We disembark on Canada Day. 1:19pm flight.

[Wedgie Wedgie]

Cunard Queen Elizabeth. We have a Q4 suite. We could be first off on 7/1/24.

 

We thought we would leisurely depart with a 1:19 flight and just hop a cab after a nice breakfast.

 

What exactly happens on Canada Day? Will it impede travel time to the airport?

 

FL man is clueless.

Edited March 30 by Wedgie Wedgie

[Milhouse]

I suspect the extra foot traffic around Canada Place may slow vehicle flow slightly more than usual from the terminal/parkade area out onto Howe Street but there are typically traffic control cops in the intersection coordinating things.  Also, IIRC scheduled events typically don't get going until later in the morning (11'ish).

 

Canada Day celebrations in downtown have kind of been scaled back in varying degrees over the last few years (eg Parade and Fireworks dropped) mainly due to a lack of funding so it can be a bit of a guess in terms of what ends up year to year.  However, Canada Place road is typically closed to traffic for a block party from Jack Poole Plaza to about the entrance to the convention area in Canada Place, roughly leaving the driveway of the Fairmont Waterfront and entrace to the Canada Place/Pan Pacific's parkade (down to the cruise terminal) open/accessible.  (There are also events normally happening in Jack Poole Plaza and around Canada Place's promenade that should not impact traffic.)  

[martincath]

Yup - there will be road closures making things a little more annoying, but then there's also way less commuter traffic on a holiday so it might end up being a wash. Cab fares are now fixed from pier to airport, so even if it is a slower drive you ain't paying extra for it (although Uber will undoubtedly Surge the cra*p out of fares if they're busy!) Canada Place will update their website with the event schedule nearer July but you can look at last years for an idea of what's happening

 

Even if you're the last folks kicked off, don't start waiting for a cab until ~9:30am, wait an hour, take an hour to drive, get caught up in all the cruise bus traffic at YVR so you take another hour plus to get through bag drop, security, preclearance... you'll still be at your gate before boarding starts so I wouldn't worry about missing the flight but I'd still prebook a timeslot for Security!

 

Personally though I'd much rather get going earlier, take SkyTrain if you can manage (if you can self-disembark you are 100% capable of schlepping your bags to, on, and off the train - and unlike cars, no traffic issues!), then chill at the airport for a couple of hours longer. Treat yourself to lounge access with what you save taking SkyTrain (<US$3pp!) 😉 

[Wedgie Wedgie]

TYVM- after looking at Sky Train it will be the way to go- to and fro. We're gonna be schlepping 2 large suitcases each. Is it easy to situate luggage on the train?

[cruiseryyc]

Even without Canada Day, a 1:19 departure does not mean a leisurely morning getting off the ship.  You should be at the airport 2.5 to 3 hours prior your flight.

[martincath]

5 hours ago, Wedgie Wedgie said:

TYVM- after looking at Sky Train it will be the way to go- to and fro. We're gonna be schlepping 2 large suitcases each. Is it easy to situate luggage on the train?

Yes, there's space for pretty big suitcases under each seat - but with 2 big ones each you're going to have some trouble as there's no way to fit all your cases within your seat area at all comfortably unless your idea of a big case is very different than my own. To put specific size parameters in place, when the missus and I travel for a long vaycay we take a 28" roller plus a 21" carryon each, her big purse and my small backpack - we fit into a pair of seats OK, with big cases slid underneath, the 2 carryons in front of her knees and between my right leg/her left (I'm tall, she's short) and our personal bags on knees.

 

Maybe you don't mind sitting with a big case across your knees, but if you don't want to do that then as long as you can keep control of your additional big cases having them in the aisle next to your seat won't get you kicked off the train (unless you get very unlucky, automated trains mean very few staff are ever around to enforce rules). But unless at least one of you is short enough to fit a big case vertically in front of your knees, or you stack them on top of you, whoever is on the outside seat would need to sit awkwardly turned to get both hands out to hold two big cases in the aisle - braking is fast enough than an unheld case will absolutely tip over or roll forward into other peoples legs if anyone is standing.

 

If your 'big' bags are actually paired big & less-big cases that stack or strap together securely, so you're able to wheel them as one unit, you should be fine moving around - but if it's a 'one hand pulling each case by the handle' situation I'm going to suggest that you should take a cab instead to avoid banging into people navigating both stations and sidewalks. Plus not being able to safely use escalators means you have to find and wait for elevators in all SkyTrain stations and at the pier (in stations, if you really want to shove a case in front of you and pull one behind nobody will stop you using the escalators, but at the pier they actually will - you will not be allowed to self-disembark with two large suitcases that need a hand each, staff are placed at the escalators to redirect folks without a hand free to hold on with toward the loooooooong queue for the elevator).

 

Certainly inbound, even for just 2 people, a taxi makes for decent value - SkyTrain tickets get hit with a $5pp surcharge inbound, which more than doubles the price at peak time and more then triples it for a Senior offpeak! Fixes cab fare to or from the pier is $41 per vehicle - potentially room for 4 people and ton of bags if you get a van taxi, always at least 3 pax and a decent number of cases in the most common Prius cabs. To downtown hotels, unless you're in a fancy one right by the pier, fixed fare inbound is $37 - so compared to SkyTrain, 4 adults actually break even when paying regular daytime fares of over $9 each...

 

Outbound, with no surcharge, and especially if you have a tight flight time, the savings in money and time are much more attractive - and if it's a weekday, commuter volumes are massively toward downtown rather than YVR so there's a good chance you will have ample space to take up 2 pairs of seats across the aisle from each other and tuck your cases in no problem even if you're traveling around 9am.

[Milhouse]

6 hours ago, Wedgie Wedgie said:

TYVM- after looking at Sky Train it will be the way to go- to and fro. We're gonna be schlepping 2 large suitcases each. Is it easy to situate luggage on the train?

 

Beat me to the punch but just to top up:

The Canada Line cars have "normal" 2x2 seating on one end and a more open area (kind of for bikes, etc) on the other end.  Travelling with large suitcases in the normal seating area and door area is kind of awkward IMO.  More comfortable in the open area.  I forget if the set of four across from the open area are designated seating for the elderly, etc though.  

 

Grabbed these photos off the internet which are a good view of the open area I mention.

https://buzzer.translink.ca/wp-content/uploads/2009/05/img_0623.jpg

 

https://farm4.static.flickr.com/3328/3444306028_b34f7b3ea8_b.jpg

[dstein]

We disembarked on Canada Day a few years ago and took SkyTrain.  One thing to note is that SkyTrain was operating on a holiday fare schedule, which meant no need to figure out how many zones you were traveling through.  (We were stuck on trying to figure that out when a kind Canadian clarified this for us.)  And as per the advice to get to the airport 2.5-3 hour ahead of time, I second that advice.  We were quite surprised at how long it took to get through airline check-in, baggage check-in, and security at YVR (on multiple trips, not just our Canada Day trip).  At least one of those three checkpoints has often held us up for 45+ minutes every time.

[david,Mississauga]

On principle I prefer to use rail services whenever possible. One thing I can't understand about the Skytrain service to the airport is why there is no specific place for luggage. On airport trains we have used many times, such as London and Toronto, there is ample place to conveniently store your luggage. We have managed the Skytrain several times, but unless we are travelling fairly lightly - such as for a one-way train trip, not a cruise - it isn't convenient. 

 

If we were younger and if my wife's mobility was better, we could put the bags under the seats as suggested.  My good lady can handle train travel, but can't help with luggage. There are large spaces for bicycles, mostly empty.  On one trip our friend put one bag in the empty spot and was told by another passenger that he could be fined for doing so. He said he would take the risk as there was nowhere else for it.

 

Getting a taxi at the pier can be difficult, but certainly not always. Some times there has been no or very little wait and other times the queue was enormous.  One time we rolled our bags to the hotel where we stayed before the cruise and asked the staff to get us  a taxi. There can be a wait, but there was no standing for a long period of time. If we have a lot of OBC we can use the ship's coach transfer - and even if we have to pay we now do so for convenience. This can be expensive, but this year Cunard is charging Can.$102 per couple. Last year it was $120. 

Edited April 4 by david,Mississauga
typo

[martincath]

2 hours ago, david,Mississauga said:

.... On airport trains we have used many times, such as London and Toronto, there is ample place to conveniently store your luggage. We have managed the Skytrain several times, but unless we are travelling fairly lightly - such as for a one-way train trip, not a cruise - it isn't convenient. 

 

If we were younger and if my wife's mobility was better, we could put the bags under the seats as suggested.  ...

Having the same preference, and having used many UK/US/Euro trains, I find that the choice made for the Canada Line rolling stock is actually the best of any of the airport LRTs and even real trains I've used David - your bags are always with you rather than at the other end of the carriage in a dedicated luggage area, which removes a theft risk; there's no need to lift them into an overhead rack (much harder for most folks with any degree of limited strength than sliding under a seat) or even a middle shelf like in many of the UK trains with dedicated multi-shelf luggage spaces on the ends.

 

The actual reason given for the choice of vehicle layout if I'm remembering the early planning documents correctly (which did have multiple layouts for both the chosen provider and the other competing bids) was simply because every dedicated luggage rack eats enough floor space that at least 4 people could stand there instead - and these are ultimately a people-moving service for the overwhelming majority of folks riding them (even on the airport line, except for the stations on the Sea Island fork, most folks have a briefcase/daypack level of encumbrance as they are commuters).

 

I'm pretty sure the set of 4 sideways seats referenced by @Milhouse above are supposed to be priority 'for folks who need them' seating, so I had discounted the open areas when replying to the folks with 2 big'uns each - but standing in the open area across from them with your cases vertical should enable keeping them under control easily enough if you stand nearer the front of the train (acceleration is more gentle than braking, you want to be bracing them for the slowing down part - and worst case it's you who gets bumped by your own case then, not other folks!) There's really only going to be room for a couple of folks with four big cases to fit in that part of each carriage, but since both YVR and Waterfront are terminus stations you board a basically empty train so it's rarely hard to get a choice of where to be if you're ready when the train pulls in.

 

@dsteinthe new fare system removes the zone calculation, or even using the ticket machines at all, for most folks these days - as long as you have 1 tappable credit card, or smartphone with a loaded card to their NFC app, per person you literally tap them on the gates to enter and leave and the system does the required math of zones traveled and autobills at interbank exchange rates the appropriate Adult fare for that time and day. Kids too old to travel free (13+) do need an adult to have a spare card to let them do this, and for both them and Seniors 65+ who want to save a bit of money may still choose to use a machine so they can get a Concession fare of course!

[KeepCalmBearOn]

If I was a Cunard Queen Elizabeth Q4 Suite passenger I'd be engaging a private car. I can't imagine there is no access because of Canada Day to the terminal.