Transfer Vancouver to Seattle

[LindaKE]

Has anyone done this transfer? On the West Coast Departures board, posters mention the Quick Shuttle and Amtrak.

 

Apparently for the Amtrak trip, passengers clear customs when they board in Vancouver. At the border, there is just a quick walk through the bus by customs agents. The disadvantage is that passengers must get to the Amtrak station from Canada Place then get to SEA TAC on the Seattle end.

 

On the Quick Shuttle, passengers are picked up at Canada Place and delivered SEA TAC, but they have to totally leave the bus, claim their luggage, go through customs, then reload everthing and everyone.

 

Which experience would be closer to the HAL transfer? I'm thinking that it would be worth a little more cost if HAL delivers the best of both options - pick up at Canada Place, straight to SEA TAC, without the long border crossing. (I hope this isn't a repeat question. I had no luck doing a search. Maybe I was using the wrong key words.)

 

 

Thanks!

[Mary Ellen]

For convenience - HAL wins. I've used Quick Shuttle without problems. The border crossing went easily and quickly. However that would depend upon how well you can handle your own luggage. Also with the shuttle service there will be stops along the way such as the Vancouver airport, Bellingham, Everett... IIRC there was one (possibly two) shuttle departures that were 'express', omitting a good number of the stops.

[Krazy Kruizers]

We have used HAL's bus transfers several times.

On our last transfers the bus was sealed before we left Canada Place. That way when we got to the border, the agents saw the sealed bus. No one had to get off the bus. We were quickly waved on.

Just do not plan on a flight until after 4 PM. The last couple of times we did this the buses didn't leave Canada Place until 9:30 and 10 AM and we didn't get to Sea Tac until after 2 PM.

[USN59-79]

We used the QuickShuttle last month from Canada Place to SeaTac. Took the 9:00 Express one so only had the Downtown Seattle and Seatac stop. However, we sat in the bus for 2 and a half hours at the border waiting for the security people to come onboard and check us out. The actual check took about five minutes and we didn't have to get off the bus or unload the baggage. AMTRAK didn't look to be doable because there is one train too early and one train too late. This was at the end of a 23 day Princess cruise and we booked the QuickShuttle before the cruise. Found out later that Princess had a shuttle to SEA that was less expensive. So maybe the HAL option would be best.

Ray