Disembarking in Vancouver

[fvuscmom]

We disembarked in Vancouver. We did self-assist, early walk-off at 7:45 a.m. and saved lots of time. Getting off early with our bags, we didn't have to set them outside the door the night before. We didn't have to wait in lines with color-coded disembarkation calls. We didn't have to wait in long lines to go through Canadian customs. We did save big on our shuttle to the airport at an extremely reasonable $11.00 U.S. per person. We were at the airport checking in for our flight by 8:40 a.m. just to give you a clear picture of how easy we had it. It took less than an hour for us to get from our ship cabins to checking our bags at the Vancouver airport for our flight home. We used a Canadian shuttle service that was waiting at the cruise terminal. We did not reserve this in advance, they just offer their services as passengers disembark. The shuttle service has a desk right in the terminal.

 

IF you booked for this service through the cruise line, you are most likely paying too much and not getting the same ease of disembarkation that we had. If your cruise is a ways off, you can probably cancel that part and save big doing it on your own. We also booked our own transfer to the ship from Anchorage to Whittier with no problems.

[fleeflicker]

thanks for the info

[janmitch]

Wow, I've sailed several times and didn't even know this was an option! How do you do this? Any help would be appreciated. We don't sail until June, 2007, but I'm sure watching this board for all kinds of tips! Thanks! Jan

[claud925]

We didn't have to wait in long lines to go through Canadian customs.

 

Would you mind elaborating more on this part of your disembarkation? How did you avoid customs? I thought everyone had to go before being allowed off the ship?

[fti]

Would you mind elaborating more on this part of your disembarkation? How did you avoid customs? I thought everyone had to go before being allowed off the ship?

 

Please re-read the post. They said they didn't have to wait in long lines to go through Canadian customs, not that they didn't have to go through Canadian customs at all.:)

[braves]

Also came off the Carnival Spirit this week and would agree with the post. We did have our bags outside and had to claim them on shore, but we did not use Carnival for transfers. Very short lines in customs and took a taxi from the cruise terminal to the airport. It cost $30 total for a family of 4 vs. like $49 each from Carnival.

 

Then at the airport, we watched the people who took the Carnival transfer spend over an hour in a line to claim their bags. Carnival call one color and number group at a time, then those people could come forward to claim their bags. Alot of people were upset with the wait and almost missed flights.

 

Whether you take your own bags off or claim them in the terminal, I would take a taxi or the shuttle for alot less money and no lines!

[Langley Cruisers]

Thanks for the info. We have heard of this option but have never done so.

 

One thing - do you have to provide proof that you have an early flight (airline ticket)? Just wondering if you can still do this if you have a later afternoon flight.

 

~Karen

[CraftyDD]

We were also on Spirit and did everything thru TA. We left our bags out side cabin night before and claimed them at airport. When we got off ship we got onto a bus to airport. We did have to wait about 30-45 mintues for our baggage to arrive. Once we claimed baggage it took about 10 minutes to get thru customs and drop our luggage. Then we went thru security which took about 15 minutes. We still had plenty of time before our flight which left at 11:30.

The ship offers a service for $15 per person. They pick up your luggage the night before and you claim it at your final destination. They also have your boarding passes printed and ready for you. All you have to do is go thru security. Some of our friends did this but said they could have done what we did since their flight didn't leave until 2:00. Not all airlines participate - we flew Continental and they did not.

We also did not take our own luggage because we had 6 bags to check and 4 carry ons - guess we may have overpacked a bit.

All in all doing it this way worked for us.