Flight back time Vancouver to NYC post cruise, May 2018.

There are limited flight options for reasonable price from Vancouver to NYC on Sunday, mid May, 2018 post cruise. There is currently 11:15 AM flight available. We have never returned from cruise from non- US port. The TA we booked through advised not to book any flights before 1:30 PM because of customs process first on the ship and then in the airport. That leaves us with 10 to 11:30 PM flights that wouldn't get to New York till Monday morning ( stops and time change). We are staying in Vancouver for two days pre- cruise and really need to get home to be back on Sunday night. Please, anybody with experience on post cruise flight out of Vancouver to US, can you share your experience? We are sailing on HAL if that makes a difference. Also, maybe it's too early to book flights for May, 2018 now? Do more flights options open up closer to the date ( again, Vancouver to NYC). Thank you all who will reply.

I would book earlier.

11:15 AM is a bit tight for me.

At the airport you have to check in for your flight, then take luggage over to another area, then go through security, then clear USA customs.

Can you provide the date that you are arriving to Vancouver. I would like to see how many ships are in port that day.

If three ships I would be concerned.

Keith

Thank you, Keith. Return arrival to Vancouver is on Sunday, May 20th.

I just realized that the 11:15 flight is to Toronto!!! It means we don't have to go through US immigration in YVR, correct? The customs clearance will be done on the second leg Toronto to NYC flight? Does it make 11:15 am comfortable return flight time?

As usual, Keith has great information, although I would consider 11:15 really very tight. I wouldn't book it.

The good news is that you are the only ship in port that day according to the two sites I checked.

I am pretty sure you won't clear USA customs in Vancouver since you would be flying to Toronto.

Hopefully someone can confirm this.

I would check the airline site you are thinking about to see what their check in policies are (eg,. if there

is a requirement for check in).

I am one who doesn't like stress so I probably would look at alternatives. I would check all flight options to see if

there is another option but some people would be less stressed and might do it.

Wish I could be more definitive.

If it was back to the USA I would look at something after Noon for sure.

Keith

Thank you again, Keith and all others who replied.

You are very welcome.

Keith

Info above is correct - since it's a domestic first leg, you can worry about preclearance in YYZ not YVR. This removes one of the concerns about a flight this early. If you self-disembark promptly, you could be at YVR as early as 8am - the CBSA check at the pier is virtually always a token Q&A for US citizens post-cruise (you already went through immigration to enter Canada when you arrived pre-cruise, and all the stuff you bought will be going into the US with you so there's no Customs issue). As long as you are among the first batch of folks, either cab or SkyTrain will get you to the airport in ~30mins. YVR recommends 2 hours preflight for Domestics, but that's to ensure that you have plenty of time to buy overpriced food & drink - even with bags to check that's a very generous timeframe.

Even a 'take our bags off for us' slot as late as 8:30am should be sufficient time to get you to YVR and on a domestic. But if you cannot handle your own luggage and really want to minimise your risks, then I would throw money at the problem and book a limo - Keith can give his personal experience on that IIRC. While it might be a bit steep compared to a cab (over CAD $100 between the meet & greet fee and the cost of the ride) it's likely that other sensibly-timed flight options will cost you more than that amount as day-time flights eastbound do get pricey.

Personally I would use the time you have to apply for NEXUS - this will expedite you through security at YVR as well as immigration at YYZ (and as a bonus, your flight into Canada and your boarding of the ship will also enable use of priority queues, as well as any future road crossings into Canada). While Global Entry would still help with some of these, it's only for the parts controlled by CBP so NEXUS is the superior program, as well as being half the price. Both give you all the benefits of TSA Precheck (which is utterly useless in Canada). The added hassle of your interview having to be with both CBSA and CBP for NEXUS shouldn't be too traumatic for someone in a border state.

Edit - sorry, you also asked about timing for booking flights. May next year should already have every possible flight available - unless there is some unexpected shift in demand that makes adding or removing a whole flight worthwhile, which is pretty rare in my experience for YVR-YYZ. For your first domestic leg 100% it will be either on Air Canada or WestJet. Both airlines have a very solid idea of their passenger numbers after many years of operating this very popular route - they also have various sizes of plane, and changing which is used even a day or two before happens fairly often to optimise bums on seats (i.e. even if you prebook seats, expect that you may have to change them at the airport or the day before if you use internet on the ship).

You may get a deal if you wait, but prices might go up too - personally I'm always of the 'if the price is fair for the route, book it' opinion for eastbound daytime flights as, like you already noticed, unless you can get on a <8am flight the options become VERY limited to get you to your destination same day!

Thank you, Martin ( I assume). What is NEXUS? How do one obtain it?

Thank you, Martin ( I assume). What is NEXUS? How do one obtain it?

It's one of the Trusted Traveler programs - all of which are summarized here. You apply online, links are on that page, then assuming no criminal record, No Fly etc. flags you an in-person interview is scheduled. Processing time can get long - and waits for interviews likewise - which is why I'd suggest applying now to ensure you have plenty of time.

NEXUS is jointly-administered with Canada, so your interview locations tend to be at land borders or Canadian Int'l airports - full list can be found here. Assuming you can get to any of those places conveniently, NEXUS wins hands-down. If you cannot, then Global Entry is next-best - it won't help get into Canada faster, but will help at our airports for US-bound flights as there are CBP on-site. NB: you do have to actually carry your physical membership card with you to be able to use it for anything except US domestic flights.

It's one of the Trusted Traveler programs - all of which are summarized here.

 

Thank you.