Help on Transport to Vancouver airport after Alaskan cruise

[cruiseryyc]

"They" are Princess. Princess has many ships in Alaska and has been doing this for years. I wouldn't say "they are incorrect." We've cruised with them before (and many other lines). I expect no problems. We even booked transfers with them originally with them knowing of these flights (which they thought were just fine), but decided to do a walk off.

 

QUOTE]

 

Sorry but I have to agree with Scottbee and Budget Queen; "they" (being Princess) are wrong and "they" have probably never actually been in a line up in the Vancouver airport trying to catch a flight. Princess agents on the phone do not necessarily know everything. It is not a domestic flight, you have to pre-clear US Immigration in Vancouver which can be fast or exceedingly slow.

[snoodqueen]

I just booked a cruise directly with Princess 2 weeks ago and we leave in 2 weeks. They told us for domestic flights that any flight after 11am was ok. For international they said 12 noon. Then they asked me if I where I was flying to. I said the US. They said they consider the US domestic and that any flight after 11am was fine.

 

Our flight is at 11:20am. We are taking a cab to beat the rush of the busses (Princess transfers) to the airport.

 

I work at YVR & US flights are not considered Domestic. Domestic is to Canadian destinations only and leave from the Domestic terminal. International passengers go through a different security gate between the Domestic & US terminals and rarely have a lengthy wait to get through as they clear customs in the country they land in. US bound passengers must clear US customs prior to boarding and often there are long lines to get through on ship days. By 11:30 a.m. it quiets down considerably. Passengers arriving by taxi/limo/private transportation no later than 9:30 a.m. should have no problem making an 11:30 a.m. flight.

[scottbee]

"They" are Princess. Princess has many ships in Alaska and has been doing this for years. I wouldn't say "they are incorrect." We've cruised with them before (and many other lines). I expect no problems. We even booked transfers with them originally with them knowing of these flights (which they thought were just fine), but decided to do a walk off.

 

We've done Alaska before with no problems. Of course, every trip is different.

 

Well, the only time a USA bound flight would be considered 'domestic' would be at the USA end, as it's already cleared USA I&C in Vancouver. USA bound (E Gate) flights have the longest lineups, and hence biggest requirement to be there early, due to the extra step involved vs Domestic or International.

 

Of course YVR might have completely changed since I was last there; 2 days ago.

[frogsinthecreek]

We are flying back to Boston but have a stop and change planes in Toronto. So, would we be considered a domestic flight from Vancouver since we are changing planes in Toronto? Would we then go through US customs in Toronto? That's what I was led to believe.

 

Also, I spoke with aerocar. They want an exact time for pickup at the cruise terminal otherwise they charge $1 minute wait time. The cost for 6 person limo was quoted as $63 + 12%tax + tip. Anyone know what time we could give them as a pickup time...i.e. what time we could be fairly certain of being off the ship and having our luggage?

 

This is our first cruise. Knowing what I know now, I probably would have booked the flight home the next day :(

 

Thanks for all the information!

[snoodqueen]

We are flying back to Boston but have a stop and change planes in Toronto. So, would we be considered a domestic flight from Vancouver since we are changing planes in Toronto? Would we then go through US customs in Toronto? That's what I was led to believe.

 

Also, I spoke with aerocar. They want an exact time for pickup at the cruise terminal otherwise they charge $1 minute wait time. The cost for 6 person limo was quoted as $63 + 12%tax + tip. Anyone know what time we could give them as a pickup time...i.e. what time we could be fairly certain of being off the ship and having our luggage?

 

This is our first cruise. Knowing what I know now, I probably would have booked the flight home the next day :(

 

Thanks for all the information!

 

If you are flying through Toronto, you can breathe a little easier as you will go through our Domestic terminal and not have the customs line here. You will clear US customs in Toronto before going on to Boston. Wow - Aerocar looks like a good deal until the wait time charge! Maybe you would be better off being in the first group of walk offs and just taking cabs.

[cflutist]

What time does your ship arrive?

 

We just got off the Island Princess in May (scheduled to arrive at 7:30 am, but we got in earlier). We were in the 2nd walk-off group.

 

I just looked at our Canada Line ticket stubs and they said 8:03 am and 8:04 am. That means we must have got off the ship, got through Canadian immigration, walked to the train station, and bought our $3.75 CAD tickets by that time. Caught the next train and got to the airport by 8:45 am.

 

If you are having Princess do your luggage handling, you must wait for a later Independent group. If you can handle your own luggage, you can walk off in the earlier groups.

 

As I said earlier, travel lighter ... we did 10 days (2-night coastal, 1 night in Vancouver, 7-night Alaska) with carry-ons (garment bag, small duffle bag, and two laptop bags, one of which held clothes and DSLR camera).

[frogsinthecreek]

What time does your ship arrive?

 

We just got off the Island Princess in May (scheduled to arrive at 7:30 am, but we got in earlier). We were in the 2nd walk-off group.

 

I just looked at our Canada Line ticket stubs and they said 8:03 am and 8:04 am. That means we must have got off the ship, got through Canadian immigration, walked to the train station, and bought our $3.75 CAD tickets by that time. Caught the next train and got to the airport by 8:45 am.

 

If you are having Princess do your luggage handling, you must wait for a later Independent group. If you can handle your own luggage, you can walk off in the earlier groups.

 

As I said earlier, travel lighter ... we did 10 days (2-night coastal, 1 night in Vancouver, 7-night Alaska) with carry-ons (garment bag, small duffle bag, and two laptop bags, one of which held clothes and DSLR camera).

 

Our ship is scheduled to arrive at 7:30 am. We are travelling with another family so not sure how much luggage they will have with them. Would it be a hassle walking to the train if it were raining? I wouldn't want to fly home wet!

[Budget Queen]

"They" are Princess. Princess has many ships in Alaska and has been doing this for years. I wouldn't say "they are incorrect." We've cruised with them before (and many other lines). I expect no problems. We even booked transfers with them originally with them knowing of these flights (which they thought were just fine), but decided to do a walk off.

 

We've done Alaska before with no problems. Of course, every trip is different.

 

"Good" argument= you got first hand information and you aren't interested and prefer to rely on secondary general information. No one is stating it is all the time, that would be easy. HOW many "Alaska before" are you talking about? 10/20? or is it 1/2 over years? Maybe the OP will benefit from a conservative plan.

[lulalarue]

Budget Queen has it right. We disembarked from Sapphire July 16 via Princess at "8:15" (which was in reality 9:00) for our 11:50 flight and if I hadn't asked the United attendent to bump us to the head of the check-in line, we wouldn't have made it. And as it was, they were closing the flight as we made the final sprint to the gate. If I had to do it over again, I'd self-disembark and take a cab/limo. Even though the airlines/TSA/customs personnel were efficient and working to capacity, they couldn't handle so many cruise passengers quickly. I worked for a Canadian company for years and had to travel to Canada often; I found clearing customs in Toronto to be vastly easier.

[cflutist]

And I have personally been there more than once, where I was over 2 hours in lines, between Immigration and security. You can NOT count on it being "empty".

 

I will still always recommend, being conservative at Vancouver airport, so what if you have to wait? It's a whole another story, if you are stuck in line, have the potential to miss a flight and not get out that day. Many people seem to think, they will just get on the next flight. Vancouver flights are limited and cruse days they run full. If there aren't any seats you aren't going to get out.

 

I made a quick decision a few years ago, after not getting out on standby all day, and ended up busing to Seattle, due to continued full flights the next day.

 

I totally agree with you. In the past when we took the Princess Transfers, it was a zoo at YVR with the lines snaking back and forth, back and forth. But ever since we learned of the Canada Line, we do walkoff and get to the airport at about 8:45 am before all the hoards of buses and their passengers do. We had a 12:50 flight (that was orginally 1:15) and I was still stressed out. We have done this several times now.

[scraplady]

After reading all the posts, I'm glad I booked a hotel for debarkation day and fly out the next day.

[frogsinthecreek]

Well, after reading all the posts and with the desire to keep our party of 6 together, we have decided to do express walkoff (carry our own luggage off the ship) and book a shuttle with vancouvershuttle.ca. They run shuttles to the airport every 20 minutes starting at 8 am. Cost is $14 pp versus $29 for Princess transport. As it turns out, Princess would not book us for transport to the airport for a flight earlier than Noon. Ours it at 11:30 am. I hope it works out! Thanks to all for the useful information.

[MeAgain2222]

We just arrived in Vancouver. We used the skytrain. For a Sunday afternoon it cost us $7.50 per person (4 of us). We had two large suitcases and each had a carryon and a backpack. There was plenty of room for us but again it was a Sunday...

[cflutist]

Yes, coming FROM the airport, there is a $5 surcharge. Going TO the airport, there is NO surcharge, either $3.75 (weekday) or $2.50 (weekends/nights) depending on the day.

 

Buses/shuttles can take 45 minutes depending on traffic. Add to that the 20 minutes it takes to load a Princess Bus.

 

Canada Line is 26 minutes.

 

It was a previous cruise where the ship was going to be late into YVR (and the Captain told everyone to re-book flights before 3 pm, and offered free phone and Internet for all passengers) that our Canadian tablemates told us of the Canada Line (we had 2:45pm non-refundable tickets), It was the Amazing Race, but we got to the airport on time, and had time for lunch too. We have been using Canada Line ever since.

[Putterdude]

We will be disembarking in Vancouver following our Alaskan cruise. There will be a total of 6 of us with a fair amount of luggage. Princess charges $29 per person to transport to the airport. I know there is a train, but given the luggage, would prefer not to walk it to the station. Would cab/taxi be better or has anyone used another form of shuttle? I'm not sure what time we will disembark but we have to quickly get to the airport for our flight. Thanks for your help

 

Back to the question, you have indicated a preference not to walk over to the Waterfront Station to take the Canada Line....so that really leaves you with a cab or limo option. The ships are along side at Canada Place before 0700, barring anything unforeseen. The first pax are disembarking before 0730. With an 1130 flight time you can request an early disembarkation time and should be thru customs with your luggage by 0830. With a cab you will have a 35 min ride to YVR so you should be out there shortly after 0900 which is lots of time for your flight, you are going against the morning commute so that is not an issue. The issue is with 6 of you you are going to need two cabs and in total that is going to run you $70 but that is still cheaper than a Princess transfer and that transfer is not going to leave until the coach if full.

[frugaltravel]

"They" are Princess. Princess has many ships in Alaska and has been doing this for years. I wouldn't say "they are incorrect." We've cruised with them before (and many other lines). I expect no problems. We even booked transfers with them originally with them knowing of these flights (which they thought were just fine), but decided to do a walk off.

 

We've done Alaska before with no problems. Of course, every trip is different.

 

I agree with you.

 

I must say that Princess knows what they are doing and saying. "They" said "domestic" not because the flight to the US is considered a domestic flight, but because the timings match up to similar domestic times.

 

When I cruised Princess earlier this month they had it very organized. Walk-offs were first (we got to the airport by 8.35am walking off at 7.40am as the first walk-off group - actually the first two off the ship!). We got to the airport just before the first organized Princess bus got there and we took a LONG time to walk from Canada Place to the rail line (a couple of rests with someone who can walk, but needs frequent breaks). Those taking the Princess transfer arrived shortly after we did but had to collect their luggage at the airport then check in. No lines at the airport at that time. In fact, Alaska Air's ticketing counter didn't even open until 9am. Delta's just opened about the time we arrived at the airport. Not sure about the other airlines, but the US side of the terminal was virtually empty at 9am.

 

Your disembarkation time is based on your flight time (whether or not you used Princess for your air - it depends on flight time and if you are using Princess for your transfer). If you are honest with Princess about your flight times, they will make sure you are at the airport in time (within the guidelines set by them). Princess does this for a living; Cruise Critic posters just talk about it for a living :D

[frugaltravel]

Take the Canada Line and you will beat the cabs. :D When we got to YVR, immigration was practically empty. I was stressing when we had a 12:50 flight. We had plenty of time.

 

Exactly!

 

Well, after reading all the posts and with the desire to keep our party of 6 together, we have decided to do express walkoff (carry our own luggage off the ship) and book a shuttle with vancouvershuttle.ca. They run shuttles to the airport every 20 minutes starting at 8 am. Cost is $14 pp versus $29 for Princess transport. As it turns out, Princess would not book us for transport to the airport for a flight earlier than Noon. Ours it at 11:30 am. I hope it works out! Thanks to all for the useful information.

 

My flight was 11.30am, my travel companion 11.55am. We were waiting in the gate area about 9.30am mainly because Alaska Air didn't open until 9am. Otherwise we would have been at the gates by 9am or very shortly thereafter. Walk off is definitely the best. Personally I would do the Canada Line (about 2 blocks from Canada Place), but the Vancouver Shuttle will work too. Book the shuttle for 8am.

[scottbee]

I agree with you.

 

I must say that Princess knows what they are doing and saying. "They" said "domestic" not because the flight to the US is considered a domestic flight, but because the timings match up to similar domestic times.

 

When I cruised Princess earlier this month they had it very organized. Walk-offs were first (we got to the airport by 8.35am walking off at 7.40am as the first walk-off group - actually the first two off the ship!). We got to the airport just before the first organized Princess bus got there and we took a LONG time to walk from Canada Place to the rail line (a couple of rests with someone who can walk, but needs frequent breaks). Those taking the Princess transfer arrived shortly after we did but had to collect their luggage at the airport then check in. No lines at the airport at that time. In fact, Alaska Air's ticketing counter didn't even open until 9am. Delta's just opened about the time we arrived at the airport. Not sure about the other airlines, but the US side of the terminal was virtually empty at 9am.

 

Your disembarkation time is based on your flight time (whether or not you used Princess for your air - it depends on flight time and if you are using Princess for your transfer). If you are honest with Princess about your flight times, they will make sure you are at the airport in time (within the guidelines set by them). Princess does this for a living; Cruise Critic posters just talk about it for a living :D

 

Air Canada; Canada's largest airline, and YVR's largest tenant recommend/require you be there earlier for US Flights than domestic flights: http://www.aircanada.com/en/travelinfo/airport/checkin.html

Westjet; Canada's 2nd largest airline, and YVR's 2nd largest tenant recommend/require you be there earlier for US Flights vs domestic: http://www.westjet.com/guest/en/travel/basics/check-in/times.shtml

 

So, is what you're saying is that Princess is right, and Canada's two largest airlines, representing 75% of the flights out of YVR are wrong?

 

I'll also stand by my original comment that US actually takes even longer than overseas international as there is the additional step of clearing US Immigration & Customs vs other international flights. This is also reflected by all the other Vancouverites posted here (including someone who works at the airport).

 

Recommendation; if you're flying to the USA, get there 2 or more hours in advance.

[frugaltravel]

Air Canada; Canada's largest airline, and YVR's largest tenant recommend/require you be there earlier for US Flights than domestic flights: http://www.aircanada.com/en/travelinfo/airport/checkin.html

Westjet; Canada's 2nd largest airline, and YVR's 2nd largest tenant recommend/require you be there earlier for US Flights vs domestic: http://www.westjet.com/guest/en/travel/basics/check-in/times.shtml

 

So, is what you're saying is that Princess is right, and Canada's two largest airlines, representing 75% of the flights out of YVR are wrong?

 

I'll also stand by my original comment that US actually takes even longer than overseas international as there is the additional step of clearing US Immigration & Customs vs other international flights. This is also reflected by all the other Vancouverites posted here (including someone who works at the airport).

 

Recommendation; if you're flying to the USA, get there 2 or more hours in advance.

 

Guess you didn't read what I wrote :confused:

 

The poster said that Princess said flights to the US are OK after 11am. Call them domestic, international, North Pole flights, I don't care. Princess told the poster 11am flights to the US are OK. What term they used is irrelevant to me. Ever hear people talk about "direct" flights? They think they are going non-stop but I have seen many 'direct' flights requiring a PLANE CHANGE. What term is used is irrelevant. Key is what is the fact. Fact is Princess said 11am to USA is OK. They will get the passenger there in time. End of story.

 

I was just on Princess this month arriving. When was the last time you were on Princess arriving into Vancouver? (or any other cruise line for that matter) I can assure you that Princess got their passengers departing before 11am on their flights.

[scottbee]

Guess you didn't read what I wrote :confused:

Yes, I did, you said...

I must say that Princess knows what they are doing and saying. "They" said "domestic" not because the flight to the US is considered a domestic flight, but because the timings match up to similar domestic times.

And I presented evidence from the airports' two largest airline tenants to the contrary. The timings do NOT match those of a domestic flight, and using the assumptiion that they did, would greatly increase your chance of missing your flight.

 

The only US bound flights leaving YVR that do not require [potentially lengthy] USA Immigration and Customs pre-clearance (but instead would clear US I&C on arrival to the USA); are PR to LAS, CX to JFK, and the late [23:00] UA flight to ORD.

 

Of course that may have all changed since I was last through YVR - on Thursday - but I can update you when I fly through there again this Friday.

[cruiseryyc]

Scottbee I'd give up if I were you - some people obviously prefer to listen to Princess reps in Los Angeles and not people who (a) live in Vancouver (b) work in the Vancouver airport © travel through the Vancouver airport on a weekly basis, and (d) have stood in line in US Immigration for over two hours and nearly missed their flights due to the slowness of the US officials.

[frugaltravel]

Yes, I did, you said...

 

I further clarified above what I said so it would be easier for you to understand, but you still didn't understand :)

 

You failed to answer my question:

 

When was the last time you were on Princess arriving into Vancouver? (or any other cruise line for that matter)

 

Even then, living in BC you probably would not have taken the airport transfer to a US flight.

 

Scottbee I'd give up if I were you - some people obviously prefer to listen to Princess reps in Los Angeles and not people who (a) live in Vancouver (b) work in the Vancouver airport © travel through the Vancouver airport on a weekly basis, and (d) have stood in line in US Immigration for over two hours and nearly missed their flights due to the slowness of the US officials.

 

Actually scottbee probably has never done the cruise to US departure transfer in Vancouver (have you?!?). I hope the OP and others listen to those of us who have first-hand recent experience with such, then make an educated decision based on all the facts.

 

I stand by my recommendation that if Princess is giving you the transfer and you are honest with them about your flight times, they will get you to the airport in time.

 

I also stand by my recommendation that doing the walk-off and taking the train is best - you will beat anyone else, even the taxis.

[cflutist]

 

I also stand by my recommendation that doing the walk-off and taking the train is best - you will beat anyone else, even the taxis.

 

That is my recommendation too as I have done it twice now, May 2012, and May 2011. My Canada Line ticket stubs showed 8:03 and 8:04 am, which means we got to YVR by 8:45 am.

 

We can only post about our actual experiences, people can make their own decisions.

[Putterdude]

The original poster has already discounted using the Canada Line indicating that they have too much luggage to schlep the 3 blocks to Waterfront Station and were looking for other options other than the Princess transfer.... quite frankly I don't know what this brouhaha is about.

Once the Canada Line has been eliminated from the equation this really leaves only the option of 2 cabs for 6 people .... which is going to run them about $70 in total or a 6 pax limo which on a reserved basis is going to cost $120.56 (incl tax) plus tip.

Will they catch an 1130 flight out of YVR....with an early disembarkation time using one of these other options .... yes they will.

[frogsinthecreek]

Well, after reading all the posts and with the desire to keep our party of 6 together, we have decided to do express walkoff (carry our own luggage off the ship) and book a shuttle with vancouvershuttle.ca. They run shuttles to the airport every 20 minutes starting at 8 am. Cost is $14 pp versus $29 for Princess transport. As it turns out, Princess would not book us for transport to the airport for a flight earlier than Noon. Ours it at 11:30 am. I hope it works out! Thanks to all for the useful information.

 

I am the OP and this is what we decided to do, as posted earlier. The train sounds great but I have a bum knee so for the 6 of us, I think this is the best way to go. I'll post after the cruise as to whether we made the flight and how we made out with Vancouver Shuttle. We were told that with luggage, we'd need 3 taxis so this seemed the better route.