Vancouver port to airport

[whystayhome]

If the ship is scheduled to dock at 7AM, do you think I can get to the airport in time for a 10AM flight?  Thanks for weighing in!

 

Linda

[frantic36]

20 minutes ago, whystayhome said:

If the ship is scheduled to dock at 7AM, do you think I can get to the airport in time for a 10AM flight?  Thanks for weighing in!

 

Linda

 

Linda if my experience with Vancouver port is anything to go by in 2017 I wouldn't count on it unless you can self disembark. The unloading of the luggage was abysmally slow and the porter would have four people to push the large baggage carts. Then they would hang around with small trolleys waiting for people to use them so they could get tips.

 

We disembarked at around 8.30 as we had an 11am tour to get to we ended up waiting over an hour for our luggage. I had to ring our car service a few times to let him know what the problem was. 

 

Can you tell it was one of the most frustrating ports to disembark in I have been to and none of this was Seabourn's fault.

 

Hopefully others have more positive comments.

 

Julie

[SLSD]

Add to this that the Vancouver Airport can be quite disorganized--at least that was our experience.  

[tv24]

If there is no traffic, the driving time from port to the airport is about 45 minutes.  But there will be traffic unless you arrive on a Sunday morning.

[Chairsin]

Also know that at the Vancouver airport if you are returning to the US you will be going through immigration there. The good news is if you have Global Entry you can speed through an express line. But know that you must have the actual GE card with you in order for them to let you into this line. Luckily we knew about this in advance and had brought our cards. The guy behind us said he had GE but since he did not have the physical card with him they would not let him in the line. 
 

 

 

[Cantara24]

We are from Vancouver and all the above comments are relevant. If there are a number of ships arriving that morning the cruise terminal will jam up and certainly that will be where delays are encountered. I would not chance a 3 hour window.

[April005]

We recently had a similar situation in Singapore. Departing the Ovation with a 7 AM arrival in port and a 9:55 flight. We made the flight...but I wouldn’t do it again. Too much anxiety, not enough fun. We are very familiar with the port to airport trip in Vancouver and EVERYTHING would have to work perfectly for you to make that flight.

[Wendy The Wanderer]

18 hours ago, whystayhome said:

If the ship is scheduled to dock at 7AM, do you think I can get to the airport in time for a 10AM flight?  Thanks for weighing in!

 

Linda

 

Linda, absolutely not.  Remember, likely if you dock at 7am, you won't be allowed off the ship until somewhat later.  If this is your first port back in Canada, you will have to go through customs & immigration there, at Canada Place, which can be a zoo, retrieving baggage, etc.  Then you have taxi time, and if it's a weekday, you might encounter rush-hour traffic.

 

And since you're flying back to the States, as someone said above, you have to go through US customs & immigration as well as security at Vancouver Airport, which is quite big.  Normally at airports in Canada when you're flying to the US, you're advised to get there at least 2 hours before the flight (I always budget 3), so it would be very, very tight.

[FlyingScotSailors]

We finished our Sojourn Alaska cruise in Vancouver last September, on a Saturday.  We booked our own airfare, since we wanted a 10:55 AM flight and Seabourn's system would not let them book a flight before 11 AM!  (Seabourn could offer us only evening flights.)

 

We carried our luggage off the ship, pretty much as soon as disembarkation was allowed. We were off before the other two large ships started to disembark, got a taxi without any wait or fuss, and quickly got to the airport through empty streets.

 

We had returned to other ports in Canada before arriving at Vancouver, so do not know how that may affect departure.  We travel with our Global Entry cards, having been advised on CC of this issue. 😀

 

We did not have any problems getting to the airport on time, but we did worry a bit on the ride. And again, we had an extra hour over a 10 AM flight.  We probably got to the airport about 9 AM.

Edited January 3, 2020 by FlyingScotSailors
Added airport arrival time.

[whystayhome]

I’m convinced. Thank you all for sobering me up!  Will go for an after 12 option

 

Linda