Question about port-to-airport transfers in Vancouver

[Furudanuki]

My wife and I will be sailing on the Sapphire Princess departing Whittier on May 18th and arriving in Vancouver on May 25th. The package we booked includes transfers to the airport, but our plane does not leave until 11:00pm that evening. We'd like to see some of Vancouver since there is so much time available, but I don't want to book a tour without knowing how the transfer process works. Do you have to do the transfer immediately upon debarkation? Can you schedule your transfer for a later time? Do they give you a transportation voucher and you make your own arrangements? Any information from those familiar with this port would be appreciated!

 

[Muffinz]

I believe it is a bus / shuttle that Princess put on and it leaves the pier (Canada place) at a certain time - someone will correct me if I am wrong.

[1025cruise]

The transfer leaves as soon as the bus fills to take you to the airport. The expectation is that you go to the airport when you disembark. I would look into cancelling the transfers you bought and make independent plans so you can tour Vancouver. There might be an option for a post cruise tour, but you will still be at the airport for many hours.

[Potstech]

Or else take the transfer to the airport then the skytrain back into Vancouver. Tour for awhile then take the skytrain back to the airport. Or just skip the transfer look around Vancouver then take the skytrain to the airport.

[SCX22]

If you didn't book a post cruise hotel and purchased the Princess transfer on your own, you have the option to cancel the Princess transfer and make your own way to YVR.  SkyTrain is a really quick and easy way to get to the airport.  Recommend finding a place to store your luggage; Pan Pacific used to do this at minimal cost and there are places that will store your luggage at cost until 5:00 pm around the port.

 

Another option might be to purchase the Hop on and Hop off bus excursion when on the ship.  Your luggage will be taken to the airport and kept in storage and you will be responsible for picking it up there.  HOHO bus will pick you up at the port and vouchers for the SkyTrain will be provided as your transport to YVR.  You pay for the convenience when choosing this option. 

 

Last Princess bus transfer to the airport usually leaves at 10:00 am, which is too early for your flight.

[Arizona Wildcat]

Your issue is dealing with your luggage.   EDS operates a luggage storage business at the airport take the shuttle (it has a fixed time) and as said the skytrain back into the city 

Edited May 8 by Arizona Wildcat

[Furudanuki]

Thanks to everyone for the helpful information! Didn't know about the SkyTrain, so I'll definitely look into that option.

 

[karatemom2]

I will share a suggestion that worked really well for us when we had a late flight out of Vancouver. We rented a car at the port, used it to enjoy touring the city for the day, and then returned it at the airport location and took the rental car shuttle to our terminal. 
 

It worked great - we had our own transportation all day, no problem with storing our luggage which just went in the trunk, and it was way cheaper than the Princess transfers. 
 

If my memory serves me right we rented from Hertz, but Enterprise and Avis both also have offices near Canada Place. 

Edited May 8 by karatemom2

[EDDY0827]

3 hours ago, Furudanuki said:

Thanks to everyone for the helpful information! Didn't know about the SkyTrain, so I'll definitely look into that option.

 

I took SkyTrain last week. 1 way, 2 zone senior fare was $2.27 US. From YVR to the city is a little more due to the airport surcharge.

[ILUVHOCKEY]

If you are touring Vancouver and taking skytrain (subway) and public busses to get around. Why not get a day pass. It is only $11.25 CAD. Best bang for the buck. Otherwise you can just tap and go with your credit card on the busses and skytrain (subway).

 

I live in Vancouver. So if you have any questions regarding the city just post here.

[Alaska05]

10 hours ago, EDDY0827 said:

I took SkyTrain last week. 1 way, 2 zone senior fare was $2.27 US. From YVR to the city is a little more due to the airport surcharge.

If you use your credit card to tap for payment, how do you get the senior rate?

[EDDY0827]

When you pay for your ticket at a kiosk, the screen will ask if you are a senior. If you have problems, there is usually someone to assist; or ask someone buying a ticket for help.

[Muffinz]

5 minutes ago, EDDY0827 said:

When you pay for your ticket at a kiosk, the screen will ask if you are a senior. If you have problems, there is usually someone to assist; or ask someone buying a ticket for help.

I think they are talking about using their credit card to just tap on and tap off the train... we were in Vancouver for 10 days last July and you don't need to buy an actual ticket from a machine, you can just tap on and tap off with your credit card when you enter the train station and exit the train station

[EDDY0827]

I think that you need a ticket if you want the senior discount.

[Knickearth]

18 hours ago, Furudanuki said:

Thanks to everyone for the helpful information! Didn't know about the SkyTrain, so I'll definitely look into that option.

 

Whenever we fly into or out of Vancouver we found taking a cab or Uber cheaper and so much quicker than the transfers from Princess. Waiting for a bus to fill up can take quite sometime.

[Cruise Raider]

22 hours ago, Potstech said:

Or else take the transfer to the airport then the skytrain back into Vancouver. Tour for awhile then take the skytrain back to the airport. Or just skip the transfer look around Vancouver then take the skytrain to the airport.

You still can’t check your luggage until about 3 to 4 hours prior to your flight.  

[ceilie1]

On 5/7/2024 at 8:43 PM, Arizona Wildcat said:

Your issue is dealing with your luggage.   EDS operates a luggage storage business at the airport take the shuttle (it has a fixed time) and as said the skytrain back into the city 

This is what we did last year.It was easy and quick.We took the skytrain back into the city after dropping off our luggage in storage at the airport.

Enjoy your cruise.

[Potstech]

5 hours ago, Cruise Raider said:

You still can’t check your luggage until about 3 to 4 hours prior to your flight.  

Absolutely correct

 

[cruisequeen4ever]

Vancouver is very easy to navigate on foot and very easy to get transportation to the airport. You can either take the skytrain for a very cheap price from close to the cruise terminal or you can get a taxi.

[martincath]

On 5/7/2024 at 4:23 PM, Furudanuki said:

...The package we booked includes transfers to the airport, but our plane does not leave until 11:00pm that evening. We'd like to see some of Vancouver since there is so much time available, but I don't want to book a tour without knowing how the transfer process works. ...

Missed this first time around - I think you've had almost all the bases covered by other posters, except to store bags downtown rather than at the airport. Cancel the transfers, unless you take them right after disembarking you can't use them at all, and use that money to pay for at least some of your activities.

 

Heading to YVR twice wastes over an hour of your valuable time AND extra money though (unless you do buy a Day Pass, you'll at least have to pay for SkyTrain out & back, which is somewhere in the US$2ishto3ish ballpark pp, and more expensive than the price savings of storing a bag at YVR [CAD$8 last time I looked] instead of at the pier [the Pan Pacific hotel will hold nonguests bags for CAD$10ea]).

 

If you can self-disembark, and don't hire porters at airports, then you can easily use SkyTrain - it's less than 400 yards from pier to Waterfront Station (and even a little downhill!) on Cordova St, and the traisn themselves have loads of space for bags under every seat and can be rolled onto even with the wee suitcase wheels easily.

 

Do note that CBP Preclearance hours were extended this year - so your flight is almost certainly going to be precleared as they now work until 11:30pm! This does save you time overall, but means that you do need a bit of extra time at YVR for the extra step. Arriving 2 hours early for a redeye should still be plenty though, even if you are nervous travelers - you can prebook a timeslot at Security for free on the day (or up to 72hrs in advance if you have internet aboard ship or in a previous port within the timeframe), and if you have Global Entry or NEXUS (not TSA Pre!) you can also show those cards to get into the short queue and dedicated kiosk line for Preclearance, as well as the short queue for Security with no need to prebook.

 

So personally, if you've never been before, I'd stash your bags and start queuing for the first HOHO bus (starts at 9am, you want to be among at least the first 50 people though so be 15mins early!), pootle around town with some informative commentary getting off and on as you like, then when the HOHO stops running (never late than 6pm) that's perfect for grabbing dinner, then collecting bags and heading out to YVR. If you can't schlep your bags around by yourselves, you can access fixed-price cabs from the pier to the airport as well as the other direction these days, so as long as you so stash bags at the PP you can reliably pay CAD$41 for a taxi - but by ~8pm you could honestly just let the meter run and pay more like $35, or take a rideshare for probably closer to $30 as long as no Surge applies...

 

Either way, it's a massive discount compared to the Princess-and-others packaging of bag storage, a HOHO ticket, and a SkyTrain ticket for what folks are saying is US$160 this season - depending how many big bags you stash, you could be paying significantly less than half that much per person by SkyTrain, or still well under $100pp if you chose to go by cab at the end of the day (4 of you? Splitting the cab part drops this down to within about $5 of SkyTrain pricing!)

[robbinsca]

I am with KarateMom. Renting a car is easy, and the trunk becomes your luggage storage space. Maybe it is because we are both from California and just like having a car at our disposal at all times. 🤓

 

Recommend the Granville Island Market and Stanley Park for stops in town.

 

[EDDY0827]

1 hour ago, martincath said:

and if you have Global Entry or NEXUS (not TSA Pre!) you can also show those cards to get into the short queue and dedicated kiosk line for Preclearance, as well as the short queue for Security with no need to prebook.

I used TSA PreCheck at YVR 3 weeks ago. Don't recall being able to use it on previous trips. I don't have Nexus or Global Entry.

[robins11]

We disembarked Grand Princess earlier this month at Vancouver after an 8 day cruise to Alaska. Our long haul flight was not leaving Vancouver until 9pm. So we simply left our luggage at Gray Line West Coast Sightseeing which is located inside the cruise terminal as you exit from the ship. We deposited our two suitcases there around 9am and picked them up again at 4.30pm. You have until 5pm latest to collect them. The cost was approximately 40$. It was an easy process with friendly staff. We then spent the day touring the Vancouver sights including Stanley Park.

Once we picked up our luggage late afternoon we walked around 10minutes to the Skytrain. These trains direct to the airport are frequent it seemed every 5/10 minutes or so and the journey took around 30 minutes. Simple process and good value plus it enabled us to maximise our time in this wonderful city before flying back to London.

[martincath]

6 minutes ago, EDDY0827 said:

I used TSA PreCheck at YVR 3 weeks ago. Don't recall being able to use it on previous trips. I don't have Nexus or Global Entry.

Considering that there is no TSA in Canada, only CBP, either you had 'short queue' privilege for other reasons (e.g. First Class, YVR Express booking) or got very lucky with the CATSA agent manning the short queue failing to spot your card was TSA Pre rather than GE!

 

I've had a similar lucky happenstance at Heathrow, asking whether my NEXUS card (which includes both GE and TSA Pre privileges) was any use yet (I had heard from a family member who headed up security at Manchester that the UK was in negotiations to add Preclearance to several airports - ended up being offered the chance to join the UKs equivalent of Global entry a while later via NEXUS membership but as a separately paid for thing) and both times was waved through even though I technically shouldn't have been!

[EDDY0827]

3 minutes ago, martincath said:

Considering that there is no TSA in Canada, only CBP, either you had 'short queue' privilege for other reasons (e.g. First Class, YVR Express booking) or got very lucky with the CATSA agent manning the short queue failing to spot your card was TSA Pre rather than GE!

I had none of those. There was a sign that said TSAPre along with GE and Nexus. I questioned the agent checking boarding passes about TSAPre, she checked my boarding pass, saw the PreCheck emblem and waved me through. Maybe this is a trial for a limited time? I'm not Canadian so I don't know. All I know is that I passed through this que with no international program certification, just TSAPre.