Princess Transfer vs Taxi

[mvaldes140]

We are going to be on the grand northbound sailing on 7/6 and wanted to get some opinions. I'm taking my partner on their first alaska cruise, I've gone before just usually with my family and everything being planned already. I saw that the prices for a taxi or uber from the vancouver airport to the cruise terminal is ~$32 + tip, and the princess transfer is $29/person. We booked with EZair and our flight is coming in at 12:45pm the day of the cruise, and I thought I read that if you do Ezair and the princess transfer that they're more likely to be helpful in case the flight is delayed. Wondering if it's worth the extra $ to do the princess transfer or not. I've never flown in day of before, but it was the cheapest flight on Ezair and they said they have the late arrival protection, so I just want to cover my bases. Any advice is appreciated.

Thanks!

[Nebr.cruiser]

Princess transfers aren't always the way to go, but in this case I wouldn't even think about it--yes, it costs more for two but with your late arrival time it would provide at least some measure of comfort in case flights are late, etc.  

 

This is from someone who hardly ever does cruise line transfers; but sometimes they are better. Also, on our last cruise from LA, the Uber we took was way more expensive than expected; coming back we booked the transfer.  I realize you are going to Vancouver, but lately Uber prices seem really high.

[nini]

Yikes, the day of! IMO, I would definitely book the Princess transfer. Hopefully, they will have one available at the time you need it. Call right away. Even if you have a TA, call now. They are closed on Sundays.

[LawDog61]

These days, we prefer Uber.  Princess Transfers, multiply the price X2.   Wait for the bus to fill.  Wait for the bus to unload-and it will unload at the speed of the slowest moving passenger.  And than you are with the 40-50 passengers who arrive at the checking line at one time.  

[nini]

1 minute ago, LawDog61 said:

These days, we prefer Uber.  Princess Transfers, multiply the price X2.   Wait for the bus to fill.  Wait for the bus to unload-and it will unload at the speed of the slowest moving passenger.  And than you are with the 40-50 passengers who arrive at the checking line at one time.  

However, at least they may have a chance of protection from Princess to actually wait for them to arrive. I hope the OP updates us with a decision and eventual outcome.

[geoherb]

The cheapest way to get to Canada Place from the airport is the Skytrain. That's currently $9.25 (Canadian--about $7 U.S.) But with your circumstances of an afternoon arrival, I'd go with the Princes transfer. 

I'm also risking a day-of flight for my upcoming cruise. I hope Princess lives up to its late-arrival protection if my flight doesn't make it in time.  

[wallyj]

Hi @mvaldes140, here is my opinion. You are booked on an EZAir flight so there is a good possibility there are other Grand Princess passengers on your flight, some who probably have already booked the Princess transfer. Princess knows exactly how many are booked on the transfers and on which flights. 
 

In most cases, if you flight is delayed, by not too much let’s say 1 hour, Princess has been known to ‘wait/delay departure’ . I have witnessed this on a few sailings out of Vancouver. 
 

I have also witnessed cases where the shuttles were done for the day, and the Princess rep told the passengers to take a taxi and Princess would reimburse on the ship.

 

There is no ‘expressway’ from the Airport to Canada Place, so the shuttle buses and taxi’s will face the same traffic. We do not know how many passengers Princess might be waiting for to fill up the transfer. Also unknown, is how fast you are able to be processed thru immigration and customs, my checked luggage in YVR is usually waiting for me or arriving soon, by the time I have cleared customs.

 

if you are both able bodied and can handle your own luggage, I would take the Skytrain, as it does not have to deal with traffic and runs very frequently, like every 10 minutes.

 

If you are not comfortable with Skytrain, , take taxi, as it will be more comfortable, and probably be faster since you will not have to wait for possibly other passengers getting thru immigration that have also booked the ‘transfers’.

 

Since you booked the EZAir flight, you have the late arrival protection already, so depending on the length of the delay, either the ship will wait, or you are flown to next port, if possible. Pre Covid, I know they did this. Read a post where an Australian booked same day arrival into Vancouver,  flight was delayed and they missed embarkation. They had to pay a very expensive flight to Ketchikan, as they did not have insurance.

 

I am on the July 6 sailing doing B2B, so returning to Vancouver. Assume you got the email from Princess notifying they are planning earlier sailaway by 1/2 hour, so it does make for a tight connection for you.

 

You can plan for delay,, but these are mostly out of your control. Most likely, you are not the only passengers on that flight scheduled to arrive at 12:45. 
 

IMHO, booking the Princess transfer does not really give you any more protection in this case arriving  at YVR.

 

Hope to see you on the ship, I booked my flight to arrive a day early, so I have a little cushion. Also are you in a connecting flight itinerary , where your bags might get delayed?

 

 

Edited June 18, 2022 by wallyj

[Potstech]

Recently used the Princess transfer from the airport to the hotel.  There was a great Princess rep in the waiting area that got us situated then took us to a cab stand and gave the driver a voucher and told him which hotel to take us to.  Was very efficient and easy.  Would do it again if staying a few days before the cruise.  And yes it wasa hotel booked thru Princess. 

 

We were the only passengers due in that afternoon and her last passengers for the day.  Late afternoon arrival.

 

 

Edited June 18, 2022 by Potstech

[mvaldes140]

I contacted my TA cause I used a large agency, and I'm not the happiest with them, but that's another story. They contacted Princess and were told that the last transfer was at 1pm, and when I asked if they would wait at all, I was told no, and that I was on my own. I'm gonna call Princess myself tomorrow to hear it straight from the horse's mouth, but if that's the case, there's no way we can get our bags and go through customs in 15 minutes, assuming the flight isn't delayed. The only thing I'm worried about is that since it seems we can't do the princess transfers, if they'll say it's our fault for not getting from the airport to the pier in time, if it's not our fault at all.

Thank you everyone for all your advice!

[wallyj]

@mvaldes140, you are on an EZAir flight which automatically gives you ‘their’ protection. Make sure you have the enroute delays number handy in case you experience a delay you think might cause you to miss the ship.

 

Your arrival is tight, but doable. As I am familiar with the YVR airport and Skytrain, the Skytrain would be my choice. For you,  as it seems the Princess transfer will not be an option, take a taxi. 
 

As I posted earlier, Princess knows how many passengers they have booked on which EZAir flights, so the ship will already be given a heads up if your flight is delayed. I am sure there are many factors Princess uses to decide if they can hold the ship or leave without you. 
 

Hope this pre cruise worry is washed away as you board the ship.

 

Please update us on July 6, if you make it on the ship and how your flight(s) progressed.

Edited June 19, 2022 by wallyj

[Yehootu]

On our cruise out of Vancouver I met a few people with EzAir that got screwed by Delta. When they arrived in Vancouver a Princess rep was there handing out vouchers for cabs for them. They were lucky in that we didn't sail till 2100 due to the Royal and tides requirements. We landed at 1330 and it took us 1.5hrs to clear customs.

[mvaldes140]

Well I just got off the phone with Princess, and the only advice that I got from the representative was, "Ya, that's cutting it close. The best thing for you to do is cancel and rebook, or find your own transportation to Vancouver." Which I can't do unless I want to lose the money on the Ezair and then spend $500/person on airfare. I called the main number because I couldn't find a number just for Ezair, except the en route number. She confirmed that I couldn't get the transfer, but I also don't think she knows what she was talking about, because I was trying to figure out if the late arrival protection through Ezair would cover us being stuck in customs due to long lines, and she just didn't have an answer. I think at this point I'm just going to hope for the best because I'm not sure what else to do. I don't know why Princess would bother selling a flight like this if I couldn't use the transfer and couldn't make it to the ship on time.

Also, someone on here mentioned that they got an email from Princess saying that the ship was going to be departing from Vancouver early, but I didn't get that email, so is there anyone else that can confirm this and let me know what that new time is? Might as well start worrying about that as well.

Thanks all!

[pris993]

Really depends on how you like to travel.  We have over 30 Princess cruises, probably stopped using transfer back in l985 or so. 

 

Recall we did an overnight flight to Rome at the time, with a Princess transfer we were picked up and taken to a local hotel to sit for several hours, eventually we were transported to the ship.   From that point on we never did a ship transfer, no matter the cost.   

 

 We have felt after paying $$$+ for a cruise and air that added cost for a private transfer was well worth it.  Private transfer enables us to go when we are ready and generally time the transfer, so we arrive at the ship around 11 am. 

[PacnGoNow]

14 hours ago, mvaldes140 said:

I contacted my TA cause I used a large agency, and I'm not the happiest with them, but that's another story. They contacted Princess and were told that the last transfer was at 1pm, and when I asked if they would wait at all, I was told no, and that I was on my own. I'm gonna call Princess myself tomorrow to hear it straight from the horse's mouth, but if that's the case, there's no way we can get our bags and go through customs in 15 minutes, assuming the flight isn't delayed. The only thing I'm worried about is that since it seems we can't do the princess transfers, if they'll say it's our fault for not getting from the airport to the pier in time, if it's not our fault at all.

Thank you everyone for all your advice!

Did your TA ask EZAIR if you could change your flights to an earlier flight

without a fee?  Probably not but worth s try.

 

If it is a nonstop, you could call the airline and see if they offer same day standby.

You could try to get out earlier and they will hold your later flight in case you don’t get on.  
 

 

[mvaldes140]

13 minutes ago, PacnGoNow said:

Did your TA ask EZAIR if you could change your flights to an earlier flight

without a fee?  Probably not but worth s try.

 

If it is a nonstop, you could call the airline and see if they offer same day standby.

You could try to get out earlier and they will hold your later flight in case you don’t get on.  
 

 

It's one of those online travel agencies where you get a different person each time, and they don't know much about the stuff. It's my first and last time booking with them. I can try and see if whoever ends up picking up can do that, but I'm not too sure. We're flying from south florida, so the flight we have is Florida to LA then LA to Vancouver, there aren't any nonstop flights from here unfortunately.

[PacnGoNow]

1 minute ago, mvaldes140 said:

It's one of those online travel agencies where you get a different person each time, and they don't know much about the stuff. It's my first and last time booking with them. I can try and see if whoever ends up picking up can do that, but I'm not too sure. We're flying from south florida, so the flight we have is Florida to LA then LA to Vancouver, there aren't any nonstop flights from here unfortunately.

Okay, so in that case, I would try EZAIR 

and see if they have any suggestions.

 

[Buckeye10640]

We never use cruise transfers for arrival, taxis and ubers are always readily available and preferable IMHO. But I would be a wreck, EZAir or not, flying in the morning of my cruise.  And cross country at that.  Airlines are a mess right now.  Yesterday it took me 4 flight changes to get from OH to FL. First flight had a delay which was going to cause a missed connection. Changed flights. That flight got cancelled. Changed again, that flight got seriously delayed. Changed again and finally made it.  I arrived 9 hours later than planned. Had this been for a cruise I would have missed the ship.  Yes EZAir says they will 'get you there'  but that can also mean flying you to the first port after you miss the ship.   Good luck with whatever you choose!

Edited June 19, 2022 by Buckeye10640

[wallyj]

@mvaldes140 , my TA forwarded the notice from Princess saying the departure has been moved up 1/2 hour from 4:30 to now 4:00. I see the July 20 itinerary shows this too, but the August north bound Grand is showing 4:30. I am not sure when this change was made as I booked on June 13 and received the email from my TA the next day.

 

If you check the July 6, itinerary on Princess.com it shows 4:00 departure.

Hopefully, customs and immigration are not too bad and you get processed quickly. Make sure you download and complete the ArriveCan APP 72 hours before arriving Canada. 

[nini]

4 hours ago, Buckeye10640 said:

We never use cruise transfers for arrival, taxis and ubers are always readily available and preferable IMHO. But I would be a wreck, EZAir or not, flying in the morning of my cruise.  And cross country at that.  Airlines are a mess right now.  Yesterday it took me 4 flight changes to get from OH to FL. First flight had a delay which was going to cause a missed connection. Changed flights. That flight got cancelled. Changed again, that flight got seriously delayed. Changed again and finally made it.  I arrived 9 hours later than planned. Had this been for a cruise I would have missed the ship.  Yes EZAir says they will 'get you there'  but that can also mean flying you to the first port after you miss the ship.   Good luck with whatever you choose!

@Buckeye10640 is a absolutely correct. Our flights to London this last May were incredibly stressful. American Airlines is a mess and we would have missed our  connection to London if we had not been #1 and #2 on Standby for an earlier flight (which was also late). Our seat options were HORRID but we made it.

[Cruiser Nonna]

If you booked your air through Princess and transfers then Princess usually does take responsibility and there is a rep in baggage claim waiting for passengers to direct them. We were delayed arriving LHR but everything had been booked by the cruiseline and they did put us and 6 others on a bus and drove us the 2 hours to get to the ship - we were the last to board and off we went - but luckily they were aware of us.

 

There are no guarantees however I would surely trust that a better chance that Princess was backing us up rather than taking an Uber (FYI - just flew into Vancouver last month and Taxi are fixed rate and less than an Uber - or Sky Train where Princess does not know that you even made it to Vancouver so why would they wait?)  It is a close connection but I would certainly choose Princess transfer as option one and know that if need be take a taxi - this is not a normal transfer when you have more time to save a few dollars.

 

Where the Princess Res said they "leave at 1PM" that cannot be true if Princess booked flights that arrive at 1245PM they know baggage and customs - think they are referring to flights not arriving later than 1PM.  Hope this helps and have a great cruise!!