US CUSTOMS VANCOUVER POST CRUISE

[BeeSkip]

Hello friends 

 

Another question.  We are currently on the millennium & flying out on Friday... from Vancouver...

 

how is customs done for return to US?   Do we go through customs in Vancouver?  Is it efficent?  Help my be prepared for the process. 

 

 

Thanks

bee

[d9704011]

CBP will pre-clear you at Vancouver airport prior to your flight to the US.  You don’t need to prepare for this other than having your passport on hand.  Just arrive at the airport 2 to 3 hours before your flight and go through the check in process with your air carrier like you normally would.... you’ll be directed to wherever you need to go.

[CruiserBruce]

You will go through US Immigration and Customs  at Vancouver. It is really no different than any US airport when you arrive in the US, except your flight to the US now, in essence, becomes a domestic flight.

[martincath]

Really the only thing different compared to a regular 'fly from abroad into the US' experience is that YVR uses kiosks to handle the 'paperwork' for your declarations - if your Millie cruise is a Vancouver RT they're the same as the ones you used to board the ship, but if you're coming down from Alaska they may be new to you as while they are rolling out all over the world they're still not common elsewhere yet. Once you get familiar with the screens it makes life a LOT easier and faster - queues at YVR used to be worst at the Preclearance stage but these days it's Security that consistently sucks the most.

 

Exactly how long it will take varies far too much to give any guarantees - but the official recommendation of 3 hours early is usually two hours more than needed as long as you're not here on a multiple-ship day and heading straight to YVR in the middle of the hordes of cruisers. IIRC from another of your posts, you're back to Vancouver on Friday and the only ship in port so I would expect a ballpark total time from arriving at YVR to sitting down at your gate of an hour.

 

Canadian security is less-annoying than the TSA - usually no shoes come off unless you 'beep' or have oddly huge footwear/metal spikey bits on your boots or similar that makes it obvious the detectors will be triggered. Exact procedures vary day to day (you may or may not have to remove tablets as well as laptops for screening, sometimes even your plastic bag with small liquids can go through in your carry-on) but it's best to have not just your passport and boarding pass in hand, but also to ensure that you have any liquids in one of the approved bags and both that and your electronics on top/in a separate pocket of your carry-on so you can get them out at Security without delay. Basically assume that you're going to do the same as you would at any US airport except most of the folks you will speak to have weird accents and be very polite to you instead of barking orders.

 

If by any chance you have Global Entry - and have the actual physical cards on you to display - you will be able to use the expedited lines at both Security and Preclearance. TSA Precheck is useless though - no TSA up here - so even though your boarding pass might say 'TSA Pre' on it you won't get into the short queues.

[wheezedr]

Have to agree with Martincath that customs at YVR has become much less onerous since the arrival of the kiosks.  Essentially they have added a new set of bodies to the system and this is one place where the new technology has been very effective. Since you will have cleared US customs and immigration preflight, you are now basically flying domestically to the US.   You can land at any domestic US terminal , grab your luggage and hit the road

[hallux]

One thing not considered - what time is your flight?  Late flights (after 9 PM?) do not get cleared in Vancouver, they get cleared at their destination airport in the US.

[bostonfred]

Another question...if flight after cruise is Vancouver to Toronto...then change planes to Boston, I assume customs will be in Toronto...not done this before...thanks😊

[d9704011]

Yes, you will encounter the US authorities in Toronto prior to boarding the flight to Boston.

[martincath]

53 minutes ago, bostonfred said:

Another question...if flight after cruise is Vancouver to Toronto...then change planes to Boston, I assume customs will be in Toronto...not done this before...thanks😊

If it's not a late flight, yes - anything leaving YVR in the morning/early afternoon. Just like in Vancouver CBP at Toronto do not operate 24/7 shifts so they're done by about 9pm EST. Later flights will be effectively a Canadian domestic transfer then do US immigration on arrival at their first US airport.