US immigration at Vancouver

Hello

When boarding in Vancouver for Alaskan cruise, does anyone have an idea on how long you should allow to go through US immigration? How long should you allow for boarding for arrival at ship?

Also, same when returning to Vancouver afterwards, do go through Canadian immigration on arrival?

Many Thanks1

Vancouver is commonly covered on the West Coast Departures board, as it is not in Alaska.

Due to the large number of people boarding 2 or 3 ships at the same time, and can take awhile. The actual process adds 10 or 15 minutes, but the crowds complicate things.

Hello

 

When boarding in Vancouver for Alaskan cruise, does anyone have an idea on how long you should allow to go through US immigration? How long should you allow for boarding for arrival at ship?

Also, same when returning to Vancouver afterwards, do go through Canadian immigration on arrival?

 

Many Thanks1

The longest I have waited in line for US Immigration was 10 minutes.

When returning and having stopped the previous night in Victoria where all passengers' paperwork was processed by Canadian Immigration, there was no Canadian Immigration in Vancouver.

On cruises where there was no Canadian stop before Vancouver, I handed an agent my paperwork without ever missing a step.

We departed a week from Vancouver with only one ship. US customs took just a minute since we had Global Entry and that line was empty. The reg line looked liked it had a dozen or so in it. FYI: you’ll need your Global Entry card to use that line. At 2pm, security and check in moved fast. Returning we filled out Canada paperwork and returned it to the ship passenger services and just showed passport when leaving the ship. They only glanced at it as we walked off without stopping.

We departed a week from Vancouver with only one ship. US customs took just a minute since we had Global Entry and that line was empty. The reg line looked liked it had a dozen or so in it. FYI: you’ll need your Global Entry card to use that line. At 2pm, security and check in moved fast. Returning we filled out Canada paperwork and returned it to the ship passenger services and just showed passport when leaving the ship. They only glanced at it as we walked off without stopping.

The OP is from Wales...highly unlikely they will have Global Entry.

I didn't realize that however UK citizens are eligible for global entry as is a number of other countries.

Thanks Anthony

We will be travelling with an ESTA so presumably we will be in the longer line but doesn't sound so bad.

Good news about returning to Canada afterwards!

Cheers

Check the schedule here.

As mentioned, while the interaction with CBP is short, the backlog caused by them being unable/unwilling to process enough people can lead to multiple hour boarding delays. If it's just one ship, life should be pretty good - avoid 11:30am to 2pm in general and queues are short or even nonexistent. 3 ships, or one of this years super-ghastly 4-ship days... and you really want to delay arriving until as late as you possibly can. If your ship says it leaves at 5pm, don't show before 3pm (there's a 90min pre-departure 'hard cap' that you MUST be at the terminal by).

Even if you do have to wait, you'll at least get to sit down now until your group is called to go downstairs and through Security, which usually then flows right into CBP area without much delay - but if there are a few folks who need extra processing time (e.g. UK citizens, or anyone else not US/Canadians!) you can end up standing around or in the few seats in the CBP zone waiting again.

We just sailed out of Vancouver to Alaska. From getting out of taxi at port to actually setting foot on the ship took about 1.5 hours. We arrived to the port at about 1PM. It was a 15-20min line to check in, but the rest of the wait was going through US customs... we were all US citizens except for one person, and she took maybe 10-15 min longer than the rest of us.

Return was fast, but we disembarked at 7:45AM and walked our own luggage off. We were in a taxi by 8AM. Filled out the Canadian customs form in advance, passports in hand, handed it one of 3 officers. And off we went!

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11am and 1pm will have the highest congestion. Arriving before or after this 2 hour window will have less delays.

I prefer to arrive early when they open (around 10am) and sit in the lobby. If it's quiet, some ships will allow you to board early and you get a bonus welcome meal!

Others will suggest arriving around 2pm using the bonus time to explore the city.

hi

ive checked the link and its 2 ships, so hopefully not too bad.

Thanks for all the help!

I am a canadian. We have nexus cards since we live right on the border of us and canada. Can we use our nexus cards to go into the faster lines..Any fellow canadians out there? We are leaving out of seatle..

Not at the pier - Seattle boarding doesn't need immigration as you're already in the US, and coming back I haven't heard about them adding Global Entry queues yet (since most cruises are to AK, with just the one token stop at Victoria, it's a very low risk of folks bringing lots of dutiable goods home - walk past and hand over customs form without stopping is our experience)

10-15 minutes

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Similar question, we're from US. Sailing from Seward to Vancouver and flying home from there. Do we go through US customs at airport? Typical delay time on a Sunday morning?

Similar question, we're from US. Sailing from Seward to Vancouver and flying home from there. Do we go through US customs at airport?

Similar question, we're from US. Sailing from Seward to Vancouver and flying home from there. Do we go through US customs at airport? Typical delay time on a Sunday morning?

You'll have to do Canadian immigration & customs first at the pier (usually forms are completed onboard and handed in at the front desk, so the actual interaction with CBSA is very minimal for non-Canadian residents, especially if you are just 'passing through' to the airport). Exact time depends on how quickly you get off the ship though... first folks, mere seconds, but if you're fighting with thousands of fellow pax from 4 ships all docking about the same time queues obviously build!

At airport, you will do US immigration & customs - since the kiosks went in a few years back it's the Security queue that is the longest one usually, not CBP (unlike at the pier, there is a ton of space, lots of kiosks, and plenty of staff). Again - if you beat your fellow cruisers there, queues will be short (maybe even less than 10mins) but if you arrive after the hordes, you could find that you actually do need the recommended-by-YVR 3 hours pre-flight...

In short, without knowing your exact date, how many other ships are in port, which disembarkation group you get, whether you are mobile enough to take SkyTrain (which has a consistent 26min travel time, whereas cab drive time is 30mins+ and the cab queues vary from zero to over an hour wait time on busy days), it's impossible to give you an accurate idea of your delays. If all goes well you could be off your ship at 7:30am and at your gate within an hour - or it could be a 4+ hour timeframe from deck to gate if you get stuck among the biggest queues on a 3+ ship day.

You'll have to do Canadian immigration & customs first at the pier (usually forms are completed onboard and handed in at the front desk, so the actual interaction with CBSA is very minimal for non-Canadian residents, especially if you are just 'passing through' to the airport). Exact time depends on how quickly you get off the ship though... first folks, mere seconds, but if you're fighting with thousands of fellow pax from 4 ships all docking about the same time queues obviously build!

 

At airport, you will do US immigration & customs - since the kiosks went in a few years back it's the Security queue that is the longest one usually, not CBP (unlike at the pier, there is a ton of space, lots of kiosks, and plenty of staff). Again - if you beat your fellow cruisers there, queues will be short (maybe even less than 10mins) but if you arrive after the hordes, you could find that you actually do need the recommended-by-YVR 3 hours pre-flight...

 

In short, without knowing your exact date, how many other ships are in port, which disembarkation group you get, whether you are mobile enough to take SkyTrain (which has a consistent 26min travel time, whereas cab drive time is 30mins+ and the cab queues vary from zero to over an hour wait time on busy days), it's impossible to give you an accurate idea of your delays. If all goes well you could be off your ship at 7:30am and at your gate within an hour - or it could be a 4+ hour timeframe from deck to gate if you get stuck among the biggest queues on a 3+ ship day.

Thank you for that helpful information

Just back from Alaska round trip out of Vancouver. arrived at port at 10.30 am. On ship by 11.15 am. We are British Citizens. 2 ships in port. On return we left ship at 9.30am, last group off, handed completed custom form to agent, picked up luggage and left. Super quick and easy.

I have sailed out of Vancouver with huge "US" lines and actually sent to staging areas. Over an hour to get through. I've as well had, essentially no lines.

No way to predict.

We are first time cruisers and also leaving out of Vancouver. I've copied and pasted all your comments to help guide us - thank you! Any simple advice for us newbies who don't know what we're doing? We will have Holland transfers to and from the airport/ship. Our flight gets in Vancouver at 10:00 a.m. with 4:30 sailing. Coming back, we get into port at 7 a.m. and don't fly out until 3:00. Any advice is appreciated and I know will save us a ton of headache!!

We are first time cruisers and also leaving out of Vancouver. I've copied and pasted all your comments to help guide us - thank you! Any simple advice for us newbies who don't know what we're doing? We will have Holland transfers to and from the airport/ship. Our flight gets in Vancouver at 10:00 a.m. with 4:30 sailing. Coming back, we get into port at 7 a.m. and don't fly out until 3:00. Any advice is appreciated and I know will save us a ton of headache!!

First piece of advice...commonly discussed all over Cruise Critic, is don't fly in the day of your cruise.

Right? Too late though, made that mistake before joining the group. Looked into changing it and it was quite expensive to change the flight so we are stuck with this. It's all booked through Holland and we have trip insurance but I'm still very nervous. Which is why I thought it might be helpful to have some great advice on moving through quickly!

Right? Too late though, made that mistake before joining the group. Looked into changing it and it was quite expensive to change the flight so we are stuck with this. It's all booked through Holland and we have trip insurance but I'm still very nervous. Which is why I thought it might be helpful to have some great advice on moving through quickly!

Well in that case the next best advice is to cancel your transfers with HAL. They are overpriced to the point of criminality (seriously - if their degree of overpricing was instead on interest rates rather than a service, they'd be guilty of Usury and facing charges!) and offer neither time savings (in fact, quite the opposite) nor quality enhancements. You have to do more luggage schlepping with a transfer than by paying a porter yourself, you have to wait for buses to fill, and even if you get super-lucky and nobody else is booked around the time you are so they give you a cab voucher, you have to speak to their desk monkeys to get that voucher instead of just walking right out into the cab queue!

On arrival, grab your bags and head straight for ground transportation. If it's getting close to boarding time, pay extra for limos if that queue is shorter. There are fixed walk-up rates for regular cabs ($35) and limos (start at ~$70 incl tax & tip for a towncar, goes up to about double that for a Stretch that seats 8+). Even just two of you can pay for a cab EACH and spend the same as the HAL transfer costs (which are in USD...) Hire a skycap right at the luggage claim if you need help with bags and they'll take you right to the trunk of the vehicle and load it for you - then repeat on the other end, where it's actually free to have your bags handled (signs are up that even tipping is not necessary).

The ship will NOT wait for you, regardless if you have HAL transfers or not. Vancouver departure times are dictated by the tides - there are extremely treacherous waters that cannot be safely traveled except at slack tide (in-between high and low) on the Inside Passage, so while there is some padding on exact departure times (they can sail a bit faster on the more open parts and catch up to schedule) there are absolute zero guarantees that the ship will be able to wait for anyone (and check your fine print - despite the common misconception, booking through the line means nothing - they don't guarantee you being able to board, only best efforts to get you to the next port...) If enough pax are late that their profits will be impacted (no onboard spending if you aren't onboard!) they'll certainly hold it as long as they can, but there are limits...

If you've checked other info already given, then you know all there is to know I'm afraid. There is no way to avoid the queues except to get there before they build or after they drop - and a same-day flight makes the former an unlikely option unless you are scheduled for a 9am arrival or earlier. I'm in the 'be as late as possible' camp myself - just be sure you do turn up to check in at least 90mins before the ship is supposed to leave, and if your flight is late do not assume they know! Travel with the contact info, and CALL them as soon as you are allowed to turn your phones on - if many people are in the same boat (pardon the pun) then they'll already be pushing back departure as long as they can (in which case, taking your own cab and beating the HAL bus makes it MORE likely you will actually get onboard...)

Thank you Martincath for the great advice! We will see what happens, I asked about cancelling our transportation but haven't heard back yet. We aren't spending a lot for it, looks a little over 100.00 for both of us, to and from the ship. But much more than the other modes of transportation for sure. Again, we appreciate your help!