Eclipse Alaska - confused about arrival time vs boarding time

[newbie202020]

Hi, we chose 10am on embarkation day for the wellness check/arrival time at Vancouver port. Will we be able to board the ship at that time too? I don't want my senior parents to be waiting around if boarding time is much later, in which case, I can change my arrival time. I would also like to attend the concierge welcome lunch which ends at 2pm. Thanks

[prmssk]

It all depends on how quickly they can clear the ship of the previous sailings' passengers.  The earliest I personally have been able to board is around 11:00 a.m. but it is often closer to noon.

 

I wouldn't necessarily change your time though.  It's not an issue if you are a little late and depending on lines, it can take some time to get through the security line and check-in.

[lovecruzin]

Are youdoing this on the App? I’ve only ever chosen a boarding time. Have you done that? 
I highly doubt you will be able to board at Canada Place at 10am

[prmssk]

13 minutes ago, lovecruzin said:

Are youdoing this on the App? I’ve only ever chosen a boarding time. Have you done that? 
I highly doubt you will be able to board at Canada Place at 10am

You don't choose a boarding time as they can't guarantee when boarding will actually start.  The time you choose in the app is a wellness check/arrival time.

[lovecruzin]

1 minute ago, prmssk said:

You don't choose a boarding time as they can't guarantee when boarding will actually start.  The time you choose in the app is a wellness check/arrival time.

Ok, i always thought it was check in time, my bad. If they offer 10am, great.  7 cruises since the restart and I don't think Ive seen earlier than 11.

If you haven’t cruised from Canada Place (depending on the number of ships) it can be quite the mess with people arriving and dropping bags and people disembarking. Are you by any chance staying at one of the hotels that will transport your luggage. I only say this because you mention your Senior Parents. 

[newbie202020]

Thanks very much. You've all been so helpful.

 

If the ship will be departing at 5pm, any ideas on when they will let us start boarding? Thanks 

[keesar]

5 hours ago, newbie202020 said:

Thanks very much. You've all been so helpful.

 

If the ship will be departing at 5pm, any ideas on when they will let us start boarding? Thanks 

The wellness check was a breeze.  Then came the agonizing wait.   11 to 11:30 am is my guess.  Have a great cruise and bring some quality binoculars.

[3CanadianBears]

We did choose a check in time on the app, and specifically chose a time that we thought was a bit later. (11:30am)  I had read here that you can certainly show up later than your assigned time.  In fact, no one checked times once we entered Canada Place.  Our hotel had a noon check out time, so we waiting 'till almost noon to check out, and walked across the street to Canada Place.  The only long line we saw was to drop off luggage.  We had intended to do that, but as we had only carry-ons we decided to not wait in the long line. 

 

There were lines, yes,  but they moved very quickly.  I'm not sure we actually stopped walking - maybe a few minutes wait at the security scanner and a few minutes again at customs.  There were a lot of very helpful employees along the way to answer questions, remind you to have documents ready etc. 

 

As you mention senior parents - be aware that there was a lot of walking.  We laughed and said I think we covered the entire building on two levels during the check in process! 

 

Enjoy your cruise! 

[dawnvip]

Local hotel check out is normally between 10 and 11 AM, so 10 - noon is the busiest time for getting through security & customs. If you can delay for an hour or two (go have lunch at a local restaurant or sit and watch the harbour action), there will be much less chance of long lines. Also less chance of having to wait to board once the whole process is completed.

 

One specific word of caution - the longest line (by far) is the line to get bag tags. If you print at home and attach, then the drop and go is super quick and easy.

[TeachAloha]

Just cruised out of Vancouver a couple of weeks ago. We had the earliest check-in, but the biggest wait was after customs. We were sent to a waiting area with folding chairs to wait to get called onto the ship. My best advice the luggage check-in line was loooooong. Luckily our hotel ported luggage over for us & we could skip that line. If you can, selecting a hotel that takes the luggage over to the cruise port for you is a huge convenience, 

[newbie202020]

Thanks all. We're not staying at hotel so can't take advantage of hotel ported luggage.

 

Based on what I am reading so far, I might show up at 11am instead of 10am and will print luggage tags at home.

 

Is there a paid service like luggage valet that will check my luggage for me? Thanks 

[megfla]

I was on the B2B for the first Alaska sailing of the season and Canada Place was a cluster f%^k according those boarding.  I would suggest arriving later (1;30 or 2:00) if you don't want a long wait in the terminal.

[lovecruzin]

It seems I have read that after bag drop you walk a bit to another area for check in. Perhaps your parents can meet you at the check in area and bypass the luggage drop.

[Alsmez]

We just disembarked Eclipse yesterday. On our check in day, there were three large cruise ships in port in Vancouver, all of whose passengers had to be processed through the same customs line. We arrived around 11:15 and walked right up to the baggage tag desk (because we forgot to print them at home) - no wait there at all. However, once we dropped our checked bags, the wait began - customs took FOREVER. Many of the passport scanning machines were out of service, and many passengers seemed to have difficulty figuring out how to use them in any case. All of the other Celebrity-run check-in steps were very quick but be prepared to wait for passport control if there are other large ships in port. On the bright side, once we got through customs we basically walked right on, around 1:15-1:30.

[Alsmez]

On 6/4/2023 at 2:15 AM, newbie202020 said:

Is there a paid service like luggage valet that will check my luggage for me?

There will be tons of porters in the baggage area ready to help you as soon as you get out of your cab or van/bus. Someone approached us with a cart as soon as we got out of our Uber, piled our luggage on and asked us which ship we were on since we didn't have tags. He then took us over to the Celebrity tagging desk and waited while the lady looked up our room and filled out our tags, helped put the tags on and whisked our luggage off to the appropriate area (which would have been difficult to find on our own given that luggage from all three ships was all over the place). No charge, and there are signs everywhere saying that tips are not required, but IMO this is a job that deserves a tip!