Estimated Arrival Time in Vancouver April-May Sailing

[plettza]

Hi,

 

We're looking at a cruise from Hawaii to Vancouver aboard X Eclipse.  Its itinerary includes one stop in Victoria, BC before leaving there at 7:00PM and continues on to Vancouver.  I've checked Cruise Mapper to see the scheduled arrival time of Eclipse but it doesn't list an arrival time.

 

I wouldn't think it takes 12 hours to cruise from Victoria to Vancouver so does Eclipse get in to Vancouver really late that same evening and just park there or do they motor really, really slowly to make a 7AM arrival the next morning?

 

We need to disembark as early as possible.

[Jim_Iain]

The Celebrity Schedule shows you will arrive at 06:00 AM  -   I would think you will disembark shortly after arrival as the ship would have cleared Canadian Immigration in Victoria.   On short distances they generally go really slow or hang outside the port until scheduled arrival time.  

 

Edited February 22, 2020 by Jim_Iain

[Fouremco]

CruiseCal also lists her scheduled arrival time as 6:00AM.

[helby]

It  takes only a few hours to sail between Victoria and Vancouver so as mentioned above the ship will go slowly and stay outside the port until the arrival time. As Jim_Iain said you will clear Canadian Customs and Immigration in Victoria so disembarkation will be easy and you can be on your way quickly.   If you are going to the airport there is the Canada LIne nearby. Also Uber and Lyft are now operating in Vancouver. The Port of Vancouver schedule shows Eclipse as the only ship that day with an arrival time of 6:30 so if you want a taxi it should be okay on a Sunday morning.

[plettza]

31 minutes ago, Fouremco said:

CruiseCal also lists her scheduled arrival time as 6:00AM.

 

CruiseCal - I've never heard of that site.  Thanks for the tip.

 

 

Edited February 22, 2020 by plettza
Nevermind

[plettza]

4 minutes ago, helby said:

It  takes only a few hours to sail between Victoria and Vancouver so as mentioned above the ship will go slowly and stay outside the port until the arrival time. As Jim_Iain said you will clear Canadian Customs and Immigration in Victoria so disembarkation will be easy and you can be on your way quickly.   If you are going to the airport there is the Canada LIne nearby. Also Uber and Lyft are now operating in Vancouver. The Port of Vancouver schedule shows Eclipse as the only ship that day with an arrival time of 6:30 so if you want a taxi it should be okay on a Sunday morning.

 

We'll be living on the edge on this trip.  We have a cruise scheduled onboard Ooseterdam from Seattle that very same day so our plan is to get outta Dodge as fast as possible and hit the road towards Seattle.  How we get to Seattle is still up in the air.  Thruway bus, plane, not yet really sure. 

[helby]

Hi plettza,

 There is a shuttle bus that goes between Vancouver and Seattle but the  2020 cruise season schedule is not up yet. I think the pier to pier service starts a little later in May but you can get from downtown Vancouver to Seattle.

www.quickcoach.com:index.htm.webloc

[Jim_Iain]

3 minutes ago, plettza said:

 

We'll be living on the edge on this trip.  We have a cruise scheduled onboard Ooseterdam from Seattle that very same day so our plan is to get outta Dodge as fast as possible and hit the road towards Seattle.  How we get to Seattle is still up in the air.  Thruway bus, plane, not yet really sure. 

 

Flight time is about 1 hour (including taxi etc) and runs approximately $150 US

 

Bolt Bus - takes about 4 hours  cost $30

Amtrack - About 4 1/2 hours  cost $45-83

[plettza]

1 minute ago, Jim_Iain said:

 

Flight time is about 1 hour (including taxi etc) and runs approximately $150 US

 

Bolt Bus - takes about 4 hours  cost $30

Amtrack - About 4 1/2 hours  cost $45-83

 

I've checked those options.  Bolt Bus won't arrive in time.  Amtrak Thruway leaves Vancouver Station at 9:00am and I believe we need to be there an hour or so earlier for customs clearance.  If we can get off Eclipse before 7, we might be fine with that.  We got Concierge Class which I believes allows early disembarkation.

 

I've never sailed X before and I've never been to North America so this will be a new experience.

[If only]

We found out that the Vancouver Marathon is on May 3, the day we arrive.  It is the  largest Marathon in Canada with runners from 65 countries.  This could make traffic a big problem.

[plettza]

2 minutes ago, If only said:

We found out that the Vancouver Marathon is on May 3, the day we arrive.  It is the  largest Marathon in Canada with runners from 65 countries.  This could make traffic a big problem.

 

Oh dear. 😧

[Fouremco]

Potential easy solution: make arrangements with Celebrity to disembark in Victoria, then take the ferry or fly to Seattle. The ferry takes a bit under three hours, but I believe only goes once a day, late in the afternoon, while there are many more flight options. You'd have the choice of spending the night in Seattle, or sleeping in Victoria and waiting until the next day to head for Seattle. In the latter case, you would need to fly. Either way, you won't face the time pressures of going into Vancouver.

[Fly and Sail]

2 hours ago, plettza said:

 

We'll be living on the edge on this trip.  We have a cruise scheduled onboard Ooseterdam from Seattle that very same day so our plan is to get outta Dodge as fast as possible and hit the road towards Seattle.  How we get to Seattle is still up in the air.  Thruway bus, plane, not yet really sure. 

 

You might want to consider Kenmore Air: https://www.kenmoreair.com/article/175/Now-fly-downtown-Seattle-to-downtown-Vancouver-BC-in-about-an-hour/

 

I used them before - pretty good! QuickCoach to Seattle is possible but will take a long time which by the sound of it doesn't seem like you have.

[varoo]

9 hours ago, plettza said:

 

We'll be living on the edge on this trip.  We have a cruise scheduled onboard Ooseterdam from Seattle that very same day so our plan is to get outta Dodge as fast as possible and hit the road towards Seattle.  How we get to Seattle is still up in the air.  Thruway bus, plane, not yet really sure. 

 

We did something similar a number of years ago, and our best bet at that time turned out to be the Quick Shuttle (Quick Coach) which ran an express bus from the Canada Place pier directly down to SEA airport and the Seattle cruise piers. 

 

A lot of cruise passengers who disembark at Vancouver fly in and out of SEA.

The express bus picked us up right where we got off the first ship in Vancouver, at  Canada Place.  The only other stop it made along the way before Seattle was at the border crossing. 

 

Even though the Quick Shuttle cost more than the Bolt bus, it was a lot more convenient as it took passengers from one ship to the other with no other ground transportation needed.

 

We had briefly considered flying, but ruled that out as it would have necessitated additional ground transportation to transfer us and all our luggage at both ends.  Besides, small planes are often grounded or delayed due to weather or mechanical problems.

 

Important:  Regardless of how you ultimately decide to do the transfer, near the end of the first cruise  contact your next cruise line to let them know you are on your way to the ship, explain the circumstances and ask them to notify the Oosterdam to make sure they have your names on the passenger manifest. 

 

Take their contact telephone number and a cell phone along with you on the day of your transfer.

Just in case there should be an unexpected delay of any kind on that day, then follow up by calling them again directly to assure them that you really are coming, and have them double check to make sure that the ship is expecting you and that they have you listed on the final manifest. 

 

That way you can breathe easy, knowing that  you will still be allowed to board, even if you should get delayed beyond the regular requested boarding time.

 

(You probably already know this, but if you are not listed on the final manifest and just show up at the dock at the last minute, you can be denied boarding.)

 

Hopefully it will all go smoothly, and you will have a wonderful time on both your cruises.

 

As for early disembarkation from the first cruise, just talk to the people at Guest Relations on your Celebrity cruise a few days in advance of disembarkation, explain your situation, and ask them to give you luggage tags for early disembarkation, so that should not be a worry.   

 

If you are able to carry off all your own luggage, you can even self-disembark, if you prefer.

 

                                                         

Edited February 22, 2020 by varoo

[plettza]

9 hours ago, varoo said:

 

We did something similar a number of years ago, and our best bet at that time turned out to be the Quick Shuttle (Quick Coach) which ran an express bus from the Canada Place pier directly down to SEA airport and the Seattle cruise piers. 

 

A lot of cruise passengers who disembark at Vancouver fly in and out of SEA.

The express bus picked us up right where we got off the first ship in Vancouver, at  Canada Place.  The only other stop it made along the way before Seattle was at the border crossing. 

 

Even though the Quick Shuttle cost more than the Bolt bus, it was a lot more convenient as it took passengers from one ship to the other with no other ground transportation needed.

 

We had briefly considered flying, but ruled that out as it would have necessitated additional ground transportation to transfer us and all our luggage at both ends.  Besides, small planes are often grounded or delayed due to weather or mechanical problems.

 

Important:  Regardless of how you ultimately decide to do the transfer, near the end of the first cruise  contact your next cruise line to let them know you are on your way to the ship, explain the circumstances and ask them to notify the Oosterdam to make sure they have your names on the passenger manifest. 

 

Take their contact telephone number and a cell phone along with you on the day of your transfer.

Just in case there should be an unexpected delay of any kind on that day, then follow up by calling them again directly to assure them that you really are coming, and have them double check to make sure that the ship is expecting you and that they have you listed on the final manifest. 

 

That way you can breathe easy, knowing that  you will still be allowed to board, even if you should get delayed beyond the regular requested boarding time.

 

(You probably already know this, but if you are not listed on the final manifest and just show up at the dock at the last minute, you can be denied boarding.)

 

Hopefully it will all go smoothly, and you will have a wonderful time on both your cruises.

 

As for early disembarkation from the first cruise, just talk to the people at Guest Relations on your Celebrity cruise a few days in advance of disembarkation, explain your situation, and ask them to give you luggage tags for early disembarkation, so that should not be a worry.   

 

If you are able to carry off all your own luggage, you can even self-disembark, if you prefer.

 

                                                         

Thanks for the info.  The Quick Shuttle bus looks good.  But looking at its timetable, it says is leaves Vancouver Hotels at 8:45am.  The schedule doesn't mention Canada Place nor Pier 91.  Are there more services they have that aren't listed?

 

I'll email them to be sure.

[plettza]

Just another quick question, I checked the Port of Seattle's page and wanted to confirm that HAL docks at Smith Cove Cruise Terminal at Pier 91?  Is this correct?  Is this the destination I use to book my bus to Seattle? 

[martincath]

Aah - now I see why you were asking me follow-up questions about Amtrak bus on that other thread yesterday.

 

Since this thread makes it clear you have a ship to meet the same day you disembark, some relevant info - firstly, unless QuickShuttle actually open their Summer Schedule in time they will not take you to eithe Seattle pier. That service is ONLY offered on the Summer sched, whereas to Seatac operates all year round. Only way to know exactly when they'll change is to contact them directly.

 

Secondly, the 9am QS bus would still be preferable to the 9am Amtrak. Same price to downtown Seattle, but less crappy buses and less chance of a reaaaaaaalllly long number of stops. Amtrak buses potentially stop at every. single. train. station... all depends how many people book tickets and from where to where. They do try to ensure that if there's more people in total than a single bus can handle, that they split folks up - ideally an 'express bus' with minimal stops Vancouver-Seattle will happen, but no guarantees of anything with Amtrak.

 

Hotel pickups include the Pan Pacific hotel with QS - which is on top of the pier! So if they're offering hotel pickup, you can still meet the bus right at the pier. IIRC the official downtown leaving point is the Holiday Inn, which is about 20mins on foot from the pier, and other hotels may involve the same bus doing a 'milk run' if only a few people want picked up or else other buses shuttling people to the HI.

 

Plus, Amtrak buses do not preclear at the station - you can roll in 15 minutes ahead of time like any other bus, as you will stop at the border with all bus companies. Normal procedure is then to get off, pick up your bags, move them inside and through the X-ray (no trolleys, no porters, and CBP do NOT like anyone touching a bag that is not their own so usually bus drivers do nothing but move bus from trunk to curb and then again curbside into trunk when complete).

 

If one single person on the bus has any degree of secondary questioning, all of you wait around until they are either allowed into the US or told they have to return to Canada (at that point the bus leaves without them - there's fine print in all contracts that they'll be stuck on the next northbound bus and brought back to origin point).

 

So there's an element of completely uncontrollable risk with ANY of the buses at the border - whereas train and planes Preclear here, so any 'risky' individuals get weeded out without delaying departure.

 

Personally, I'd either rent a car one-way (you can get these right at the pier, and driving to Smith Cove avoids much of downtown Seattle traffic so it's less likely to face delays than a Seatac trip) or else do what was suggested above, disembark in Victoria a day before your first cruise ends (100% legal, as you'll be on a 'US port to a Canadian port' trip, BUT you do need to clear this in advance with the cruiseline as they must arrange for not just a token 'behind the scenes' CBSA check on passengers, but a full 'you are entering Canada with all your stuff' check for full Customs as well as Immigration controls. CBSA will be on duty anyway - they run Immigration checks on all pax even stopping at Victoria - so this should not be refused, but I believe Celeb charge $65 fort the administration of such a request). The Clipper ferry goes downtown to downtown, and you Preclear with CBP on boarding this so in Seattle you just walk right off - I'd still do this the day before in case of weather problems though, and spend a night downtown in Seattle.

 

Oh, and yes, HAL use Pier 91 all season long for embarkation - sometimes if it's a Port of Call the other lines use 66, which is where NCL have their terminus, but if it's folks getting on or off the ship for the first or last time, HAL and Princess use 91 consistently. Link to the port schedule here. It does confirm Oosty is using Pier 91.

 

[Northern Aurora]

Given your time constraints I think you need to disembark in Victoria.  This process is termed something along the lines of a "downline disembarkation."  You will need permission from Celebrity in advance, and there will be a per person charge.  There are various options to move over to Seattle, and I would suggest you transfer over to Seattle the day you depart in Victoria.  

 

The Port of Seattle does indeed operate two cruise terminals in Seattle -- Smith Cover (Pier 91), or the Bell Street  (Pier 66).  Neither of these terminals are close to the Seattle airport (SEATAC), and there are no hotels really close to Pier 91.  

[plettza]

35 minutes ago, Northern Aurora said:

Given your time constraints I think you need to disembark in Victoria.  This process is termed something along the lines of a "downline disembarkation."  You will need permission from Celebrity in advance, and there will be a per person charge.  There are various options to move over to Seattle, and I would suggest you transfer over to Seattle the day you depart in Victoria.  

 

The Port of Seattle does indeed operate two cruise terminals in Seattle -- Smith Cover (Pier 91), or the Bell Street  (Pier 66).  Neither of these terminals are close to the Seattle airport (SEATAC), and there are no hotels really close to Pier 91.  

Thanks for the information.  I've started putting into place a contingency plan to stay in Seattle the night.  Quick Shuttle won't start their port-to-port schedule until May 5th.  They just emailed me. 

[Jim_Iain]

22 hours ago, plettza said:

 

I've checked those options.  Bolt Bus won't arrive in time.  Amtrak Thruway leaves Vancouver Station at 9:00am and I believe we need to be there an hour or so earlier for customs clearance.  If we can get off Eclipse before 7, we might be fine with that.  We got Concierge Class which I believes allows early disembarkation.

 

I've never sailed X before and I've never been to North America so this will be a new experience.

It is hard to tell but at most ports Walk Off begins at 7:15 and then they begin disembarkation.   Almost everyone on the ship have some type of status.   

 

Personally I would book air.   Their is a "Sky Train" (subway) just outside the cruise terminal and takes 30 minutes to airport.   You Clear U.S. Customs at the airport prior to departure.   Uber from SEA to the Cruise terminal is about 30 minutes.

[Northern Aurora]

4 minutes ago, Jim_Iain said:

.......

 

Personally I would book air.   Their is a "Sky Train" (subway) just outside the cruise terminal and takes 30 minutes to airport.   You Clear U.S. Customs at the airport prior to departure.   Uber from SEA to the Cruise terminal is about 30 minutes.

 

 

Jim:  The past several years Charles and I have flown out of Vancouver at least annually, and sometimes twice a year.  About half the time our luck has been that the flight is delayed out of Vancouver due to either mechanical issues (in one case requiring a different plane) or a ground situation (ie, flights are stacked up landing in Seattle due to wind issues).  Possibly we just don't have good karma flying out of Vancouver, but given the OP's tight schedule I wouldn't recommend same day flying in their particular case.  And if they do indeed fly the Sky Train station they need is not the one located just out of Canada Place, but the Waterfront Station (I think that is the name -- it is the one past and several blocks around the corner from the entrance just outside of Canada Place).

 

Give our best to Iain.

Gerry

[Jim_Iain]

2 minutes ago, Northern Aurora said:

 

 

Jim:  The past several years Charles and I have flown out of Vancouver at least annually, and sometimes twice a year.  About half the time our luck has been that the flight is delayed out of Vancouver due to either mechanical issues (in one case requiring a different plane) or a ground situation (ie, flights are stacked up landing in Seattle due to wind issues).  Possibly we just don't have good karma flying out of Vancouver, but given the OP's tight schedule I wouldn't recommend same day flying in their particular case.  And if they do indeed fly the Sky Train station they need is not the one located just out of Canada Place, but the Waterfront Station (I think that is the name -- it is the one past and several blocks around the corner from the entrance just outside of Canada Place).

 

Give our best to Iain.

Gerry

Thanks for the update Gerry.   I guess we've been lucky and never had a delay.    Glad you pointed out where the station was. 

 

 

[az_tchr]

4 hours ago, plettza said:

Thanks for the information.  I've started putting into place a contingency plan to stay in Seattle the night.  Quick Shuttle won't start their port-to-port schedule until May 5th.  They just emailed me. 

Wow obviously people have not done this. Pretty easy.

Disembark in Victoria. Get a cab to the Empress Hotel. Take the Victoria Clipper either that day or the next morning to Seattle. Fast. Takes you to just north of Pikes Market. Uber to the ship.

You do need to pay a small fee to get off early - crazy I know - but customs is one minute.

Personally I would spend the night in Victoria. Several places near the boat basin where the Clipper departs.

[plettza]

2 hours ago, az_tchr said:

Wow obviously people have not done this. Pretty easy.

Disembark in Victoria. Get a cab to the Empress Hotel. Take the Victoria Clipper either that day or the next morning to Seattle. Fast. Takes you to just north of Pikes Market. Uber to the ship.

You do need to pay a small fee to get off early - crazy I know - but customs is one minute.

Personally I would spend the night in Victoria. Several places near the boat basin where the Clipper departs.

The only Clipper ferry to Seattle is at 5pm that I can find. Oosterdam sets sail at 4pm.

[chrispee]

Harbour Air has a flight (floatplane) that departs for Seattle at 7:40am on May 3rd I believe.  The float plane terminal is right at Canada Place so you could conceivably make that flight but it would be risky.  Plan B could be an Uber to the border, and another Uber to Seattle?