martincath

That depends WHEN they cruised. When it first started, up to 8 folks traveling together was the wording - but that did change, I think in May, to specifically say that it was only your spouse, kids (at any address, so e.g. Divorced Dad can list his kids who officially live with Divorced Mom), or adults who live in your residence who could be lumped together. That's how it reads now on the official FAQ page - about halfway down, annoying hidden inside a 'click to read' section called 'Including multiple people in your submission'

There's a walk-in lab close to YVR - or you can make an appointment at any lab that is under contract for the random tests, which includes at least a few Shoppers Drugmarts downtown - or you can order a home test to be couriered to you if you are somewhere without a lab nearby. In all cases it is a PCR test, paid for by government. If you are a same-day-flight-and-cruise person, then the best plan is simple - turn on your phone, tablet etc. as soon as you get through immigration & customs and check your email for the next 15mins. If the email arrives saying 'go get tested!' it will have details of lab location, phone number for inquiries etc. Go to the walk-in lab, get swabbed, go away and get on with your vacation. No email after 15mins? Then you are good to go! Staying Precruise downtown? Since the walk-in lab is a bit of a hassle to get to (not near SkyTrain) I'd instead book and appointment at a downtown Shoppers so you can combine some wandering around for sightseeing, dinner etc. with a few minutes to go in, show your email, and get swabbed. NB: that the deadline is midnight the day after you arrive - so if you are on a flight at 11:59pm, you're hooped, you have 24 hours max - but if you arrive at 00:01am, you have almost 48 hours. Bonus - if you are Precruise, and need to test locally before boarding, the gov't results usually arrive in 24-48 hours and are valid for cruising! So if you're sensible enough to be hanging out in our fair city for a couple of days, you might win a FREE test instead of having to pay $50+ for one!!!

The wikipedia page summarizing plans for this event is already being actively updated, inlcuding with other commonwealth country plans - if you're in one of the Commonwealth Realms, the 32(IIRC) states which actually share the same Monarch, then those will definitely have the equivalent of a 'bank holiday' on the day of the funeral, and many of the other nations might do similar. For tourists, the biggest issue will be individuals who choose to e.g. stay home and watch on TV, or even travel to the funeral. Any of these folks who are business owners might be closed just because they want to be, not because they have to be - and there are a lot of very, very fanatical Royalists around. We were staying in a B&B in York when Princess Di died, and the owner basically told us we were on our own for breakfast for the rest of the stay but she'd give us some money back - every time we were in the house the next two days all we could hear was sobbing and wailing from the room to her suite... Given that this is the first Commonwealth ruler to have died in 70 years there really isn't a relevant past case to look at - things will definitely be different from George VIs time, the world has moved on and even the arcane rules of the monarchy hqave been overhauled significantly since then. With bonus bank holidays given for the jubilee in various countries, there might be more than one day of shut-downs - but essential things like airports, piers will of course still be open, and the Republican nations of the commonwealth might do nothing except some half-mast flag-flying.

Given that OP is just looking into this, it seems highly likely this is a 2023 cruise - so fingers crossed all the remaining issues at our airports will have improved. Having said that - for all flights between top left and bottom right of the continent, using Seattle as the connecting airport if you cannot get a nonstop will give you the largest number of potential flights to YVR on the way here should anything go screwy and you miss the second leg and need to be found seats on another plane. Another good option to minimise total journey time, albeit at more risk if you do miss the connection, is to use the smaller airports like Denver, Salt Lake, or Minny-StPaul - less indirect routes than via ON/QC so lower total time in the air, and less busy airports mean even really tight timeframes can work, we've often had connections times of 36-45mins on the way to ATL. Regardless of which US airport you choose, using one of those rather than a Canadian airport to connect in means a Domestic to Domestic transfer without the additional delays of immigration which makes for a definite improvement in the likelihood of you actually making the second leg...

And you're right to disagree - I fluffed the answer to the previous poster, who was postulating the same as the newer one, and using the pier or airport is indeed the least innaccurate choice available on the App! So far 'return home' is the only option that has applied to all of our travel, which has been coming back from our US residence, so I think I was conflating 'home' to both ends of that journey!

Bard & Banker have seriously upped their food game in recent years - another frequent live music venue too.

I suspect that any consistent error of interpretation by the cruiselines is to do with preclearance (tenuously arguable as 'entering the US') so using the port of embarkation as the port of entry ('I'm walking out of US jurisdiction and boarding a ship which is floating in Canadian waters here in the Port of Vancouver/Quebec City/Montreal') is the suggested workaround, rather than flagrantly lying about a port you are not even going to visit... If obvious lies rather than dubious misinterpretations were happening I'm pretty sure CBSA would have cracked down already, but IIRC there was a thread started just a few days ago that someone actually contacted them to complain about these incorrect one-way ArriveCAN demands and CBSA didn't care so whatever weaseling is being done it must be relatively small potatoes.

Ab-so-tively - even if they're wrong, it's such a simple thing to comply with (especially for folks who have created their ArriveCAN accounts, uploaded ID, Vaxx status etc. so just need to do the 2 minute Trip entry) that's it's going to be quicker and easier to just make another ArriveCAN entry than to argue your way up the chain of command from pier-minion to someone who actually understands the rules!

No - Canadian rules are that the line is responsible for ensuring the entries have been done before allowing embarkation. And since we've already established that you need email access to avoid missing notification of random testing, there's really no advantage for you to not simply get your ArriveCAN done during that short wait at YVR for the test notification window. Honestly, the easiest way to do this is to do exactly what I said in the prior note - if you choose, and it IS a choice you are making, not to check your email you are wilfully ignoring a federal Canadian regulation. While I doubt that our government will 'come after you' with threats of arrest, jail time, big fines etc. for not doing the test, you CAN comply and you are CHOOSING not to if you don't - I don't know what % of folks are being randomly selected, but with what sounds like a group of 6 or so there's a decent chance at least one of you will be - and that WILL result in phone calls and emails chasing you up about it. Frankly I would not like to be crossing our border any time in the future with a note on my file saying 'ignored Covid testing regulations, violating federal emergency health & quarantine etc. act' as that's a recipe for at best delays for extra questioning, at worst potential refusal of entry, the rubber-glove treatment, fines etc. Just make life easier for yourself - turn on your phone at the airport, do ArriveCAN while you wait out your 15mins, then get on with your life without ANY further concerns!

Not necessarily - while some cruise lines have been incorrectly demanding ArriveCAN when it is not needed, official gov't regs are that only cruises which either start outside Canada or, if starting inside, return here need it completed. So on a QC-NYC route, unless the ship goes to at least one US port, then back to at least one Canadian port afterward, then finally back into US waters to finish up in NYC there is no Gov't requirement for a cruise entry. Again, the clue is in the name - whatever the mode of transport, does it ARRIVE (not depart!) in CANADA at some point during the trip? Your flight obviously does, but unless the cruise takes a rather unusual route it does not.

Exactly - because your flight did not Arrive in CANada, only your cruise, so you only crossed our border once. The poster I replied to is both flying in and then also taking an RT cruise, as spotted by our NooJoysian cavalryman friend above 😉

While worrying about the whys & wherefores of any decision made by any government is a recipe for hairloss, this one actually has pretty straightforward reasoning if you approach it from the right angle. The clue is in the name - it's not CruiseCAN, but ArriveCAN. Every time you cross the border inbound, you need to file a submission. For planes, trains, and automobiles the timing makes it more obvious: cruising is 'special' because historically, for the convenience of cruise passengers, immigration processing to Canada has always happened 'behind the scenes' rather than making everyone line up to speak to CBSA after disembarking. What's tripping you up Ashland is the timing - forget about the whole 'two checks on the same day' thing and remember, again, the name of the app! The cruiseline might be checking you have completed ArriveCAN when you embark, but it is not checked by the folks who actually matter - CBSA - until just before you Arrive in Canada toward the end of the cruise! CBSA will get eyes on the QR code just after the ship leaves the last US port. The only difference between the visual prechecks by staff of the transportation company or their agents and the CBSA actual checks when flying compared to cruising is the length of the timeline - when you fly up, you'll be asked to show your QR code at boarding then in a couple of hours be handing your passport over to CBSA at YVR (which is linked to your ArriveCAN behind the scenes, so they see that flash up onscreen too). When cruising there are several days in-between, but the actual events are the same - a port minion visually checks your QR code right before boarding, CBSA see the system data just before you actually get allowed cross the border.

You seem to have forgotten that I warned of you of this requirement 3 weeks ago when you first posted about ArriveCAN Ashland. You responded to my post so I assumed you had read it - we certainly bounced back & forth a few times on the need to bring a device for checking email in case you were to be randomly tested. Section 3) within my post was specific to this exact situation, that because you are doing an RT cruise you must make a Marine Entry trip on ArriveCAN after crossing the border but before boarding... I even went on to help you identify which port of entry you needed to use for the cruise. I honestly don't know if I can be any more explicit in what you need to do where and when, but I'll give it one more try as a single short plan of recommended actions that will cover both your ArriveCAN second entry and checking the possibility of random test selection: When you get off the plane, collect your bags, and get through both Immigration and Customs into the unsecured areas of YVR, look for a seat. Sit down, take out your phone and turn the darned thing on - tap into the expertise of your accompanying offspring if needed to figure out how to ensure all you have on is the WiFi, no roaming calls enabled! While you are waiting the required 15mins for the email about being selected for random testing, take that time to do your second ArriveCAN - with all the hard bits already completed, Travelers saved with their Vaxx status and ID scanned in, adding a single Trip entry is literally a matter of a couple of minutes. Your son will have to do the same for him/spouse and grandkids, using their saved Traveler info. Your worst case if you do these actions is that you screw up turning your phone on and have to pay for a few minutes of roaming data while you think you are using the free WiFi - but you will be in compliance with both sets of gov't regulations, so you'll avoid the risk of fines that would cost an awful lot more! Personally I would not use the website ArriveCAN at home, but the App - so that you can get plenty of practise using the exact same method you will be using here, with plenty of time to get it right. You can enter fake trips and delete them over and over until you feel confident using the app. Email the QR code to yourself, then open that email on your desktop if you want to print it at home - but since you will not easily be able to print off the second ArriveCAN entry, I'd suggest instead trying to do it all on your phone so you always do the same thing every time, no change of procedure for the flight vs the cruise. Practise finding the QR code after you have entered a trip and then turned your phone off again - many folks recommend taking a Screenshot of the QR code, even making it your phone's home screen so it literally appears as soon as the phone is turned on, so that you do not have to reopen the app just to display the code. Since exactly how to do those things depends on your phone and it's operating system, I can't help with specifics there I'm afraid.

Honestly, depends what YOU want out of a hotel! Personally I demand a comfy bed, AC, and a location that's convenient for the transportation method(s) I'm using in the place - everything else is gravy. In general, our rule of thumb is that if there's a Hampton Inn, that'll do nicely - we've done a lot of travel for conferency things, fancy weddings, embassy dos and whatnot so I've spent plenty of nights in very swanky digs too and my opinion now is the same as it was 40 years ago... if someone else is paying, fine, but otherwise a hotel room with a view ain't worth diddly extra to me as I'm going to be out sightseeing and dining all day so why spend the extra for stuff I'm not using? Before we lived here, we visited and stayed a week in the YWCA Hotel, which was not just the cheapest in the region but is consistently well-reviewed now as well as waaaaaaay back then, in a great location, has in-house massive kitchens, laundry rooms etc. for guests that are ideal for extended stays, and this Y has regular private en suite bathroom double rooms, shared-with-just-next-door Jack & Jill bathrooms doubles, and 5 single bed family rooms - no dorms. A view is great - but how much time will you actually spend enjoying it? Vancouver, like all the ports you'll visit on an AK cruise, is certainly a very pretty location but if you're not out of your room Doing Stuff... you're doing it wrong;-)

Being a proper, urban, living-downtown type local I can't give you a personal opinion of room comfort etc., but I'm familiar with the locations of both, and I can offer a second-hand opinion of the rooms via friends who have stayed in both. BH is the better hotel for views, for resto options in the near vicinity, for fancy shopping, and is more convenient if you are going to do any bus-based touring e.g. HOHO bus has a stop right outside, as does the shuttle to Capilano, and other coach tours are much more likely to pick up at this hotel on a busy main street than Sunset on a more residential block. BH also has very generous bedroom size (all rooms are corners too, so two different angles) - but Sunset does offer much better long-stay conveniences as it's one of our 'condo hotels' so rather than just a room you have access to kitchen facilities etc. and that lack of restos & shopping means less likely you hear any noises at night while sleeping. They're both useful for walking around tourism - each is closer to some areas, further from others, but really it's a well under a mile difference so no big whoop!

Yes, it's been worded (in respect of Molecular tests anyway, with their more specific 72 hour deadline) as YOUR boarding time - not the first available boarding time, not scheduled departure time, but whatever your specific paperwork lists as the time YOU are supposed to be embarking. Same principal should apply, just looser as no time of day element, for Antigen tests. The crux is that Canada's 'special treatment' of cruiseships begins as soon as you join the onboard experience, that is when the extra riskiness of cruising begins (our Feds still assume more danger from cruising therefore the extra testing requirements no longer needed for any other mode of travel). A few Princess megaship departures are after midnight this season, with boarding perhaps a little later than normal (I've seen some folks say they have got emails about 7pm embarkation times for example, rather than the usual 11am-3pm ish slots) but still on the calendar day before: if you're on one of those, you'll definitely need to have your Covid test valid at the time of your embarkation - that's when they'll check the paperwork after all! If you are able to of course the sensible option is to ensure you comply with BOTH - then even if an incompetent, ill-trained idiot looks at your paperwork you're still good to go... in other words, get an Antigen test on Friday for a Saturday boarding/Sunday departure, you're good regardless of how the clock is interpreted!

When they first opened, it was our regular hotel in Seattle - the main thing that stopped us continuing was the fact they got busier and couldn't guarantee parking on-site any more, but if you're not driving there that's not going to affect you! Good location for walking around, and the lack of included 'free' breakfast was actually an advantage for us as there are some great restos nearby for brunch. The rooms are also comparatively huge. We did stay here and other Pineapple hotels after the brand expanded now & again, when we have not been driving - but it's been at least five years so I have no idea whether the decor, mattresses, service etc. remain up-to-snuff in the Maxwell, so take my review with a pinch of salt.

Since you're a Vancouverite, then hands-down the best place to take the test is at home using a video proctoring service - gov't issed tests have been confirmed acceptable, so that way you only pay for the service of being watched and issuing the confirmation, much cheaper than even Shoppers. Antigen tests remain 'up to 2 days' before, with the day of departure counting as Day Zero, time of day has never been relevant for antigen testing only Molecular which has always been 72hrs. As long as scheduled embarkation time is before midnight, you can test any time on Friday or Thursday as well as Saturday right up until you head to the pier provided results arrive in time.

Try this thread, it's from earlier this summer (CCs search appears to be completely broken right now, but you can always search using G00gle or any other search engine simply by typing site:boards.cruisecritic.com after your search terms - frankly, even when it's working the built-in search is pretty bad compared to any actual search engine, so it's not a bad idea using an external search any time you'te trying to track something down)

Oh, and just in case you were not aware you actually cross the border into BC, then drive across that Province for a while before reaching Yukon (which IIRC does have a signpost in case you want a photo, but no checkpoint to worry about!)

Very flattering, thank you Julia. That weekend we're most likely out of town - the better half still has many vaycay days to be taken! At least two of my fellow Buddies are active though, so if you go make a request on the site there's a decent chance someone will be free to Stroll with you that weekend. Don't miss out on brunch downstairs in Medina Cafe though - asuming you're not vegantarians you should be able to polish off the Wolf's brekkie for two and still have room for at least one waffle, it'll give you plenty of energy for a good wander!

Nope - if you were returning home same day by any means of transportation you would use the 'Returning Home' option 😉

The hotel - whether this is a pre- or post-cruise hotel night, ArriveCAN for a land or flight or cruise arrival, the first address where you are staying after entering Canada is the address to choose (same deal for folks on e.g. a coach tour, there's only one address field so they put the address of their accommodation on their first night in Canada as they cannot list all the hotels).

Won't work for you - while there is as yet no confirmed timetable, there's no reason to believe things will be any different than they were in terms of timing... which means the Southbound morning train has already left, most likely before your ship is even sailing into port. The schedule did vary a few minutes here and there, but for a decade the morning train was always ~6:30am departure with the evening train around 5:30pm. To get to Seattle that early, your options are either Quickshuttle (they leave from the pier 9am, so they are convenient but not cheap compared to other buses - extra charges these days for even 1 suitcase as well but ballpark $60 for 1 person and case to Seattle) or, if the cruiseline is running one, a cruiseline transfer (also not cheap, this year reports have been $80-100pp) but with no stops unlike QS so quicker. A little later in the morning there's the Amtrak Bus service (operated by Cantrail), depending on the day of the week Flixbus (should be cheapest too, if booked early, as their pricing is very dynamic with more seats sold = price goes up), or good old Greyhound (might get a steal of a price with Senior rates, Companion fares etc.) all of which I think have a bus between 10 and 11am - ample time to disembark and get to the bus station.

Edit - dang CC lost my text again when I tried Posting! I refreshed and the editor seemed to have captured and restored it, so second attempt to post worked - but it might have missed the last few spelling tweaks and it's too late at night for a detailed re-read... if any spelling etc. doesn't make sense, ask and I'll fix tomorrow! Most welcome - answers in order of shortest to waffliest: 4) I seriously doubt there will be any changes this year - the random testing was stopped but came back very quickly afterwards, cruise season is ending in not very long, it's not really a priority to Federal authorities as almost all of the cash made from cruising stays local, so the simplest and most logical assumption is No Changes on Cruises until next season begins, with the 2023 approach perhaps altering. I'd love to think it will be in the hands of our medical folks, stats of cruise covid cases compared to others, so only if there's data that backs up cruising being more plague-y than flights, cars, trains etc. would the special cruise-only extra testing come back next season - but no doubt there will be politics and business interests involved, so who the heck knows! 1) No idea - but given the lack of profitability of good buffets and the general huge hike in food prices across the board, AYCE anything is a concept that would be suffering even without the issues of COVID-induced behavioural and legal changes around 'shared serving utensil' food hygiene matters, so overall I think that we need to get back to Real Normal rather than the current Sort-of Normal before there's a chance of it returning - and if it does it will have to be hugely hiked in price so may just not be workable any more. 3) These days it's not radically different from in TheBeforeTimes - obviously some businesses did not survive, but fundamentally there's still a mix of grocers, butchers, fishmongers for stuff to eat raw/take home & cook; restos of various types for pre-cooked foods; fancy artisanal pastries/choccies/macarons etc. Opening hours are mostly 9-6 in the public market, so aside from lots of folks who choose to mask up in busy indoor spaces - and of course prices of a lot of food being mad pricey compared to a couple of years ago! - it's much the same overall. One potentially random tidbit that could be of use - if you want to grab some seafood, the best deals on the island aren't in the market! For a crab or lobster that you point at in a tank and have steamed right there for you to take away, hit up the Lobster Man - given you're in a hotel so won't be cooking, this is as fresh a prep as it gets for a lobster or dungeness crab, and they'll sell you picks, bibs & crackers for a modest price if you can't be bothered to hit up a Dollar Store for some really cheap tools! 4) Some of those items I'd recommend against delivery for, no matter how good the resto - the subtler and more texture- or temp-crucial steamed dumplings especially just do not travel well, especially Siu Mai, Har Gow (and definitely XLB if you like those). These are things you eat as close to the kitchen as possible, so worst case go get them yourself as takeout if you reeeaaalllly don't want to dine inside a resto - all the delivery options have pretty poor speed of service these days, drivers want to amalgamate multiple orders so unless you get real lucky and are the first stop en route your food is often heading to luke warm even inside a keepie-hottie bag. That said, I've checked who uses Doordash and delivers to Canada Place area, and I'd have no hesitation recommending Chinatown BBQ for any the BBQ meats (and Soy chicken); Dinesty Dumpling House is probably the best overall option for any kind of dumpling - I'd still recommend walking there yourself, it's only a mile away, but they will send food via Dashers; Dynasty Seafood resto is one of the best dim sum and fancy banquet joints in the region, pricier than other options and a bit of a shame to miss out on the lovely big room and the view over downtown for delivery, but they will send you a wide range of topend Cantonese dishes by Doordash. While everything you mentioned falls into fairly typical Cantonese style food, we also have many rarer regional Chinese foods that are a lot more difficult to find most parts of the world - e.g. if you didn't try Peaceful last time, get stuck into any noodle dish from them (hand-pulled, very rare anywhere these days), the beef rolls, and especially try the Xinjiang Cumin Lamb (or beef if you're not sheep eaters). You can Dash from Peaceful to the PP. Another random thing - Ginger Beef is a Canadian invention (Albertan actually) which you are unlikely to see elsewhere, and if you like crispy/hot/sweet you might really enjoy. It's arguably a Szechuan style of cooking, but it's fairly ubiqitous here in Vancouver with many restos doing it. This is another thing I feel that keeping warm inside a container causes trouble - the crispiness of the beef disappears as it steams itself on the way to you - so best to eat in a resto for optimal texture. Unless you plan to eat like four meals of Chinese takeout, that's probably already too much info so I'll shut up now 😉