Question about disembarking Nieuw Amsterdam (Vancouver)

We are trying to plan our return trip and it shows the ship will be docking in Vancouver at 7am. About how long will it take to get off ship if we carry our bags ourselves?

And is the return location the Port of Canada? Are there cabs in the area? Has anyone taken the Amtrak train using bus service from Vancouver, B.C. to Washington state in the US?

Any information would be greatly appreciated!

Go to the Boards section and find the Canada/Alaska section. You will find a wealth of information which will answer all of your questions.

The NA docks at Canada Place and there are lots of cabs lined up out front. How long you wait for a cab will depend on how many people are in line.

You will be in the first group to disembark if you are carrying your own bags. You will leave as soon as the formalities are taken care of and the ship is cleared---around half an hour.

I can't answer your Amtrack question as we have only ever checked into the hotel at Canada Place after we disembarked.

I don't know how much luggage you will have but all the taxi's I have seen at Canada Place are small compared to the ones we have in our area and in Ft Lauderdale, Tampa, San Diego, etc.

We are trying to plan our return trip and it shows the ship will be docking in Vancouver at 7am. About how long will it take to get off ship if we carry our bags ourselves?

 

And is the return location the Port of Canada? Are there cabs in the area? Has anyone taken the Amtrak train using bus service from Vancouver, B.C. to Washington state in the US?

 

Any information would be greatly appreciated!

We have taken the bus to Seattle and it's easy and non stop, about 4 hours. We went on line to Amtrak and bought tickets ahead of time. It was a fairly short taxi ride from the Port.

I don't know how much luggage you will have but all the taxi's I have seen at Canada Place are small compared to the ones we have in our area and in Ft Lauderdale, Tampa, San Diego, etc.

We had a fair bit of luggage (36 days if that serves as an excuse). We just asked for the van to accommodate and there were plenty.

Even the taxis have pretty deep trunks. Looks can be deceiving ;).

I don't know how much luggage you will have but all the taxi's I have seen at Canada Place are small compared to the ones we have in our area and in Ft Lauderdale, Tampa, San Diego, etc.

If you need a larger taxi the person controlling the taxi line will just call a larger one out of order. We travel with four large bags plus carry ons and have secured a taxi from Canada Place to the airport about six times----the latest being last May----never an issue.

@millacon: I think you are arriving in Vancouver on Saturday May 13th. In general, the 8 minute taxi ride from the cruise terminal to the station is painless.

However, I'm going to recommend some serious cruise terminal congestion planning. May 13th is a FOUR SHIP cruise day. In addition to the Nieuv Amsterdam, you are sharing the cab line with the Coral Princess, Emerald Princess and the ms Europa.

Normally the cruise terminal is very efficient, but the first peak/high volume debarkation days in May can be kinda chaotic where cruise passengers report multi-hour waits for taxi's going into the afternoon. I've seen previous years news videos where the cab pickup is relocated onto the street promenade as the cruise terminal needs to be cleared for embarking passengers.

Thoughts...

• A part of me says to be one of the first walk off when the ship docks to avoid the congestion. But then you are stuck with your luggage at the train station for a few hours.
  
• another part of me says to take the subway for 6 minutes... This means a luggage drag for 3 blocks to the train station.
  
• another option is a luggage drag to the Fairmont Pacific Rim or another hotel in the West to board the taxi's. Just get you and your luggage away from the cruise terminal.
  
• Quick Shuttle that meets you at the terminal for Seattle is looking good to me right now
  
• I usually like to enjoy breakfast, relax and be the last off the ship. I'll let others comment what's it like to be in that peak crowd.
  
• BTW..... your May 6th embarkation is THREE ship cruise day. You want to plan for that too.
  http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/14-500-cruise-ship-passengers-headed-for-vancouver-1.2645415
  http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/cruise-ship-season-is-here-in-vancouver-13k-passengers-expected-today-1.3569994
  

Anyone else want to make suggestions for a FOUR ship cruise day?

Wow, four cruise ships at once should be interesting. :D We are planning to carry our luggage ourselves so we can get off the boat earlier. Hopefully we can beat the huge crowds.

Thanks for the information!

Wow, four cruise ships at once should be interesting. :D We are planning to carry our luggage ourselves so we can get off the boat earlier. Hopefully we can beat the huge crowds.

 

Thanks for the information!

My memory is short but when we got off in May last year in Vancouver, I believe there were either 3 or 4 ships in port.

We got off late (disembarkation delayed) and don't do self disembarkation.

Our wait in the cab line was probably no more than 15 minutes even though our timing was peak time (IMO).

I was actually impressed with how well Vancouver is organized. This was only our 2nd time getting off in Vancouver but both times they seemed well organized, very helpful and quite easy to do :)