Questions on US Direct Program for Alaska Cruise Ship Passengers

[ChuckL]

I understand that there is a program called US Direct that is for Alaska cruise ship passengers returning through Vancouver. According to the official web site,

http://www.portvancouver.com/vanAlaCruise/content/infoPassengers/usDirect.html , "passengers arriving on a cruise and flying out of Vancouver Airport (YVR) on the same day disembark the ship and are transferred directly to YVR by participating in expedited imigration and customs clearance process. Upon arrival at YVR, these passengers enter the airport through a designated cruise passenger facility."

 

This sounds great, but I would like to hear from anyone who has used this service for an arriving cruiseship. Where is customs cleared (Canadian and US)? Is it both at the airport and cruise pier, or just one of the locations? Once arriving at the airport, are you placed in a holding area only for US Direct passengers, or do you have the ability to move around the airport (e.g. to get lunch for a flight not offering meal service)? Is this service used in conjunction with Celebrity's baggage check program where I can check-in to my airline and have my baggage tagged for my final destination before it is taken off of the ship?

 

Any feedback on this would be most welcome!

[emilygrace]

We participated in this program last year, although we were on an RCL ship, but I'm sure the procedure is the same. Well worth the $$$ to avoid customs and immigration at the airport, where the lines can get long, especially if several ships dock at the same time.

 

We had special luggage tags that we put on the night before when putting our luggage outside our cabin. We didn't see it again until we landed in San Francisco. The morning of departure we went to the theater to pick up our boarding passes and onto the bus we went.

 

After the bus took us to the special US Direct area we just walked through a separate customs and immigration station, turned in whatever forms we had filled out and then we went into the main part of Vancouver airport (the U.S. side) that is past customs and immigration. There are plenty of restaurants and a few shops. It is the same area that you would end up in if you had stood in those long lines.

[ChuckL]

Thanks emilygrace! I would guess the procedure would be the same as RCL. How much did the program cost, and when did you sign up for it?

[emilygrace]

We purchased the airport transfers a few months before the cruise and my TA specified that we would be doing US Direct. Usually we find our own way to the pier, but this was the only way to do the program. To do it going to the cruise, you must be flying in the day of the cruise and be on a participating airline (all the major ones) and be a US citizen.

 

So we had purchased our transfers both ways and while we were on the ship they left a form in our stateroom saying that to get our boarding passes and have our luggage taken directly to the plane was $15 per person. We decided to do it because we have seen the lines at YVR on cruise days. Now if you are doing a cruise that departs and returns on any other day but Saturday or Sunday, it probably isn't a nightmare at the airport, so this is something to consider.

[CruisinDoug]

We did it last August and the cost was $20 per person. Well worth it to avoid the lines and aggravation.

[Mancuso]

Can this service be used if you don't go right to the Vancouver airport and tour the city for a few hours first?

 

Thanks,

[ChuckL]

Can this service be used if you don't go right to the Vancouver airport and tour the city for a few hours first?

 

From the website I mentioned in my first post, "US Direct does not apply to passengers who are planning a pre or post stay in Vancouver. The program is targeted to passengers who have already planned to be transferred directly to their same-day-departing cruise ship upon arriving in Vancouver or the reverse to their same-day-departing flight at YVR."

 

So, it sounds like you have to go directly to the airport from the cruise pier, and cannot do any touring of Vancouver if you want to participate in the program.

[ChuckL]

I contacted Celebrity to try and get information on this program, and after 20 minutes, still didn't have an adequate answer. Thank goodness for Cruise Critic, and thanks to all of you for your responses.

[sashas_mom]

I don't think it means you can't tour Vancouver first, I believe it means your flight must leave that day. I checked and you can take a cab instead of the transfer, so if that's true, I don't think it matters when you show up at the airport.

sasha'smom

[bmr12]

I found the web site to be pretty clear "US Direct is designed to maintain the sterility of domestic movements between US arriving cruise ship passengers and departing US pre-cleared flights" and "Sterile and secure passenger and baggage transfer between the Port and Airport" and "Works in conjunction with a cruise line bus transfer". One does not maintain sterility in a cab touring Vancouver; I am guessing one gets off the ship directly onto a bus that lets you off past customs and immigration in YVR. For most of these cruises, you haven't ever really left the US except for the nightly excursion to international waters to open the casino, so if they can keep one "sterile" from the ship to the airport, they can avoid having to screen several hundred passengers per ship, I would guess.

[emilygrace]

Yes, if you do the bus transfer they treat it as if you never set foot in Canada, so that is how you avoid going through customs and immigration. As they told us on our bus from the airport to the ship, "it's as if you were never here!"

[negc]

I don't think it means you can't tour Vancouver first' date=' I believe it means your flight must leave that day. I checked and you can take a cab instead of the transfer, so if that's true, I don't think it matters when you show up at the airport.

sasha'smom[/quote']

 

Unfortunately it means exactly that. Reread the description of the program and see what it says. "Participants are transferred directly to the airport". - no touring, no stops along the way, "directly to the airport".

[flashdog_1]

If you did a cruise/air with Celebrity, you have already paid for your bus transfer, so it's then an additional $15 for US Direct. If you flew in on your own without buying the transfer, you must purchase it on board in order to participate in US Direct. Maybe that's where the $20 fee is coming from. I flew w/Celebrity so paid just the $15 last summer.

 

Two things to note: your flight must be within certain hours, I believe, not before noon. It takes about an hour to drive to the airport so this is a safeguard for you. You will get a little bit of a tour of Vancouver by your bus drive, but it's not the same as walking around, of course.

 

If you are flying standby you cannot use US Direct. We had some airline employees at our table who had to fly standby and were therefore unable to utilize this faster service.

 

The Vancouver airport has an indoor smoking area with a snack bar in it, right smack in the middle of the departure lounges. it is also neat that the disembarking passengers cannot meet up with you, so it is less congested, no fighting opposing traffic. There are massage chairs, sleep capsules and free internet.

 

It is very convenient not to have to handle your luggage between the time you put it out the last night on board, until you go to the luggage carousel in your destination airport.

[ChuckL]

If you did a cruise/air with Celebrity, you have already paid for your bus transfer, so it's then an additional $15 for US Direct. If you flew in on your own without buying the transfer, you must purchase it on board in order to participate in US Direct. Maybe that's where the $20 fee is coming from. I flew w/Celebrity so paid just the $15 last summer.

. . .

 

Is the fee that is charged, per person for two checked bags?

[sashas_mom]

According to the site it says the following:Cruise passengers arriving at the airport fall into two categories:

• Air/Sea guests - bused directly from the port
  
• Independents - make their own travel arrangements to the airport, for example by taxi

Independents arrive at the airport terminal on the U.S. departures level. Once inside the terminal, passengers are able by-pass check-in and enter a dedicated US Residents Customs and Border Protection queue. Upon completion of all formalities, passengers will be security screened before proceeding directly to the U.S. departures gate area.

Independents can take a taxi....

 

It is $15.00 per person up to two bags per person. Even if you have 1 bag each, it is still $15.00 per person (I called and asked).

 

I agree the above information is confusing. In one place it sounds like you MUST be bussed and a few paragraphs further down it has the above info on "independents". I will have to get it straight, because we are definitely doing this. Perhaps when we get the forms in the mail with our final docs it will be clearer. I'll be sure to let you know. They should be here in the next week or so.

sasha'smom