Canada Place, Vancouver, BC - things to watch out for after drop off

Will be departing from Canada Place on Celebrity's Infinity soon. I believe check-in starts at 11AM on departure day (Sunday).

Any suggestions with line ups, recent / local issues (e.g. virus causing delays), watch out for missing signs, timing of dropping off (e.g. should I arrive real early?), go to check-in in smaller groups (e.g. per stateroom) and lineup separately OR wait for everyone in my group (there are 30+ of us but only me and my wife are Captain's Club) and go as a large group to one line, etc. and any thing to best avoid / must do in general?

Last time I use the terminal for a cruise was 12 years ago so just updating myself. Many thanks!

Will be departing from Canada Place on Celebrity's Infinity soon. I believe check-in starts at 11AM on departure day (Sunday).

No, you can go before then. We went at around 10:40 and were disappointed to see so many people already ahead of us. We were only at the hotel across the street, could have gone earlier. *sigh* Oh well.

As I mentioned in your other thread, you will be embarking with one other ship so you will experience some lines and waiting. You will be seated in a large hall and given a number which will give you access to another waiting area and so on. It might be too difficult to wait for 30 people - perhaps you could just all meet up somewhere on the ship? Hopefully you will only be within a few minutes of each other.

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I must have missed the other thread LOL. Ok, I will go earlier then.

People will arrive as early as 1000 but it hardly to any avail. As you likely know X will allow you to board at about noon but wont allow anyone to go to their staterooms until everyone's is ready and that is usually not until 1300 or so....in the meantime you are tripping over everyone's luggage.

As for Canada Place, you can relax, it not difficult and there will be lots of people to help and direct you. If you are arriving by car, taxi or bus you will just go down the vehicle ramp and you will be directed to a spot to drop off your luggage then you proceed into the terminal. If arriving on foot there is a pedestrian ramp just to the left of the vehicle ramp, its a bit hard to spot but it is there.

The biggest tip I'll share... if you are arriving by cab and the line is long.... ask the driver to drop you off outside Pan Pacific and then drag your luggage into the terminal. You might save $10 off the fare if the wait is long.

Thanks guys/gals. I am actually asking the Port of Vancouver Authority on using NEXUS. Will most likely bring both NEXUS and passport.

After checking in, our plan is to head to the buffet restaurant for lunch. Plans are meant to be changed so we shall see what is actually happening and react to the situations I guess.

Will post here if there are significant differences to the above comments from the Port Authority.

Following!

Leaving on the Millennium in 3 weeks and will be arriving by taxi from the Hyatt. Trying to figure out what time to get there for - it sounds like regardless of whether we get there at 10:30 or 1:30, we're going to have a bit of a wait to board. We're the only ship in port that day so hopefully that make a difference.

Any suggestions? We have 3 days in Vancouver pre-cruise so we likely won't need the morning to explore the city.

A one ship day? Any time from noon should have the bulk of the crowds finished with then, so you can have lunch onboard.

Three days is a goodly amount of time, but I'd still be tempted to make use of your last morning.

The lookout observation deck of the Harbour centre is very close to the pier and really only takes an hour or less to absorb - you'll be able to see your ship on departure day as well as all the lovely mountains; Fly Over Canada is another super-close attraction that's done quickly (30mins total for the preshow and ride, but queue can get pretty long if you don't prebook a timeslot).

Roaming Gastown may not be super-enticing to a Torontonian as it's chock full of 1970/80s fake 'historic' schlock like the steam clock & lampposts, but our Chinatown kicks the ass of the 'only existed since it moved in the early 1960s' T.O. version and it's easily visited from downtown - the Dr Sun Yat Sen garden is the best example of its type anywhere outside Suzhou, well worth a couple of hours including the guided tour.

A one ship day? Any time from noon should have the bulk of the crowds finished with then, so you can have lunch onboard.

 

Three days is a goodly amount of time, but I'd still be tempted to make use of your last morning.

 

The lookout observation deck of the Harbour centre is very close to the pier and really only takes an hour or less to absorb - you'll be able to see your ship on departure day as well as all the lovely mountains; Fly Over Canada is another super-close attraction that's done quickly (30mins total for the preshow and ride, but queue can get pretty long if you don't prebook a timeslot).

 

Roaming Gastown may not be super-enticing to a Torontonian as it's chock full of 1970/80s fake 'historic' schlock like the steam clock & lampposts, but our Chinatown kicks the ass of the 'only existed since it moved in the early 1960s' T.O. version and it's easily visited from downtown - the Dr Sun Yat Sen garden is the best example of its type anywhere outside Suzhou, well worth a couple of hours including the guided tour.

Thanks for your advice!!! So it sounds like on a 1-ship day it's best to wait until the morning rush is all onboard and boarding has already commenced?

We are definitely considering Fly Over Canada but will likely do it prior to cruise day. But we'll keep that morning as our back-up plan in case we don't get there before then for sure! I wonder how the lines compare during cruise boarding versus at other days/times if we don't end up pre-purchasing our tickets. Do you know of any coupon codes or paper coupons that we could pick up in Vancouver for either that or other attractions? (I.e. Capilano, Grouse mountain, the aquarium, etc?).

In the event that we want to drop off our suitcases at the pier and then go to Fly Over Canada (or elsewhere), how would we go about that? Where should we ask the taxi to drop us off? Anything else in the immediate area (or AT Canada Place) that we should check out that morning prior to boarding?

And thanks for your other suggestions re: the garden! We will keep that on our list of ideas! :) I do have some questions regarding our time in Vancouver which I'll post on the other Vancouver thread this week! I thought I had our 3 days planned out but it turns out the Vancouver HoHo trolley doesn't do 2-day passes anymore unless purchased in conjunction with tickets for other attractions, which likely won't work in our favour either!

Also regarding the smoke from the fires - it looks awful in Vancouver! I feel terrible for the residents there. Is it anticipated to potentially worsen over the next several weeks? I'm a bit concerned that it may start to affect flights in the area (in addition to everyone's lungs there!). Any thoughts? I know I was hoping for no rain for our trip but I'm praying for some rain for all of the BC residents (although the forecast doesn't look very hopeful in that regard).

Its hard to predict what the forest fire situation will be like in 3 weeks....but hopefully it the fires will be extinguished and the air clear. I now live about an hour up the coast from Vancouver, live within a mile of a 200 acre blaze that has been burning since Thursday last week and yesterday was the first day we had and smoke or ash, it really depends on the winds.

I think you are saying that you have 3 full days in Vancouver pre-cruise. My recommendation would be to purchase a 2 day Vancouver Trolley pass which is a HOHO. You can purchase it on Viatour or directly. As part of your one of your HOHO days would be to spend some time in Stanley Park. On the 3rd day I would suggest a trip over to the North Shore to visit the Capilano Suspension bridge and then to the Grouse Mountain SkyRide. Both attractions offer free shuttle and the schedule for them can be found on their websites. Once at one of the attractions you could take a transit bus to the next then take that attraction's shuttle to the city.

http://www.vancouvertrolley.com/

http://www.viator.com/tours/Vancouver/Vancouver-Trolley-Hop-on-Hop-off-Tour/d616-3005TROLLEY

http://vancouver.ca/parks-recreation-culture/stanley-park.aspx

http://www.capbridge.com/

https://www.grousemountain.com/

Its hard to predict what the forest fire situation will be like in 3 weeks....but hopefully it the fires will be extinguished and the air clear. I now live about an hour up the coast from Vancouver, live within a mile of a 200 acre blaze that has been burning since Thursday last week and yesterday was the first day we had and smoke or ash, it really depends on the winds.

 

 

 

I think you are saying that you have 3 full days in Vancouver pre-cruise. My recommendation would be to purchase a 2 day Vancouver Trolley pass which is a HOHO. You can purchase it on Viatour or directly. As part of your one of your HOHO days would be to spend some time in Stanley Park. On the 3rd day I would suggest a trip over to the North Shore to visit the Capilano Suspension bridge and then to the Grouse Mountain SkyRide. Both attractions offer free shuttle and the schedule for them can be found on their websites. Once at one of the attractions you could take a transit bus to the next then take that attraction's shuttle to the city.

 

 

 

http://www.vancouvertrolley.com/

 

 

 

http://www.viator.com/tours/Vancouver/Vancouver-Trolley-Hop-on-Hop-off-Tour/d616-3005TROLLEY

 

 

 

http://vancouver.ca/parks-recreation-culture/stanley-park.aspx

 

 

 

http://www.capbridge.com/

 

 

 

https://www.grousemountain.com/

Thank you! Sounds like we're on the right track with our planning! We had planned on using the trolley for Stanley park/the aquarium one day, and for the various downtown neighborhoods and Granville Island another day, and to do Grouse and Capilano on another day using the free shuttles and the public bus between the two. Unfortunately though, the Vancouver Trolley which is the company we had planned on using doesn't offer 2-day passes anymore. I emailed to inquire and they said it was a "limited time promotion" which has since ended. I believe it must be an off-season thing.

So now the only way to get a 2-day Trolley pass is if we either buy 2 1-day passes (which is exceedingly pricey!) or to buy the passes at the same time as attractions. Sounds easy right? Unfortunately we want to do the zip-lining on Grouse Mountain... The Grouse ticket included with that trolley package doesn't include the zip-lining. I contacted Grouse Mountain and we're unable to purchase an add-on for the zip-lining. I also contacted the Trolley again and they're unable to sell us the Grouse zip-line package with the 2-day pass.

So our only other option to get the 2-day trolley pass is to buy the Stanley park/aquarium one which includes admission to the aquarium and the horse-drawn trolley ride around Stanley Park. I don't really feel the need to do the horse thing there though.

So my dilemma - purchase a 2-day trolley pass with the aquarium and horse-drawn trolley ride, OR settle for 1-day of HoHo and then purchase our own attractions.

That was long-winded so hopefully I didn't lose anyone! ;)

The visibility is much better in downtown Vancouver right now as the wind direction has shifted - weather forecast suggests it should clear up overnight.

What we really need is rain - there have been something like 7 days with any measurable rainfall since May 1 and that totals about 1/2 inch.

Cheers!

Dennis

We’re planning a couple of days in Sept. in Vancouver. I purchased the “Entertainment book” at a great price--about $10-12, I think. It has a coupon for “Big Bus” hoho, buy 1 get 1 free. Don’t know if this would work for you, but we’re hoping to use it.

Have a great stay. This column has been really useful to me.

No Joke, thanks for the heads up about the book! Unfortunately we won't have time to order one before we leave. I wonder if the hotels have any coupons available.

Dennis, I'll continue to hope for some rain for you guys!!! Glad to hear the smoke is moving out. Hopefully it won't recur!

Line of sight visibility is probably more than 16km now ... but feels like 32 degrees Celsius

Thank you! Sounds like we're on the right track with our planning! We had planned on using the trolley for Stanley park/the aquarium one day, and for the various downtown neighborhoods and Granville Island another day, and to do Grouse and Capilano on another day using the free shuttles and the public bus between the two. Unfortunately though, the Vancouver Trolley which is the company we had planned on using doesn't offer 2-day passes anymore. I emailed to inquire and they said it was a "limited time promotion" which has since ended. I believe it must be an off-season thing.

 

So now the only way to get a 2-day Trolley pass is if we either buy 2 1-day passes (which is exceedingly pricey!) or to buy the passes at the same time as attractions. Sounds easy right? Unfortunately we want to do the zip-lining on Grouse Mountain... The Grouse ticket included with that trolley package doesn't include the zip-lining. I contacted Grouse Mountain and we're unable to purchase an add-on for the zip-lining. I also contacted the Trolley again and they're unable to sell us the Grouse zip-line package with the 2-day pass.

 

So our only other option to get the 2-day trolley pass is to buy the Stanley park/aquarium one which includes admission to the aquarium and the horse-drawn trolley ride around Stanley Park. I don't really feel the need to do the horse thing there though.

 

So my dilemma - purchase a 2-day trolley pass with the aquarium and horse-drawn trolley ride, OR settle for 1-day of HoHo and then purchase our own attractions.

 

That was long-winded so hopefully I didn't lose anyone! ;)

Look at the Viatour link I provided they seem to be offering the 2 day pass on the Vancouver Trolley right through the summer.

Second day on trolley is fine if it's free, but frankly you would be much better off just getting a transit day pass ($9.75, less for seniors/kids) for getting around - the HOHO routes are very inefficient unless you visit attractions in the order the route runs without backtracking. Transit will get you to & from anywhere quicker, and you should have the basic grounding already from the HOHO guide on Day One.

Thanks for the advice!

Any experience using Viator? I'm a little sketched out purchasing from a third party. Also the fact the charges are in USD is a bit of a turn-off as it will end up costing me more as a Canadian with the poor exchange rate (my tours ended up costing 30% more with the exchange and credit card fees). I do think the HOHO 2-day would be great though as we could use one day to do the full circuit and each little neighbourhood we want to see, and another day for Stanley Park and the aquarium. The inefficient system should be fine as we're not rushing to cram too much into a day. My only concern with the 2-day is that they need to be consecutive, and we want to use our first clear day to do Grouse and Capilano which may end up being our middle day there (we won't have enough time on the first day as our flight arrives just before 1pm).

I have used Viatour elsewhere in North America and Europe without a problem. You receive an electronic ticket from them that you give to the operator in exchange for their ticket. While I am not normally a fan of Viatour and prefer to deal directly with the operator when the price is right I certainly use them.

Don't know if anyone has mentioned it yet, but there have been some recent changes at Canada Place and the order of things at check in for most cruiselines (I'm not sure if it's all cruiselines) has changed.

Guests used to go through security, then immigration and then the individual ship check in. Now the order is check-in, then security, then immigration as the last step before heading on board.

Checkin is now being done up in the conference centre above Canada Place in Hall C (which used to be only used on "3 ship" days, when all berths were in use).

So embarking guests should still first head to the "downstairs" part of Canada Place, where they can leave their luggage with the longshoremen. (Please, please, made sure to take all documentation with you, don't leave it in your checked in luggage!!). Guests are then directed up an escalator (elevator available for wheelchairs etc.) and along a hallway to the conference centre (Hall C) for the checkin process for your particular ship. After checkin guests are directed back along the hallway and down the escalator (or elevator) back into the cruise terminal to go through security and then the immigration process, same as before.

Last week was the first time this new order of things was used - it does allow for much more room to be used for checkin (space could be a little cramped in the terminal area) and allows for a more permanent set up of equipment, so hopefully a more efficient process.

Hmm, any idea if the elevator from the Pan Pacific can go straight to the level with the conference center? I'm assuming that it would then make sense to go straight there instead of going down to the main cruise terminal level if we're having our luggage taken there by the bellstaff.

The pan pacific is on the same level and connected to the conference centre. If you luggage is being taken care of by the hotel just ask the hotel staff for directions to the conference centre lobby. Look for the cruise line checkin staff that will be in the conference centre lobby - wearing black pants and sweater with blue/white ties/scarfs.

Thanks guys/gals. I am actually asking the Port of Vancouver Authority on using NEXUS. Will most likely bring both NEXUS and passport.

As of June 20th, they weren't accepting NEXUS. :( Waiting for this to change...

Thanks for the advice!

 

Any experience using Viator? I'm a little sketched out purchasing from a third party. Also the fact the charges are in USD is a bit of a turn-off as it will end up costing me more as a Canadian with the poor exchange rate (my tours ended up costing 30% more with the exchange and credit card fees).

I've used Viator for several years with no problem - the app on my phone quotes in CAD for all the tours.

I've used Viator for several years with no problem - the app on my phone quotes in CAD for all the tours.

Thanks for your reply! I did find a way to book in CAD. I tried to email the trolley company to see if the 2-day pass actually had to be used on 2 consecutive days (as the one that they were selling did not) but no response.