Help on Transport to Vancouver airport after Alaskan cruise

[cflutist]

Enjoy your cruise :)

 

I see you are from Boston. I would love to visit sometime as both of my flutes were handmade in Boston.

[donaldsc]

http://www.vancouvershuttle.ca/rates.html

 

The charge is $14 per person.

 

Also give these guys a call as they will do limo service, I think.

 

http://www.aerocar.ca/about-us/company-profile

 

DON

[nrbrandt]

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.

 

 

We started checking in Sunday at 6:40am for an 8:30 flight and it was 8:15 and they were announcing last call by the time we got to the gate. US Customs is a zoo. And I got held up by Canadian Customs getting off the ship before which set us back at least an hour. It is a good idea to allow extra time there.

[fleckle]

We like to take a taxi from the pier to the airport just because it is so easy and effortless. To us the cost seems very reasonable to be transported door to door, no hassle with luggage, no buying tickets, no waiting around for other passengers to board, no need to commit to a specific time in advance or coordinate with anyone else.

 

But if we were younger and more energetic, we might go for the train. ;)

 

 

Conditions at YVR airport encountered by others on the day they flew out, or even the conditions you yourself may have encountered the last time you flew out, will have nothing to do with the conditions you find there the next time.

 

If you happen to arrive there on a day when there are long backed up, snaking lines and delays, for whatever reason, it will be of no consolation whatsoever knowing that dozens of other people may have posted on Cruise Critic that they went right through smoothly with no problem.

 

On the other hand, you may give yourself plenty of time, arrive early, pass right through and find yourself sitting at the departure gate thinking that you really did not need to get there so early and could have slept in for another hour. That's just the way it goes sometimes. :)

 

Still, I think most would agree that it is better to give yourself the extra time and get there early rather than cut it close and risk missing your flight.

[scottbee]

We started checking in Sunday at 6:40am for an 8:30 flight and it was 8:15 and they were announcing last call by the time we got to the gate. US Customs is a zoo. And I got held up by Canadian Customs getting off the ship before which set us back at least an hour. It is a good idea to allow extra time there.

 

Which is pretty much what all the locals are saying; leave extra time because US pre-clearance can be very backed up. This is contrary to the OP's perceived opinion that somehow cruisers arriving on a Princess cruise need less time at the airport than anyone else does, to pre-clear US I&C prior to being released into the transborder (E gates) wing of the airport

[ceilidh1]

Except, the OP isn't flying to the US correct? They are flying to Boston VIA Toronto, which means they will not pre-clear at YVR and they ARE flying domestic! I would be more worried about the crazy Toronto connection than making the flight this end - every time we have done this connection we have missed the connecting flight as you have to collect all of your luggage and then clear US customs/immigration. It's been a while (I avoid it like the plague) so may have changed now, but definitely make sure you have enough time between flights at Toronto!

 

Princess transfers I can give you first hand info at as I work shoreside for them here in Vancouver. If you are flying domestic (as you would be if going via Toronto) you would be assigned to a "Silver" colour tag. This group is first off the ship after walk off passengers, BUT the time would depend on how quickly the bags are pulled off the ship and brought to the floor (we aim for 7:45am but it's never a guarantee as things do go wrong!) Assuming all of your bags were out (and you already mentioned there would be a lot) and customs was flowing quickly...you should be on the bus and headed to the airport by 8:15am. That should get you to your terminal by 9:15am, giving you time enough for domestic check-in and to make your flight. Having said that, I am not sure that I personally would risk it - if I could handle the bags I would go with express walk off and get a cab!

 

For those passengers who ARE flying to the US (not via any Canadian city) the Princess transfer works really well. This is not the US DIRECT program that no longer operates, but it does provide a separate routing for passengers so they do not need to line up at CANADIAN customs at the pier - you simply hand in your customs card as you walk through to the bus. This program is only for US passport holders, flying direct to the US on the day of disembark, with flights prior to 4pm. ALL flight info and immigration/birthdate/citizenship info must be in the cruise personalizer at least 15 days prior to departure or let the front desk know as soon as you get onboard. The beauty of this program is that the bags are trucked directly to the airport so you don't need to wait for them to come off the ship or haul them through the terminal! You would collect them at the airport when you get off the bus and then proceed through regular airline check in and US pre-clearance. The program operates as you are not technically spending time in Canada (hence the strict day/times of flights that would qualify) so you are not considered "high risk". Passengers in this program would be assigned RED tags if they have early flights, and PINK or YELLOW for the later flights.

 

Let me know if you have any specific Vancouver Princess questions and I will try to help....

[frogsinthecreek]

I was hoping for info on the fastest way to get off the ship and get to the airport and received lots of useful info. I now know that I should be more worried about making my connection in Toronto. This has really been a learning experience for me and next time around I would certainly leave more time! In any case, I'm really looking forward to this trip. Thank you to everyone for posting! You really are a helpful bunch!

[scottbee]

I was hoping for info on the fastest way to get off the ship and get to the airport and received lots of useful info. I now know that I should be more worried about making my connection in Toronto. This has really been a learning experience for me and next time around I would certainly leave more time! In any case, I'm really looking forward to this trip. Thank you to everyone for posting! You really are a helpful bunch!

 

you're right, it wasn't the OP that implied that flights to the USA were timed the same as domestic, it was another posted.

 

In this case the OP is flying domestically through YYZ.

[frogsinthecreek]

As promised...we just got back from two weeks in Alaska. Had a wonderful time.

 

We did walk-off from the Princess Sapphire in Vancouver. We were in the first group off at 7:35 am. We went through Canadian customs right away and caught our shuttle - Vancouver Shuttle - which left for the airport at 8 am. I booked the shuttle online, prior to our trip. It was $14 pp. Good service, easy to find. I'd book with them again.

 

Once at the airport, it took about an hour to check bags and go through security. For some reason, (maybe because we were travelling to the US through Toronto?), the automated kiosks wouldn't print our boarding passes and we had to wait in a line with a bunch of other people to talk to someone in the customer assistance line. This slowed the process down, but it wasn't a big deal. We were at the gate by 9:30, two hours before our scheduled flight.

 

As stated previously, we changed planes in Toronto so went through US customs there rather than Vancouver. We had 1 1/2 hours between flights. Once landing in Toronto, we had to follow signs to US connections, collect our luggage, go through US customs, they took our checked bags,then we went through security and down to the gate. Waiting for the luggage took about 20 minutes. We went through customs and security in 5 minutes and again had plenty of time before our connecting flight.

 

This may not always be the case, but having an 11:30 am flight out of Vancouver was no problem at all. I hope this info helps someone else down the line. Thanks for all the advice.