Question: arrive the day before or the day of the cruise?

[Animalfarm]

We live in Seattle and will be crusing Alaska with Celebrity in May 05.

Would it be advisable to arrive the day before or can we plan to arrive the day the cruise departs since we are not that far away?

Were planning to take the Amtrak Cascades from Seattle, a 4-hour ride leaving Seattle at 0745, arriving Pacific Center Station (Vancouver) at 1145 am. We are travelling with our 5-month old baby.

Are the Amtrak train times reliable?

Are there any shuttles/transportation companies (cabs) that would have infant car seats that we need to arrange beforehand?

Would be grateful for any advise. Thanks!

[CaptData]

If you require speical things such as a car seat for the baby, you should contact whoever you plan to use and request it now. Also ensure the cruiseline knows you will need a crib.

 

 

Question what tours are you planning on? Will you need a car seat for them too? I suggest you bring the baby's car seat with you so that you have a reliable car seat that you know how to handle.

 

As for Amtrac, check their on time record for Vancouver. You may be delayed at the border. When I took this train it was almost two hours late due to some mechanical problem. You should still be able to make it.

[Animalfarm]

Thanks for advice.

[holomuku]

Animalfarm-

 

perhaps we're a bit conservative but we ALWAYS go the day before. We live in La Center WA (hey neighbor!) and usually fly out of PDX.

 

Things that can happen day of:

 

airport closed- PDX was closed for 3.5 days in January last year due to ice.

 

bridges closed (happened on 205- closed for 9 hours one day- hazmat fuel spill). Many, many folks missed flights because that's a major bridge to PDX. Then they couldn't get on later flights because they were all full. Very ugly.

 

border delays- had friends held up for seven hours at U.S./Canada border because some bonehead had spilled white powder all over the back of their truck. The feds that it might be some kind of explosive or whatever. Turned out to be talcom powder but it took time to get "test results"

 

car problems- if you're getting to Amtrak via vehicle- things can go wrong with that as well. One hitch and you can easily miss the train and ship.

 

our theory is- we've put out a good amount of $$ for the trip and the last thing we want to do is miss it or get on running, huffing and puffing, at the last minute. We invest in a moderate priced hotel, make sure we're there and then get a good nights rest. Especially with a baby- who needs more stress?

 

Hotels in downtown Vancouver can be pricey during cruise season. I've stayed in several mid-priced hotels in Richmond which is close to the airport and not far from town. I'm not sure where Amtrak goes into but there are reasonably priced hotels in some of the outer Vancouver areas. If you want to check out hotels you are not be familiar with I ususally go to epinions.com or tripadvisor.com and get info from them.

 

Enjoy your cruise- assume you're doing Alaska. We did that on the Mercury in 9/01-- beautiful sights, we had great weather.

 

Hope this helps.

[Animalfarm]

I guess that tips the scales over in favour of arriving day before cruise. We were used to travelling light and rushing from place to place before baby came....Guess now with all the stuff we have to bring for the little tyke, we'd better take more precautions.

 

Thanks for your input. (Know about the snowstorm in Jan last year. Were driving back to Seattle from Portland and I5 had to close just after we got back. That was a close call.)

[holomuku]

Animalfarm-

 

as you may have seen on the news tonight- an Amtrak train going Spokane- Portland went off the tracks. By the Grace of God- there was minimal serious injuries. I saw that two passengers, probably the most injured, were life-flighted to PDX hospitals, and fourteen were taken to our local hospital with minor injuries. Those without injuries arrived in Portland approximately 8 hours after scheduled time. How awful for the families waiting for them!

 

Not to scare you (or anyone else) but things just can happen. This train incident was unfortunate, but in many ways- they had some luck. They had just crossed the section of track that is over the river- needless to say had they gone off there- would have been much worse.

 

I still think it's safer to train/fly to a destination versus driving in many situations. This is just to show that things can and do go wrong.

 

As I said earlier- perhaps we're a bit too cautious- but haven't missed a sailing yet!

[familycruzer]

I like to arrive the day before the cruise. It takes the worry away about the what ifs. I only live 1.5 hours away from Bayonne NJ which is where our next cruise leaves from and I still have a hotel the night before. I went to park sleep fly dot com and got a package for $155. I have one night hotel stay, breakfast, transfers, and parking for 10 days.