Advice on disembarking a day early

[IslandAmica]

Hi we are on the cruise that ends in Vancouver but we are getting off a day early in Victoria (ship departs at midnight) . Has anyone experienced this - do we still have use of our cabin throughout the day plus the facilities as we do not plan to leave until about 10 pm.

[Shmoo here]

Hi we are on the cruise that ends in Vancouver but we are getting off a day early in Victoria (ship departs at midnight) . Has anyone experienced this - do we still have use of our cabin throughout the day plus the facilities as we do not plan to leave until about 10 pm.

 

That's really a question that you're going to have to clarify directly with Princess. Have you already confirmed with them that you are debarking in Victoria?

[rkmw]

Hi we are on the cruise that ends in Vancouver but we are getting off a day early in Victoria (ship departs at midnight) . Has anyone experienced this - do we still have use of our cabin throughout the day plus the facilities as we do not plan to leave until about 10 pm.

 

if you can do that princess might make you pay for another nights accommadation seeing you want to be fed and use the facilities up till 10pm

[Pam in CA]

You will pay the full fare. It won't be pro-rated so you can use whatever you want until you disembark.

 

Early disembarkation should be pre-cleared through Princess. They need to OK it and arrange for Immigration and Customs when you disembark. Keep in mind that it's never guaranteed that the ship will be able to dock in Victoria.

[paul929207]

You need to get this cleared in advance with Princess. They will work with the Canadian authorities. You would have to pay the normal fare, with no discount for missing the final night and morning.

[pablo222]

Hi we are on the cruise that ends in Vancouver but we are getting off a day early in Victoria (ship departs at midnight) . Has anyone experienced this - do we still have use of our cabin throughout the day plus the facilities as we do not plan to leave until about 10 pm.

 

I think that it is likely that princess will make you disembark during

'business hours' for customs and immigration.

[capriccio]

Early disembarkation should be pre-cleared through Princess. They need to OK it and arrange for Immigration and Customs when you disembark. Keep in mind that it's never guaranteed that the ship will be able to dock in Victoria.

 

We saw this happen on our recent Quebec City to Fort Lauderdale cruise. Our last port was Charleston, SC. A group of over 40 (who lived nearer Charleston than Fort Lauderdale) were due to get off in Charleston. Their luggage was in the hall the night before and I presume they planned to depart as soon as we docked. The Ruby Princess made it to within sight of the pier battling heavy winds when the captain announced that he and the local pilot decided that docking was too dangerous and that the weather was only going to deteriorate (it did - we went through force 9 winds and waves for the day but that's another story). These folks ended up in FLL 48 hours later, more than 500 miles away from where they planned to disembark, but at least you won't be that far away if something goes wrong. Still, make sure you have a plan B!

Edited January 1, 2015 by capriccio

[Colo Cruiser]

We have seen many Canadians leave in Victoria.

Must arrange through Princess.

[VibeGuy]

Victoria *is* the most commonly-missed port in the Northwest/Alaska, due to wind, so have a contingency plan.

 

When I've done early disembarkation, I've been asked to schedule a time. Since BSA will have to be there while the ship is there, I suspect your preferences will be able to be accommodated.

[vantec]

Hi we are on the cruise that ends in Vancouver but we are getting off a day early in Victoria (ship departs at midnight) . Has anyone experienced this - do we still have use of our cabin throughout the day plus the facilities as we do not plan to leave until about 10 pm.

 

We did this on our last Alaskan Cruise, although we did disembark in the morning. We had to have everything approved through Princess in advance and then as we were leaving with our luggage, it had to be checked out again just to make sure we had approval and that our account was paid in full. We knew that by doing this we would still have to pay in full for our cruise, what I did not realize is that they would change the amount we earned through using FCC - to me it seemed if we had to pay in full for the cruise we could get the entire FCC benefit, but that was not the case. It worked out fine for us, although I'm not sure we'd do it again, just because of the worry about missing the port.

[IslandAmica]

Thank you all. Good info :)

[AE_Collector]

We have seen people disembarking in Victoria as well rather than going on to Vancouver for the next morning. Staying on until after dinner and then going home rather than on to Vancouver only to have to take the 1 hour and 40 minute cruise back to Vancouver Island sounds appealing but I would be surprised if you get much say in when you disembark. The people we have seen leaving are doing it in the morning or very early afternoon.

 

Terry

[Hawaiidan]

Hi we are on the cruise that ends in Vancouver but we are getting off a day early in Victoria (ship departs at midnight) . Has anyone experienced this - do we still have use of our cabin throughout the day plus the facilities as we do not plan to leave until about 10 pm.

 

Let the ship know like now that you want to do that. Its a legal port as it is in Canada not the US

[CruisinChris]

Just to be clear you must notify princess operations in la in advance that you want to do this. Not the ship.

 

 

Sent using the Cruise Critic forums app

[Colo Cruiser]

Just to be clear you must notify princess operations in la in advance that you want to do this. Not the ship.

 

 

Sent using the Cruise Critic forums app

 

 

Exactly, one would not want to "let the ship know" as this would make things extemely difficult if not impossible to achieve. :rolleyes:

 

Let Princess know before you leave on your cruise. ;)

[xlxo]

Victoria *is* the most commonly-missed port in the Northwest/Alaska, due to wind, so have a contingency plan.

 

Good point.... while Victoria Harbour is sheltered, the cruise ships at Ogden point is close to where the locals go "storm watching".

[gbolton]

We were meant to disembark in Seattle after the Victoria port a couple of years ago. I developed a really bad cold that last day and as we are Canadians (and we were easily able to change our flight) I just went to the front desk after supper and asked if we could disembark. There was absolutely no problem and we just went back to the room, packed up and left. They radioed through to the Canadian authorities there at the dock and they reviewed our passports etc. and we were good to go. We took a taxi to the airport and flew home. We didn't miss the disembarkation in Seattle, US customs etc. one bit, and I really was feeling awful. It never occurred to me to ask for a refund for that last night etc. - that would have been so inappropriate - I was doing this to convenience me and I was more than happy that we were allowed to leave.

[AE_Collector]

The OP never suggested that they thought they should be refunded a day or charged less for the cruise, they simply wanted to know the logistics of leaving the ship in Victoria rather than hanging on until Vancouver the next morning.

 

if you can do that princess might make you pay for another nights accommadation seeing you want to be fed and use the facilities up till 10pm

 

Huh?

 

You will pay the full fare. It won't be pro-rated so you can use whatever you want until you disembark.

 

Of course, again this wasn't the question.

 

We were meant to disembark in Seattle after the Victoria port a couple of years ago. I just went to the front desk after supper and asked if we could disembark. There was absolutely no problem and we just went back to the room, packed up and left.

 

Where did your cruise begin from? If a Seattle to Seattle cruise, you broke the PVSA rules getting off in Victoria and there would have been a fine for this. Maybe it was a Vancouver to Alaska to Seattle ship reposition cruise? I don't think boarding in Vancouver and leaving in Victoria would be okay either though.

 

<edit> Seattle to Victoria wouldn't be a violation just as Seattle to Vancouver isn't. Had it been any other US port they wouldn't have let you leave unless on your death bed. There must have been a quick conference in the back room to determine if leaving at Victoria was permissible. Way too many rules on this sort if thing with big fines if mistakes are made.

 

Terry

Edited January 2, 2015 by AE_Collector