Crown Princess Alaska RT Vancouver 5/6

[Putterdude]

The way I won't tolerate it is: never go out of Canada Place so early in season/as much as I love Vancover, we will probably go out of Seattle next time/ if possible, check how many ships in port at once...we are getting Global at this point, worth it at airports and now port Customs

 

Well we will certainly miss you in Vancouver, however IMO a few extra hours that a pax may have to wait in line at Canada Place early in the season is worth the vastly superior scenery one enjoys out of Vancouver than that of sailing from Seattle. Remember itineraries out of Seattle spend the better part of a day in either direction on the west side of Vancouver Is, where sea conditions can be rough and there is no scenery.

[azbirdmom]

We disembarked the Coral yesterday at Canada Place and our departure was delayed by about an hour. The announced problem was that customs wasn't clearing luggage very quickly. All of the walk-offs and those with Princess excursions left earlier than expected but those of us who needed to pick up our luggage in the departure hall were held in the Coral lounges. Once we got to the pick up area, it was a zoo and they were still bringing out luggage for our color. Many workers were there to assist and we were told that with two other large ships in port, it was just too much for them to handle. We made our flight with a little time to spare so no worries for us, although I suspect that some of the folks with flights before noon may have had a problem.

[CU64]

Well we will certainly miss you in Vancouver, however IMO a few extra hours that a pax may have to wait in line at Canada Place early in the season is worth the vastly superior scenery one enjoys out of Vancouver than that of sailing from Seattle. Remember itineraries out of Seattle spend the better part of a day in either direction on the west side of Vancouver Is, where sea conditions can be rough and there is no scenery.

 

three times to Alaska/all out of Vancouver/nothing like this has happened before/nothing like sailing out of Vancouver/one of most beautiful port in world/now that we know to go early (not wait like everyone, even people in Vancouver told us) + plan to have Global Entry.......we will do it again (:

[redtop101]

I keep hearing about this Global Entry thing. We have Nexus which automatically, I believe, makes you eligible for the Global Entry system. No one has been able to fully explain on this bulletin board exactly how this works at Canada Place. The only information that I could find on CC was that they do have Global Entry, but this does not get you through the security line-up any quicker than anyone else and only marginally quicker through US CBP. Does anyone have more detailed information about how Global Entry works at Canada Place.

 

 

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[abbydancer2003]

I keep hearing about this Global Entry thing. We have Nexus which automatically, I believe, makes you eligible for the Global Entry system. No one has been able to fully explain on this bulletin board exactly how this works at Canada Place. The only information that I could find on CC was that they do have Global Entry, but this does not get you through the security line-up any quicker than anyone else and only marginally quicker through US CBP. Does anyone have more detailed information about how Global Entry works at Canada Place.

 

 

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We have global entry and it bought us absolutely nothing on this trip. We had to wait with everyone else. We did notice a lot of unused kiosks, though.

[CU64]

I keep hearing about this Global Entry thing. We have Nexus which automatically, I believe, makes you eligible for the Global Entry system. No one has been able to fully explain on this bulletin board exactly how this works at Canada Place. The only information that I could find on CC was that they do have Global Entry, but this does not get you through the security line-up any quicker than anyone else and only marginally quicker through US CBP. Does anyone have more detailed information about how Global Entry works at Canada Place.

 

 

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one traveling with us sat with us for 4 hrs in Security WR...they called for Global people once we were all seated in Customs area. She went right in. We sat another 45 minutes. I don't know if she told the Security people as she was, like us, just following the herd. I think if you make it known, it is useful. The people giving out numbers in the WR may not have known about Global Entry.

[PescadoAmarillo]

The Coral and the New Amsterdam have just sailed by the house about an hour late and Ship Tracker still shows the Star along side at Canada Place.

 

We can't quite see the Star yet, she is abeam of Bowen Is. and about 15 mins away from us....this makes her a full 3 hours late.

I am green with envy here. Bright, glowing, green with envy.

[jansarts]

We got to the "holding tank" at the terminal at 1p.m. waited for more than 6 hours! no food, no water, Thousands of people( 3 ships in port). We Boarded the Crown Princess after 7:15 p.m. It was horrible. Yes we lost a full day, as many, many people did. Immigration/terminal employees said it's the ships' fault. Princess says it was beyond their control, but NO apology, No explanation. Our itinerary was switched around, no big deal, however Princess cancelled and refunded all pre-booked and paid for excursions, we had do start from scratch, did get the same excursions, however they charged us the higher on board price!, many, many people spent a good part of this vacation standing in long lines trying to correct these errors, staff was rude and over worked. I've cruised 25 times, sad to say this was pretty bad. Alaska is beautiful, weather was perfect, yes a cruise vacation is better than working, however, when you plan and save etc., it sure would be nice to be treated better by Princess. We talked to many, many people,and so many were sadly disappointed, I've honestly never heard so many complaints especially, because felt they paid for 7 but only got 6 days, and the rudeness by staff. Princess you dropped the ball on this trip.

[Putterdude]

I am green with envy here. Bright, glowing, green with envy.

 

Hey, I don't get to spend 6 months a year on a cruise ship....I am resigned to sit on the shore, watch cruise ships and play a lot of lousy golf.:o

[WupperAV]

The US Govt has it all under control. They hire 100 agents a month but 200 quit. Not because of the way they are treated or the long hours! :p TSA insists they are going to make the airlines and Cruise lines require smaller luggage so they wont' have to work so hard looking at so may underwear a day. They will also allow dynamite as long as you don't have fuses and because it's dangerous to pack a loaded gun you will be required to carry one.

[WupperAV]

They weren't rude. The only people Rude aboard Princess are customers! If people are rude to them I suppose they give "Curt" answers but never rude.

[HI-C-Dubs]

... Yes we lost a full day, as many, many people did. Immigration/terminal employees said it's the ships' fault. Princess says it was beyond their control, but NO apology, No explanation.... staff was rude and over worked. I've cruised 25 times, sad to say this was pretty bad. We talked to many, many people,and so many were sadly disappointed, I've honestly never heard so many complaints especially, because felt they paid for 7 but only got 6 days, and the rudeness by staff. Princess you dropped the ball on this trip.

 

 

Not sure why princess would apologize about something outside their control, especially when these days people would misconstrue that into "oh so what are you going to do about it??". And I'm sure that the staff onboard was pissed that people were getting angry at them about the changes and they have NO CONTROL of it. In the end, the Vancouver CPB station needs to be held accountable for this debacle. I don't see how if you're 6 hours late you loose a whole day? That math doesn't work even for Bernie Madoff...

 

On the princess side, their big fail is not trying to care for the guests in the WR... But that might have been in Canada Place's court...

 

 

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[roobug]

We got to the "holding tank" at the terminal at 1p.m. waited for more than 6 hours! no food, no water, Thousands of people( 3 ships in port). We Boarded the Crown Princess after 7:15 p.m. It was horrible. Yes we lost a full day, as many, many people did. Immigration/terminal employees said it's the ships' fault. Princess says it was beyond their control, but NO apology, No explanation. Our itinerary was switched around, no big deal, however Princess cancelled and refunded all pre-booked and paid for excursions, we had do start from scratch, did get the same excursions, however they charged us the higher on board price!, many, many people spent a good part of this vacation standing in long lines trying to correct these errors, staff was rude and over worked. I've cruised 25 times, sad to say this was pretty bad. Alaska is beautiful, weather was perfect, yes a cruise vacation is better than working, however, when you plan and save etc., it sure would be nice to be treated better by Princess. We talked to many, many people,and so many were sadly disappointed, I've honestly never heard so many complaints especially, because felt they paid for 7 but only got 6 days, and the rudeness by staff. Princess you dropped the ball on this trip.

 

I'm curious what did the terminal/immigration personal say to make it princesses fault? It would be a huge stretch to say it's the cruise ships fault when there are not enough agents there for the number of ships.

[jansarts]

As always, unless you lived through it you wouldn't understand. #1, I was raised that when I say "good morning" with a smile to a person, any person employee or not the usual response is a "good morning" back. Or excuse me if bumped or pardon me if out of line.. for the entire cruise not 1 staff member, acknowledged me or my husband, EXCEPT PASSENGERS! with a smile or greeting, other passengers we spoke to, encountered same thing. Employee attitude was poor.That's rude to me. Never happened before ( our observation) in all our past cruises, all cruise staff I've ever encountered have been by far the friendliest, most polite people, not this trip..#2 Princess should have made an announcement, or statement about what happened. Nothing was said, I nor any other passenger were looking for a handout as you implied, just respect as a paying guest .#3. Per every single guard, employee, staff member in this massive room that housed thousands of people told us, sorry for the delay, take it up with you cruise line.#4. Insulting my intelligence is not how to get your point across, of course, I know how long a day is. It's always nice and enjoyable to spend the first day, walking around the ship, finding everything, checking out where the different bars, restaurants etc. are, unpacking, and much more. Getting sail away photos, scheduling things etc. We left our home at 3 am, flew across the country changed planes and arrived at the terminal in order to board by noon Friday, by the time we boarded,7:15pm too late for dinner in the dinning room, of course we missed lunch as well, no boarding picture. We of course never went to muster drill, if there was one(I thought they were mandatory) got a note day 2, giving instruction. And again sitting in a room with no water(that ran out at 1 pm), no food, long, long, long line for the bathroom and being told "should only be 10 more minutes", over and over again for 6 hours was a very unpleasant experience, unless you were there, you wouldn't understand. It would have been good if each of the 3 ships sent a representative to explain what was going on ,and maybe provide snacks for their respective guests. There were quite a few children held in this room for hours,The whole thing should have been handled better.. My opinion, my observations..

Edited May 17, 2016 by jansarts

[abbydancer2003]

As always, unless you lived through it you wouldn't understand. #1, I was raised that when I say "good morning" with a smile to a person, any person employee or not the usual response is a "good morning" back. Or excuse me if bumped or pardon me if out of line.. for the entire cruise not 1 staff member, acknowledged me or my husband, EXCEPT PASSENGERS! with a smile or greeting, other passengers we spoke to, encountered same thing. Employee attitude was poor.That's rude to me. Never happened before ( our observation) in all our past cruises, all cruise staff I've ever encountered have been by far the friendliest, most polite people, not this trip..#2 Princess should have made an announcement, or statement about what happened. Nothing was said, I nor any other passenger were looking for a handout as you implied, just respect as a paying guest .#3. Per every single guard, employee, staff member in this massive room that housed thousands of people told us, sorry for the delay, take it up with you cruise line.#4. Insulting my intelligence is not how to get your point across, of course, I know how long a day is. It's always nice and enjoyable to spend the first day, walking around the ship, finding everything, checking out where the different bars, restaurants etc. are, unpacking, and much more. Getting sail away photos, scheduling things etc. We left our home at 3 am, flew across the country changed planes and arrived at the terminal in order to board by noon Friday, by the time we boarded,7:15pm too late for dinner in the dinning room, of course we missed lunch as well, no boarding picture. We of course never went to muster drill, if there was one(I thought they were mandatory) got a note day 2, giving instruction. And again sitting in a room with no water(that ran out at 1 pm), no food, long, long, long line for the bathroom and being told "should only be 10 more minutes", over and over again for 6 hours was a very unpleasant experience, unless you were there, you wouldn't understand. It would have been good if each of the 3 ships sent a representative to explain what was going on ,and maybe provide snacks for their respective guests. There were quite a few children held in this room for hours,The whole thing should have been handled better.. My opinion, my observations..

 

I'm sorry you had such a bad experience. We found the staff to generally be friendly on the ship.

 

I'm not sure I understand completely how customs was working. We arrived at about 12:15, and by 1:45 were in our room. We had a short wait at security, about 1 and a quarter through customs, and pretty much none after that, although the people at the Princess area didn't seem to understand the difference between preferred and not (and the lines were not long at either since presumably only 1/3 of the people coming out of customs were going to Princess).

 

Yet there were people who arrived around when we did who waited hours.

 

 

I think that having a Global Entry kiosk or three would have helped, or having maybe 2 agents for US citizens and the rest for non-US would have sped things up since for us, the guy scanned the passports and sent us through - took about 30 seconds.

 

Again, it's too bad that the cruise started the way it did for you and others.

[VibeGuy]

In addition, using the Automated Passport Control kiosks they've installed would help, as they allow the officer to focus on admissibility.

 

I really think the Port and the lines need to work on this if they're regularly going to run three ships at Canada Place.

 

If I ran the zoo, I would change up a few things.

 

1) I would move the cruise line activities to the first step - put hospitality professionals in charge of the first impressions. This lets you ensure that you can offer an actual priority process for your most valued customers.

 

2) I would apply the security process just before boarding, either on the vessel or in the space between where the line checkin desks are today and the gangways. This allows it to scale - some resources can be provided by the port authority, some lines could be run by the cruise line staff and equipment.

 

3) convert the entire area currently used for those first two operations into an efficient preclearance facility. Run it like the facility at YVR, but with three paths: Global Entry/NEXUS, US/Canadian Nationals/permanent residents, everyone else. If the queues for either of the last two exceed ten minutes, seat people with a batch of what constitutes a ten minute queue fill, and call them one queueful at a time. Be gracious and provide water and restroom access.

 

4) stop preclearing vessels destined for Seattle or Hawaii as their next stop on three-ship days. There is zero value-add here.

[HI-C-Dubs]

Yay!! I like those points! Especially because it offers a constructive solution as opposed to just a lot of whining.

 

As far as the OP feeling offended, I don't mean to offend but my observation was that you missing 6 hours isn't missing a full day, so my opinion is that you can't really say a full day was wasted (all ports were still seen, just in a different order).

 

 

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[Magellan321]

I'm sorry you had such a bad experience. We found the staff to generally be friendly on the ship.

 

I'm not sure I understand completely how customs was working. We arrived at about 12:15, and by 1:45 were in our room. We had a short wait at security, about 1 and a quarter through customs, and pretty much none after that, although the people at the Princess area didn't seem to understand the difference between preferred and not (and the lines were not long at either since presumably only 1/3 of the people coming out of customs were going to Princess).

 

Yet there were people who arrived around when we did who waited hours.

 

 

I think that having a Global Entry kiosk or three would have helped, or having maybe 2 agents for US citizens and the rest for non-US would have sped things up since for us, the guy scanned the passports and sent us through - took about 30 seconds.

 

Again, it's too bad that the cruise started the way it did for you and others.

 

Part of the issue is that most of us were sent to a pre-holding area, given numbers, and had to wait to be called before ever reaching the scanners and the immigration holding area. You were lucky enough to have been directed somehow to the scanner area without the hour wait for your number to be called.

[Magellan321]

In addition, using the Automated Passport Control kiosks they've installed would help, as they allow the officer to focus on admissibility.

 

I really think the Port and the lines need to work on this if they're regularly going to run three ships at Canada Place.

 

If I ran the zoo, I would change up a few things.

 

1) I would move the cruise line activities to the first step - put hospitality professionals in charge of the first impressions. This lets you ensure that you can offer an actual priority process for your most valued customers.

 

2) I would apply the security process just before boarding, either on the vessel or in the space between where the line checkin desks are today and the gangways. This allows it to scale - some resources can be provided by the port authority, some lines could be run by the cruise line staff and equipment.

 

3) convert the entire area currently used for those first two operations into an efficient preclearance facility. Run it like the facility at YVR, but with three paths: Global Entry/NEXUS, US/Canadian Nationals/permanent residents, everyone else. If the queues for either of the last two exceed ten minutes, seat people with a batch of what constitutes a ten minute queue fill, and call them one queueful at a time. Be gracious and provide water and restroom access.

 

4) stop preclearing vessels destined for Seattle or Hawaii as their next stop on three-ship days. There is zero value-add here.

 

Thank you! It needs to be organized. My global entry got us nothing except a confused look from the staff. I have a feeling that some staff had no idea what it was or what to do with us as apparently some passengers were allowed to use their global entry.

Edited May 17, 2016 by Magellan321

[capriccio]

Thank you! It needs to be organized. My global entry got us nothing except a confused look from the staff. I have a feeling that some staff had no idea what it was or what to do with us as apparently some passengers were allowed to use their global entry.

 

Could it be that Canada Place is not an official designated seaport Global Entry location? Many seaports, if not most, are not. For example, I know Fort Lauderdale (I think it was the first) is but Maimi is not. On the other hand, all airports with the pre-clearance process, including Vancouver, offer Global Entry. I couldn't find anything on the CBP website saying Global Entry was at Canada Place.

Edited May 17, 2016 by capriccio

[VibeGuy]

There's a lot of confused looks from people in blue blazers at Canada Place on any number of topics - this is just another one for the list.

 

I suspect they're trying something like the PreCheck Lite that TSA uses at small outposts - a courtesy to trusted travelers that bypasses waiting, rather than the full program experience. Frankly, Vancouver is a no-brainer for the full version, because of how common NEXUS membership is among Canadians, and Canadian NEXUS participants get GE privileges, but I digress.

 

One catch is that GE where it's fully implemented for air arrivals into the US doesn't use the cards, and there's no sticker anymore - there's no visible way for one of the Blazer Wearers to determine if you're eligible to use it, and if the GE kiosks aren't running, there's nothing that would send a non-participant to the end of the line save actually being in front of the CBP officer.

 

I'm curious to see how Friday goes. We have a mix of GE, NEXUS and as-yet-untrusted travelers boarding on a three-ship day.

[Magellan321]

one traveling with us sat with us for 4 hrs in Security WR...they called for Global people once we were all seated in Customs area. She went right in. We sat another 45 minutes. I don't know if she told the Security people as she was, like us, just following the herd. I think if you make it known, it is useful. The people giving out numbers in the WR may not have known about Global Entry.

 

Apparently some were allowed to use their Global Entry. I asked in the initial waiting area and Customs...just got the dazed confused look and told they clear all passengers the same.

[Magellan321]

There's a lot of confused looks from people in blue blazers at Canada Place on any number of topics - this is just another one for the list.

 

I suspect they're trying something like the PreCheck Lite that TSA uses at small outposts - a courtesy to trusted travelers that bypasses waiting, rather than the full program experience. Frankly, Vancouver is a no-brainer for the full version, because of how common NEXUS membership is among Canadians, and Canadian NEXUS participants get GE privileges, but I digress.

 

One catch is that GE where it's fully implemented for air arrivals into the US doesn't use the cards, and there's no sticker anymore - there's no visible way for one of the Blazer Wearers to determine if you're eligible to use it, and if the GE kiosks aren't running, there's nothing that would send a non-participant to the end of the line save actually being in front of the CBP officer.

 

I'm curious to see how Friday goes. We have a mix of GE, NEXUS and as-yet-untrusted travelers boarding on a three-ship day.

 

I sure hope Friday goes way faster. We were lucky compared to most! Our balcony was directly across from the glass hallway leading to the ship.....by 6pm people looked they had been dragged thru the desert and ready to jump.

Edited May 17, 2016 by Magellan321

[Putterdude]

Could it be that Canada Place is not an official designated seaport Global Entry location? Many seaports, if not most, are not. For example, I know Fort Lauderdale (I think it was the first) is but Maimi is not. On the other hand, all airports with the pre-clearance process, including Vancouver, offer Global Entry. I couldn't find anything on the CBP website saying Global Entry was at Canada Place.

 

No, currently Canada Place does not offer Global Entry....if and when it does I suppose is a decision that rests with CBP.

 

What I am finding interesting in this whole thread of moans, complaints nad threats never to sail out of Vancouver again. however, not one person has said they have sent a letter off to Jeh Charles Johnson, the secretary of DHS or your elected federal officials. My guess is that people can rant and rave all they wish on this thread but nothing is going to be done without a push from on high. This complaining may make you feel good but nothing is going to be done without some letter writing, right now all you are doing is preaching to the chior.

[VibeGuy]

I'm actually putting together a FOIA request to compare 2015 and 2016 staffing levels on selected one ship, two ship and three-ship days (both scheduled and actual), as well as documents related to the implementation of Global Entry for admissibility screening at Canada Place. My working hypothesis is that there is simply no way to accommodate enough officers at Canada Place to clear more than 4000 or so passengers between 11 and 4, and that staffing reflects this.

 

The local port of entry operations people have actually been pretty responsive to requests in the past, such as providing evidence that nobody has actually paid a PVSA fine in the Seattle region (including Alaska) between 2008 and 2013. So they're at least willing to talk about what they do.

Edited May 17, 2016 by VibeGuy