Coral Princess/Vancouver Transportation to Seattle

[Fast_Camaro]

Question for those of you who has cruised Alaska. When you leave the ship in Vancouver, and your flight is in Seattle, who did you use for transportation to Seattle?? Looking for feedback for those who has actually done this. 

[Colo Cruiser]

22 minutes ago, Fast_Camaro said:

Question for those of you who has cruised Alaska. When you leave the ship in Vancouver, and your flight is in Seattle, who did you use for transportation to Seattle?? Looking for feedback for those who has actually done this. 

If it is offered onboard take the Princess shuttle to Sea-Tac from Canada Place.

Usually does not show up until mid way through the cruise in our experience.

Sometimes it is offered before the cruise.

It works really well.

Your flight needs to be after 2pm I believe.

We have done it several times.

Think we paid $48pp.

 

Second option is https://www.quickcoach.com  They PU right at Canada Place too.

[bemis12]

I've got that one in June.  But $74 pp. 

[Fast_Camaro]

6 minutes ago, Colo Cruiser said:

If it is offered onboard take the Princess shuttle to Sea-Tac from Canada Place.

Usually does not show up until mid way through the cruise in our experience.

Sometimes it is offered before the cruise.

It works really well.

Your flight needs to be after 2pm I believe.

We have done it several times.

Think we paid $48pp.

 

Who did you use? Princess Transportation?

[Colo Cruiser]

9 minutes ago, bemis12 said:

I've got that one in June.  But $74 pp. 

I saw that before. That is crazy.

Quick Shuttle is $59pp.

[Fast_Camaro]

Looking for all options, not just Princess related. Would like name and price. Thank you. 

[Colo Cruiser]

1 minute ago, Fast_Camaro said:

 

Who did you use? Princess Transportation?

Princess. They have a sealed coach (think that is the name) in order to go through border customs.

Makes for a quicker smoother experience.

[Colo Cruiser]

2 minutes ago, Fast_Camaro said:

 

Who did you use? Princess Transportation?

I edited my post after you responded with Quick Shuttle for a second option.

[bemis12]

3 minutes ago, Colo Cruiser said:

I saw that before. That is crazy.

Quick Shuttle is $43pp.

 

Anchorage to Whittier $54 pp

Vancouver to Sea-Tac $74 pp

[Colo Cruiser]

2 minutes ago, bemis12 said:

 

Anchorage to Whittier $54 pp

Vancouver to Sea-Tac $74 pp

Talk about inflation.

I changed the Quick Shuttle price as it is now $59 but there are coupons available.

[Fast_Camaro]

I am flying into Anchorage. Does princess provide transportation included with the cruise fares from Anchorage to Whittier?

[Colo Cruiser]

3 minutes ago, Fast_Camaro said:

I am flying into Anchorage. Does princess provide transportation included with the cruise fares from Anchorage to Whittier?

No it is extra they have a bus transfer.

 

We always take the train as it pulls right up in front of the ship in Whittier.  

Book it ourselves.

It is an awesome trip.  

https://www.alaskarailroad.com

[Fast_Camaro]

15 minutes ago, Colo Cruiser said:

No it is extra they have a bus transfer.

 

We always take the train as it pulls right up in front of the ship in Whittier.  

Book it ourselves.

It is an awesome trip.  

https://www.alaskarailroad.com

I just asked my travel agent and she said my transport was included so I’ll probably be using Princess bus. 

 

Im just looking for options from Vancouver to SeaTac. My flight is 5:20 pm. 

[Colo Cruiser]

6 minutes ago, Fast_Camaro said:

I just asked my travel agent and she said my transport was included so I’ll probably be using Princess bus. 

 

Im just looking for options from Vancouver to SeaTac. My flight is 5:20 pm. 

Are you staying in a Princess hotel/package? If so that's why.

 

https://boards.cruisecritic.com/topic/2645007-captain-cook-to-whittier-transfer/

[TravelingEA]

We have rented a car, picked it up at Canada Place and returned it in Seattle. We have also taken Amtrak both from Seattle to Vancouver and from Vancouver to Seattle. If I remember right, Amtrak was about $45 per person. The car rental was about $50  US $ for a carload.

 

[idahospud]

If you're thinking about using the Princess transfer (which we've done several times before) you might want to read about our experience last June. I just copied straight from my blog on that day:

 

In the past we’ve gotten to and from Vancouver a variety of ways. Some years we drive our own car, sometimes we fly, sometimes we take Amtrak, and just a few weeks back we used a rental car. While we don’t necessarily like riding a bus for a few hours, today it should have worked out best to use the Princess transfer from Vancouver to the Seattle airport.

Since we were making no stops in Canada before crossing the US border we were able to be on the coach that collected our luggage and sealed it in the compartment under the bus. It was nice not to have to pick it up in the cruise terminal. We also didn’t have to go through Canadian customs at the port because as part of this program (I think it is called Direct to Bus or Direct to US?) we had already filled out our customs form and turned it into Princess a few days prior.

Here is a copy of the disembarkation times for the different groups in case you’re interested. And if you’d like to see the log of the cruise, you can find that here.

Boy, I'm thankful we weren't flying out today. In the past the bus ride always has had us in Seattle by 1:00 in the afternoon, even on a bad day. On a good day we could be there by noon. Neither one of those things would even come close to what we experienced today. While we disembarked the ship close to our scheduled time of 8:30 am, we were taken into the terminal to wait in a line. For a full hour. Only six or seven chairs available for more than 60 people. Did I mention we had to wait at least an hour?

If that was our only delay we still could have made good time to Seattle. But we ran into an even bigger delay at the border. How big of a delay? We're talking a good two and a half hours. Just waiting for our turn. Here's something to know if you're taking the cruise line transportation to the US - scheduled bus services, like Greyhound or the Bolt Bus or Quick Shuttle get priority. So even though you might be the second bus in line you might wind up being the seventh bus to get processed. Yeah, so there was that. 1:00 in Seattle? Nope. How about 2:00 or 3:00? Nope and nope. Let's try closer to 4:00. That's seven and a half hours from the time we walked off the ship instead of the four hours we are used to. Ugh. Next time no more bus. We're going back to Amtrak.

Actually, we would have done Amtrak today but hubby has a Mariner’s baseball game tonight. He’s a big baseball guy and he likes it when he can get a game in when we go to Alaska. So if we have to move mountains to make it happen, we will. Just wish we could have moved the bus faster!

So goodbye to Alaska for the year (or at least for now) and hello to Seattle. Mariners, that is.

[Fast_Camaro]

34 minutes ago, Colo Cruiser said:

Are you staying in a Princess hotel/package? If so that's why.

 

https://boards.cruisecritic.com/topic/2645007-captain-cook-to-whittier-transfer/

We’re actually not. Flying from Seattle to Anchorage the morning of and getting on Princess provided transfer at the airport. 

 

We usually do self walkoff. Not really a fan of waiting around in a room full of people like a cattle herd. No offense. So since we walk off, we could get on the Quick Shuttle like 7:30’ish?? I know the bus leaves like 8:30 or so. 

[Colo Cruiser]

8 minutes ago, Fast_Camaro said:

We’re actually not. Flying from Seattle to Anchorage the morning of and getting on Princess provided transfer at the airport. 

 

We usually do self walkoff. Not really a fan of waiting around in a room full of people like a cattle herd. No offense. So since we walk off, we could get on the Quick Shuttle like 7:30’ish?? I know the bus leaves like 8:30 or so. 

Interesting......

I have never heard of a transfer included in the cruise fare if you don't have a hotel/package.

 

Quick Shuttle leaves at 8:45am. It arrives a few minutes before departure.

[Fast_Camaro]

6 minutes ago, Colo Cruiser said:

Interesting......

I have never heard of a transfer included in the cruise fare if you don't have a hotel/package.

 

Quick Shuttle leaves at 8:45am. It arrives a few minutes before departure.

I just told my travel agent what I was going to do to get to Anchorage and then told her “get me to the ship.” She May have just went ahead and added the Princess transport fee onto my package price. It was only then I found out (my fault) that I needed transport from Vancouver to Seattle. 

[1025cruise]

You might want to ask this on the West Coast Departures board where this is talked about every so often.

[Colo Cruiser]

34 minutes ago, Fast_Camaro said:

I just told my travel agent what I was going to do to get to Anchorage and then told her “get me to the ship.” She May have just went ahead and added the Princess transport fee onto my package price. It was only then I found out (my fault) that I needed transport from Vancouver to Seattle. 

Yes I would say you probably paid for that transfer.

Good luck with whatever you decide.

[tanyaewa]

The difference in price $59 and $74 may be the CDN / US exchange 

Edited March 15, 2019 by tanyaewa

[martincath]

6 hours ago, Fast_Camaro said:

I just asked my travel agent and she said my transport was included so I’ll probably be using Princess bus. 

 

Im just looking for options from Vancouver to SeaTac. My flight is 5:20 pm. 

While a 5:20pm flight is reasonably safe, you'd still be best to check into flights from YVR instead. You could choose from multiple connecting flights out of YVR that hook up with your current 5:20pm out of Seatac flight as well as perhaps a different routing that got you home earlier.

 

Even the earliest QuickShuttle can be delayed at the border or in traffic by enough to cause problems - odds of being delayed enough to miss what I assume is a Domestic US flight that late in the day should be very slim but not zero, there's always a risk with same-day flights.

 

If you're locked-into the SEA flight, then personally I'd say that a rental car is your lowest-risk option - as unlike the buses you can choose any border crossing (there are four viable ones for traveling Vancouver-Seattle) whereas if there's an issue at the bus-specific border you could end up stuck for hours that in a car you would not need to worry about. Plus, nobody else to cause problems in a car - whereas on any bus until the last person is processed none of you get to move on!

Edited March 15, 2019 by martincath