Letter from Celebrity stating our B2B cruise violates law HNL - Vancouver - Seattle

[JLMcruise]

7 minutes ago, Northern Aurora said:

Seattle toVancouver prior to a cruise out of Vancouver and found it very enjoyable.  Lovely scenery.

Just looking at the schedule and price.... seems pretty reasonable but the train doesn't arrive in Seattle until 9:00pm. Does anyone know if the train station is a "safe place'' for older folks at night? We would get a hotel. A new adventure!  Thanks for the info!

[NutsAboutGolf]

4 hours ago, JLMcruise said:

I know this may have been discussed before but anyone who has experienced this your help would be appreciated. I received an email today that our B2B cruise from Honolulu to Vancouver - Vancouver to Seattle on the Edge violates a maritime law. Celebrity wants us either to add on the Sydney to Honolulu leg ( that is a rather expensive option) or cancel the second cruise from Vancouver to Seattle to make it "legal".  We did not book our airfare thru Celebrity so our airfare is not refundable and the airline we were suppose to fly out of Seattle does not fly out of Vancouver. My husband has mobility issues so traveling from Vancouver to Seattle is not an option. I know I read other threads on this topic last year but can't find them. Anyone who has experience with this - your input would be much appreciated. 

 

I understand your airfare is not refundable but have you confirmed you cannot change flights or receive a credit?  Most Canada-based airlines do NOT allow changes or provide credits

[GatorMomInNC]

I flew into Seattle for a cruise out of Vancouver last year and the cruise line (HAL) provided (for a reasonable fee), a bus transport from Seatac to Port of Vancouver.   This was for people like myself who found it much less expensive to fly into Seattle (AND pay for a hotel) than flying into Vancouver.   Could you not do the same thing in reverse or is Celebrity not offering that?  There are private coaches that do the same trip.   It takes about 4 hours, door to door basically, and was maybe $60??.  If you don't want to fly out of Seatac right away, then train or uber into downtown Seattle or spend the night at Seatac first then go in the next day.  

[hcat]

Note..The city of Seattle is a distance from the airport.. We had a RT cruise that ended at the port  there.  We stayed overnight at a motel near the  airport..to avoid traffic issues day of our flight home.  Took a hotel shuttle to a lovely restaurant where we had best salmon ever!

 

I hope this all works out.  Perhaps engaging a trvl agent can help plan this out!

[martincath]

21 hours ago, JLMcruise said:

Just looking at the schedule and price.... seems pretty reasonable but the train doesn't arrive in Seattle until 9:00pm. Does anyone know if the train station is a "safe place'' for older folks at night? We would get a hotel. A new adventure!  Thanks for the info!

I wouldn't be worried about arriving at King St station - cabs pull up right outside, so whatever hotel you book you won't need to worry about wandering the streets downtown!

 

There is also a morning train (even though your ship in theory docks at 5am the hours that CBSA work mean you probably won't be able to actually disembark until ~7am at the earliest so it only works after at least one night in Vancouver) and a few bus-based options including one that leaves right from the pier at 9am (QuickShuttle) which cruisers find convenient (NB: pricing does tend to be higher than the buses which run from the regular station plus cab fare to that station from the pier as soon as more than 1 person is being priced up, but if you are dealing with mobility problems the extra bucks might feel well-spent).

 

But since you're here already, with time and money to spare originally allocated to the second leg of the cruise, maybe consider spending a little time here after the now-only-leg? Chances are that local hotels, food etc. for the full 6 nights of the original second cruise would work out a lot pricier, but you might be able to find a cheaper day to swap your flight home to if you went midweek, so a night or two or three here in Vancouver before Amtraking to Seattle might make a decent consolation for losing out on your expected B2B?

[JLMcruise]

7 minutes ago, martincath said:

I wouldn't be worried about arriving at King St station - cabs pull up right outside, so whatever hotel you book you won't need to worry about wandering the streets downtown!

Thank you so much for the information! We have spent quite of bit of time in Vancouver. I think we will book the later train and plan to spend the night in Seattle. We can have lunch in Gastown before getting on the train.  I was worried about being night but if we can get a cab - I feel much safer.

[Cruise Junky]

16 minutes ago, JLMcruise said:

Thank you so much for the information! We have spent quite of bit of time in Vancouver. I think we will book the later train and plan to spend the night in Seattle. We can have lunch in Gastown before getting on the train.  I was worried about being night but if we can get a cab - I feel much safer.

Please be aware the train does not leave from the train station in Gastown.  It leaves from the station close to Science World. Pacific Central Station.  

[Peteymil]

On 2/26/2024 at 4:42 PM, mom says said:

Back to your problem. I'm mystified why you can't cancel your second Cruise and fly from Vancouver  to Seattle, and then catch your original flight home. Your husband's mobility issues do not seem to prevent him from flying or getting from a port to an airport.

 

Edited February 28 by Peteymil

[cruisegirlppp]

Just read through this tread and I am so impressed by all the knowledgeable, helpful people who took the time to kindly help a fellow traveler solve a problem- this is the best of Cruise Critic.

[trivia addict]

Last May we took the cruise from Honolulu to Vancouver. We live near Seattle so decided to spend the day in Vancouver and take the 5 pm Amtrak back to Seattle.  It was a VERY long day. After having lunch we got to the station a bit early. The train ride was lovely but the Amtrak station while clean and safe is in the middle of nowhere and has almost no real food or drink options. If you are dealing with mobility issues, those many hours wandering with your luggage is going to be difficult.

there are shuttle buses right next to the cruise terminal. We once took one of them. It is a quick, easy ride to Seattle. I would look into those and then spend a night in Seattle or by Seatac.

[martincath]

1 hour ago, trivia addict said:

... the Amtrak station while clean and safe is in the middle of nowhere and has almost no real food or drink options. ...

There are certainly train stations around the world with more and swankier on-site food options than Pac Central, which only has three which are all pretty casual (A&W, a sushi joint, and a coffee shop) - but that's still three more than Seattle's King St!

 

As to 'middle of nowhere' - Thornton Park with its many trees does a great job at making the station feel a bit isolated, and obviously the corridor eastward for the railway lines stays mostly light industrial for a mile or two, but Main Street is literally the other side of Thornton Park. It has several indy restos just in the 1 block immediately north of the park, with at least a dozen more if you head another couple of blocks north or south; Chinatown and the Athlete's Village are both less than 800 yards which adds dozens more dining options; for drink, two pubs and several coffee shops within less than 400 yards (personally I'd walk further to Johnny Fox's - much better food than the Ivanhoe, worth the extra 150yds!); I'm not even counting purely fastfood in those resto counts - two different Tim Hortons, a McDs, Subway, and another A&W are all within two blocks, as well as the White Spot at Science World which sells via a window to folks who haven't bought a ticket. Even with in the very industrial Flats area around the tracks there's a bunch of art galleries and breweries these days, and some food carts always appear around the station at lunchtime.

 

Baggage storage on site open at 6am allowing a leisurely wander without bags - and you can usually check bags well over an hour before the evening train departs if some sort of takeout food on the train for dinner appeals more than the bistro car (which I've always found decent and not too overpriced).

 

Next time you're in town, reach out - unless I'm out of town myself I'd be happy to let you stash your bags at my condo and show you around the 'hood a little, including the best value foodie sit-down lunch spot in the city (I don't like to spread the world online, it's already busy enough, but I always take visitors - CAD cash or Interac only, but I'll swap you for greenbacks at current FX rate since we can use 'em in Portland!)

 

Same goes for OP @JLMcruise - we'll almost certainly be home the first couple of weeks in May, even if DH can only handle short walks with places to sit-down between legs there's a ton of quirky stuff most visitors never see close to the station (first nations longhouse, hundreds of murals, some of our best local coffee and beer, all sorts of stuff) I'd be happy to show you. Unless you got well off the beaten track on those prior visits, likely a whole different side of city for you!

[JLMcruise]

8 minutes ago, martincath said:

There are certainly train stations around the world with more and swankier on-site food options than Pac Central, which only has three which are all pretty casual (A&W, a sushi joint, and a coffee shop) - but that's still three more than Seattle's King St!

 

As to 'middle of nowhere' - Thornton Park with its many trees does a great job at making the station feel a bit isolated, and obviously the corridor eastward for the railway lines stays mostly light industrial for a mile or two, but Main Street is literally the other side of Thornton Park. It has several indy restos just in the 1 block immediately north of the park, with at least a dozen more if you head another couple of blocks north or south; Chinatown and the Athlete's Village are both less than 800 yards which adds dozens more dining options; for drink, two pubs and several coffee shops within less than 400 yards (personally I'd walk further to Johnny Fox's - much better food than the Ivanhoe, worth the extra 150yds!); I'm not even counting purely fastfood in those resto counts - two different Tim Hortons, a McDs, Subway, and another A&W are all within two blocks, as well as the White Spot at Science World which sells via a window to folks who haven't bought a ticket. Even with in the very industrial Flats area around the tracks there's a bunch of art galleries and breweries these days, and some food carts always appear around the station at lunchtime.

 

Baggage storage on site open at 6am allowing a leisurely wander without bags - and you can usually check bags well over an hour before the evening train departs if some sort of takeout food on the train for dinner appeals more than the bistro car (which I've always found decent and not too overpriced).

 

Next time you're in town, reach out - unless I'm out of town myself I'd be happy to let you stash your bags at my condo and show you around the 'hood a little, including the best value foodie sit-down lunch spot in the city (I don't like to spread the world online, it's already busy enough, but I always take visitors - CAD cash or Interac only, but I'll swap you for greenbacks at current FX rate since we can use 'em in Portland!)

 

Same goes for OP @JLMcruise - we'll almost certainly be home the first couple of weeks in May, even if DH can only handle short walks with places to sit-down between legs there's a ton of quirky stuff most visitors never see close to the station (first nations longhouse, hundreds of murals, some of our best local coffee and beer, all sorts of stuff) I'd be happy to show you. Unless you got well off the beaten track on those prior visits, likely a whole different side of city for you!

Thank you so much for all this information. DH can only walk shorter distances at a slow place. We are looking forward to this new adventure for us. We plan to take our time getting off the ship. We travel pretty light (2 smaller bags). I usually push them. We enjoy a restaurant in Gastown  thinking of stopping there for an early lunch (can't get good clams in the Rockies) and then grabbing an Uber to the station - Do you recommend a good place for clams - I will be your new best friend...LOL

[martincath]

12 minutes ago, JLMcruise said:

...We enjoy a restaurant in Gastown  thinking of stopping there for an early lunch (can't get good clams in the Rockies) and then grabbing an Uber to the station - Do you recommend a good place for clams - I will be your new best friend...LOL

Love me a nice clam dish! Fried, strips, bellies, baked, chowder (well, not that heathen Manhattan nonsense with tomato, blech!), spaghetti (oddly enough no problem with tomato based sauces and pasta, just not soup!) - though given my druthers, I'd eat razor clams every time in preference to regular manillas (fortunately I can usually find them pretty easily along the Oregon coast in Mom & Pops, even some chains).

 

Unfortunately all open-at-lunch clam places I would have personally recommended near the pier closed during or not long after the 'vid. I can still give you one reliable downtown location, Rodney's Oyster House in Yaletown - they offer both the good and bad kind of chowder, plus two pounds(!) of steamed manilla clams, on their lunch menu. I've got plenty of friends who love Rodneys, never had a food issue, I just find the resto a bit loud so only go if I've been invited by one of the folks who love it.

 

You can also get Ivar's chowder onboard the Amtrak, I think $5 a bowl in the bistro car these days - a couple of bowls would make a passable dinner onboard if you really want to slam as many clams as possible in a day 😉 

[the penguins]

On 2/26/2024 at 10:06 PM, mahasamatman said:

 

The only purpose in "making them b2b" is for the small discount.

 

 

Most cruise agents have never heard of the PVSA. They need to update their automated systems to act in real-time instead of batch mode.

Not just travel agents.

On a transatlantic X booked a Guest Entertainer to board in Miami, disembark in New York and fly to another Celebrity ship. Authorities in New York refused the disembarkation, the Entertainer was forced to stay on until the stop in Canada at X's expense, be paid for the gig he couldn't get to and X had to pay for another Entertainer to cover the other ship.

[Oceangoer2]

On 2/26/2024 at 4:18 PM, markeb said:

When you put the two cruises together (they're two separate cruises) Celebrity is transporting you on the same vessel from Honolulu to Seattle. The only ports that matter are where you start and where you end, and they're different US ports. That's a violation.

 

I've never booked a back to back. Apparently the software treats the two cruises as totally separate events until some sort of compliance check that occurs later. I really don't know if the booking system even directly recognizes that you have a back-to-back booking at the time. It would be helpful if it did. If you booked with a live person, either at Celebrity or your own TA, and it sounds like you did, shame on them. 

They issue two different booking confirmation numbers and aren't considered one voyage.  But the agent is responsible for advising the illegal sailing and not allowing the booking...unless you booked online by yourself?

 

Sorry....just read following posts that you did book with an agent.  Since the change to general service agents, they don't seem to be fully informed.  Hope this all works out for you.

Edited February 29 by Oceangoer2

[Oceangoer2]

On 2/26/2024 at 7:53 PM, NutsAboutGolf said:

 

I understand your airfare is not refundable but have you confirmed you cannot change flights or receive a credit?  Most Canada-based airlines do NOT allow changes or provide credits

Air Canada does allow changes if you book a refundable fare.