betmust Posted February 20, 2014 #1 Share Posted February 20, 2014 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... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare martincath Posted February 20, 2014 #2 Share Posted February 20, 2014 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! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cruiseryyc Posted February 20, 2014 #3 Share Posted February 20, 2014 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. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Putterdude Posted February 20, 2014 #4 Share Posted February 20, 2014 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. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
betmust Posted February 26, 2014 Author #5 Share Posted February 26, 2014 (edited) 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 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Putterdude Posted February 26, 2014 #6 Share Posted February 26, 2014 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. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
betmust Posted February 26, 2014 Author #7 Share Posted February 26, 2014 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... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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