Vancouver Airport Customs?

[bpd528]

Thinking about flying up from SFO to VYR the morning of our cruise in August instead of coming up the night before. I'm looking at a Air Canada flight that arrives at 10:25 AM on a Sunday. The question is; how long to clear custom's espically with the "tighter" entry controls. The ship leaves the Ballaytene pier and we're looking at using the system that goes from Airport to pier with no stops (I can't remember the name off hand) but is based on VYR's web site.

 

Thanks for your help in advance.

 

Alan

[Shirley and Les]

If you are talking about the "US Direct" transfer service at Vancouver, you avoid all custom inspections at Vancouver Airport. Instead, you are directed to an area where you fill out an "information only" declaration statement, show your passport to an agent and board a motor coach for transfer to the cruise terminal. We were some of the last passengers to fill the motor coach so time on the ground at Vancouver airport was less than 30 minutes. The amount of time at the airport really depended on how fast the motor coach gets filled. Your luggage is transferred separately so there is no wait for it.

Les

[bpd528]

thanks guys, I saw your post on another thread after I post this. I think thats what we'll do.

 

Alan

[sarvis]

Our flight home after our cruise is not until 4:00. We would like to spend a few hours in downtown Vancouver, but need a place to store our luggage. We are diembarking at Ballentyne Pier, which does not doe short term luggage storage like Canada Place does. Would we be able to store our luggage at Canada Place eventhough we are not disembarking there?

 

Also, does anyone know if at the end of a cruise we could use US Direct to send our luggage to the airport, while we stay downtown for a few hours? Do you have to board the bus immediately or could we take a taxi later?

 

Thank you,

sarvis

[Sally Forth]

If you don't use the direct service, customs could be really slow. Vancouver gets a lot of huge international flights coming in from Asia, and lineups can be long.

 

Viv