Signature Express Baggage Service in Vancouver

[martylup]

We are booked on the Zuiderdam arriving in Vancouver on August 11.

 

I have a flight on United departing at 2:35 PM.

 

Does anyone know if that airline participates and if so would a flight departing at that time be eligible & what is the cost of this service is?

 

Thanks

 

Marty

[pms4104]

While I am not familiar with the service in Vancouver, we did use it last December off the Volendam in Fort Lauderdale. If I recall correctly, most of the legacy airlines (like UA, AA, NW, DL, etc.) were participants, and flights had to be after 12 noon, or maybe a tad later than that. The cost at that time was $10 per person, but I think we were part of a pilot program ... I've seen posts here that it's gone up to (maybe) $15 or so per person.

 

We received a flier in our cabin mid-cruise asking if we'd be interested in such a service ... would do it again in a heartbeat. Saved a ton of time and frustration at the airport, especially since we were returning home over Christmas holiday weekend.

 

Perhaps someone with recent Vancouver experience can shed more light on the service for you.

[LAFFNVEGAS]

We are booked on the Zuiderdam arriving in Vancouver on August 11.

 

I have a flight on United departing at 2:35 PM.

 

Does anyone know if that airline participates and if so would a flight departing at that time be eligible & what is the cost of this service is?

 

Thanks

 

Marty

 

Yes, we flew on United May 2006 and used this service and it worked quite well.

[Gsel]

We used this out of Seattle last June, the cost was $15 per person and worth every penny.

[plantlady095]

YES! It is available in Vancouver and we wished that we had known in advance. We stayed over one extra day but would have gone home sooner if we had known. You will clear US Customs in YVR and it is super. The cruiseline will deliver your bags to the airport for you and they will have a bus at the dock for all passengers wishing to fly out that day. If you call HAL, I bet that they can give you an approximate cost for these services. The ship will disembark you according to your flight time. You should have lots and lots of time.

[plantlady095]

Have a great trip!

[Sundagger]

The link to the info on HAL's site is:

 

http://www.hollandamerica.com/guests/category.do?category=arrival&topic=signatureExpress

 

It doesn't list the specific airlines or the cost, but I used it at Ft. Lauderdale in April. It was $15 and I used Delta - and I was very pleased with the service.

[silvercruiser]

We were on Air Alaska from Vancouver last summer, and they didn't participate, but This past spring, on the Ryndam, we signed up, got our luggage tags, set the bags out in the hall and then got a phone call saying it was cancelled and they sent new tags up to our cabin. Lots of other people were still on the Express Program.

The next day at the airport we were told that they hadn't been informed we'd been bumped from the program and they had to go through all sorts of nonsense to get us squared away.

Why didn't it work out? Who knows?

[halcruiser]

We returned to Vancouver on the Statendam on 7/15 and used the Express Baggage service. We got information on board about this service after sailing. We flew United Air out at 3:15PM. The fee was $15 per person and added to your shipboard account. The night before disembarkation you receive airline baggage tags for your luggage (2 bags per person) as well as boarding passes for your flights. They pick up your bags outside your door and you pick them up at your final destination airport. Everything worked great for us. We would use it again.

Marion

[SharonN]

We returned to Vancouver on the Statendam on 7/15 and used the Express Baggage service. We got information on board about this service after sailing. We flew United Air out at 3:15PM. The fee was $15 per person and added to your shipboard account. The night before disembarkation you receive airline baggage tags for your luggage (2 bags per person) as well as boarding passes for your flights. They pick up your bags outside your door and you pick them up at your final destination airport. Everything worked great for us. We would use it again.

Marion

 

It was not available for any airline on the Statendam when we got off on June 17th. I had read about it before our trip and had hoped it would be available but instead we had a horrible disembarkation/luggage/customs experience in Vancouver. Actually the only bad experience on an otherwise fantastic trip. It took me over 3 hrs after arriving at the airport to get my bags (they sent them over on separate buses that arrived 30-45 mins later than we did), get boarding passes, clear customs, and clear immigration. Since I was by myself at this point having to schlep both my large bags and carryon allover the airport for several hours was definitely a pain. So if they now have this option I'd definitly go for it.