Boarding ship in Vancouver

[vegs1]

I'm not sure whether this post should be here, in the Alaska forum or the Carnival forum so I'll try here first.

 

We are on the Carnival Spirit out of Vancouver July 8th. We would like to spend time seeing the sights on embarkation morning. Does anyone know what time is the best time to board the ship so we won't be in endless lines?

 

Thank you.

[Urban trekker]

You will most likely be sailing from Ballantyne Pier - I can't get the page to open on the Port cruise schedule - but Carnival usually sails from that Pier and there is usually only one ship at the Pier at any time so it shouldn't take you any longer to board than a regular sailing.

 

I always like to get to port and on the ship as early as possible because I find it is easier to find where everything is on the ship and many areas like the spa etc can be toured because they aren't open for business.

 

There is also a tour company - I believe is is Vancouver Tours that has a morning of the cruise tour - they will take you and your luggage on the bus and then drop you at the Pier.

 

PD will probably confirm this in a post a little later.

 

Cheers

 

Dennis

[Putterdude]

The Carnival Spirit is using Canada Place this year but is often in there with one or two other ships. There is a new schedule which is probably why Ut can't open it but it show the Spirit departing at 5:30 so you can have a full morning and into the early afternoon without worrying. There are several tours which may be of interest to you. One is offered by Vancouver Tours where they pick you up at your hotel with your luggage, give you a tour and then deposit you and your luggage at the cruise terminal. The other way to go would be to take one of the HOHO tours but as they are not designed to handle luggage you would need to leave your luggage at your hotel or check it a the pier and then do their tour.

http://www.vancouvertrolley.com/

http://www.bigbus.ca/

http://www.vancouvertours.com/

http://www.portmetrovancouver.com/libraries/about_cruise_tourism/2009_cruise_schedule_as_of_april_21_2009.sflb.ashx

[Urban trekker]

Thanks PD - I was just going to post a correction as I finally was able to open the file - I think it has more to do with the trouble I have been having staying connected to Telus - for some reason the connection keeps unconnecting in the middle of a page - and my uploads have been really slow - have talked to Telus on more than one occasion and are almost at the point of saying take a hike and going with my cable provider - no it is not Shaw but Novus - its a few $$$ more a month but is all fibre optical - I haven't had any problems with the cable service and when I upgraded to HD they were super fast in connecting and upgrading me.

 

That's my rant for today.

 

Cheers

 

Dennis

[LeftcoastBC]

Dennis. wondering if you are using a MAC ? Cruise Schedule pages are blank for me on OS X !!

[vegs1]

Thanks Urban Trekker and Putterdude.

 

I found the port listing but I couldn't open it either. Haven't tried this afternoon. I just assumed it was my service provider (Rogers) as this happens to me quite often.

 

I think we'll spend a few hours looking around before heading to the pier. Maybe get there around 1 or so. I think I'll have lots of time to get onboard, get my parents settled and then do a tour of the ship before we pull away. I am so excited. Our plans are pretty much in place (with the help of all of you for which I am very grateful).

 

July can't get here fast enough!!!!

[Urban trekker]

No Mac here - using XP - just tried the Ports site now and it came up fine.

 

Went down and saw the Balmoral - formerly the NCL Crown - on the east side of Canada Place - will be putting up some photos on my blog later - its on a 35 day world cruise - staying til tomorrow then heading for Seattle, SF and then through the Canal and then home to Dover, England.

 

Cheers

 

Dennis

[LeftcoastBC]

Checking the website once again and I get a different site than was displayed this morning. Strange !! Just used google.....

http://www.portmetrovancouver.com/about/cruiseandtourism/cruiselineschedules.aspx

 

 

This is the site that was up several weeks ago and I emailed about their downloads (PDF cruise schedules) as not working. They took the site down and used the old link which was still up this AM

 

I still can not get the downloads. :)

[scottbee]

I'm not sure whether this post should be here, in the Alaska forum or the Carnival forum so I'll try here first.

 

We are on the Carnival Spirit out of Vancouver July 8th. We would like to spend time seeing the sights on embarkation morning. Does anyone know what time is the best time to board the ship so we won't be in endless lines?

 

 

The quietest time would probably be around 1130 am. Remember you need to be ON BOARD at least 90 minutes prior to departure, and that after checking in, you need to re-clear US customs/immegration so allow time for that. Once you get past about 1pm it starts to get very busy.