Vancouver boarding issues?

[LindaKE]

Last year there was a long thread about the confusion at Canada Place when there were several ships boarding/disembarking. Apparently it was caused by the new season ironing out the kinks. Has that been an issue this year?

[scottbee]

Last year there was a long thread about the confusion at Canada Place when there were several ships boarding/disembarking. Apparently it was caused by the new season ironing out the kinks. Has that been an issue this year?

 

Last weekend (4 ships in town), there was a long wait, pretty much entirely due to a lack of US Immigration and Customs officers (yes, USA - you pre-clear before boarding so you don't have to in your 1st Alaska stop). As a Vancouverite I'm very sorry, but it's very much beyond the control of Vancouver, and firmly in the hands of a foreign (USA) government.

[LindaKE]

As a Vancouverite I'm very sorry, but it's very much beyond the control of Vancouver, and firmly in the hands of a foreign (USA) government.

 

Most of the boarding delays we'e experienced on our cruises can be attributed to US Customs, not the cruise line or the city where boarding. I'm crossing my fingers they'll get their act together quickly.

[Bunkie103]

We sailed on 5/4 from Vancouver and it was chaos! The baggage handlers were having an argument about who was going to do what job, and the lines kept getting longer. Finally they ironed it out and we did get moving.

 

When we got inside moved right through US Customs and on to check in with Carnival. The lady directing people into lines kept saying there was "no VIP line" because "everyone is a VIP" but she would ALLOW us to sit while we waited as a "special favor". When she finally put 4 rows of people on line I noticed a different line with only three people and I asked the woman who was last if it was VIP and she said yes, so we went there and were almost next in line.

[Putterdude]

We were at the beginning of the chaos at Canada Place last weekend and things went smoothly for us. However, from observation there was not a problem with enough US DHS people to clear the number of passengers but rather with the fact that central screening had only 5 scanners for some 7,000 or more passengers. The other issues were all of the cruiseline's (read Princess) shore new-hires not properly trained and they and the Canada Place people not reading from the same play book. However that is now over and things should run smoothly for rest of the season.