Embarkation time in Vancouver

[Jaaact]

Just curious what time you'd recommend getting to the port. Sailing on Celebrity Millennium- Aqua Class. Wasn't sure how early we should arrive?

Thanks!

 

 

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[xlxo]

To clarify.... What is your chosen port arrival time?

 

Most would like to arrive early to maximize the welcome lunch trough time. Others want to arrive as late as possible to minimize security congestion.

[Robinsoncruiseso]

10:30 am. If you are clearing US immigration at Canada Place, which most do, they had had a specific line for Nexus/Global Entry. Not advertised...ask for it.

[martincath]

Either early or late, but nothing in-between. Pros & Cons to both

 

To expand xlxos points - if you arrive at 10:30am or earlier, you will be on-board the ship as early as possible (you can't drop bags until some time between 10 and 10:30am, depending on what the workload of the longshoremen was for disembarking pax that day).

 

OTOH, arriving late means you get to spend enough time in Vancouver to actually go places and see things, as well as minimise total time queuing (the lines die down from about 2pm which gives you at ~5 hours touring time if you are in a downtown hotel you can leave your bags at while you sightsee).

 

TL;DR - as late as possible is the most efficient time to show up (aim for 3pm or even 3:30 if your ship is departing at 5pm), but you'll have to pay for an extra meal on shore (lunch while touring). If you've seen Vancouver plenty of times before and don't feel the need for further sightseeing, show up at 10am for a 1 or 2 ship day or nearer 10:30am on a 3-shipper.

[westcoasttech]

Most Millennium embarkations in Vancouver for the remainder of the season are "one-ship" days (but not all - August 5 also has a princess ship in), so some of the congestion problems at Canada Place should be eased (at least a little). (Same goes for RCCL Radiance, which turns around alternate Fridays with the Millie.)

 

The bottle neck will always be with immigration/customs however, which can depend a lot on how many "other" nationalities are on your particular cruise - as they will take longer to get through immigration.

 

I second the vote for "early" - and as an FYI, the checkin desks for the "Millie" this week actually opened pretty early, at around 10 a.m. (and immigration was using the automated machines for some of the US/Canada guests). If you get to checkin early you will be at the head of the line for immigration, but will probably have to wait a short while before you can board the ship (but chairs will be provided in the waiting area.)

[VibeGuy]

Wow, the APC kiosks were working?!?! Wonders never cease.

 

How were they directing users towards them? I'm not aware that they accept anything other than passport books, so there's certainly a subset of cruisers from the US and Canada who are unable to use them.

[westcoasttech]

In response to VibeGuy's question - for the Millennium (not sure about the other lines/ships), the people being directed to the kiosks had to be "pre-selected" by the ship's documentation officer and there was an indication on their key cards that they should be given the special card at checkin that would indicate they should be directed to the kiosks when they got to immigration. I don't know what the criteria was for the pre-selection but would presume it involved some kind of pre-clearance by "the powers that be". I didn't hear any feedback on whether it speeded up the process but on that particular day, everybody seemed to get through immigration smoothly!

[VibeGuy]

I suspect it could just be as simple as people who had entered US or Canadian passport books.