Earliest flight out of Vancouver (Radiance)?

[cruiseequalsfun]

What would be the earliest flight time you would book out of Vancouver after an Alaskan cruise back to the East Coast?

 

Also does anyone know if you clear customs in Vancouver or once you land in a US city?

 

Struggling to find a flight that would get me back home on the same day and don't really want to do an overnight flight either.

 

Thanks in advance.

[Tree_skier]

9 minutes ago, cruiseequalsfun said:

What would be the earliest flight time you would book out of Vancouver after an Alaskan cruise back to the East Coast?

 

Also does anyone know if you clear customs in Vancouver or once you land in a US city?

 

Struggling to find a flight that would get me back home on the same day and don't really want to do an overnight flight either.

 

Thanks in advance.

You clear customs in Vancouver.  It is just after the security clearance.  Both Security and customs was very quick and painless when I went through a month ago.

[Biker19]

10 hours ago, cruiseequalsfun said:

What would be the earliest flight time you would book out of Vancouver after an Alaskan cruise back to the East Coast?

About 3.5 hours after scheduled arrival.

[martincath]

I'd concur with both of the above - but do be aware that the number of ships in port is a major factor in the ease of making your flight (we have insufficient taxis in the entire city to handle the passenger load of 3 or 4 ships, so the taxi queue gets loooooooooong if you aren't among the first folks off on a busy day at the port). If you do book any flight before noon you MUST make your own arrangement as the cruiselines will not transfer you (some cap it at 12:30 or later).

 

Self-disembarkation with all your own bags is by far the best thing to do if you're physically capable of it - this means you will beat ALL the folks who need help getting bags off including every single cruise transfer bus, the first of which usually leaves the pier c. 9am. If you're in the first Self group you can take a cab or SkyTrain and be at the airport within an hour of walking off the ship and all the queues will be nice & short.

 

Beat the cruise crowds and 2 hours early at YVR is an hour more than you need for check-in, security and CBP preclearance - but arrive after 9:30am once those buses start rolling in and you can find that the officially-recommended 3 hours pre-flight arrival is barely enough!

 

Of course even though it's very low risk to book a flight as early as 10:30am, that's not what I actually recommend to any visitor - the BEST thing to do is of course to stay in Vancouver for a day or twelve, then book a super-early flight the day you do leave! This means that you have no concerns about how many cruisers are in port the day you fly, as you can book a flight at 8am or earlier before any cruiser can possibly start clogging up the queues, as well as giving you time to explore one of the best cities in the world. Logic dictates - since we have way more people and places to see and things to do than all the AK ports put together - you want to schedule more days in Vancouver than you spent cruising 😉

 

[steveru621]

2 hours ago, martincath said:

I'd concur with both of the above - but do be aware that the number of ships in port is a major factor in the ease of making your flight (we have insufficient taxis in the entire city to handle the passenger load of 3 or 4 ships, so the taxi queue gets loooooooooong if you aren't among the first folks off on a busy day at the port). If you do book any flight before noon you MUST make your own arrangement as the cruiselines will not transfer you (some cap it at 12:30 or later).

 

Self-disembarkation with all your own bags is by far the best thing to do if you're physically capable of it - this means you will beat ALL the folks who need help getting bags off including every single cruise transfer bus, the first of which usually leaves the pier c. 9am. If you're in the first Self group you can take a cab or SkyTrain and be at the airport within an hour of walking off the ship and all the queues will be nice & short.

 

Beat the cruise crowds and 2 hours early at YVR is an hour more than you need for check-in, security and CBP preclearance - but arrive after 9:30am once those buses start rolling in and you can find that the officially-recommended 3 hours pre-flight arrival is barely enough!

 

Of course even though it's very low risk to book a flight as early as 10:30am, that's not what I actually recommend to any visitor - the BEST thing to do is of course to stay in Vancouver for a day or twelve, then book a super-early flight the day you do leave! This means that you have no concerns about how many cruisers are in port the day you fly, as you can book a flight at 8am or earlier before any cruiser can possibly start clogging up the queues, as well as giving you time to explore one of the best cities in the world. Logic dictates - since we have way more people and places to see and things to do than all the AK ports put together - you want to schedule more days in Vancouver than you spent cruising 😉

 

 

Very true.

 

We missed a 1:15 flight because of the number of ships in Vancouver.

[cruisequeen4ever]

1:00 is the earliest flight time I’d feel comfortable with in Vancouver. The airport is about 25 minutes away. There can be traffic on weekdays. Depending on Canadian Customs that day, Port Customs could be as quick as a good morning and handing them your Customs form or could take much longer. At the airport, you check in, then you go to a separate place to drop off your luggage. Then you get into a potentially very long security line, unless you have Global Entry. Once through security, you get into a potentially long but decently fast moving passport control line to clear Customs back into the U.S. Once you’ve done that, you walk to your gate, which can be a good distance away. 

 

You may have a long wait at your gate, but better that than the stress of possibly missing your flight. Plus, there’s pretty good shopping in the airport.

[cruiseequalsfun]

Thanks everyone!  I am finding a 12:35pm on one airline and a 1pm on another.  It is not until next June so I'm not planning to book flights anytime soon yet.  And of course between now and then they may change the flight times.  I was not thinking about rush hour traffic.  It would be a Friday and I think the Friday before Father's Day.  Radiance is scheduled to arrive at 7am.  No issues rolling our bags off.  Do you think this is doable?

 

Thanks!

[nalrudaini]

I like to to count this:

1) Time needed in the airport for check in and security. Allow no less than 2 hours.

2) Transportation time from port to airport, X2. If it takes 20 minutes, I'll give it 40 minutes in case of really bad traffic.

3) Security at port. Lets say 30 minutes.

4) allow an extra hour just to be safe.

 

So assuming the ship docks at 7am, and I walk with my luggage 30 minutes later:

 

7:30 I walk off

8:00 done with security

8:10 in car with luggage loaded

8:50 arrive airport and park car

9:00 at check in counter

 

So, for a 7:00am docking, 12 noon would be the earliest flight I can be comfortable with.