Estimated Arrival Time in Vancouver April-May Sailing

[az_tchr]

4 hours ago, plettza said:

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

 

4 hours ago, plettza said:

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

Spend the night in Seattle!  Apologize. Did not know about the date and only 1 trip then.

Private ride services will not take you outside of Vancouver metro - Uber will not work.

Everything else like Kenmore get you to Seattle but 45 minutes to an hour from where you cruise leaves. Really nothing near where they land on far north part of Lake Washington. If very windy or foggy they don't fly.

Just get off in Victoria. Take 5pm Clipper. Uber to hotel. Spend the night in Seattle. Uber to terminal. All relaxed and nothing else works except Kenmore.

 

[plettza]

There's also an option called RideBooker but it's expensive.  I think I might book the Quick Shuttle from Waterfront to Seattle convention and then a taxi or Über from there to Pier 91.

 

I have a refundable hotel booked in Seattle just in case.

[helby]

I think that Waterfront to Seattle convention center with Quick Shuttle is a good plan that doesn't require a lot of rushing around  to get from one place to the next wondering if you are going to get there on time. 

 

Hope you have great Hawaii and Alaska cruises.

[plettza]

2 hours ago, helby said:

I think that Waterfront to Seattle convention center with Quick Shuttle is a good plan that doesn't require a lot of rushing around  to get from one place to the next wondering if you are going to get there on time. 

 

Hope you have great Hawaii and Alaska cruises.

Thanks, mate. Having said that, we may have issues boarding Eclipse as we'll be travelling through Japan beforehand. It's all up in the air. So who know if we'll even get to Vancouver! 

[Fouremco]

According to the updated information on the Celebrity website, there will be mandatory specialized health screenings performed on passengers who travel through Japan in the 15 days preceding boarding, but no denial of boarding. Hopefully no further restrictions will be placed on you.

[yvrcruzer]

one word of warning concerning taking the bus. A few years ago my wife and her mother took the 9 am bus to Seattle for a 4 pm cruise ship departure. That day the US border agents decided to check every bus. Their bus finally cleared customs at 3 pm. Needless to say they didn't make the cruise.

[plettza]

3 hours ago, yvrcruzer said:

one word of warning concerning taking the bus. A few years ago my wife and her mother took the 9 am bus to Seattle for a 4 pm cruise ship departure. That day the US border agents decided to check every bus. Their bus finally cleared customs at 3 pm. Needless to say they didn't make the cruise.

 

This will be a Sunday.  Is the CBP busier on any given day?

[plettza]

Can anyone give an idea of how long the Canadian disembarkation process will take upon arriving in Vancouver in particular, going through Canada's immigration/customs?

[martincath]

On 2/25/2020 at 11:19 PM, plettza said:

This will be a Sunday.  Is the CBP busier on any given day?

Yes - generally Sundays southbound are among the busiest times for car and bus crossings (as US folks who came up for the weekend go home) along with Friday evenings as Canadians head south. Early May there could still be some good skiing up here, easily accessible from Vancouver. Time of day becomes more crucial on busy days - there are peaks and troughs throughout but generally it gets busier as the day progresses, peaking 5-7pm as that means folks driving to Seattle can get home by a reasonable bed time. Since you're not here on a Shared holiday weekend - where both Canadians and Americans generally have a day off - and schools are still in session both sides, it should never get REALLY bad though. More than an hour at the border would be on the unusual side, especially if you take a morning bus, for your weekend.

 

7 hours ago, plettza said:

Can anyone give an idea of how long the Canadian disembarkation process will take upon arriving in Vancouver in particular, going through Canada's immigration/customs?

Zero - you'll have cleared in Victoria the day before on your cruise.

 

Edit - the actual logistics of getting a ship load of people off of course take time even without immigration, but since who gets off first is entirely under control of the ship and I've no idea about your Status with Celebrity, I can't estimate your odds of being able to get into the first group off. Self-disembarkers generally always go first though with any line, so if you can handle schlepping your own bags you should do that if you want off fast. Then things like the cab queue will be short too - whereas last folks off could be waiting a long time, as the round trip to YVR and back can easily hit 90mins+ due to wait time picking up return pax (there's a looooooooong cab queue at YVR so drivers can be waiting over half an hour for their next fare).

 

A handful of people might get asked to meet with CBSA again - Canadian residents who bought a lot of Duty Free/casino winnings and were reported by the ship as doing so - but even then it would have to have happened on the overnight between Vic & Van, otherwise the Customs element would also be dealt with in Victoria the day before when you will all have handed in declaration cards (usually by the night before arrival to the front desk, who pass them along to CBSA, so for most cruisers there is no formal immigration interview with CBSA at Victoria - they have the ship call specific passengers they want to speak to, and usually interview folks on the vessel).

 

Unless the casino/duty free stores reopen after leaving Victoria, there's also no chance of anyone winning/buying more stuff outside of Canada - and as long as YOU do not do so, you should have basically zero chance of even seeing a CBSA officer when you get off (unless a truly ridiculous coincidence occurs, like someone with a name really similar to yours having an international arrest warrant issued!!!)

Edited February 29, 2020 by martincath

[Northern Aurora]

6 hours ago, martincath said:

.......

 

Edit - the actual logistics of getting a ship load of people off of course take time even without immigration, but since who gets off first is entirely under control of the ship and I've no idea about your Status with Celebrity, I can't estimate your odds of being able to get into the first group off. Self-disembarkers generally always go first though with any line, so if you can handle schlepping your own bags you should do that if you want off fast.

......

 

 

With the exception of Zenith members Captain's Club loyalty status is not relevant with Celebrity disembarkation procedures.  Anyone can do self-disembarkation, and the line is not organized according the "status."  Those passengers able to manage their own luggage are in the first group off as they do self-disembarkation.

 

Zenith Captain's Club members and those in suites receive red luggage tags, and their luggage is organized in a specific area of the baggage hall.  

[martincath]

8 minutes ago, Northern Aurora said:

With the exception of Zenith members Captain's Club loyalty status is not relevant with Celebrity disembarkation procedures.  ...

Thanks for clarifying. Terrible wording on my part - should have been more explicit that in reference to Status impacting disembarkation time I didn't mean for Self-Disembarking folks, but only if help was needed with bags being taken off. In my experience if you don't book air through the cruiseline (i.e. they know your flight timing) you seem to be randomly allocated a timeslot - if you then try to change it, preference might be given to higher Status folks if there's more demand than supply for the first 'collect my bags in the pier rather than carry them off myself' slot...

[Phamer55]

On 2/21/2020 at 8:27 PM, Fly and Sail said:

 

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.

I really like the idea of Kenmore, but their 25 lb limit for all luggage (including purses) seems way too restrictive. I’d probably be at about 40 lbs. even for sure shorter cruises. How did you manage?

[plettza]

Thanks for information, martincath.  We'll be getting the Quick Shuttle from the Fairmont Waterfront which I think is a few minutes' walk from Canada Place.  We've never sailed from one country to another to disembark; we've only sailed from and back to Sydney.

 

We've never sailed Celebrity before so we don't have any sort of rewards or such.  We are in a Concierge class suite and we've always self-disembarked.

 

The Quick Shuttle leave Fairmont Waterfront at 8:45 and we need to be there 15 minutes before.

[plettza]

1 hour ago, Phamer55 said:

I really like the idea of Kenmore, but their 25 lb limit for all luggage (including purses) seems way too restrictive. I’d probably be at about 40 lbs. even for sure shorter cruises. How did you manage?

I did look at them too but I think we'd be taking 23kg each so we won't use them.

[GeorgesGal]

On 2/23/2020 at 7:04 AM, az_tchr said:

 

 

Just get off in Victoria. Take 5pm Clipper. Uber to hotel. Spend the night in Seattle. Uber to terminal. All relaxed and nothing else works except Kenmore.

 

 

In my mind, this makes the most sense, Plettza!  You can disembark in Victoria at your leisure, then Uber or Taxi to the Clipper in time to purchase tickets and board for the trip down to Seattle.  You said you already have a refundable reservation in that city.  And since you will overnight there, all your worries are gone.

 

Be sure to contact X re early disembark.  We had done this once in Tahiti and another time in Salerno, Italy.  It took about 7 - 10 days for our approval, and once we boarded the ship - in Tahiti it was Oceania Marina and in Salerno it was Celebrity Infinity - we checked with the front desk to be sure they had the info!

 

Personally, I like to get any travel obstacles out of the way the day before.  No worries, as I said above.  Have a wonderful cruise!

[az_tchr]

27 minutes ago, GeorgesGal said:

 

In my mind, this makes the most sense, Plettza!  You can disembark in Victoria at your leisure, then Uber or Taxi to the Clipper in time to purchase tickets and board for the trip down to Seattle.  You said you already have a refundable reservation in that city.  And since you will overnight there, all your worries are gone.

 

Be sure to contact X re early disembark.  We had done this once in Tahiti and another time in Salerno, Italy.  It took about 7 - 10 days for our approval, and once we boarded the ship - in Tahiti it was Oceania Marina and in Salerno it was Celebrity Infinity - we checked with the front desk to be sure they had the info!

 

Personally, I like to get any travel obstacles out of the way the day before.  No worries, as I said above.  Have a wonderful cruise!

Truly doing anything else is leaving yourself open to all manner of issues.

For delays getting off the ship, a problem with the bus, delays at the border - remember INS will be checking each passenger on the bus and we'll.as delays - An hour is optimistic - have waited 3 hours on a Sunday going south, and finally an accident on I-5. Used to joke when I lived in Tacoma 50 years ago that it was actually a parking lot!

Clipper drops you off close to downtown Seattle. You can enjoy Victoria for part of the day and Seattle that night.

[Fly and Sail]

On 3/1/2020 at 8:57 AM, Phamer55 said:

I really like the idea of Kenmore, but their 25 lb limit for all luggage (including purses) seems way too restrictive. I’d probably be at about 40 lbs. even for sure shorter cruises. How did you manage?

 

I don't have much baggage when I travel. 😄

[whitbob]

We took the Pacific Coast cruise on Eclipse last April, and the arrival time was 7am.  Just looked at the pictures I took, and we arrived under the bridge and into the Vancouver harbor at 6:15am, we were still coasting around, as the last pictures I took were around 6:45am and we were still pulling up to the pier.  We normally take the early walk off, but disembarked regular closer to 9am, and recall the luggage pick up and catching a cab to be easy, without lines or waits at that time.  We did have breakfast in Blu, and as the ship had NOT yet been cleared, there were mobs of people on the fifth floor queued up to exit the ship around 7am.  We recall having to wiggle thru Ensemble Lounge around all of the people and their luggage.    This said, if you are going to walk off with your luggage, you will be ahead of the timed groups, and should not have any trouble getting to your shuttle.  

 

Enjoy your cruises.

[ccotting]

Vancouver Marathon has a web page, check the page, from what I can see it is some distance from the cruise port.  Sail in looks like it may be tide dependant, the larger ships come in early to meet the tide and get under the bridge.  It's a bit of a challenge but getting up early and going up high to watch the sail in is lovely.   Get early debarkation and go up to the street level from the terminal and cross over the street  to the Fairmont Waterfront hotel to get the fastest cab, the line up from the terminal is usually awful.

 

If you get first debark you should be fine for your train but so sorry you are not staying to visit us!

 

[plettza]

On 3/2/2020 at 6:23 AM, az_tchr said:

Truly doing anything else is leaving yourself open to all manner of issues.

For delays getting off the ship, a problem with the bus, delays at the border - remember INS will be checking each passenger on the bus and we'll.as delays - An hour is optimistic - have waited 3 hours on a Sunday going south, and finally an accident on I-5. Used to joke when I lived in Tacoma 50 years ago that it was actually a parking lot!

Clipper drops you off close to downtown Seattle. You can enjoy Victoria for part of the day and Seattle that night.

 

I think we'll get off in Victoria.  My main concern is the border crossing from Canada to the US.  I just don't know how intensely US CBP will be screening bus passengers along with everyday cars and trucks crossing back into the US.  As I said, I've never done a Canada/USA border crossing (or really any other land-based crossing where passports are checked; I live on an island!) so I simply don't know what t expect in terms of delay.  I.e. how many CBP staff are there?  What sort of mood are they in?  How will COVID-19 screening affect travellers?

Edited March 12, 2020 by plettza

[az_tchr]

35 minutes ago, plettza said:

 

I think we'll get off in Victoria.  My main concern is the border crossing from Canada to the US.  I just don't know how intensely US CBP will be screening bus passengers along with everyday cars and trucks crossing back into the US.  As I said, I've never done a Canada/USA border crossing (or really any other land-based crossing where passports are checked; I live on an island!) so I simply don't know what t expect in terms of delay.  I.e. how many CBP staff are there?  What sort of mood are they in?  How will COVID-19 screening affect travellers?

Border screening if you take the Clipper is maybe 10 minutes maximum.  Mood? Like everyone some will almost smile. From Victoria - an island - to the US absolutely no way to predict COVID protocols or what will be closed. Certainly is possible your cruise will not stop in Victoria or Vancouver. All kinds of crazy stuff going on right now. Impossible to predict. Not suggesting panic but follow cruiseline picked for your options. Right now Seattle is pretty much closed down.

I personally made the decision to cancel two cruises and a month in Europe. DW has asthma. Will go another year. We still have one coming up.

[plettza]

On 3/13/2020 at 8:08 AM, az_tchr said:

 From Victoria - an island - to the US absolutely no way to predict COVID protocols or what will be closed. Certainly is possible your cruise will not stop in Victoria or Vancouver. All kinds of crazy stuff going on right now. Impossible to predict. .

 

As you speculated, Canada isn't accepting cruise ships now.  I'll have to see what X does with this particular cruise.

[hancock]

Canada has closed it's ports until July.

[plettza]

I contacted VTT Group who operate the Quick Shuttle to obtain a refund in light of Canada closing its ports but they insisted their tickets are non-refundable.  They only offered a credit but we're not sure when we'll get to Canada next to avail ourselves to that credit; it's not like it's up the road for us Aussies.  I realise these are their standard conditions but as other transport operators such as Amtrak, airlines, cruise lines, etc. have relaxed their terms on issuing refunds, I'd have thought a refund for two bus tickets isn't an unreasonable request.

 

So I guess if we're not getting to Vancouver on X now, how we get from Canada Place to Seattle is now irrelevant!  Nonetheless, I appreciate all the responses to my queries.