Disembarking in Vancouver - need to get to airport

[betmust]

Could someone give me some suggestions. As I said, we will be getting off a Royal Caribbean cruise ship and need transportation to the airport. I have a morning flight and would like to get there quickly. Which is the best? I was thinking of just buying transfers through the cruise to bring us there..

 

Thanks for any help...

[martincath]

Depends which pier - you'll ALMOST certainly be at Canada Place, in which case you have convenient public transit (the Canada Line Skytrain, which is a five minute walk from the pier, takes less than 30mins and costs $4 weekdays/$2.75 weekends for adults), taxi (they'll be queued up, first come first served, about 30 mins although queue time may be longer than walking to Skytrain would be, approx $35 metered fare + tip), limos (if prebooked at $50, cost is a fixed rate which depends how big a limo you book - for 3-4 people a regular towncar size works at $55+12% tax + tip).

 

If you are one of the handful of vessels docking at Ballantyne pier (go look at the schedule here) you have a choice of taxi or booking a limo in advance.

 

Easiest? Probably cruise transfer, they'll do everything for you but then you're stuck with whatever your assigned disembarkation time is plus bus loading time.

 

Quickest? A couple of locals vociferously debate relative speeds of Skytrain versus taxi - if you're mobile and can handle your own bags it comes down to how big a queue for the taxis IMO. If you can walk right into a cab, you'll almost certainly be at the airport faster than Skytrain - but if the taxi queue is more than 10 minutes long, speed shifts back to Skytrain.

 

Best? Entirely subjective, based on your ideas of speed/convenience/value!

[cruiseryyc]

I hope your morning flight isn't too early, trying to get off a cruise ship and catch a flight before noon in Vancouver is a race to do. If you're flying to US, you need a good two hours once at the airport in order to go through US Customs and then Security.

[Putterdude]

If you can self-disembark with all your own luggage then a flight around the 11:00 am time frame is supportable, if not then you really need to get one of the very first disembarkation times and you probably would be wise not to look at a flight time to much before 11:30. From a practical point of view with the new passport scanners at YVR this has really speeded up the process of clearing US Customs and I suspect this 2 hour pre-flight arrival at YVR may well be shortened.

 

For those who may not know it, the passport scanners at YVR are now available for Canadian passport holders and personally I was amazed how fast the US customs process has become as a result...as a matter of fact it was faster then NEXUS.

[betmust]

Thank you everyone. My flight is at 11:30am. I am flying from Vancouver to Toronto and then Toronto to Boston.

I heard that customs will be in Toronto to go to Boston. Have plenty of time between flights.

I ended up booking transfers with the cruise line. Not a bad price. Their will be

4 of us, each with a large suitcase.

Not sure what time the cruise transfer will leave but at least it should be a little easier..

 

Has anyone done a transfer with Royal Caribbean to the Vancouver airport? What time did you leave and get to airport?

 

Thanks

Edited February 26, 2014 by betmust

[Putterdude]

I have no experience with RCL transfers but I can confirm that you will clear US Customs (CBP) in Toronto before continuing on to Boston. As your flight to Toronto is a domestic flight you need only be at YVR an hour before flight time so you have scads of time.

[betmust]

I have no experience with RCL transfers but I can confirm that you will clear US Customs (CBP) in Toronto before continuing on to Boston. As your flight to Toronto is a domestic flight you need only be at YVR an hour before flight time so you have scads of time.

 

Thank you - I did this route before in 2008 and it really made it a little easier as far as not doing customs in Vancouver. I used Princess transfers at the time and still had plenty of time. Hopefully it will be the same...