martincath

Best - IMO, that's to fly direct in the first place rather than add a separately-booked land trip and 4ish hours to the equation! But your options are - Amtrak Bus, QuickShuttle Bus, FlixBus (if your dates work, they have a very limited schedule at the moment as they literally just announced their presence last week, first day running is June 1), renting a car one-way, adding a separate short hop flight (tickets even now are often down around the hundred buck ballpark, but VERY dependent on date and time of flight...), or a truly ridiculous 'take ferry to Victoria then a different ferry to Seattle' option if you have at least a whole day free! Of these, QS is the least inconvenient for cruisers as they actually have a stop at the port. But frankly I'd consider flying out of Buffalo to Seattle - where at least you can front-load the extra land travel/border crossing - as US domestic flights tend to be cheaper than Canadian ones, bigger market, more airlines, much more competition.

The Canadian border post is Fraser. Ignore the mailing address in Whitehorse - that's the office where admin gets done, the actual checkpoint is in BC.

Yup - I'd just walk it, unless you see that the cab queue is short. If so, maybe load ALL the bags but just a couple of people into the cab while the others walk over! Sutton is moderately fancy - a bellhop should be available to help with the bags from the curb, but if they're all helping elsewhere then 2 folks allows one to head in for a trolley while the other guards the pile. Random, opportunistic property theft downtown tends to be more "Aha! A rental car with Shiny Things inside! Smashy-window, grabby-runny!" but an unwatched pile of suitcases might also wander off... If you don't all have free data/calls in Canada, the citywide official WiFi network works perfectly well for messaging or even VOIP calls - some folks reported they even manged a video-proctored Covid test using it - so if you connect any WiFi enabled devices to #VanWiFi you can easily stay in touch while separated; makes it trivial to do different touristy things and meet back up for lunch etc.

Good to see an active local again @lx200gps ; I've been filling in with what I can verify online, but it's definitely best to get 'boots on the ground' Montrealer info!

You're definitely overthinking it Waldos! The App - or the website - is just a tool to supply the required information in a (hopefully) efficient, safe manner. There's absolutely no problem with someone being a 'second traveler' on another account before, or after, or simultaneously with having their own account. I'm a living example - although I've yet to actually cross the border without my wife, I have my login, she has hers, we have each others' passport, NEXUS etc. so we could both submit our own, or cross with her on mine, or me on hers. Usually I do all of our travel organizing, but when ArriveCAN first became a thing we were in the US so my lack of a smartphone made it much simpler to both cross back with her account than for me to find a printer to make a paper copy of the receipt. The only potential problem would be if Person X & Y each submit their own trip entry, but one or both of them also add each other... and even then, since they are traveling together (or they shouldn't have added the other) all the records will flash onscreen anyway. It might make for some extra questions, and possibly some amusement, from CBSA but it's unlikely to stop anyone getting in if you have duplicate entries for the same trip...

No worries - make those dang kids do some work for their free vacation!!! ;-)

Personally I'd bring your own rapid tests, book a proctoring slot online, and test in the comfort of your hotel to get observed results suitable for cruising - it's not only your cheapest option, but it's also the safest for you (local clinics which offer Molecular as well as Antigen tests will be full of rando locals who have tested +ve at home but need an observed Molecular test for their Golden Ticket, so ironically your chance of catching Covid while being tested is elevated!) But if you'd rather walk in somewhere, Go Rapid Test operates a walk-in downtown Montreal location as well as drive-thru sites, but I think they charge almost as much as here in BC for one with documented results that will satisfy cruiseline and airline requirements ($75); with the cheaper $40 test just to have someone hold your hand through taking a RAT 'for peace of mind' rather than for travel.

King Street station is picky about checked bags - we've seen them enforce a hard cutoff of 45mins pre-departure many times - so if you do need help with bags off the ship and to check them with Amtrak, you want to be off the ship in the earliest disembarkation group you can swing. If you can self-disembark, and humph your own suitcases up a few steps (King St does not have a platform at train floor height, little stepladders are put under each carriage door) you've got plenty of padding time - Amtrak does not cut you off from boarding like a plane does, if you don't need porters you can just roll in a few minutes before departure.

The simplest choice is to play it safe and have them make their own ArriveCAN entries - given we now know the ages of your sons I would actually recommend doing so given they are legal adults in Canada (even the little'un can go boozing ashore all he wants by himself, being >19!) Even if the confusion about one entry or multiple goes down the lines of a CBSA Agent asking "Why did you not just do one entry?" and you replying "My kids are no longer minors so I wasn't sure and played it safe!" - a) it's true, b) completely believable; and c) less bad than the alternative of using one entry because a rando on the internet told you to, then finding out that rando was wrong, and now your sons have to download the app with Canadian roaming data charges and fill it out never having done so before while an airport full of people stare at them! It's also a long-term sensible thing as they might want to cross the border themselves for other vacations in the future, so they'll have it and be familiar with it. Definitely use the flight arrival details and hotel address for your first entry. Whether a second entry is needed to board the cruise still has some wooliness - there are other reports than Waldos about not having done a second entry, just re-showing the first one, and being allowed onboard but personally I'd play it safe again as the type of crossing changes from Air to Marine. Free WiFi, a minute or two to change Mode and Date, it's minimal wasted effort. As to whether or not your 4 people can be included in one group - I believe they can, for an assortment of reasons including having heard multiple reports of family groups of cousins, aunts/uncles, in-Laws, grandparents who all live in different homes but are vacationing together using it successfully. I could also give you a long, and very boring, spiel about Canadian Government Style Guides and how everything about the grammar, format, word choice, and even what is not said on the ArriveCAN webpage adds up to '8 people who do not live together, and who are not even related, can travel together for the purposes of ArriveCAN' ;-)

If Halifax is your first Canadian port stop, then yes; otherwise whichever is the earliest stop is your Port of Entry for ArriveCAN and Immigration purposes.

Dearie me. Cunard seem to be even worse than their cheaper siblings in terms of customer service these days - that whole 'cancelling a bunch of tickets' affair will take a long time to be forgotten, if ever, by the folks impacted, and now nothing at all on ArriveCAN for a cruise you need to travel into Canada to board? Smallprint of course exempts them from legal blame - but it still sucks.

It seems like almost all the lines have adopted a policy of at best 'put current requirements somewhere in the FAQs on the website, but only tell pax on cruise date X that they must fill out ArriveCAN before boarding on X-10 days or so' - given the changing landscape of requirements it's not unexpected, but frankly I think they'd annoy their pax less by telling them a lot earlier!

Given that it's Security, not US Preclearance, that is causing all the problems right now Domestic flights are being impacted proportionately worse! 11am is still doable, but you really do need to be self-disembarking and know where to find SkyTrain in case the cab queues are already getting long. Even if you dock at 7am, you might find that Eclipse gets cleared to disembark first so all of their self-carry folks have taken the cabs - and Covid quarantine transport timing could interrupt passenger flow at any time. I would really want to be at YVR by 9am for a domestic flight - there's a very good chance of that if you are in the first batch of people off, as those would be well before 8am normally with a 30-35min cab ride/26min SkyTrain trip ahead. So if your kids are big enough to drag their own stuff, 11am is probably safe - but if we're talking strollers, you parents dragging your own plus a childs suitcase, change the flight to later in the day. Canada Place staff do enforce the 'one hand free to ride the escalator' rule, and the bottleneck of waiting for limited elevator space adds yet another delay for you.

I thought you might be working that event Dennis - any extra inside info yet, like street closures/maps? With stages at the pier, plaza and Harbour Green it seems likely to impact at least Canada Place and Cordova on some blocks...

I think @5waldosmakes a very good point - none of these things are really compatible with a tour, unless you would consider hiring a private guide for the day. The HOHO route might be altered on July 1st - we now have confirmation of the scheduled events for Canada Day and since there are things going on at both the pier and Jack Poole plaza the road itself between them will almost certainly be closed except for direct access to the pier for cruise transport vehicles. Normally there is a stop on Canada Place that may need to relocate somewhere else - probably just a block or two away and there should be signage. Local baseball is summer-only, very, very minor league - but in one of the oldest ballparks on the continent and (for a small, not completely enclosed one) IMO quite an attractive stadium. That's next to Queen Elizabeth Park, a great place to wander (and free, unless you go into the tropical plants & birds Bloedel 'biodome') but a distinct schlep uphill from the nearest SkyTrain, so a cab or Uber is definitely a good idea for anyone with mobility problems. Games starts at Noon on July 1st, and I'd arrive at least 30mins early even if you have dealt with your bags, an hour before if you will need them hand-searched. Key problems are luggage and transport - if you go to QEP, you will be unable to bring the suitcases into the ballpark as they have ridiculously strict rules these days (clear plastic bags or else a manual check, and even with a check the max size means not even a carry-on is allowed inside at all - details on the link to the team schedule above). You'll also have to backtrack to collect bags if you store them near the pier - but since the fireworks have been cancelled this year everything shuts down by 7pm. Depending on the time of your flight, that might mean no crowds at all when you come back - but it also rules out the pier storage itself as that shuts way too early. Frankly I'd drop the baseball unless you're mad keen on low-level sport, and also willing to rent a car or hire a guide with a car - the logistics of getting there in time and back for your bags, the length of time on-site restricting what else you can do, it has a really high opportunity cost. Check out the performers and the schedule for the celebrations here. You could squeeze in your Aquarium visit first - and you could walk back past all of the sites easily, Harbour Green park to Jack Poole to Canada Place on the Seawall if hubby feels up to it. Depending what aspect of his mobility is compromised, a strategic rental of a tandem bike or adult tricycle might be beneficial - so someone else can provide the muscle, or any balance issues are removed from the equation. Other kid-friendly, relatively compact options include Science World - DH can sit down here while the kid runs about. The park right outside it is very popular with kids, especially the zipline. Granville Island can be reached from here by the little ferries, and it's a good all-ages spot with one dedicated kids building, full of toy stores and an adventure play area up in the attic level. There's a mini water park outside, if you can handle bringing spare clothes/towels with you. Adventurous and picky eaters in the same resto? Somewhere with a very broad menu then, or a food court style option - Granville Island at lunchtime fits the bill well, as you can sit together but all order from different food prep places. If the weather is nice and you don't mind watching out for thieving gulls, you can sit outside and watch the buskers - plenty of indoor tables too. Food Trucks will also be around, more than usual given the holiday - but most of them will also be more daytime focused, so dinner is going to be more challenging. One of the better hotel restos will definitely work - you could eat some of the fanciest and most boundary-pushing food at Botanist in the Fairmont Pacific Rim near the pier, but the kiddo can eat chicken nuggets & fries from the generic kids menu. Normally I'd include links to all of these, but CC boards have been brutal recently at wiping out my longer posts while in the middle of making them - so I'm trying to stick mostly to plain text to see if that's more reliable. Googling all the restos & sites plus Vancouver will easily find them - but I linked the Vancouver Canadians baseball direct in case you get a sea of hits from such generic words...

No border testing for fully-vaxxed visitors to Canada since April 1st. So if you meet the criteria for boarding a Canada-bound vessel you are good to go @mauimary - in fact as cruisers on a port stop, you are even exempt from a random test being handed to you, unlike those who fly or drive in (which are free, but a hassle!)

Well, dang - that's the sort of thing that should really go on the front page rather than only appearing when you click to make a reso... apologies for mentioning them!

Doesn't matter a jot if you get off or not - the SHIP enters Canada, so either you complete ArriveCAN or you are barred from boarding the ship at all! It's at embarkation that the check is made.

Given it's Canada @Kitty Ellas Mom this page seems to cover your needs. Firstly, there's the general note that as a visitor with prescription drugs, you're allowed to bring them with you for personal use (and specifically addressing the 'original container' issue - not required); secondly, if you want to check into any specific meds there's a link there to the Office of Controlled Substances - which has contact info. Unless you're on prescribed narcotics, something experimental or only recently approved, there's a very good chance that the same meds are also prescribed up here... and if so, very likely being sold for a lot less!

You're looking for signs to the Canada Line platform - while there are other entrances, between lack of familiarity and luggage using the main foyer of the station building on Cordova is by far the simplest. Big brick thing, pillars outside the main doors, and as soon as you walk in from the street you will see multiple Ticket Vending Machines right in front of you - and elevators, stairs, and elevators down to Canada Line, which is right below your feet. Only remotely tricky thing is that trains from here go to two terminii - alternating between YVR and Richmond-Brighouse. All the electronic signs say which is next, and the front of the trains do likewise, but if you're rushing for the train and get on the wrong one there are announcements made onboard. Simply get off at any station, wait for the next train - it should be along in about 3 minutes weekdays, maybe a little longer weekends.

You're welcome - I recommend PLANNING to use SkyTrain, i.e. knowing where to go, ensuring you renew credit cards if necessary to get ones with Chips on for every party member (this allows direct 'tap and go' on the fare gates, rather than having to figure out the ticket machines - although the machines are fairly intuitive except for Fare Zones... Airport from downtown is a 2 Zone Trip so on a weekday that does make a difference). If you are RT cruising, familiarise yourself with the walk from Canada Place around to Water Street station on Cordova (ignore the tempting entryway on Howe right outside the pier, as that goes to the wrong platform - it takes longer to walk between platforms with suitcases due to the multiple level changes than to just stick to the street.) Since you'll walk past the bus/cab/limo area on the way out, you can assess on the fly - few people waiting? Jump in a cab! While slower than SkyTrain when traveling, it's door-to-door service so the 26min train ride vs. 30-35min cab ride becomes about a wash if you can hop right in... it's when the wait for cabs gets to 10mins, 20mins, 60mins that SkyTrain starts becoming seriously quicker rather than just cheaper (CAD$4.35pp for adults, $3 for kids/seniors, and on weekends knock another ~buck off all the ticket prices).

Actually at the pier is now Indigo - this changed since the last pre-Covid season, so any info on pricing etc. from then is not necessarily accurate any more. They now ask to contact them for long-term rates - back in TheBeforeTimes, it was something like CAD$25 a day. Impark run the other Convention Centre lot, as well as several others within a block, and conveniently have a 'parking near Canada Place' page right here.

Unfortunately, unless you get a set of highly detailed responses (how many ships, how many pax actually sailed on each, exact walk-off time, collect luggage in the pier or carry off yourself, wait for cab queue or walked to SkyTrain, time of arrival at YVR, already tested or did they need to test at YVR, how long did that testing take if needed, the exact date which you then followup by checking YVR departures to assess how many flights were leaving as right now very few flight routes are operating daily...) they'll be worthless to you @texasweather - and even if you do get topnotch info, due to CCs readership being small compared to cruising population so you'll still need to extrapolate from a very small sample size. Plus, nobody can predict how many Covid cases onboard your ship, nor how many Security staff will be off work with Covid on the day you need to travel... and these last two are probably the biggest potential sources of delays. To be blunt, there is no realistic way you can gather good enough data to help - unless you are willing to self-disembark and take transit to YVR, where at least all of the time from pier to airport becomes very low variability (slow walkers who just miss a train, can still expect to be at YVR within an hour of walking down the gangplank) I'd strongly advise bumping your flight later. Even on a hellabusy day, if you get to YVR before the first cruise buses start rolling in - 9:30am - then you beat the biggest hordes. Being tested before you arrive at YVR removes another major variable - and frankly being tested before leaving the ship is by far the most sensible choice, as then your line is on the hook for quarantine expenses! If you're all mobile enough to disembark with your bags, and don't need porters to help at the airport, then you can definitely manage to walk to SkyTrain it's less than a quarter mile. FWIW, if you bring your own eMed or similar tests to get those done before you hit the airport and you can handle self-disembarking, I'd personally still be comfortable aiming for that 12:25pm flight... in TheBeforeTimes us locals would regularly reassure folks that a 10:30am flight to the US was feasible, and even though security queues have been a major problem they have not gotten to the point of taking two extra hours so you should have about the same level of padding.

Well thank you kindly @willsaway, high praise indeed. Now I must go find a large pin to pop my inflated ego ;-)

Exactly - cabs will keep coming all morning until the Disembarking folks are dealt with, but the Embarking people will overlap with that so you can expect a constant flow, only stopping as it gets closer to sailaway time. Even if you're not interested in doing any touring, I'd recommend getting away from the pier for a while. I don't know how much YVR has been relaxing their normal rules about baggage check-in (for US-bound flights there's usually a cap of no more than 3 hours early, as there is limited space for the special scanning setup they have), but even with concerns about long security queues there's no point getting there much more than 3 hours early. So far, reports generally indicate that flights like yours face much more normal queues, it's the mornings that get ridiculous, so personally even without NEXUS/Global Entry I'd feel confident that a 3 hour pre-flight arrival will see you all killing close to two hours at your gate. These days we have multiple bag storage companies operating in an Uber-esque, 'locals do all the work, we hook you up with them and skim 30% off the top' format - and all of them are dirt-cheap compared to the official pier storage. I can't personally recommend any as I haven't used them - but searching these boards or just Googling will pop 4 or 5 different versions of the same thing. So you can free yourself of your suitcases for between $5 and $8 a bag, and have a pootle along the Seawall, go for Brunch, shop or whatever you like before heading out to the airport no earlier than 1pm, or even 2pm if you were me. Another possible tradeoff is to use PorterGenie - they charge a pickup and drop fee (total $25 for pier and airport) but will take your bags anywhere you want locally. Tot up the fixed fee and the $10 per bag and then compare to the savings by taking SkyTrain to the airport - actually easy enough even with bags, but a doddle without - at $4.35pp ($3 for >65s or <14s) instead of taking 2 cabs...