Solstice Airport Transfer today in Vancouver....

[GateGuardian]

I waited 30 minutes and the bus never came. I gave up and just took the SkyTrain to the airport. Felt like we got scammed $30 each... Anyone stayed until the shuttles came? How was it?

[doberwoman]

We...along with many others, waited over an hour and a half in line at the Vancouver cruise terminal to board the buses. Not enough buses and it was chaos! Many people missed their flights. We arrived at the airport for a 1:15pm flight with only 15 minutes to boarding!

We paid the $30 each just to avoid this type of mess and feel like we were scammed by Celebrity. Not a great way to end an otherwise enjoyable holiday.

 

 

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[Bo1953]

Scammed? You were scammed? How were you scammed? Especially by X? They did not not take your money with the knowledge that they were NOT going to deliver the product purchased.

 

As are many of X's excursions, they are contracted out.

 

If you believe it was a scam you certainly can report them to the Canadian authorities and if you paid for the service in the U.S. there are ways to address scams by U.S. based companies.

 

I say go for it.... glad you had a good trip otherwise.

 

bon voyage

[doberwoman]

Yes, I realize the service is contracted out. Nonetheless, Celebrity is ultimately responsible for ensuring they can deliver what they're advertising. Several announcements were made over the week, advising passengers to purchase the transfers as there would be 2-3 hour waits for taxis, etc.

We do not normally purchase Celebrity transfers but we did this time because they were leaving people with the impression that they would ensure we would avoid the delays with the transfer.

No Celebrity reps at the terminal, no one there to explain or apologize for the delays.

I agree it was not intentional, but we certainly felt mislead.

And thank you for your legal definition of scammed.

 

 

 

 

 

 

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[Bo1953]

Yes, I realize the service is contracted out. Nonetheless, Celebrity is ultimately responsible for ensuring they can deliver what they're advertising. Several announcements were made over the week, advising passengers to purchase the transfers as there would be 2-3 hour waits for taxis, etc.

We do not normally purchase Celebrity transfers but we did this time because they were leaving people with the impression that they would ensure we would avoid the delays with the transfer.

No Celebrity reps at the terminal, no one there to explain or apologize for the delays.

I agree it was not intentional, but we certainly felt mislead.

And thank you for your legal definition of scammed.

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Not a legal point of view as I Am not an attorney, personal point of view.

 

bon voyage

[Mapleleaf14]

I was also waiting for a ridiculous amount of time for the shuttle. We barely got to the gate as they made the last call for our flight. Fortunately we had a domestic flight. Many people who had international ones would have missed theirs.

What was so upsetting was the fact that Celebrity really pushed the shuttles and frightened people off from taking taxis. As we waited in line for the shuttle, we saw many taxis. People on our flight claimed they had no difficulty getting theirs.

I phoned Celebrity and was given an apology and a refund for the price of the shuttle. We still have a sour taste after a lovely cruise.

 

 

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[TeaBag]

We have heard on the news that they are providing more taxis for the pier to airport route. Three ships in again on Sat and Sun.

 

If people can handle their luggage, the way to go is the Skytrain. It's fast, easy and cheap. A short walk from the disembarkation area. Just make sure you get on the airport train and not Bridgeport which will land you in Richmond. I suppose the $30 charge for the shuttle was USD? Wow. So sorry for all of you ending your lovely cruise this way.

[bigbenboys]

We got off Solstice on May 17, at Vancouver Place with 3 ships docked. We booked Quick Shuttle. We left the ship at 8:30am of a 10:45am bus pickup. We went to Starbucks just outside the terminal where we had coffee and where we were being picked up. Then we were told that they moved our bus pickup up one street. Were thing perfect no. I'm sure some on our bus did not make it to Seattle on time for flights. As we were only going to the Bellingham airport to meet friends all went well for us.

[eatdrinkfly]

that sucks. the skytrain is so fast and easy to get to the airport from the cruise terminal... it's too bad the cruise lines don't tell anyone that because they want to sell their transfers... but at the end of the day, from a customer service standpoint, they should be giving people all the facts. skytrain is faster than driving and a fraction the cost.

[Zoedokey]

Wow, that is horrible service. Celebrity should have better prepared. I hope it improves as the summer progresses.

 

 

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[Cruise Junky]

Wow, that is horrible service. Celebrity should have better prepared. I hope it improves as the summer progresses.

 

 

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They don't sail out of Vancouver again until September 22. Terrible that they decided to flog their transfers rather than helping people make their flights.

[ccotting]

"Taxis are lined up and ready but it could be difficult to get one in downtown Vancouver as a record number of cruise ship passengers are expected to arrive Wednesday and by this weekend.

Three cruise ships will be docking at the Canada Place terminal in the Port of Vancouver today – the Celebrity Solstice, the Volendam and the Radiance of the Seas – bringing 12,800 passengers in total.

Then on Saturday, May 20, a record number will arrive aboard the Emerald Princess, the Star Princess and the Nieuw Amsterdam, with 15,800 passengers in total."

From our news channel. Vancouver restricts the number of taxi licenses and has not permitted Uber. Sore point with us locals. So, when an unusually large number of passengers arrives whether for a cruise or a convention, taxi service is not readily to be found. I expect that Celebrity knowing the above planned for shuttle transfers and in some way the planning was problematic. I am so sorry your experience was unhappy. I hope you will visit Vancouver again.

[Bobocasey]

Doesn't matter which cruise line you sail, we have found that they DO NOT tell you about private options for transportation at the end of the cruise. You need to do the research yourself. We have found that most of them use the scare tactics to make you take their transportation.

[GateGuardian]

We disembarked at around 9am and waited until 10:30am before giving up and taking the Skytrain. Cost $4 per person and got to the airport within 30mins. I think Captain Tsaso's and the newsletter's warning caused everyone to book the shuttle. I knew Canada Place was going to be chaotic, but not this disorganized.

[impatientlywaiting]

I was shocked last fall when we boarded Radiance of the Seas for our b2b down to Australia at how disorganized Canada Place was. A Celebrity ship was also at Canada Place for their trip down to Australia as well and all passengers were being funneled into the same building. Nobody in charge knew where luggage was to go when we got off our shuttle from our hotel. We ended up taking our luggage into the building and depositing them directly in the Radiance room. It was a total mess. After going through Customs, if you weren't paying close attention (there were no signs and no personnel directing you), you ended up outside on the sidewalk instead of back inside the building heading towards the gangway to board the ship.

[Artie212]

My wife and I were also involved in this fiasco. We had a fantastic time and were celebrating our 40th anniversary. For about 4 days prior to disembarking, celebrity life advised and announcements were made warning of the taxi shortage at the terminal. The Captain even spoke to the issue in his talk. The way around it was to book your transfer with Celebrity. The terminal was mass confusion and chaotic. No Celebrity reps were anywhere to be seen, Numerous people argiung and frustration levels off the charts. People were missing their flights home. Were we all mislead? I will leave that for you to decide. The entire situation was a TOTAL DISGRACE. Those in charge should be ashamed of their actions and lack thereof.

Artie

[MareT]

I sure hope this changes. We bought transfers from Celebrity for our June cruise. If I read it correctly we should be the only ship in port. We have a 1 pm flight home.

[merinski]

We were also on this cruise and bought the bus transfer because we were told it would be hard to get a taxi, we also waited about an hour and a half! There were no signs, or directions in the terminal, very confusing...

We were fortunate to make our flight, but others didn't. Celebrity said they had arranged extra busses , so that was they way to go.. what a mess! I think we will contact Celebrity too!

[merinski]

We put a call in to Celebrity and they would not refund our transfer money we paid, because we did not miss our flight. Very disappointing!:(

[Bo1953]

Doesn't matter which cruise line you sail, we have found that they DO NOT tell you about private options for transportation at the end of the cruise. You need to do the research yourself. We have found that most of them use the scare tactics to make you take their transportation.

 

Rated: A++

[buffcurmudgeon]

We were also involved in this bus fiasco. The experience was horrible, including a near disaster on the escalator when there was a back up at the bottom with passengers continuing to stack up on one another while the flow from the top continued unabated. Someone finally hit the emergency stop switch tossing us around, but saving serious injury. There were no toilet facilities in this isolated area and we were

stuck there for over an hour waiting for buses arriving at glacial speed. I will never use this service again. The captain needs to concentrate more on the safety of the passengers than on his comedy routines.

 

 

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[NLH Arizona]

We put a call in to Celebrity and they would not refund our transfer money we paid, because we did not miss our flight. Very disappointing!:(

I understand one's frustrations and hope that Celebrity makes adjustments, so this doesn't ever happen again. But, I'm not sure why one would think they should get their money back, if they used the services and there was no impact on them making their flight.

[Mapleleaf14]

To the people who are suggesting that people need to research their plans in order to avoid difficulties in a port- we do spend time on making plans. We usually plan our own shore excursions rather than booking through the ship. We have been through the port of Vancouver in the past. Since we are "older" adults, we had decided to use a taxi to get to the airport. After being advised to use a shuttle many times on the ship, we switched our plans. I am a huge Celebrity fan. I am not being critical that they want passengers to use their transportation. What I do have a problem with is the lack of Celebrity presence in the port and the fact that they did not have enough shuttles there on time. I thought that Cruise Critic was a place to vent frustrations and inform others of possible complications.

 

 

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[Pat&Paul]

Paul and I also booked the $30 USD a person 'Direct Transfer' that sent our luggage ahead and we picked it up at YVR (Vancouver Airport). IOHO it was planned very well, yet execution was poor. They sent three different luggage tags to participants, tags one, two, and three. Since we had to provide a copy of our flight itinerary, I would image they planned for earlier flights get tag 1, early afternoon got tag 2, and late day flights received tag 3. Our flight was around noon so we received tag 1. The first error in execution was that all three tags reported to the art gallery deck 5 forward AT THE SAME TIME 7:45 AM. How about a little staggering Celebrity? Tag 1's should have been at 7:45, Tag 2's should be 8:15 or 8:30 and tag 3's should have been about 9:00. But Celebrity had everyone report at the same time, 7:45. We got there about 7:30 and queued up and took our seats in the theater and waited until 8:30. The biggest issue was that they called all three groups at THE SAME TIME. Not good! We waited in lines which seemed like an hour. When we finally got on the bus and heading through town, we hit traffic and construction. We kept checking our watches as we usually arrive at the airport three hours early. Luckily we arrived in time and checked our luggage and arrived at the gate about an hour and a half early. In hindsight, Celebrity should have had passengers report to the waiting area staggered. They should not have called everyone at once for bus boarding. Let the passengers with flights later in the day enjoy the ship for another 30 minutes to an hour.

 

Pat

[Aunt Tina]

This problem was similar to our leaving the ship in San Francisco for the fall Pacific Coast cruise. There were huge lines for shuttle buses - but no buses. When a couple buses finally came we were next in line and we were directed to them - then yelled at by the bus driver when we tried to give her our luggage. We were re-directed to wait more, then directed to another bus. This driver dropped us all off at the back door of the wrong terminal. There were no signs and two tiny elevators for the whole bus load of people struggling with all their luggage and no idea where to go.

 

If this is the routine for Celebrity Shuttle Service - we will be not be using it. We registered complaints when we got home - no response.