Vancouver Canada Line questions

[mkkao924]

Hi, we will be disembarking at Vancouver and will take WestJet to LAX in the afternoon 4pm.

 

We have 6 people in the group so I think Skytrain is probably best for us. We are afraid minivan may not fit all 6 people plus luggage.

 

Since we have time to kill, I think we will want to visit the city a little bit before heading to airport.

 

To do so, I have a few questions:

 

1. Is there a luggage storage service at Canada Place?

2. How does the airport check-in kiosk work at tram station? I understand Canada Place does not have this service, and my idea is that we will ride to Richmond-Brighouse station and check in luggage there, then walk around that area, have lunch, then head to airport?

3. Can the airport check-in take WestJet passengers?

4. Is there a fee associated with the airport check in service?

5. Is it a stupid move if we go to airport, check-in, then take the skytrain out to visit around?

[scottbee]

1 hour ago, mkkao924 said:

1. Is there a luggage storage service at Canada Place?

2. How does the airport check-in kiosk work at tram station? I understand Canada Place does not have this service, and my idea is that we will ride to Richmond-Brighouse station and check in luggage there, then walk around that area, have lunch, then head to airport?

3. Can the airport check-in take WestJet passengers?

4. Is there a fee associated with the airport check in service?

5. Is it a stupid move if we go to airport, check-in, then take the skytrain out to visit around?

 

NOTE: due to American regulations, on US bound (called trans-border) flights, it's not possible to 'check in' bags from downtown, nor is it possible to check in a bag, and then leave the airport again (the steps are check-in, bag drop, Security, USA Immigration when you're on a transborder flight)

 

1. Yes. You have a couple of options. The Pan Pacific have been known to hold bags (you'd need to pick them up again), and CDS luggage storage who also have an option to forward them to the airport.

2. It doesn't. You need to check in bags at the airport, and accompany them

3. Yes, but once you've checked in, you'll need to bag drop, and go to the gate 

4. For the "we'll run your bags to the airport" (which you'd pick up, and check in yourself), yes. See CDS's website for details

5. I think you'd find downtown (by the cruise terminal) more interesting than the area around the airport. Although at Aberdeen station there's Abdereen mall, which will give you a very accurate impression of "modern Chinatown"

 

I personally think you'd be better off dropping the bags with the Pan Pacific Hotel (above the cruise terminal), explore downtown (perhaps the seabus to North Van, bus over to Stanley Park, a Hoho..), pick up the bags, and head to the airport.

 

[martincath]

I agree with Scotts conclusion, but some of his info is out of date - CDS lost the franchise at the pier after the 2018 season, so their 'ship bags to YVR' no longer operates. You can stash bags with the new operator (WestCoast) - but they've bumped the cost up by 50% to $12(!) a bag. Discount if you take one of their tours - they do one of the HOHOs as well as traditional coach sightseeing tours - but the $5 a bag at the PP is still a lot less for 6 peeps!

 

Another viable choice with 6 is to consider renting a minivan or large SUV for the day and self-touring. Parking is pricey, but divided by 6 people it becomes much better value. If the stuff you want to see is out of town or in the 'burbs this makes a lot of sense - Lynn Canyon for example is a major hassle on transit, but by car you get a superior experience to Capilano without spending a penny for entry (way fewer tourists, much more natural setting, more spectacular gorge, multiple bridges, albeit without the bells & whistles that Cap offers). UBC might be a good spot to kill a few hours - Museum of Anthropology, multiple garden options (including a tree walk like at Cap and a better Japanese garden than Butcharts), Beaty Biodiversity Museum - and it's easy to then head to the airport from, while again being too distant from downtown to go sightseeing on transit in your timeframe.

 

If you do decide you want to see downtown stuff, stash the bags at the PP and just walk around. For getting to YVR after that, you're right that one cab will not work - I've seen a grand total of two taxis that seat 6 pax ever in Vancouver, as almost all our minvans are set up without an extra row of seats so they can hold a wheelchair passenger, thus still only seat 5 pax max. And even those 6 pax vans simply could not fit typical cruise baggage too. So you're either looking at a limo service or two regular cabs - either way, about $80 incl tips from downtown. SkyTrain - if you're able to manage your own bags - is definitely the way to go, but do leave it until the end of downtown sightseeing as you cannot check bags at the airport earlier than 3-4 hours preflight. You could store them - CDS still operate at YVR - but that's inefficient to sightsee.

 

Oh, and NB that you want a YVR-bound SkyTrain: Richmond-Brighouse is the end of the wrong fork of the line. Every second train from downtown, and it's really obvious from the screens as well as on the train itself which terminus it's heading to.

 

If you really want to avoid schlepping bags on SkyTrain, there is one other option - PorterGenie. A guy in a van comes to you, takes your bags, then delivers them wherever and whenever you book. For one person it's VERY pricey - there's a basic pickup and delivery fee plus a per bag storage fee - but for 6 folks you will find the value better, and indeed by taking SkyTrain instead of cabs/limo the savings may pay for the bag delivery.

 

 

 

[mkkao924]

Thank you for your help! I think we will most likely use PP's service and SkyTrain at the end of the sightseeing!

[ceilidh1]

You might want to think about taking one of the tours that allow you to bring your luggage - I know Land Sea Tours allow this. There will also be tours through the ship that end at the airport. I have no idea of cost - living here, I've never felt the need to do a tour.

 

The info about not being able to drop bags at the airport is new to me - I've flown out of YVR many times and it's true that you check in and drop bags. However, we have never been told that we HAD to proceed to the gate/immigration/security directly afterwards so I'm not sure why you couldn't leave and then return later? Having said that, it would take up a chunk of time to do this, so it's not something that I, personally, would want to do.

[CynCyn]

On 12/23/2019 at 4:08 PM, scottbee said:

 

NOTE: due to American regulations, on US bound (called trans-border) flights, it's not possible to 'check in' bags from downtown, nor is it possible to check in a bag, and then leave the airport again (the steps are check-in, bag drop, Security, USA Immigration when you're on a transborder flight)

 

1. Yes. You have a couple of options. The Pan Pacific have been known to hold bags (you'd need to pick them up again), and CDS luggage storage who also have an option to forward them to the airport.

2. It doesn't. You need to check in bags at the airport, and accompany them

3. Yes, but once you've checked in, you'll need to bag drop, and go to the gate 

4. For the "we'll run your bags to the airport" (which you'd pick up, and check in yourself), yes. See CDS's website for details

5. I think you'd find downtown (by the cruise terminal) more interesting than the area around the airport. Although at Aberdeen station there's Abdereen mall, which will give you a very accurate impression of "modern Chinatown"

 

I personally think you'd be better off dropping the bags with the Pan Pacific Hotel (above the cruise terminal), explore downtown (perhaps the seabus to North Van, bus over to Stanley Park, a Hoho..), pick up the bags, and head to the airport.

 

I don’t know if I broke the law but I checked my bag in Vancouver and left the airport to go to the outlet mall.  What I didn’t know until reading CC is that I could have ridden the SkyTrain for FREE because I didn’t leave the island.  I did cut it close because I didn’t expect the chaos for International Security- ridiculous- US only had a few agents.

[scottbee]

2 hours ago, CynCyn said:

I don’t know if I broke the law but I checked my bag in Vancouver and left the airport to go to the outlet mall.  What I didn’t know until reading CC is that I could have ridden the SkyTrain for FREE because I didn’t leave the island.  I did cut it close because I didn’t expect the chaos for International Security- ridiculous- US only had a few agents.

I do know that US regulations require that when you bag drop (and they take your picture as you do it - which you probably didn't realize) is post-checkin, I had assume that backing out at that point was not allowed, but there you have it.

 

And yes, Skytrain is free within Sea Island, as the long term parking is out by the outlet mall.

 

[mkkao924]

3 hours ago, CynCyn said:

I don’t know if I broke the law but I checked my bag in Vancouver and left the airport to go to the outlet mall.  What I didn’t know until reading CC is that I could have ridden the SkyTrain for FREE because I didn’t leave the island.  I did cut it close because I didn’t expect the chaos for International Security- ridiculous- US only had a few agents.

 

Interesting. I didn't know there is a outlet mall. Do you get tax refund if you shop as a foreigner (US) ? 🙂

[CynCyn]

3 hours ago, scottbee said:

I do know that US regulations require that when you bag drop (and they take your picture as you do it - which you probably didn't realize) is post-checkin, I had assume that backing out at that point was not allowed, but there you have it.

 

And yes, Skytrain is free within Sea Island, as the long term parking is out by the outlet mall.

 

I left it at the counter.  Hope I didn’t create an international incident! YIKES!

[CynCyn]

2 hours ago, mkkao924 said:

 

Interesting. I didn't know there is a outlet mall. Do you get tax refund if you shop as a foreigner (US) ? 🙂

It’s a great mall.  

 

https://www.mcarthurglen.com/en/outlets/ca/designer-outlet-vancouver/about-us/

 

Don't know about tax.

[martincath]

Further to the whole 'bag drop' thing - my understanding is that there's no actual prohibition on wandering off rather than immediately going through security. Since most YVR airlines only accept checked bags 4 hours in advance though, if you check a bag and then leave you obviously have to be back again within 2-3 hours to ensure you can get through Security and Preclearance in time (even if you're GE/NEXUS and it's a quiet day, 30mins for both of these is about as close as I'd ever consider cutting it). So I don't think there's any concern about @CynCyn being arrested - if CBP had a problem with the delay, you'd have found out when you returned to do the Prescreening!

 

As to the mall, no you cannot reclaim sales tax paid as a non-resident, that program ended in 2007. If you were here attending a convention there's still a refund available for accommodation taxes and various other things, depending on whether you were an attendee or exhibitor...

 

[CynCyn]

19 minutes ago, martincath said:

Further to the whole 'bag drop' thing - my understanding is that there's no actual prohibition on wandering off rather than immediately going through security. Since most YVR airlines only accept checked bags 4 hours in advance though, if you check a bag and then leave you obviously have to be back again within 2-3 hours to ensure you can get through Security and Preclearance in time (even if you're GE/NEXUS and it's a quiet day, 30mins for both of these is about as close as I'd ever consider cutting it). So I don't think there's any concern about @CynCyn being arrested - if CBP had a problem with the delay, you'd have found out when you returned to do the Prescreening!

 

As to the mall, no you cannot reclaim sales tax paid as a non-resident, that program ended in 2007. If you were here attending a convention there's still a refund available for accommodation taxes and various other things, depending on whether you were an attendee or exhibitor...

 

Thank you! I cut it really close by going to the mall.  If I were to do it again, I would store luggage downstairs instead of waiting for the magic 4 hour mark!

[scottbee]

1 hour ago, CynCyn said:

I left it at the counter.  Hope I didn’t create an international incident! YIKES!

 

Normally for US pre-clearance departures, you keep your luggage after checkin, and then take it to a special belt to drop the luggage.  Were you flying domestically (next stop Canada), or perhaps taking a late flight to the US (which don't have pre-clearance). ??

 

[CynCyn]

24 minutes ago, scottbee said:

 

Normally for US pre-clearance departures, you keep your luggage after checkin, and then take it to a special belt to drop the luggage.  Were you flying domestically (next stop Canada), or perhaps taking a late flight to the US (which don't have pre-clearance). ??

 

Maybe took it over to another area.  So many airports.......LOL

[ceilidh1]

2 hours ago, scottbee said:

 

Normally for US pre-clearance departures, you keep your luggage after checkin, and then take it to a special belt to drop the luggage.  Were you flying domestically (next stop Canada), or perhaps taking a late flight to the US (which don't have pre-clearance). ??

 

From what I recall, you check in at the desk and then drop your bags at another desk/belt. However, this is still BEFORE security, which is at gate E for US dpeartures if memory serves. This means that you could still leave or just not go through security/immigration immediately. As was mentioned earlier, most airlines will not allow you to drop bags prior to 4 hours before the flight so this would deter many from leaving - especially to take the Canada Line back Downtown.....

[CynCyn]

On 1/4/2020 at 7:32 PM, ceilidh1 said:

From what I recall, you check in at the desk and then drop your bags at another desk/belt. However, this is still BEFORE security, which is at gate E for US dpeartures if memory serves. This means that you could still leave or just not go through security/immigration immediately. As was mentioned earlier, most airlines will not allow you to drop bags prior to 4 hours before the flight so this would deter many from leaving - especially to take the Canada Line back Downtown.....

I didn’t go all the way downtown....lol! Just to the outlet mall 2 stops from the airport.

[ceilidh1]

2 hours ago, CynCyn said:

I didn’t go all the way downtown....lol! Just to the outlet mall 2 stops from the airport.

Lol - I think the OP was mentioning going back into the city to do some tourist stuff!

[MOM48]

If our cruise arrival time in Vancouver is 7:30 AM, is it feasible to catch a 12:15 flight out of Vancouver airport -( using Princess transfer and Princess Air)?

[martincath]

4 hours ago, MOM48 said:

If our cruise arrival time in Vancouver is 7:30 AM, is it feasible to catch a 12:15 flight out of Vancouver airport -( using Princess transfer and Princess Air)?

Not unless Princess have started offering transfers for flights before 12:30pm... like all cruiseline transfers, they aren't just horrifically overpriced (same per person as an entire cab all to yourself!) but are also the slowest way to get to YVR, so basically they just suck all round. even if you can't carry your own bags, it's cheaper to get a porter at the pier and another at the airport plus a cab for 2 people than to take a cruise transfer.

 

But if you cancel the transfers you CAN easily make a flight that early - even without self-disembarking, though doing that gives you more padding. If you're among the first off with your own bags you can be at YVR within 45mins of leaving the gangplank by either getting right in a cab, or if the line is more than a few minutes long walking to SkyTrain.

[scottbee]

On 1/11/2020 at 5:58 PM, MOM48 said:

If our cruise arrival time in Vancouver is 7:30 AM, is it feasible to catch a 12:15 flight out of Vancouver airport -( using Princess transfer and Princess Air)?

 

Just take the subway (Skytrain),.  C$4, faster than a taxi in city traffic,  roll-on roll-off trains.

 

Exit Canada place (slightly to your left), walk one block to Cordova, turn left, 2 blocks to Waterfront Station (ignore that 1st tempting escalator marked Skytrain right by Canada Place - it leads to the wrong platforms).