Hints on Vancouver embarkation process

Thank you so much for posting the checkin process. We are going on an Alaska cruise in July and would like to know if the outlined procedure is still true for 2018? We are considering of staying at Pan Pacific Hotel. Do you advise to take our own luggage to the cruise terminal or ask the hotel to deliver them? If we take our own luggage to the lower level, is the bag-drop area separated by cruise line or is it a central bag drop area? We would like to minimize the chance of bags being lost. Can we check-in with the cruiseline first, then go downstairs to drop the bags?

Thank you in advance for your assistance.

Pat

I wrote quite a lengthy response to someone on the Celebrity board about Vancouver Canada Place checkin process. I'll try and park a link here in case it helps others:

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?p=52723904#post52723904

 

 

And I have a couple of updates to that initial information:

 

It is 99.9% certain that all checkins will be done up in the conference centre this year. The layout has been amended to allow for 3 separate checkin areas within Hall C, so hopefully there is room for all.

 

It is unlikely that they will be using the "waiting room" process of sending guests to an extra conference room after checkin and prior to being fed down to security and the border, but I guess that depends on how things go on the really busy days.

 

There is new signage in the lower area of Canada Place - basically follow the blue line and signs to get to checkin and then to your ship, and when disembarking follow the green line and green signs to get to wherever you may be going to once you are off the ship!

 

Disembarking guests that wish to head to anywhere in the City (as opposed to taxis and buses) will be encouraged to take the escalator/elevator in the lobby area of Canada Place so that you end up on the Promenade area on the West side of the Canada Place pier (outside of the conference centre). When you get to the top of the escalator take the door to your left and then turn left and walk down the promenade and you will have the City in front of you, turn left again and follow the sidewalk around and you will be heading to transit (Skytrain).

 

If any one has any specific questions, I'll do my best to provide information, and will update as the season gets into full swing. Lots of 3 ship days this year, so it's going to be busy!!

Thank you so much for posting the checkin process. We are going on an Alaska cruise in July and would like to know if the outlined procedure is still true for 2018? We are considering of staying at Pan Pacific Hotel. Do you advise to take our own luggage to the cruise terminal or ask the hotel to deliver them? If we take our own luggage to the lower level, is the bag-drop area separated by cruise line or is it a central bag drop area? We would like to minimize the chance of bags being lost. Can we check-in with the cruiseline first, then go downstairs to drop the bags?

Thank you in advance for your assistance.

Pat

Not the person you addressed this to, but since WCT hasn't been around much so may take a while to reply I'll chime in.

PP hotel offers cruise rates which include bag transfer. While you might get lucky with just offering a generous tip to the bellstaff, I believe you do have to book a cruise package to get that 'from your room' transfer (and you MUST be physically present).

Personally I'd never do that even if I didn't live walking distance from the pier, because while the chance is slim it does make for an extra step where your bags can go to the wrong place! If you take them down yourself (and you MUST do this first - once checked-in you are part of the whole process with Security next; you'll be sent to drop them then told to come back to the check-in section again afterward if you head there without dropping bags first) you can hand them to the longshoremen working the conveyor belt that feeds your specific ship, not just the cruise line. It literally does not get better - there is no way your bag can fail to get to the right vessel if you hand it over yourself this way (don't give it to the wandering 'luggage cage' guys for the same reason as above - an extra pair of hands and eyes to misread/misdirect the case).

I believe check-in remains exactly as WCT described - the wording on the Port website was altered for 2017 and has not changed since, it confirms check-in is before security which is before CBP - but I have not boarded in 2018 so there's always a possibility that there have been further tweaks to the process (we have 4 ship days this year in addition to the 1/2/3 ship days of 2017; so e.g. you may not be able to reach the conveyors to the ship on the far North end and have to hand it over to a longshoremen elsewhere... but signs should say 'Luggage Drop for Ship Name' so still very clear)

This is good information. I don't want too many people handling my luggage to minimize the chance of loosing the bags. I was wondering why Pan Pacific has a cruise package if that service is available to all hotel guest. I guess I will take the luggage my self. Thank you for posting.

Pat

Not the person you addressed this to, but since WCT hasn't been around much so may take a while to reply I'll chime in.

 

PP hotel offers cruise rates which include bag transfer. While you might get lucky with just offering a generous tip to the bellstaff, I believe you do have to book a cruise package to get that 'from your room' transfer (and you MUST be physically present).

 

 

Personally I'd never do that even if I didn't live walking distance from the pier, because while the chance is slim it does make for an extra step where your bags can go to the wrong place! If you take them down yourself (and you MUST do this first - once checked-in you are part of the whole process with Security next; you'll be sent to drop them then told to come back to the check-in section again afterward if you head there without dropping bags first) you can hand them to the longshoremen working the conveyor belt that feeds your specific ship, not just the cruise line. It literally does not get better - there is no way your bag can fail to get to the right vessel if you hand it over yourself this way (don't give it to the wandering 'luggage cage' guys for the same reason as above - an extra pair of hands and eyes to misread/misdirect the case).

 

I believe check-in remains exactly as WCT described - the wording on the Port website was altered for 2017 and has not changed since, it confirms check-in is before security which is before CBP - but I have not boarded in 2018 so there's always a possibility that there have been further tweaks to the process (we have 4 ship days this year in addition to the 1/2/3 ship days of 2017; so e.g. you may not be able to reach the conveyors to the ship on the far North end and have to hand it over to a longshoremen elsewhere... but signs should say 'Luggage Drop for Ship Name' so still very clear)

Not the person you addressed this to, but since WCT hasn't been around much so may take a while to reply I'll chime in.

 

PP hotel offers cruise rates which include bag transfer. While you might get lucky with just offering a generous tip to the bellstaff, I believe you do have to book a cruise package to get that 'from your room' transfer (and you MUST be physically present).

 

 

Personally I'd never do that even if I didn't live walking distance from the pier, because while the chance is slim it does make for an extra step where your bags can go to the wrong place! If you take them down yourself (and you MUST do this first - once checked-in you are part of the whole process with Security next; you'll be sent to drop them then told to come back to the check-in section again afterward if you head there without dropping bags first) you can hand them to the longshoremen working the conveyor belt that feeds your specific ship, not just the cruise line. It literally does not get better - there is no way your bag can fail to get to the right vessel if you hand it over yourself this way (don't give it to the wandering 'luggage cage' guys for the same reason as above - an extra pair of hands and eyes to misread/misdirect the case).

 

I believe check-in remains exactly as WCT described - the wording on the Port website was altered for 2017 and has not changed since, it confirms check-in is before security which is before CBP - but I have not boarded in 2018 so there's always a possibility that there have been further tweaks to the process (we have 4 ship days this year in addition to the 1/2/3 ship days of 2017; so e.g. you may not be able to reach the conveyors to the ship on the far North end and have to hand it over to a longshoremen elsewhere... but signs should say 'Luggage Drop for Ship Name' so still very clear)

Windstar is in Alaska this year and check in with them has always been on board in the lounge (very civilized with a glass of something).

Probably all the mainstream lines do check-in first.

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The last part about check-in being before security may depend on the cruise line. We were in Crystal August 2018 and check-in was the last step before boarding.

 

Windstar is in Alaska this year and check in with them has always been on board in the lounge (very civilized with a glass of something).

 

Probably all the mainstream lines do check-in first.

 

 

 

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WHEN??? Aug 2018>>

WHEN??? Aug 2018>>

Also, thinking back, part of check-in was the last thing before boarding (they checked tickets and passports there, but once on-board, we had to queue to finish check-in (getting our room keys). It wasn't a long queue because they pace sending people on board.

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Oops, I meant 2017.

 

Also, thinking back, part of check-in was the last thing before boarding (they checked tickets and passports there, but once on-board, we had to queue to finish check-in (getting our room keys). It wasn't a long queue because they pace sending people on board.

Thanks for clarifying - like Sam I was confused when I saw your first note!

The important part of check-in is the initial stage - as any cruiseline prioritization (suites, status) can actually be done in how they send their folks down to Security etc. whereas in the past with sometimes cruise check-in being last it meant that a) your prior cruising/spendy room made zero difference to hen you got to start boarding, and b) if you did not bring physical printouts of cruise tickets to show Security queue minion you sometimes weren't allowed to go through Security but had to go find someone from the cruiseline somewhere insecure to get you sorted with a paper copy (I saw several people turned back over the previous years).

Keeping actual keycard handout part until the very end of the process could be deliberate for several reasons - allowing for a second lounge area for just that ship (with nibbles for fancy folks), ensuring that there are no keys 'in the wild' held by the rare folks who get rejected by CBP, and giving some flex in where you 'stage' pax pre-boarding (send some through early while queues are low and hold them at the end, while keeping others back at the beginning until the ship is ready) spring to mind as possiblities. Since some lines start boarding early but without cabins being ready, while others hold folks back from actually stepping onboard until the cabins are all prepped,they might use different approaches.

WCT here - I've been travelling for a bit! I will probably not be checking this thread or forum too often as I will not be doing my stint down at Canada Place this summer (I've decided that one full time job is enough and to enjoy my weekends!)

As far as I'm aware the process will remain much the same this year as last year. With the possible exception of some of the "new to Vancouver" lines that are bringing in some smaller ships, like Windstar etc. I don't think I made any allowance for them in my original essay, but yes, some of the smaller ships do sometimes do the physical checkin process after security and immigration. (This is sometimes true of really early or late season ships too, when there is a smaller number of pax travelling through the port.) It will be interesting to find out what Viking Oceans will be doing when they starting coming into Vancouver, as (I think) traditionally Viking do their checkin onboard ship.

For the majority of days and cruiselines they do prefer you to drop your bags with the longshoremen prior to going upstairs to the checkin area, as dragging your suitcases through any kind of line up is really not good for you or the cruiseline staff! (The exception being if you arrive really late (I mean really, really late like 15 mins before sailaway) when you end up having to take your bags with you through security and immigration and do your checkin onboard - and yes I have seen people sprinting through security with their bags, just before sailaway - I don't recommend it!)

When I was a passenger on one of the repositionings at the end of last year, they changed the process around a bit, with taxi dropoff passengers being directed down yet another level of the cruise terminal where the longshoremen took the bags and then passengers being redirected through the opposite end of the terminal to come up to the checkin hall area. This was a new routing that I hadn't seen used before - but for the most part it seemed to work (there was one area where there was a bit of a cross over of incoming and outgoing for the checkin process which caused a minor people traffic jam!)

The bottom line is that there should always be uniformed personnel around, if you get confused, just ask.

Yes, Vancouver port is definitely getting busier each year - the idea of being there when NCL Bliss or RCCL Ovation comes in later this year and next year, respectively, is almost enough to give me nightmares - but luckily they will only be the one time at the beginning and then the end of the season, and I plan to go down to the port and take a look when Viking Oceans comes in (I think that's not till 2019 though!). As always feel free to ask questions, I'll share anything I can find out for you!

https://www.vancouverisawesome.com/2017/11/08/richmond-cruise-ship-terminal/

There could be plans to add another cruise ship port in Vancouver. Been talked about for a few years.