Checkin at Vancouver - when?

[nu2crusin]

What is the requested (Princess) and more importantly the suggested (cruiser) check-in time for cruising from Vancouver? I printed my boarding pass and looked on line but don't see any time range listed other that ship departs at 4:30p..

[CruiserBruce]

When you check in is up to you. They will start check in around 11, boarding will start by noon. This is standard fleetwide and worldwide on Princess, and discussed here frequently. Princess will make some recommendations, but they are just that, recommendations. The only requirement is being on board- typically 90 minutes prior to sailing, for life boat drill.

 

Many people with give you "best" times to board, but in reality people arrive at different times every cruise. You will be excited...I bet you will want to be on ASAP. We have cruised 18 times, and are still eager to get on board every cruise.

Edited May 23, 2016 by CruiserBruce

[smslms]

We normally arrive at the terminal around 11:30 - noon. Usually on board by about 1PM.

 

Vancouver is not geared up well to handle large numbers of passengers so things can be slower if there are 3 or 4 ships in port, something you may want to check into.

[jamesnnb]

Along the same lines -- once you enter the terminal at Canada Place (shared by the parking lot area) and hand off your luggage and get in line, what happens next? We can't recall any 'waiting area' like other terminals. You line up, go through a security check and then what? Check in and get your key card and then .... ? Actually can't remember the check-in/register area? Anyone have a clearer picture for us?

[Kamloops50]

Along the same lines -- once you enter the terminal at Canada Place (shared by the parking lot area) and hand off your luggage and get in line, what happens next? We can't recall any 'waiting area' like other terminals. You line up, go through a security check and then what? Check in and get your key card and then .... ? Actually can't remember the check-in/register area? Anyone have a clearer picture for us?

 

Currently at Canada Place . You check in with the cruise line . Then port security . Finally US customs (if required) . Then the boarding hall.

[paul929207]

You should get something from Princess with the suggested times. They are passed on deck and are an attempt to spread out the mob.

[VibeGuy]

Or, instead of suggestions that don't take the reality of Canada Place into account, you can hear from people who have boarded there dozens of times, as recently as Friday. Princess sent an Emegency Travel Notification to local passengers suggesting they arrive no later than noon.

 

Since the closure of Ballantyne Pier, Canada Place has been routinely hosting three large ships at a time. Canada Place was built in an era of 700-passenger ships as standard, and two ships at a time, tops. On 06MAY, they had three ships of nearly 3000 passengers each. When they are all bound for Alaska or another US port, all passengers have to clear US CBP admissibility screening in the terminal. This creates havoc.

 

So, start here, with the cruise calendar, and determine how many ships are in port. If it's three, come very early. If it's two, it's going to take longer than other ports, but it shouldn't be hours. I would absolutely plan to arrive no later than 2pm if it is a three-ship day, as many who arrived after 2 were not yet boarded at 4:45. http://www.portvancouver.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/Cruise-Schedule-2016-April-27-F.pdf

 

 

The process on three-ship days is somewhat better of late. You drop bags on either the Cruise level or Parking L2, then go upstairs to Hall C of the convention center. You're split by cruise line/ship and if there's a queue to check in, you're seated in groups of about 20. When the queue can accommodate the group, you're sent to the snake lines and Preferred check-in guests get a special shorter queue.

 

Once you've received your cruise card, you proceed down the escalator to Security and CBP screenings. If the queue for security is full (they're only snaking it around back to the car rental desks - no more queues that run down the bus hallway or the area to the west), you'll be seated in Hall B and they'll release anyone with a number that has already been called plus one more group every few minutes. There are five scanners and the queue holds perhaps 100 people now. There's water and restrooms and seating, making this a vast improvement from the past process.

 

Security feeds to CBP. There are effectively three lines. One for US citizens and permanent residents, one for Global Entry, and one for everyone else. If these lines are full (50 passengers or so), you are shunted to be seated in a holding area, and are called by small groups to the appropriate queue. If you have Global Entry, and have either the GE card for land crossings, the CBP sticker on your passport book cover or your NEXUS/SENTRI card, tell this to the person directing you to the lines and make sure you're queued directly in front of the stations that say "Non-Revenue Passengers". Passengers without the above but who have GE have been sent to the other queue.

 

Once you have cleared CBP, it's either sitting until the ship opens boarding (around 11:45, with the backlog of Platinum, Elite, Suite and Special Assistance passengers first, then the backlog of other guests), or boarding directly. There is some seating for this and a small elite lounge with pastry and beverages.

 

 

The CBP process is the holdup. There are 16 agents at peak times, they can each clear 40 passengers an hour, and a HUGE number of passengers are from non-visa-waiver countries which slows processing further. Take 8500 people boarding, divide by roughly 850 per hour that can clear, realize that clearing starts around 10:30 and now you see why sailings have been delayed.

 

If you don't want to get in that backlog, you need to be there before it gets bad. Friday had Crown Princess (3100 pax), Radiance of the Seas (2500 pax) and Regatta (800 passengers). So 6400 pax, and clearance activities weren't complete until just before 5pm. Anyone who showed up after 2 had hours of sitting around.

 

Those who arrived promptly at 10 were onboard shortly after 11:45 when the ships opened boarding. Those who arrived at 11:30 had no sitting in Hall C nor Hall B, but did have to sit post-security for CBP, and ended up boarding about 12:40. Those who showed up at noon on the dot had to sit in both Hall C and Hall B, and would have sat again at CBP save for Global Entry and made it onboard precisely at 1.

 

Go early. I think the worst arrival time was around 1:30.

Edited May 23, 2016 by VibeGuy

[Mommypig]

The worst boarding experience I have ever had was in Vancouver. Two large ships boarding and only 8 US customs officers working. Arrived at 11:00 to find a bazillion people ahead of us. No platinum or elite lounge. No food or drink. Husband had to get really snarky to port worker who kept telling him to stay in his seat to be able to go get me food. (I am diabetic and insulin dependent so can't skip a meal). We manage to board by 3:30, and just barely made it to the mustard drill.

[jamesnnb]

BEST most thorough answer ever, VibeGuy. Thank you very much.

[Rubynic]

We boarded Star Princess at Vancouver on 14th May - 3 ships in port. We were already advised that embarkation was delayed due to the noro virus on the ship & the additional cleaning which was taking place. Arrived at the port at 2.15 and waited upstairs for our group number to be called - then downstairs to go through the security then wait for US immigration. US & Canadian passengers went in one queue which did move - all international passengers spent about an hour stood in line in a corridor before being allowed into another room where we were seated in rows for another hour. Only when all US/Canadian passengers were processed did they start dealing with overseas passengers. Overall the whole process took well over 4 hours - by the time we reached the Princess check-in desk we were sorted straightaway and then onto the ship around 6.30pm with muster delayed to 7pm.

 

As others have said our worst boarding experience ever - we will never sail from there again.

[VibeGuy]

Rubynic:

 

I can't blame you one bit. Please make your displeasure known to the line, to Port Of Vancouver, and to the US CBP area supervisor.

 

The port is trying. The new trick of doing line check in first helps a ton. The CBP refusing to send enough officers and to use the APC kiosks to speed processing of non-US/CA nationals demonstrates a lack of trying. They left only two officers after four pm on Friday despite a full waiting area - the officers were needed to clear the Amtrak departure.

[rebeccalouiseagain]

Do's and don't at Canada Place.

 

Don't get there before 11- they won't be boarding yet.

 

Do- eat a large meal for breakfast- you may not be on the ship until 2 PM.

 

Don't plan to board in under 2 hours

 

Do- go to the bathroom before you get in line.

[jawhoffman]

Gosh, I didn't realize how very lucky we were when we boarded the Island on the 11th. We dropped our bags off with porters around 10:00am, then walked over to Stanley Park and took the horse drawn carriage ride. We caught the city bus back and never had more than 15 to 25 people ahead of in any line. We actually breezed right through it all. HAL passengers, on the other hand, were for some reason backed way up and had huge lines in all areas. The enviously watche up move on through our line!

 

We never recieved anything from Princess with a suggested time to board. The only thing we ever got was the notice the OP mentioned about the 4:30 departure time.

[VibeGuy]

Do's and don't at Canada Place.

 

Don't get there before 11- they won't be boarding yet.

 

The last part is factually correct, but the security and CBP queues open before 11, regardless of which end of the process cruise check-in occurs. The question comes down to "do you want to be seated in the care of the line because you arrived early and the ship isn't ready to board, or do you want to be seated waiting for minor functionaries to complete their tasks at the speed they're going to complete them?"

 

If it's practical for you to get to Canada Place between 10:15 and 11:30, do so.

[nu2crusin]

Thanks for all the info. We depart Saturday and it shows just 2 ships in ours (Coral) and one Holland Am., so hopefully not too bad. We arrive in Vancouver Friday afternoon. We initially thought we'd have the am free but based on the posts it sounds like a late breakfast & checkout before cab'ing it from the Holiday Inn to the port. No info from Princess but I'll keep an eye out.

[idahospud]

The worst boarding experience I have ever had was in Vancouver. Two large ships boarding and only 8 US customs officers working. Arrived at 11:00 to find a bazillion people ahead of us. No platinum or elite lounge. No food or drink. Husband had to get really snarky to port worker who kept telling him to stay in his seat to be able to go get me food. (I am diabetic and insulin dependent so can't skip a meal). We manage to board by 3:30, and just barely made it to the mustard drill.

There is a platinum/elite lounge and it does has food and beverages as usual. I sat in it twice over the last three weeks. It is after check in, security, and customs and is right by the doors to board the ship. This pic is from my seat in the lounge.

Edited May 23, 2016 by idahospud

[lmkucala]

Thanks for all the info. We depart Saturday and it shows just 2 ships in ours (Coral) and one Holland Am., so hopefully not too bad. We arrive in Vancouver Friday afternoon. We initially thought we'd have the am free but based on the posts it sounds like a late breakfast & checkout before cab'ing it from the Holiday Inn to the port. No info from Princess but I'll keep an eye out.

 

Thanks for posting the question! We're leaving on the Coral Northbound on 6/25 and there are 2 ships in port that day also I believe. I'll be interested in your experience - boarding and otherwise! Hope you come back to Cruise Critic and post any tips you learn!

[CrowCaw]

Boarded the Crown last Friday at Canada Place.

 

Arrived in Hall C at around 0945hrs with Group 4. They moved everyone in to line at around 10. Checked in with Princess and then downstairs through Security, then followed by Customs.

 

Stopped my clock after Customs, was an hour and ten minutes between entering Hall C and walking out of Customs.

 

Sat in the last holding area for about 30-40 minutes before boarding the ship at about 1130hrs.

 

Not too bad considering the horror stories I have heard.

[Alaska05]

What has changed from past years?

 

We have sailed from Canada Place several times -- most recent was May 2015 -- and have never had a problem.

[VibeGuy]

Compared to 2015, more three-ship days on the schedule, more of them slightly earlier in the season and the particular combinations of ships are incrementally larger.

[VibeGuy]

Oh, and very small ships in passenger demographics can very severely impact CBP admissibility screening times. Moving 10% of passengers from visa waiver countries to non-visa waiver countries could easily increase total screening time 20% or more.

[ShrinkingViolet]

Can I ask (as there's lots of experience here) what is the situation at Canada Place for wheelchairs? One of our party uses a chair for queueing situations, are there lifts/elevators as well as stairs/escalators? Or would there be enough seats throughout the queueing process to avoid having to use the wheelchair? They can walk, but just not stand in one place in a stuffy crowded room without fainting (and causing a lot of un-needed medical fuss :( ). So we're bringing a wheelchair for the airport parts of our trip, which I know we'll need, but I wasn't sure about Canada Place check-in/immigration etc.

[bassmaster150]

OK...so May 7 was our first time boarding in Vancouver. There was a Holland America ship and the Ruby Princess in port doing turnaround that day. Be prepared to wait a bit as their process there is a bit different. There is only one entry to security, and everyone has to go through it regardless of whether you are on Princess or another line. You get separated once you pass through the metal detectors and x-ray scanners. Once that happens, you go into another line which leads to a sit down waiting area. You wait here for a bit (in line, and then seated) until it is time for your row to go through US CBP. You stand in another line until you clear that, and then you get to the actual Princess check-in area that we are all used to by now. If you are Platinum, Elite, or in an Suite, you go to the Preferred line, and if not, you go to the regular line. This process was quite long for us, so I would suggest either getting there early, or just book your hotel at the Pan Pacific Hotel as it is connected to the cruise terminal.

[CruiseQueenB]

There have been a lot of delays lately, like others have been saying check the ship schedule and if you can get there early do so.

[VibeGuy]

Can I ask (as there's lots of experience here) what is the situation at Canada Place for wheelchairs? One of our party uses a chair for queueing situations, are there lifts/elevators as well as stairs/escalators? Or would there be enough seats throughout the queueing process to avoid having to use the wheelchair? They can walk, but just not stand in one place in a stuffy crowded room without fainting (and causing a lot of un-needed medical fuss :( ). So we're bringing a wheelchair for the airport parts of our trip, which I know we'll need, but I wasn't sure about Canada Place check-in/immigration etc.

 

The walkpaths are *really long* - the pier is several city blocks long and if they're using Hall C check-in, you'll walk down, halfway back and down again before you hit the gangway.

 

There are lifts between the hall level and the cruise level, and attendants are good at ensuring access for those traveling with mobility devices. They are not particularly large lifts; however, it's just one flight.

 

Passengers with mobility devices are shunted to a shorter line in Hall C, appear to not wait in Hall B, and take the elevator to a specific security screening lane off to the side that exits into US CBP - I can't tell if there are special provisions in CBP preadmissibility screening, but I would not hesitate to recommend using the mobility device as there is every chance that one of the queues could grind to a halt after leaving the seated waiting points.