For anyone heading to the Soltice on May 6 - 3 ships in at Canada Place

[westcoasttech]

I meant to post this warning earlier this week. It's going to be super busy at Canada Place tomorrow. My advice is to arrive for checkin either early 10:30 am - ish or late 2 pm ish. And be prepared for waits at immigration. With approx 8000 people debarking and 8000 embarking it's going to be crowded....

[lovecruzin]

We all received notification from Celebrity, they requested us to arrive after 12. I imagine they are expecting delays with getting 8000 disembarking passengers processed. I can only imagine the traffic at Canada place if people arrive too early. :)

[Celandine]

It seems like there will be 3 ships in Canada Place when I leave for my cruise..... how bad is it? Why is there a warning/worry?

[westcoasttech]

Actually dis bark usually moves pretty fast - just depends on how fast the cases get set out - no immigration at disbark just customs. Will be long queues for taxis though.

 

"After 12" is not very good advice - main bulk of pax will turn up from 11:30 to 2 pm. Without giving too much away just let me say be nice to the checkin staff - believe me they are just trying to get everyone through as smoothly as possible...

[rnrcruzin]

There were only two ships in port when we left on our Alaskan cruise. The crawl through customs was so slow that checking in for the sea pass was a breeze.

[lovecruzin]

Actually dis bark usually moves pretty fast - just depends on how fast the cases get set out - no immigration at disbark just customs. Will be long queues for taxis though.

 

"After 12" is not very good advice - main bulk of pax will turn up from 11:30 to 2 pm. Without giving too much away just let me say be nice to the checkin staff - believe me they are just trying to get everyone through as smoothly as possible...

 

Thanks, we will head downstairs before 11. Sounds like you have inside information! Lol! Have a great day.

[Jldevlin]

Just got off this morning ...left our cabin at 7 and had my first load of laundry in by 8 30 ..easiest disembark ever !!!!! Of course that does not help anyone getting on this afternoon .....but at least it is a beautiful day here...

[TeaBag]

Just got off this morning ...left our cabin at 7 and had my first load of laundry in by 8 30 ..easiest disembark ever !!!!! Of course that does not help anyone getting on this afternoon .....but at least it is a beautiful day here...

I would agree with you. We had a very fast disembarkation on Apr 26. We never stopped walking, no queues at all but then you are Canadians as are we. Maybe it's faster for us? We do the express walk off as well.

 

It's been beautiful weather since we arrived home. That makes me happy for the people coming to Vancouver, especially for the first time.

 

Hope you get rid of the post cruise blues quickly!:)

Edited May 6, 2016 by TeaBag

[Michyfis]

what is procedure for checking in at Canada place? Do you check in or sea pass first and then go through immigration and customs?

[fleckle]

what is procedure for checking in at Canada place? Do you check in or sea pass first and then go through immigration and customs?

 

Here is a link to Passenger Information | Port of Vancouver

 

which gives a good explanation of the entire procedure.

 

 

Have a great cruise!

 

 

 

[Flybear]

We also got off on 05/06. Walked off the ship just before 9:30..... didn't get into a taxi until near 11am. It was a nail-biter wondering if we were going to make it to YVR in time to catch our 1:06 flight out.

 

We made it...... with even a spare moment for a potty break! :-)

 

Next time...... I will have private transportation arranged! The lack of stress will be well worth the extra expense!

 

Greg

[Lastdance]

I just checked my disembark and we are the only ship on May 27...so happy to know...

[lovecruzin]

Thank you westcoasttech for posting. We took your advice and headed to the terminal just before 11. We were on the ship by noon, with our longest delay being with the Celebrity check in agent who was having trouble. We were very patient with her, I'm sure she had a stressful day ahead.

We've talked to people who arrived at noon, it took them 4 hours to get onboard.

We didn't sail until around 8pm.

 

Thank you again!

[Christine Frances]

When boarding, did anyone use the BorderXpress kiosks before they went to US Customs? If so, did it save time? Tks

[lovecruzin]

When boarding, did anyone use the BorderXpress kiosks before they went to US Customs? If so, did it save time? Tks

 

The kiosks were not operational. It probably would have saved time. I think there were 11 CBP processing 8000 passengers :rolleyes:

[guy999]

to let anyone know, the celebrity people are very aware of the crowds and did inform customs ahead of time, but us customs was the one that didn't ick up the ball. I will say that everyone that we have encountered on the ship is as nice as you can imagine and apologetic over something they had no control over....

 

i'm having a great time on solstice right now.!!!

[lovecruzin]

to let anyone know, the celebrity people are very aware of the crowds and did inform customs ahead of time, but us customs was the one that didn't ick up the ball. I will say that everyone that we have encountered on the ship is as nice as you can imagine and apologetic over something they had no control over....

 

i'm having a great time on solstice right now.!!!

 

Totally agree. Having a great time. The delays in boarding were beyond the control of Celebrity.

[DaKa2002]

Celebrity Solstice arrived before 4:30AM, Crown Princess about 5:30 AM, and Norwegian Jewel about 6:30 AM.

Celebrity had their "stuff" together: 8 AM off the ship, 9 AM at airport, 10 AM through all the processing and enjoying Tim Horton's coffee at end of Concourse E.

Hats off to Canadian and U.S. customs/immigration activities - also well organized and efficient!

[jlvlaw]

This was a fiasco, foreseeable, and preventable. Everyone involved in the logistics and messaging have unclean hands. From a customer sat perspective disappointing on all fronts.

[mitchmagi]

Embarkation was an unmitigated disaster. 4 hours wait from the time we arrived to the time we finally got on board ... refugees have a better time.

 

Neverending lines, ridiculous lack of planning = one unmitigated disaster.

 

The blame rests equally with Celebrity. They know FULL WELL that Canada Place is unable to cope with 3 ships and thus shouldn't place their passengers in a scenario where they will experience such a collapse of basic organisation.

 

Celebrity advised pax to arrive after 12 noon which was the worst possible thing you could have done - it was peak crunch time.

 

Port of Vancouver needs to redo their schedules. They simply cannot cope with 3 ships ... and they all know this ... but yet do nothing about it.

 

Shameful.

 

To anyone sailing out of Vancouver - be sure to check the port schedules. If there are 3 ships departing Canada Place - reconsider your options. YOU DO NOT WANT TO SUBJECT yourself to this embarkation horror.

Edited May 8, 2016 by mitchmagi

[jlvlaw]

Embarkation was an unmitigated disaster. 4 hours wait from the time we arrived to the time we finally got on board ... refugees have a better time.

 

Neverending lines, ridiculous lack of planning = one unmitigated disaster.

 

The blame rests equally with Celebrity. They know FULL WELL that Canada Place is unable to cope with 3 ships and thus shouldn't place their passengers in a scenario where they will experience such a collapse of basic organisation.

 

Celebrity advised pax to arrive after 12 noon which was the worst possible thing you could have done - it was peak crunch time.

 

Port of Vancouver needs to redo their schedules. They simply cannot cope with 3 ships ... and they all know this ... but yet do nothing about it.

 

Shameful.

 

To anyone sailing out of Vancouver - be sure to check the port schedules. If there are 3 ships departing Canada Place - reconsider your options. YOU DO NOT WANT TO SUBJECT yourself to this embarkation horror.

 

Could not have said it better. Don't forget the additional hour waiting to get through security, the additional time after that to clear customs, and some poor people's bags ending up on other ships (and theirs on ours).

 

If you're a Global Entry or Nexus card holder, bring that card in addition to your passport and tell them after the security checkpoint you hold that card. Much shorter CBP wait.

 

But still, unmitigated cluster sums it up.