cuz it came from the east, ours had to come all the way to the west lol The approval wait time was almost the same.

Absolutely I'm still old school I print out everything plus I have documents saved on my phone. I did email them but since we live here its a 5 min cab ride to the peer we won't be frazzled when we get to the pier, if they for some reason ask us to fill it out and have a way around the arrival question then we'll just step aside fill it out and get back in line lol I'm done stressing about it, I'm sure you're right they have it on their website for most of the cruises (Alaska) that leave out of Vancouver and return to Vancouver. Thanks everyone, I feel much better.

By the way, you joined Cruise Critic on my Birthday 😁

I want to thank you both broberts and Foremco for so patiently addressing my concerns, I felt this way at the beginning also but of course the more answers I get the more I start to doubt myself. I will not question this anymore lol

Some are saying that its a requirement by Royal Caribbean based on this: . "ArriveCAN: All guests - including Canadians - or their legal guardians, must submit the mandatory travel information required by the Canadian government prior to boarding the cruise ship. Guests can complete the form on the ArriveCAN website or via the app available in the AppStore or on Google Play. Once completed you'll need to print or show the QR code provided at boarding." Taken from the safety protocols for cruises departing Vancouver on Royal's website.

I agree thats what it looks like to me too, I've read Royals safety protocols I've emailed them about it and read on our governments website but its not clear on this particular situation.

No cuz right off the get go it asks how we are ENTERING Canada (land sea or air) which we are not so there's no real way for us to answer that question. Our cruise has no stops in Canada, it boards in Vancouver and ends in Hawaii, there is no entering Canada for us on this particular cruise.

I dunno, I guess we’ll fill it out as best as we can before we board to be sure. I’ve had several friends that have cruised Alaska round trip Vancouver with Holland America who also had to have it filled out before and after AND the app called Verifly as well, Holland American and Carnival both require that one too!

And yet I've read on numerous threads that some cruiselines like Royal are requiring it just to board regardless. We are on a Royal leaving Vancouver ending in Hawaii and live in Vancouver so not ARRIVING in Canada until we fly home after the cruise and I've read we all have to have it filled out before we board!