Question on Transfer

[Negril60]

We cruised Northbound with Princess in 2006 and  used a taxi from airport to hotel. This trip we are sailing Southbound with Princess. Should I do ship transfers from ship to airport or hire cab or Uber or Lift ? Thanks in Advance. 

[CruiserBruce]

First, I would be researching on the West Coast Departures board, here:

 

https://boards.cruisecritic.com/forum/315-west-coast-departures/

 

because all of your options are discussed there daily. You will see, for example, there is a light rail system that goes direct, and pretty quickly, from cruise Terminal to airport.

 

You don't specify ports involved, but some us will know you must be talking about Vancouver, because you can't sail between two US ports in Alaska.

[martincath]

Never, ever, ever, do ship transfers in Vancouver (like Bruce, I'm pretty confident this is where you'll be disembarking - but if you're tagging on an end of season repo to the last AK cruise this may not be the case...)

 

They are up to four times the price of a cab, slower than any other way to get to YVR, and the one tiny bit of convenience - having your bags schlepped onto the bus for you - can be replicated by paying a porter a fraction of the cost (with still enough savings for say 2 people in a cab compared to a ship transfer to then pay the SkyCaps at YVR to schlep your bags there too, and have at least a couple of overpriced beers while waiting for your plane...)

 

Uber/Lyft literally just got legalized last week, so there is no way to know how useful they will be for cruising yet. Canada Place's single biggest issue is the bottleneck for vehicle access - so the fact more cars will be available now we have rideshares does not mean they will a) be allowed inside the pier at all; b) if they are allowed will be any faster than the cab queue; c) given the likelihood of Surge pricing applying, as busy cruise days are the biggest source of demand for cabs in the city right now, odds are pretty good that they'll actually end up being more expensive than a cab anyway...

 

But the BEST option is the one you haven't thought of - walk to one of our many downtown hotels that are conveniently near the pier, or indeed right on top of it, and spend several days exploring Vancouver. Then take a cab, transit, Uber etc. at your leisure to YVR for a morning flight too early for cruisers to get to - you'll find better pricing and more eastbound flights than early afternoon when cruisers usually book flights, and also guarantee having a MUCH easier time at YVR as all those hordes will not be fighting you for space at check-in, Security, and US Preclearance...

[spirit rev]

We will be starting our trip in Alaska in Fairbanks on a Princess land tour. Does anyone know if taxis are readily available there to get us to our hotel?