The agony of debark

[MarkBearSF]

Were there other ships in port that day?

 

The Noordam arrived that morning, by my guess 6 hours before us. (From a talk with the shuttle driver I got the impression that it was a port call and not a start/end)

 

As for the arrival delay, we were originally scheduled for a noon arrival, rescheduled for 2:00. The revised time was known the morning of departure, two days prior.

 

It is/was a holiday weekend (Victoria Day is Monday) which may have been a factor in port staffing.

Edited May 18, 2015 by MarkBearSF

[MarkBearSF]

As for the arrival delay, we were originally scheduled for a noon arrival, rescheduled for 2:00. The revised time was known the morning of departure, two days prior.

 

Actually, I looked at the email announcing the revised time. It's dated Tuesday, May 12. Four days before arrival.

 

One has to assume that this timing had been factored into the alleged planning of the disembark process well in advance. ...of course when one assumes....

Edited May 18, 2015 by MarkBearSF

[BruceMuzz]

A 2-day repo is not a cruise.

It is a ferryboat ride for bargain hunters and first-timers.

Many people take these trips only because it is cheaper than flying.

 

Cruise line employees really hate these trips, and cannot wait to get these people off the ship.

It's a shame, as it gives first-timers a very poor impression of the cruise line.

[RDC1]

I can see why you could easily have a problem in the two day repo cruise.

 

From the OPs post it sounds like they were following the same process that they use for short 3 day cruises where you carry your own luggage off, instead of putting it in the hallways for pickup.

 

For a 3 day loop cruise it works fine. For a repo cruise to Vancouver at the start of the season you get a disaster for the following reasons:

 

1. Unlike a loop cruise I suspect most of these people had luggage for a longer vacation not just a carry on size for a two day repo. Since most are probably continuing vacation in BC, catching another cruise, or had spent time vacationing before they boarded the cruise and were returning home. So you would have had all kinds of issues of people trying to manage their luggage.

 

2. Its at the start of the season so the ship personnel is not familiar with the port and the shore staff is just starting the year so procedures may not be well established. I have seen this happen on early cruises in vancouver at the start of the season. It seems to take a trip or two to get things running smoothly, even from closed loop cruises.

 

3. Because it is a repo the ship and the passengers have to go through a more significant customs process then on a closed loop. I have sailed on Alaska cruises out of Vancouver 3 times on 3 different cruise lines, I have never had to go through customs on the return, just walk off, grab the luggage and get a taxi.

 

4. The ship was already off schedule. So that would have thrown any normal scheduled process right out the window. Their issue is did they want to negatively impact the second cruise any more then they had to. Needing people out of the cabins by 11 makes sense since they needed to start turn around cleaning.

Edited May 18, 2015 by RDC1

[bdjam]

Canada Place sucks. All the people who used to complain about Pier 35 in San Francisco must never have been through Canada Place.

 

I have embarked and disembarked at Canada Place and every time I've been stuck in the terminal. From being put in "holding areas" for an hour or so on the way to the pier to having to sit on the floor and wait for hours for them to get transfer busses to the terminal, let alone in the terminal. Last time was on Crown Princess where disembarkation was AHEAD of schedule on the ship and then we waited in line for two hours for an airport shuttle. The official explanation was "they have to get the busses out before they can get more in." Duh.

 

Anyway, Princess could certainly have handled things better on board but they also can't let people off the ship until they get clearance from the authorities shore side...those would be the people in charge of Canada Place.

[reedprincess]

We should swap stories. My favorite involves a 747 and a volcano.

 

My favorite (so far) involves a 747 and a typhoon - and Halloween....

[Wehwalt]

Canada Place sucks. All the people who used to complain about Pier 35 in San Francisco must never have been through Canada Place.

 

I have embarked and disembarked at Canada Place and every time I've been stuck in the terminal. From being put in "holding areas" for an hour or so on the way to the pier to having to sit on the floor and wait for hours for them to get transfer busses to the terminal, let alone in the terminal. Last time was on Crown Princess where disembarkation was AHEAD of schedule on the ship and then we waited in line for two hours for an airport shuttle. The official explanation was "they have to get the busses out before they can get more in." Duh.

 

Anyway, Princess could certainly have handled things better on board but they also can't let people off the ship until they get clearance from the authorities shore side...those would be the people in charge of Canada Place.

 

Since my favored hotel in Vancouver is the Delta, I generally walk my bags to and back. I do not know who designed the place, but I'd like to meet him outside, show him exactly why there should not be a steep ramp cultivating in a walkway that angles as narrow as four feet at the top, when people are walking in and out with bags, often at the same time. Then I'd like to ask him why the bag collection is so far away from that entrance (they could have porters over there, too, there's room once you're in the garage), why there are so many other bottlenecks inside, why the customs area (inbound) is so badly designed ... I could go on.

 

Incidentally, the only time I was in a similar situation as the OP, I refused to leave my cabin until we arrived, taking the position it was sold to me for the complete voyage. No one called me on it. That was the Golden, but it was also a 2-day repo from Vancouver (Elite qualifying cruise). We were also late arriving, and they wanted us out by 10, about fifteen minutes before we were to pass under the bridge. There were plenty of people who stayed in their cabins, I could see, as I had one of those balconies just before the indent. Once we were docked, I went and found someplace to wait until disembarkation, which wasn't that bad, that I remember.

Edited May 18, 2015 by Wehwalt

[undercat]

We were on this cruise too. I agree that the disembarkation in general was a bit hectic especially on the Promenade deck. However, our disembarkation went smoothly, for a few reasons:

 

1) We went to Passenger Services the night before and got tags for our rolling luggage so that we wouldn't have to carry it off the ship ourselves. The room steward did not automatically provide us with these tags, but from my experience with a previous cruise on another line, I sought out the tags myself and inquired as to what time the bags had to be left outside our cabin door (11pm). We packed, tagged, and left the bags outside but poked into our doorway to maximize hallway space for other pax.

 

2) We were spending the night in Vancouver, thus were in no hurry for a plane/bus/train whose departure might be missed due to the late arrival at Canada Place. Thus, no rush to get off the ship.

 

3) We decamped for Skywalker's promptly at 11am on disembarkation morning and waited it out there, fully intending to wait until the crowd died down. No, that wasn't where our group was assigned to wait. It didn't matter. We still got off the ship when it was time to go. I have bad knees and was uninterested in standing in a line until 4pm if I could sit somewhere for a while and still breeze off the ship by 4pm. If I'm going to leave at 4pm anyway, I might as well be rested!

 

4) We then hung out on board until the crew announced that everyone who was disembarking had to get off the ship NOW. We left, grabbed our "checked" luggage, went through the customs process and headed towards the taxi stand.

 

The only wait we encountered was for a taxi. That was one loooong line, although it moved fairly quickly considering its length. When we did get a taxi, the driver mentioned that the two-hour delay had caused some imbalances in the port staffing that day - or something to that effect. So although Princess let its pax know about the two-hour arrival delay two days in advance, I wonder if that alert somehow didn't translate into shift schedule alterations for the port staff?

Edited May 19, 2015 by undercat

[BCCRUSINGCOUPLE]

Yes this one does not, however..........

 

According to some cruisers returning on recent Princess cruises they were still disembarkation issues in the terminal.

 

 

We have arrived in Vancouver at least 5 times in the last two years and have always had no issues. I have heard of long cab waits but every time we have been in port never saw any issues.

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[snoodqueen]

"3. Because it is a repo the ship and the passengers have to go through a more significant customs process then on a closed loop. I have sailed on Alaska cruises out of Vancouver 3 times on 3 different cruise lines, I have never had to go through customs on the return, just walk off, grab the luggage and get a taxi."

 

Everyone goes through customs - you just don't realize it because the procedure is so painless. CBSA knows who is on board and only keeps back the guests they want to see in person. The rest of the passengers get off, hand their custom form to the officer just before they exit the luggage hall and that's it. Customs cleared. The old system had us lining up to see an officer but that has changed, for the better.

[Colo Cruiser]

We have arrived in Vancouver at least 5 times in the last two years and have always had no issues. I have heard of long cab waits but every time we have been in port never saw any issues.

 

 

Hence the word "recent". ;)

[insidecabin]

This happens on TA's as well.

 

The lesson we have learnt is plan to be last off(or first).

 

Leave your cabin late warn the cabin steward they have plenty of other cabins to work on, let them strip the bedding if they want.

 

Plan somewhere to hang out till they start doing last calls,ignore the first few.

 

If very late see if there is anywhere doing food not always available so grabbing something extra at breakfast can see you through.

On our last TA the delays were immigration backing up to a line on the ship.

Even crew were not informed and set up the buffet for the next pax when it was going to be 3hr longer to empty the ship.

Oasis chaos.