Customs in Vancouver How Long to Get thru?

[Orange jeep]

Just wondering if anyone has recently flown into Vancouver from US and how long did it take to get thru customs.  We carryon our luggage so we will go straight to customs.  On a tight timeline to get to port directly from airport.

 

On return from port to Vancouver, can you get Covid Test at airport to fly home to US same day?

Thanks

 

[Orange jeep]

Anyone with an answer

[volk904]

We flew last Sat night for a Sunday cruise. Arrived about 1140pm.  Customs was pretty simple.  Had to go to a kiosk and fill out an electronic form.  It prints off and you give it to agent.  
took maybe 15 min.  Make sure you fill out arrive Canada app. 

[sergeant655]

CVM Medical has a testing clinic at the airport right beside the US check-in desks.  Look to the right of the counters towards the end past the entrance to the hotel when you enter the terminal . You can get the results in 15 minutesYou can get the results in 15 minutes. this is the testing info  sheet that Royal Caribbean Will deliver to your state room with website for them and Other testing providers in the Vancouver area

[A&L_Ont]

You might want to ask them same question on the Canada boards. There are many frequent posters there. 

[Orange jeep]

Thank you everyone for answering me😁

[Grandma7]

We flew in to Vancouver  yesterday at about 4:30. It was pretty bad.Had to get in a LONG line to get to a kiosk to have our picture taken and answer some questions. Once you get to the area of the kiosk there were a couple of rows of them but you couldn't tell where an empty one was very easily.You were printed out a ticket with your picture . Took me awhile to figure out how to get out of the kiosk area and into the next line for customs.The bad part was the lines were next to each other and there were no signs telling which one was for what and there were no people assisting. Then you had to get into a "somewhat" of a line with people just cutting in front of you just to leave out of the area (and you had to show your ticket again). I always fly out of Atlanta and am use to lines, but to me this was  more than a little chaotic .. It probably took an hour and 10 minutes to go thru the lines not including the time it took to get down there after getting off the plane.Good luck!

[flamingos]

We flew in last week. It’s two parts: ho to a kiosk  ( there are a lot) and fill in the form, get your photo taken and take your printout. 
 

Then figure out where the line us to go to luggage claim. Get your luggage and blend into the line to get out -you have to show that printout to do so, do keep it handy. 
 

Take the time to look around - there are beautiful decorations, but you’re too distracted and in a hurry to get out to pay much attention. 

[Orange jeep]

Hi Flamingos

 

how long did it take you last week?

 

sounds like you go a kiosk line then customs line

was it an hour?

 
our plane arrives 12:30 day of.

 

thanks everyone

[A&L_Ont]

2 minutes ago, Orange jeep said:

Hi Flamingos

 

how long did it take you last week?

 

sounds like you go a kiosk line then customs line

was it an hour?

 
our plane arrives 12:30 day of.

 

thanks everyone

Did you book with Air2Sea?

[Orange jeep]

No

[A&L_Ont]

There have been delays for international flights with people getting off the plane at some airports across Canada. I couldn’t find any news stories that specifically address the Vancouver airport.  
 

I know multiple people, as well as have experienced it personally in Toronto. We were held on the plane for an hour, at the gate, until customs had eased a bit.  They then let 50 people off at a time, out of a few hundred on our plane. Fortunately we were in that group. It took us at minimum an extra hour to get off the plane, and we were in business.  I could only guess how long the folks behind us would have taken. There were no exceptions for Nexus/Global Entry  travellers. Only those with connection flights, with boarding passes in hand were allowed off early. 
 

I don’t know if Vancouver is having these issues, but being the second busiest airport in Canada, it would not surprise me. If you land at 12:30 and process through the airport in an hour that makes 1:30 to the taxi stand. The drive to the cruise terminal is about 45 minutes on a good day. If you have a delay leaving your home airport and any delays in Vancouver I would be worried that there’s a good chance of you missing the all aboard time for the ship.

 

There are many news stories about delays in Canadian airports at this point in time and no indication of when these delays may end. Government is blaming staffing issues as the main concern. I’m not sure if you want to look at flying the day before, earlier the same day or take your chances. It might go easy peasy or maybe not. I just thought I’d share, as travel in Canada at this point in time, is not as fluent as travelling within the US.  
 

On the Canadian board there are people who live in Vancouver who can report about testing locations and hopefully give a more accurate report on clearing customs/immigration in Vancouver.

 

Here is a link to the Canadian cruisers page. 
 

https://boards.cruisecritic.com/forum/2510-canadian-cruisers/

[Orange jeep]

Thank you for all your information…A & L, and others.  Definitely need to think thru 

[Ryalie1]

Flew to Vancouver at the beginning of May from the UK. Like others have mentioned, there was some queuing - it didn't take forever to get through (maybe 45 mins) but certainly wasn't a walk straight through. Just wanted to highlight that they were random covid testing in May, so check if that still applies as that could add time too - it was approx 1 in 6 people they were sending for testing, so pretty high chances of being tested (especially if you are travelling with others).