What's the Issue with Embarking in Vancouver?

When we were there...two ships were in port in Canada Place...and I’d say there were about 8 agents. Who knows what happened the day you were there, but I sincerely doubt it’s the norm.

 

Cruise lines are very sensitive about the embarkation experience, I don’t think they would let a situation like that continue.

 

 

 

 

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Unfortunately Paul, this has been an issue for some years now and feedback from the cruise lines has not had any impact. Passengers travelling to the US from Vancouver Cruise Port and Vancouver airport are passing through US customs prior to Boarding. The airport however has Nexus and TSA fast track, something the cruise port does not offer. As well, the airport is far better staffed by US Border services. There seems to be some inconsistency in Border services staffing for the cruise port so it is good to hear some passenger comments above noting a better experience. I think it can also vary with the composition of the passengers boarding. It didn’t used to be a requirement by US Border Services for a photo of everyone or fingerprinting but, depending on your home nation, now that is a standard requirement for many visiting the US. More process, more time. Add more passengers and no change in number of Border agents and you can have quite a mess some days. Sadly for my home town pride, many blame our city.

Unfortunately Paul, this has been an issue for some years now and feedback from the cruise lines has not had any impact. Passengers travelling to the US from Vancouver Cruise Port and Vancouver airport are passing through US customs prior to Boarding. The airport however has Nexus and TSA fast track, something the cruise port does not offer. As well, the airport is far better staffed by US Border services. There seems to be some inconsistency in Border services staffing for the cruise port so it is good to hear some passenger comments above noting a better experience. I think it can also vary with the composition of the passengers boarding. It didn’t used to be a requirement by US Border Services for a photo of everyone or fingerprinting but, depending on your home nation, now that is a standard requirement for many visiting the US. More process, more time. Add more passengers and no change in number of Border agents and you can have quite a mess some days. Sadly for my home town pride, many blame our city.

Hmmm. Wasn’t aware it was such an issue, but I do appreciate the intel. Glad we didn’t experience it!

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We boarded our Alaska cruise in May this year. Note 3 of our party are UK passport holders. Three ships in port, we arrived at 12.15 and boarded at 4.00pm.

Passengers travelling to the US from Vancouver Cruise Port and Vancouver airport are passing through US customs prior to Boarding. The airport however has Nexus and TSA fast track, something the cruise port does not offer.

There certainly was priority security for GE (Nexus) and dedicated/priority immigration clearance last September.

There certainly was priority security for GE (Nexus) and dedicated/priority immigration clearance last September.

Ace! Good to know!

Unfortunately Paul, this has been an issue for some years now and feedback from the cruise lines has not had any impact. Passengers travelling to the US from Vancouver Cruise Port and Vancouver airport are passing through US customs prior to Boarding. The airport however has Nexus and TSA fast track, something the cruise port does not offer. As well, the airport is far better staffed by US Border services. There seems to be some inconsistency in Border services staffing for the cruise port so it is good to hear some passenger comments above noting a better experience. I think it can also vary with the composition of the passengers boarding. It didn’t used to be a requirement by US Border Services for a photo of everyone or fingerprinting but, depending on your home nation, now that is a standard requirement for many visiting the US. More process, more time. Add more passengers and no change in number of Border agents and you can have quite a mess some days. Sadly for my home town pride, many blame our city.

On our cruise from Vancouver to Alaska (see the signature below) we used the TSA pre-check/Trusted Traveler/ Global Entry line to board at Canada Place. No wait. We have also used TSA pre-check in San Pedro and in Ft. Lauderdale with no issues. Returning to the States at Calgary airport earlier this year we were the only passengers with TSA pre-check.

Well worth the investment. I clocked myself once at LAX going to Southwest in Terminal 1 at 90 seconds from curb to clearing security.

On our cruise from Vancouver to Alaska (see the signature below) we used the TSA pre-check/Trusted Traveler/ Global Entry line to board at Canada Place. No wait. We have also used TSA pre-check in San Pedro and in Ft. Lauderdale with no issues. Returning to the States at Calgary airport earlier this year we were the only passengers with TSA pre-check.

 

Well worth the investment. I clocked myself once at LAX going to Southwest in Terminal 1 at 90 seconds from curb to clearing security.

Just in case anyone who has TSA Pre membership, rather than Global Entry or NEXUS, reads your note SCT - they will not be able to use it when cruising or flying back from their cruise, it's completely worthless in Canada, whether at airports, piers, railway stations or land borders. There is no TSA up here - CATSA do security at ports & airports in Canada and you will not see any mention of TSA or TSA Pre on any signage, only GE/NEXUS (and FAST for commercial truck drivers at land borders).

To use 'fast track' security queues up here you need NEXUS (works both ways) or Global Entry (works heading toward the US only), and you must show the actual physical card to get in the queue. Immigration 'fast track' queues are also only for NEXUS/GE cardholders, but that's the same as in the US since TSA Pre has always been worthless for immigration purposes. You have GE I note from some earlier comments - that's why you got the nice treatment, the silly sausages who only apply for Pre get bupkiss;-)

Since NEXUS incorporates both GE and Pre benefits, and GE incorporates Pre benefits, it's easy to confuse which does what where - but Pre is only useful when you are actually dealing with the TSA, not CBP or CBSA. I honestly don't understand why anyone with Pre would not pay the $15 extra to get GE instead - especially given how many credit cards will refund the whole $100 fee - or actually save money by getting NEXUS, the best $50 you could ever spend, if it's convenient to visit the Canadian border for interview.

Just in case anyone who has TSA Pre membership, rather than Global Entry or NEXUS, reads your note SCT - they will not be able to use it when cruising or flying back from their cruise, it's completely worthless in Canada, whether at airports, piers, railway stations or land borders. There is no TSA up here - CATSA do security at ports & airports in Canada and you will not see any mention of TSA or TSA Pre on any signage, only GE/NEXUS (and FAST for commercial truck drivers at land borders).

 

To use 'fast track' security queues up here you need NEXUS (works both ways) or Global Entry (works heading toward the US only), and you must show the actual physical card to get in the queue. Immigration 'fast track' queues are also only for NEXUS/GE cardholders, but that's the same as in the US since TSA Pre has always been worthless for immigration purposes. You have GE I note from some earlier comments - that's why you got the nice treatment, the silly sausages who only apply for Pre get bupkiss;-)

 

Since NEXUS incorporates both GE and Pre benefits, and GE incorporates Pre benefits, it's easy to confuse which does what where - but Pre is only useful when you are actually dealing with the TSA, not CBP or CBSA. I honestly don't understand why anyone with Pre would not pay the $15 extra to get GE instead - especially given how many credit cards will refund the whole $100 fee - or actually save money by getting NEXUS, the best $50 you could ever spend, if it's convenient to visit the Canadian border for interview.

OK, so just to make it simple, works outward bound to Alaska, boarding into the US. Not inward bound to Canada as it is a US program. Correct?

OK, I stand corrected as we have Global Entry. We carry the cards with us on trips with our passports.

Our experience with Global Entry on inbound air is that we get through CBP extremely fast, so we are just in time at the luggage carousel to wait 45 minutes until the first bag arrives. The real virtue of TSA Pre-Check/Global Entry is outbound getting through airport security. I no longer have to get undressed. (Yes, at Long Beach once I was down to my boxer shorts. Literally. Socks were off. And I've had security clearances, the first in 1964.) I don't have to take my laptop out. I don't have to take my shoes off.

Using Global Entry at ports is a more recent phenomena. The first time we saw it was at Vancouver for the Alaska cruise.

OK, so just to make it simple, works outward bound to Alaska, boarding into the US. Not inward bound to Canada as it is a US program. Correct?

At the port, yes - but since many folks (probably most) are flying in from the US to Vancouver first for Alaska-bound cruises the terms inbound and outbound further muddy the waters (e.g. see SCTs post above where 'inbound air' is re: US-bound travel!)

More accurate to say: entering Canada only NEXUS works; entering the US both GE and NEXUS work.

TSA Pre is the redheaded stepchild that gets taken out to the woodshed by both big brothers; it's only a sensible choice for travelers who never leave the US - even a single trip to any other country in the full five year duration of the cards makes GE well-worth the extra $15 IMO.

There certainly was priority security for GE (Nexus) and dedicated/priority immigration clearance last September.

Every family we know has at least one person like that.

.......TSA Pre is the redheaded stepchild that gets taken out to the woodshed by both big brothers; it's only a sensible choice for travelers who never leave the US - even a single trip to any other country in the full five year duration of the cards makes GE well-worth the extra $15 IMO.

Oh, I agree. It is definitely worth the extra $15. The problem for many Americans is not the $15 but the fact that there are far fewer global entry interview locations in the USA than pre check interview locations.

A global entry interview also gets you pre-check, but the reverse is not true.

So lots of people who can just drive over to a local office for a pre-check interview need to fly (or drive a very long distance) to get to the nearest location for a global entry interview.

Knowing that pre-check is included with global entry, I asked if someone could first get pre-check locally, and then pay the additional amount to add on global entry at a later date, when traveling in the vicinity of a global entry interview location.

The answer was NO. You would still be charged the full amount for global entry, regardless of whether or not you have already paid for pre-check.

 

TSA Pre is the redheaded stepchild that gets taken out to the woodshed by both big brothers; it's only a sensible choice for travelers who never leave the US - even a single trip to any other country in the full five year duration of the cards makes GE well-worth the extra $15 IMO.

Not if you get it for free from your credit card.

I agree with what VAROO said about GE being worth it. And while there aren't that many cruise ports in the US that have dedicated kiosks, I would hope that it would change over the years. I had free TSA w/ my credit card but paid full boat to add GE and then my CC reimbursed me for the entire thing anyway. (sorry don't remember but I think it was an American Executive thru Citibank.)

Not if you get it for free from your credit card.

I certainly can't claim to be familiar with all US credit card offerings, so maybe there are some weird ones that only pay back the $85 for TSA Pre - but every card that appears on 'best credit card' comparison sites or travel sites which discuss good value CCs for travel like PointsGuy offers you the choice of a refund for either Pre or GE every 4 or 5 years. If you do have a weird one, shop around - there are dozens that refund the full price of GE as well... at a measly $3 a year difference, any credit card that only offers Pre refunds should be taken out to the woodshed as well;-)

I certainly can't claim to be familiar with all US credit card offerings, so maybe there are some weird ones that only pay back the $85 for TSA Pre - but every card that appears on 'best credit card' comparison sites or travel sites which discuss good value CCs for travel like PointsGuy offers you the choice of a refund for either Pre or GE every 4 or 5 years. If you do have a weird one, shop around - there are dozens that refund the full price of GE as well... at a measly $3 a year difference, any credit card that only offers Pre refunds should be taken out to the woodshed as well;-)

But the problem is not the credit card refund, or the price of any of the expedited access programs, any of which cost a minuscule amount compared to the total cost of taking a cruise.

As previously noted, the main obstacle for many of us here in the USA is the inconvenience involved, the red tape and the additional trip required for the interview. For many people, it means a very lengthy trip indeed.

If we could just apply and pay the fee online and be done with it, we wouldn't care which credit card we used to pay for it.

But the problem is not the credit card refund, or the price of any of the expedited access programs, any of which cost a minuscule amount compared to the total cost of taking a cruise.

 

As previously noted, the main obstacle for many of us here in the USA is the inconvenience involved, the red tape and the additional trip required for the interview. For many people, it means a very lengthy trip indeed.

If we could just apply and pay the fee online and be done with it, we wouldn't care which credit card we used to pay for it.

I think if folks put just a little more thought into the logistics side, they'd find that it's not as difficult as it seems. I completely get that NEXUS, despite being the best and cheapest program, is seriously inconvenient for folks who are not close to Canada to do the interview - but then folks who are not close to Canada and don't visit us often won't see any 'win' from the extra NEXUS benefits (dedicated land border lanes no use if you don't drive).

But GE compared to Pre? Yes, Pre has more locations, and GE locations are missing from a handful of states entirely. A % of people will live somewhere where the difference between a Pre interview location and a GE one involves a serious amount of travel - but given 80% of the US population is urban, and over 50% live in the top ~45 biggest metro areas with major airports within very close proximity, it's a definite minority that are truly far from a GE centre.

Even if they do live too far from a GE centre to be worth driving to just for the interview, everyone applying for any of these programs travels - so they can also schedule interviews in places they are visiting that do have a GE centre. It's quite feasible to tie in a business or pleasure trip that you are already going to be on with an interview - the timings are very specific and everything I've experienced, read and heard about indicates that it's very unusual to not be taken promptly at your scheduled time (indeed most folks seem to report being taken early). I've seen several people on these boards report having worked a GE interview into a trip, heck one person even worked a NEXUS interview here in Vancouver into his pre-cruise day.

Whatever. I'll stick with my Pre-Check status which was given to me for free without any interview. Just returned from Europe this spring through Atlanta (which was hell, don't recommend it). My traveling companion has global entry. I beat her through the lines, of which there were many, and we were all lumped together in subsequent lines regardless of status or whether or not we were traveling first class. Atlanta is the pits.

Whatever. I'll stick with my Pre-Check status which was given to me for free without any interview. Just returned from Europe this spring through Atlanta (which was hell, don't recommend it). My traveling companion has global entry. I beat her through the lines, of which there were many, and we were all lumped together in subsequent lines regardless of status or whether or not we were traveling first class. Atlanta is the pits.

I had a completely different experience coming back into Atlanta. We had GE and were expedited thru the immigration line, then after we collected our luggage thru customs to recheck our luggage for follow on flight, then expedited line back thru security. Maybe we arrived at a slow time.