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Personal experience alone, having cleared Canadian immigration several times in both cities, I prefer Montreal. Seems a bit quicker and easier to me.

I also find Montreal a little quicker at times but not much difference in fact.

The one advantage of Toronto is Air Canada has on the order of 16 flight a day from Toronto to Vancouver (basically one on the hour and sometimes also on the half-hour). Several are wide-body. Basically if you miss your connection, they will put you on the next available flight and there are a lot of flights.

As you leave the customs hall, there is a sign pointing you in the direction of the connections baggage drop. That is where you drop off your bags again, and the agents there will verify you will make your connect and rebook if needed.

Looking at the Air Canada info (Miles Chart) "Q" class looks to be flex. Flex usually have free seat selection.

We will be with a young group age wise....a 7 , 10 , 14 , 17 and 20 yr old as well as 4 adults. Any suggestions in the harbor area for us?

For Dinner one kid friendly place that is kind a fusion restaurant that mixes south-west with sea food is Santiago's (660 Oswego). Very kids friendly and the food quite good.

For things to do I would suggest the Royal British Columbia Museum. (http://royalbcmuseum.bc.ca/) They are normally closed at 5:00 pm. I am not certain if they adjust their hours or not for cruise ships.

I am part of delta sky miles ....we would be flying into Sydney and flying back home from Auckland....we are looking into going next December.....so I am starting early looking ...now I am rethinking just booking from Detroit....

If you want to force the connections to occur in specific cities, have stop overs on route or fly in and out of different cities most of the online flight booking sites have a "Multiple City" option that still results in a single ticket. A travel agent can also do similar things for you.

Exactly. Maybe Oneworld is unique in this regard? It's the only alliance I have any familiarity with.

I am fairly certain that is not a benefit that comes with Star Alliance. It may be a unique benefit to Oneworld.

If the flights were all operated by carriers from the same alliance, they would be. At least, I know it works that way with Oneworld.

It does not matter if they are in the same alliance or not, they have to have an interline arrangement between them and most major international airlines have interline agreements with each other regardless of the alliance. Airlines such as a Southwest and some of the deeply discounted no-frills and charter airlines are the exception, they don't interline with anyone else. It is usually cheaper for all the segments to be in the same alliance but not always.

When you purchase a ticket the airline that issues the ticket is responsible for dividing up the fare across the various airlines that actually operate the flight. In the old days where tickets were printed the airline operating the flight would collect the flight coupon from you at boarding and trade it into the issuing airline in exchange for payment.

When it is issued on a single ticket if something goes wrong and you miss a connection the last airline that caused the missed connection is responsible for rerouteing you (at their cost). That airline can chose to offer to book you on their own aircraft, another alliance member or a completely different airline.

When you purchase two separate tickets, such as Detroit to LAX return and LAX to SYD then it is your problem and not the airlines problem if you miss your connection in LAX.

I think I'll do the 24 hour boarding pass check-in .... going to even buy some printer ink for the printer just to print off the boarding passes lol. My TA did get back to me and said that he is on vacation at the moment but will look into it when he gets back...at least that explains why he wasn't getting back to me!

Q use to be Tango + and included free seat selection. They changed all the code in the last year and I am not certain what it i now.

What I have found in is if the reservation was made by a travel agent and is still under the control of the travel agent it cant be changed online. If you don't want to wait, you need to give Air Canada a call, there agents can take over control of the reservation from the TA and then make changes.

If you like using smart phones when you do the online check-in you can sent the boarding pass to your smart phone, and use the phone for security and boarding. Also if you do online checkin and don't printout the boarding pass you can still print it out at the airport from one of those checkin machines.

You are right. I can easily go from LA to Seattle and then home. Not worried about the LA leg. Thanks everyone for the advice. I will be prompt through customs/immigration and make my way to the correct terminal.

 

Not looking forward to going back to work the next day though!

 

Nicola

When I have done it, the blue US custom form you fill out. I just cross out the address section and write transit to Canada across it. As soon as they pick up on the fact your not staying in the US they lose all interest in asking any additional questions.

I also think you got a good price for your flight.

February, 21 days in Oz...

 

DTW-SYD-DTW (Delta, plane changes at LAX) - $1624 all in.

LAX-SYD-LAX, same days, $1340 (United.)

DTW-LAX-DTW, same/bracketing days, $380 (Delta.)

 

Plus on the stand-alone domestic flights you'd pay for bags, while with the through ticket you wouldn't.

The other difference is when you book the flight on two separate tickets you are not protected by the airline if the first flight runs late.

If it is booked as one ticket and Delta arrives late and you miss your connection Delta is responsible for rerouting you onto another flight to get you to SYD.

If you want a Direct flight, you can drive North to Toronto. The Air Canada flight to Sydney routes as Toronto - Vancouver - Sydney (The Vancouver stop is for refuel, crew change and some changes of passengers, however it is the same aircraft). However it is probably more expensive that a US flight through LAX.

The 2 hotels with free shuttles that I know about are the Doubletree Cabrillo Beach & the San Pedro Crown Plaza. Both are good options but are different & I preferred the Doubletree. It's slightly south of downtown SP where the CP is located & adjacent to a quiet small boat marina. It's only 2-3 stories high unlike the CP (guessing 10 stories) in the small downtown area. The CP is closer to restaurants & stores but heard that DT will shuttle you to nearby places.

When I stayed at the San Pedro Crown Plaza last summer they had a free hotel shuttle to the ship. The shuttle bus just looped between the hotel and terminal all morning

A few blocks from the hotel is a nice old fashion European crapes cafe. Good stuff for breakfast.

I was on the website for the Gardens and saw that they close at 5pm. That's the same time we dock. HAL shows only a daytime tour offered.

 

As for restaurants...I'm really open to suggestions. Nothing too extravagent or expensive. One of the girls on the trip is a pretty picky eater so I don't think she would enjoy anything that is too out of the norm. Good atmosphere. Are there restaurants that a younger (20s/30s) crowd gravitates towards?

If you are into the pub crawl, there is a harbor ferry service that has a pub crawl type package ..... http://www.victoriaharbourferry.com/tours-services/pickle-pub-crawls

As others have stated soft-drinks are not included. There is flavored water (think of crystal light kind of drinks) and coffee, tea and ice tea included. They also include fruit juice in the morning.

It is a nice ship. Not certain which ports you are on, however parts of the med can become quite hot in the summer that is a good time to go. It is warm but not hot.

This is EXACTLY what our credit card companies and bank told us on the phone today. If the merchant doesn't want to take our non-chipped card, we'll just go elsewhere. Too late to get a chipped card for this trip.

 

And we always carry cash, using the ATM to get it.

 

thanks for the helpful links and suggestions!

Canada transitioned to the Chip + PIN system over the last couple of years. During the transition I still had an an older card without the chip. The main problem I had during the transition back then when traveling in Europe were train ticket vending machines. I had to go and purchase the ticket from a ticket agent and they would need to do something special to make the credit card work.

As a Canadian traveling in the US I always have the problem of gas stations requiring a zip code to authenticate the card. We don't have numeric zip codes in Canada. In some cities it takes some work to convince the gas station attendant to hold on to your card while you fill your tank and then manually process your card.

It would be good if Visa and Master Card standardized theirs systems a bit more across different countries.

Just my two cents but if I had to chose, I would go to Victoria instead of Whistler. IMHO I would never visit Vancouver without at least trying to make time for Victoria. I do love the driving itineraries suggested here. I agree the Okanagan should be high on the priority list, even if it means more driving.

 

An antidotal story about Victoria and specifically Burchart Gardens. We were visiting Burchart in May of 2010. There were two bus loads of Australians who were enjoying the spring gardens immensely. They were at the end of a road trip through the rockies that had started in Calgary. Their next stop was a cruise to Alaska. One of the ladies with two friends was about to sign the guest book before leaving and made the following comment. " We have seen many wonderful things on this trip, but now I feel like I have died and gone to heaven". She clearly enjoyed the spring flowers in the magnificent garden.

 

Even if the cruise makes Victoria a port of call, it is not the same as having the time to drive around and explore pre-cruise.

 

Just my 2 cents.

 

Have a great trip and lots of fun planning. I have shared this thread with Australian friends from up the coast a bit from Sydney. We are hoping they will make a similar trip and discover our beautiful country.

If you do chose to do Victoria (Vancouver Island) in place of Whistler, you could drop off the car in Victoria and take the ferry from downtown Victoria to downtown Seattle.

Another option would be to take the ferry over to Nanaimo and then drive down to Victoria.

Yea I know. Pizza is not gonna make or break it. I was in the habit of getting a late nite pizza on my last cruise. Looks like a lot of great things on this ship.

Just go up to the buffet. They do have pizza for most of the day.

Thank you very much for the link - I will surely check out the options.

Just so there are no surprises when you are deciding how to get up their, parking in extremely expensive. If you don't need a car the bus service is a good option.

I also like the EPIC. That said the only ships I can compare her to are the Jewell class ships. The EPIC is the ship to be on for entertainment and choice and because of that I think she is better suited to some of the itineraries that have more sea days rather that the Mediterranean port hopping.

I don't understand why the sink in the bedroom instead of the washroom is a concern. That may be important to some, it is something I am indifferent to. It may be different or even odd, however it is not something I would have developed an position on.

If you ask me what I think the EPIC is missing.... On the Jade, the cruise director would give an hour lecture on the history and customs of each port the day before arriving in the port. I found these very good and informative. On the other ships you have the talk from the excursion team that is more of a marketing activity for the ship excursions than providing good content.

The outdoor barbeque that occurs on the other ships would be nice, however I am not certain where you would have it other the quite deck above the buffet.

Replace the blue man group. There was something interesting about the blue man group, i always wanted to see it. Now that I have, I never want to see it again.

I agree to some extent, that these rooms should be for solo travelers, especially since the studio lounge is centered around solo meet and greet and that kind of thing. But then again I see the point that solo travelers can also book larger rooms (and pay more). I don't like the idea of large groups booking the solo's, but then again booked cabins make NCL rich.

 

When I was in the studios, it was mostly solo travelers, and those in studios got together more than those who came to the gatherings but from other rooms. Just because we saw each other more often hanging out in the lounge.

I have been on the EPIC twice as a solo traveler. Once in a studio and one in an inside cabin (when the inside cabin was cheaper even with the supplement). I agree with the concept that if a couple wants to book two connected studios, go for it. If they are paying customers and all the safety restrictions are followed then why impose unnecessary restrictions.

Even if you wanted to police this it is impossible. When I have been in the studio there have been other single travelers who had other family members on the ship. Friends who have no romantic relationship with each other going on a vacation together and booking separate cabins. There is no reasonable way to enforce the requirement that only solo travelers book the studios.

The solution to the problem the OP identified is build more studio into the new ships. They are obviously popular.

The common area for the studio, it is a nice concept. I think it is under utilized. I was on the Epic in a port intensive Mediterranean cruise. What was nice is the continental breakfast setup they had. A bit more selection would be nice, but I found most mornings I would just go down make a latte grab a danish or two and some orange juice without any crowds.

I could see passengers with larger cabins also liking the concept.

Is the flavoured water new? I was on the Epic in January and couldn't find this type of drink in the buffet. Where are the machines located?

 

Is this available all day?

 

Thanks in advance!

T.

It was on the Jade and Jewel early in Feb and May. Same machine in the Buffet that have the ice tea. I don't remember it on the Epic but it has been some time since I have been on the Epic.

For a domestic flight (Toronto), 90 minutes should be good. From downtown to the airport, the Skytrain (subway) is the fastest and cheapest way to go; $2.75/ea vs $35+tip for a taxi is a significant savings. It's about a 2½ block way from your hotel to the Granville City Centre station, on the Canada Line, which goes to the airport.

The airport in Vancouver is divided into 3 areas: Domestic, International and Transbaorder (US flights).

The flight to Toronto is a domestic flight and that time of night the domestic area will be very quiet, that time of day lineups will usually be very short.

The official Air Canada cut-off times for a domestic flight is 90 minutes for check-in; 45 minutes for baggage drop off. (http://www.aircanada.com/en/travelinfo/airport/checkin.html). There are check-in machines in the lobby of many of the Canada line stations, so you may be able to check in before you get on the train.

I'd arranged to disembark in Victoria the night before. Getting back on board merely to then transfer back to Victoria (and none of the options are particularly inexpensive), is a lot of time for not a lot of reward in my mind.

I would agree.

Although not breakfast, I knew about soda not being free. And of course alcohol and the alcohol packages. But having to pay extra for real juice, (like orange juice, for example), at breakfast. I think NCL goes too far in limiting this. Makes me wonder if we get real toilet paper in our cabins or do we have to pay extra for that? :rolleyes:

 

Milk was mentioned, is that included or do you have to pay extra for that?

Unless it changed, juice (from concentrate) is free at breakfast.

You pay extra for free squeezed juice that is made from fresh fruit at the juice bar.

Remember, Bruce claimed the non-US citizens prefer to sail out of Vancouver, not Seattle, which seems to draw the "local" U.S. market. While transportation to/from Seattle is usually less expensive than Vancouver for those of us here in the States, it may not be any more expensive for those coming from Europe and/or Australia. And as he said, avoiding transit into/out of the U.S. keeps them free of our TSA/Immigration woes.

 

So to me it makes perfect sense why Seattle would draw a more U.S.-based market and Vancouver a more global one.

I am doing my first west costal cruise. The other option I considered was Europe again. The selling point of a costal was to spend some time in California, the rack bottom cruise fares helped but if the itinerary was not good I would probably being doing the Mediterranean again.

I use to live in Vancouver but still live in Canada. The airfare flying from Canada to the US has a lot of fees/taxes for TSA, US Immigration, US Agriculture Inspection, and their Canada Counterparts added on. That is one of the factors that makes it cheaper to fly out of Seattle to the rest of the US. When it comes to air from Vancouver to the rest of the world the fares are competitive and you have non-stop flights to places like Australia and New Zeeland as well as Europe. To London alone there is Air Canada, Air Transat, British Airway and Virgin Atlantic. Like many non-Americans I find the border clearance unpredictable, sometimes you sail through and there times the questions asked are just odd. The different mix in passengers between Seattle and Vancouver makes perfect sense.

I don’t know if NCL will make or lose money or the cruise. However it is obvious, that they want to make the most money they can on their asset and that involves it spending most of the time sailing to and from Alaska.

Arriving early: We will be arriving at the (Canada Place) Cruise Terminal early (10am-ish) and wondered if you can get INside the terminal (knowing they won't be processing passengers that early) to sit and wait. ie is the terminal open and you allowed to go inside?

If it is a nice day out .... there is an outside public observation deck all the way around the terminal (at street level) with benchs. You get a very good view of the ship and the harbour activities. Across the street and down the stair is a Tim Hortons and food court if you want to sit down and grab a drink etc.

I live in michigan always thought of cruise the great lakes would be cool idea

 

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There appears to be a cruise line the specializes in Great Lake Cruises. Does anyone have any experience with them....

http://www.greatlakescruising.com/