damiross

Damiross,

....

When you board your flight to Seattle you might have to show your passport. You will have to show it before you board your flight from SEA to YVR.

You will clear Canadian Customs and Immigration at YVR.

When you board the ship you will once again have to provide your passport when you check in at the pier.

When you disembark the ship in Vancouver you will go through a rudimentary Canadian Customs and Immigration screening.

When you check in for your flight in Vancouver, you will go through both Canadian and US Customs and Immigration before you board your return flight.

I hope this clarified every process. Depending on the number of flights arriving when you do the line at YVR might be long. When departing from YVR it will be even longer. I hope you have not booked an early flight home. I wouldn't be comfortable with a flight before 11 am.

Have a wonderful cruise, even though it isn't on a Celebrity ship.

We'll be disembarking in Seattle, not Vancouver. The cruise goes from Vancouver to Seattle via Ketchikan. The main thing I'm concerned about is that we do NOT have to go through customs in our first American stop - Ketchikan. It sounds like we don't.

I was under the impression we could be clearing Canadian customs in Seattle just like USA bound passengers from some airports in Canada clear USA customs in Canada.

We'll be taking the Alaska Sampler on Princess next April. So, if I'm correct in reading the posts here and other threads, we will clear US customs in Vancouver before sailing to Ketchikan and no customs will be required in Seattle (the end of the cruise)?

Our flight to Vancouver connects from our home airport in Seattle to a Vancouver flight. Will we clear Canadian customs in Seattle and then US customs again a few hours later when boarding the ship?

This is my first cruise and I'm doing it myself. I've always booked my travel without an agent.

I did try an agent for my cruise. The agent was not good. She couldn't find the cruise I wanted, even though it was in the Princess brochure. The agent even called Princess and evidently asked the wrong questions because she still couldn't find the cruise. The agent tried to sell me a LA-Vancouver cruise, which I did NOT want.

When I got home I looked at the Princess site again. The cruise was there. I called Princess and the Princes CSR said the cruise was available, with only a few family suites sold out.

I've also overheard an agent (not at the travel agency above) complain about customers coming in at the end of the day. She would try to push them out of the office as soon as possible. Sorry - she's in a service business. A customer coming into the office a minute before closing deserves service as good as on who gets there way before closing. Naturally, I'm not even thinking of using this agent.

That said, I have checked online travel agencies. So far I haven't found any discounts or on board credit that would make me use the agency rather than the cruise line directly.

The couple of times I've called Princess I've received great service. By booking directly I am also able to get a full refund of my deposit 75 days or more before the cruise in case something happens and I have to cancel my trip. A travel agent will charge you.

According to Google maps, it's 1.0 mile to Fisherman's Wharf. Half a mile to Pier 39 if you know where that is. Seems like a big investment for only a one ship capacity, too bad it's not like Canada Place in Vancouver. I guess there is rarely more than one ship at a time in port except for spring and fall repositionings. At least it's a lot closer than Pier 30 down under the Bay Bridge where I have ended up several times on the Pacific coastals when there were already two ships at Pier 35.

Living near San Francisco, I wonder why there are so few cruises out of here. It's probably because the natives want the tourist business but don't want the infrastructure to support it.

you'd be better off going to the part of the board that specifically discusses the line and ship you are interested in.

Heading there now that I have the line down. I was asking the questions here because it's the only section I saw devoted to asking general questions.

Thanks, all, for your great information.

We always have taken soft drinks on board. We'll put some of my Mountain Dew' date=' Sobe, Sierra Mist, a box o'wine in a plastic crate, seal it up and stick a luggage tag on it...hubby gives to a porter with a tip. It fits under the bed.

 

If you pad in a day before your cruise (which you should do even if coming from San Francisco), you can buy the soft drinks and anything else you didn't want to pack.

 

One thing to do before your cruise, is to read the Cruise Answer Place (the FAQs) on the Princess website.[/quote']

Thanks for all of the responses. A few more questions:

 

We'll probably go a day or two before the cruise to spend some time with my brother and sister-in-law in Seattle. (The two cruises have been narrowed down to Vancouver - Ketchikan -Seattle and Vancouver-Ketchikan-Vancouver cruises.)

 

How soon should I book for a May 2015 cruise? I'd hate to book too soon and find out that the fare decreased. In this case, assuming it's more than 75 days prior to the cruise and I'm entitled to a full refund, should I just go ahead and cancel the reservation and rebook? Or would Princess give me an on-board credit/cabin upgrade for the cost difference?

 

Should travel protection be bought right away or when I make the final payment? Should it be purchased through the cruise line or someplace else?

 

Again, thanks from your researching fool and never-been-on-a-cruise person,

David

We have bought the soda packages on Princess. I can't remember the exact amount, but it averages well under $10/day (maybe $7).

 

If you are thinking about Seattle instead of Vancouver solely because of baggage fees, you might want to reconsider. A SF to Vancouver flight is kinda treated like a domestic when it comes to the fees -- maybe $25 to $35 for the first bag (my memory has seriously gone south today). Compare that to the cost of the Amtrak or a shuttle, throw in the convenience factor and Vancouver may sound better. Another great thing about Vancouver is coming home, US customs is there at the Vancouver airport. Much quicker than going thru customs in SFO.

Guess I'll have to smuggle some of the good stuff (Diet Dr Pepper) aboard. $7 is the cost for 2 six packs of 24 ounce bottles, which is enough for 6 days. :) Just kidding in case anyone from a cruise line is monitoring this!

I don't think passengers should be charged a single dime for one or two pieces of baggage. And the way the airlines charge passengers is unfair. They charge the same whether the bag is transported 300 miles or 3000 miles.

I also know about the customs clearance in Vancouver (and other Canadian cities). My brother and sister-in-law live in Seattle so I thought it would be a good time to visit them.

As to the travel costs/baggage fees and such, I'll just ask - are you aware that Princess does an Alaskan cruise out of San Francisco? It might be worth pricing it out to see if it saves you any money.

 

I'd suggest heading over to the Princess board for more Princess-specific answers.

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/forumdisplay.php?s=&daysprune=-1&f=197

Thanks. I know about the SF cruises. It's on my list of possibilities but, as a first time cruiser, I really want to take a little shorter cruise first.

I've also checked out other lines so even though I mentioned Princess I am considering others.

Personally, I'd be happy to take the SF cruise to Vancouver (2 days) that doesn't make a stop en-route but my girlfriend, who has been on cruises before, would prefer a ship that makes at least one stop.

There is a lot of information here! Almost too much to be able to find some questions I have. I apology if my questions below have been repeated time-after-time.

We are thinking of a cruise that includes Canada. Do the merchants there accept US dollars or will we need to change some of our money into Canadian dollars?

I've noticed that the price of drink packages are somewhat high. When I saw $50 or $60 I thought that was for a week, not per day! Seeing as I don't drink that much but do like my soda, are the drink packages for sodas that high?

Speaking of sodas: Is there a limit to how many cans/bottles of sodas I can bring on board? My preference is Diet Dr Pepper and not too many places serve this.

On of the options we are thinking of is the Vancouver-Seattle or Vancouver-Vancouver Alaska Samplers on Princess. What are transfers like between Seattle Airport and Vancouver (and vice versa). I'd rather fly into Seattle than Vancouver (we are originating in the San Francisco area). Is Amtrak a good alternative between Seattle and Vancouver. I'd like to avoid the obscene baggage fees by flying Southwest to Seattle - hopefully next May they will still have the 2 free bags policy.

Finally, is it worth the extra money to get an aft-facing balcony? Can you see the scenery on both sides of the ship or does the adjacent room block the view?

Thanks!

David

I'm using AdBlock also so I don't see the ads. I did temporarily disabled it for the site to check out the ads. Two problems:

• Page loads slowly with ads displayed
  
• I could live with a slow loading page because that's revenue source to allow this site to be free to users but I hate animated ads and that's what showed up
  

Mine was on my first cruise. I didn't realize that you were to give the cabin steward their tip the last night, I figured I would give it to him the next morning before I left for the ship. Well, much to my surprise, when I returned to my cabin that night, I had no towels or pillows. That was a hard lesson to learn, had to dry off with the sheet (thank goodness he did leave those on the bed).

That was very unprofessional of the steward. Yes, part of his pay is tips but to not do his job just because he didn't get the tip is plain wrong. Especially if he knew that you were first time cruisers and didn't realize the tradition of when to tip.

We were going to take a cruise but something came up that prevented us from going. We hadn't started the process yet with the travel agent. When I asked her about refunds for a cruise several months in advance she said that she wouldn't give a refund for her work. (I can understand that). However, if we had booked directly with the cruise line and cancelled more than 3 months before the cruise we would have gotten all of our deposit back.

We are now thinking of going on a cruise in 2015 and I will probably book directly online. That's mainly because I enjoy doing the research and planning for trips almost as much as the trip itself.

Bottom line? You should determine if you want a professional to do the leg work for you so you don't have to.