Our Vancouver debarkation fiasco yesterday

[DAllenTCY]

I filled in our post cruise information online several months ago, and I completed the questionaire handed out in San Diego upon embarking the ship, both showing flight 2033 scheduled to depart at 3:10pm. As requested, the form was turned in to the Guest Relations desk onboard before 10pm on Thursday evening. I told the young lady that we would like to be among the first to debark, because we had a 3pm flight, and I would like to leave the ship no later than 1pm. She wanted to know if I wished to purchase airport transfers for $27 each, and I said that we would prefer to take a taxi. When you debark, you have to go through Canadian Immigration, then Customs, and finally find your luggage and wait for a taxi. Then it takes between 30-45 minutes travel time from Canada Place to the airport. Once there, you have to get your boarding pass, check your luggage, go through US Border Protection, then TSA screening.

Then, if you are lucky, you have only 1/4 of a mile to walk to your gate.

Anyway, I was assured that we would be given a debarkation tag that would be among the first ones called.

On Saturday afternoon, a letter indicatiing that we would be called off at 1pm accompanied by 4 "BLUE 1" luggage tags were found in our cabin.

The ship arrived on time, and was along side the pier at 12:02pm. The first debark announcement was for those "self debarking" with no checked luggage at 12:50pm. The next numbers called were "BROWN 1-4", then "BLACK 1-3", then "Black 4-5", and then "Blue 1-3", and then "Blue 4-5". Inbetween announcements, our CD "Jimmy", repeatedly stated that the luggage had not been set out yet for any colors not yet called, and to wait. He insisted that you could not disembark until your color/number was called. Well that was all B___ S___! By the time he called "Blue 1-3" it was 2pm. Needless to say that we missed our flight, but what really annoys me is that all of the luggage was available, and we could have made the flight easily if we got off by 1:30pm. If any consideration had been made for those with departing flights on Sunday afternoon before 3pm, he could have, and should have mentioned that you could debark early if you had to.

So "Blue 1" was nowhere near the top of the list, so that is an outright lie to me, also.

HAL you've seen the last of us.

David

[cocos]

I'm so sorry this happened to you.

[Charliesmom]

We always take our luggage tags to the Guest Services desk and ask where in the lineup they are. If they are not the first off, we ask for tags that will be first off. And they always give them to us.

[rjm1cc]

Thanks for the tip.

[Atomica]

I'm very sorry to hear that you missed your flight. There's nothing fun at all about going through that.

 

However, I would never, ever, book a flight that leaves a mere three hours after docking, particularly here in Vancouver. Canada Place has been an absolute gong-show for some reason this cruise season, there's plenty of construction and traffic on the way to the airport, and afternoon is prime-time for US/International departures.

[DAllenTCY]

Atomica, we took that all into consideration, because it was Sunday afternoon, we thought traffic would be minimal, and it was. There was a three car pileup with injuries on the main road through Granville Island, just before the airport.....but our cab driver was aware of it and drove around it.

We missed our flight by only 3 minutes!

That is what really irks me, is that we waited unnecessarily onboard for over an hour, due to misinformation from the CD, and an incompetent front desk assigning "Blue 1".

David

[brucory]

Sorry to hear about your experience and hope you did not have to wait to long for the next available flight.

 

I am wondering though if that flight scheduling might have been a bit tight? Was your cruise due in at 12 midday? Scheduling a flight just 3 hours later is almost asking for trouble IMO.

 

I would definitely allow more time than that!!!

 

:D:D:D

[Krazy Kruizers]

Sorry to hear that this happened to you.

JMO -- I would never book a flight at 3 PM knowing that the ship wasn't scheduled to dock until Noon!!

Way to close for any port!!!

[brucory]

Seems this has been covered in the past few minutes.

 

:o:o:o

[DAllenTCY]

Yes, but this cruse was originally scheduled to arrive at 7am. Because of the drydock, she left Tampa a day later, so Victoria was not included in the itinerary.....therefore the arrival at noon yesterday.

I had already changed my outbound flight once, so I couldn't a second time.

David

[takemewithyou]

David, were they really checking colors as you disembarked?

 

Because on most of the HAL cruises I have been on lately, people just disregard what their scheduled time off is to be and just push and shove to get off whenever they want!

 

It has been organized chaos. You were being too much of a gentleman and waiting your turn, as you were supposed to. Most people don't. And it usually ruins it for everyone. I have had some pretty bad experiences with disembarkation on HAL. JMO.

[pipedreams62]

:o How was the cruise?

[cruz chic]

David, were they really checking colors as you disembarked?

 

Because on most of the HAL cruises I have been on lately, people just disregard what their scheduled time off is to be and just push and shove to get off whenever they want!

 

It has been organized chaos. You were being too much of a gentleman and waiting your turn, as you were supposed to. Most people don't. And it usually ruins it for everyone. I have had some pretty bad experiences with disembarkation on HAL. JMO.

I agree with you there. My disembarkation was a nightmare on Dec.6/08 from the Statendam. People were not waiting for their color. I was supposed to be one of the first few people off the ship. Turns out I stood in the hallway for about 1 hour not moving because of rude people not waiting for their color. Finally...HAL had a bright idea....lets check peoples tags....duh! I'm not looking forward to Oct.09. Hope it turns out better.

[takemewithyou]

That's exactly what happened to us off the Noordam in Feb. I know that feeling of worrying whether you will ever get off in time to make your flight. There are very LONG lines in FLL at the airport. It is a nerve-racking way to end a nice cruise.

[Jemima]

There are advantages to using the cruiseline transportation. There are also advantages to flying out the next day.

[mrsltg]

There are advantages to using the cruiseline transportation. There are also advantages to flying out the next day.

 

Not to mention the advantages of taking your bags and getting off the ship first!!!

[pipedreams62]

Not to mention the advantages of taking your bags and getting off the ship first!!!

 

 

[Seacruise]

By the time he called "Blue 1-3" it was 2pm. Needless to say that we missed our flight, but what really annoys me is that all of the luggage was available, and we could have made the flight easily if we got off by 1:30pm.

David

 

David

 

Not sure how you know ALL Luggage was available off your ship but living here in Vancouver and doing Alaska the last several years it is almost impossible to have all the luggage off the ship and ready for passengers in 1.5 hours. You say you arrived at noon and it takes time for them to set-up the gangways to off load the luggage at the lower level then it has to be brought up to the departures level for you to pick-up via a elevator.

 

Once you knew there was going to be a problem you should have taken the bull by the horns and kept your luggage and walked off when you were allowed to do this at the start. There have been numerous posts on trying to catch a flight out of Vancouver Airport within 3 hours of arriving at Canada Place. It is almost always goes sideways because of things like US Customs and Security.

 

Had you walked off at the start then you would have had a chance.

 

I don't blame HAL for this at all.

 

Phil

[DAllenTCY]

I blame HAL for distributing a document pertaining to debark priorities, receiving it back before 10pm as requested on Friday, and not paying the slightest bit of attention to it.

Why not just suggest that if you have a flight, take your luggage off at the first opportunity?

David

[Juanita462]

Sorry, I can't agree - we have had the same problem with HAL not giving us early disembarkation as promised almost every single time - good tip to take the tags down to the front desk and check the timing.

 

We never book a flight less than 5 hours after docking time but when you are given one of the last times to leave and have to go through that building and find your luggage scattered all over (San Diego) and try to find a porter to get it to the bus and finally to the airport and dropped off a long way away from your airline's gate with only an hour and a half before an international flight - it is pretty annoying.

[DAllenTCY]

Seacruise, to answer your question....all of the luggage was in one room, including the Gray 1-5, and Pink 1-5, neither of which had been called yet, but they were layed down.

There was no barrier, as they sometimes use in San Diego, and the luggage was not in separate rooms, as is the practice in San Pedro (Los Angeles).

We tried to "play by the rules" and not crash the line.....because I thought that my color would be one of the first called...which was stated to me face to face, and confirmed by letter accompanying the luggage tags.

David

[Copper10-8]

I blame HAL for distributing a document pertaining to debark priorities, receiving it back before 10pm as requested on Friday, and not paying the slightest bit of attention to it.

Why not just suggest that if you have a flight, take your luggage off at the first opportunity?

David

 

David, what did you check off on the questionaire as far as your preferred disembark time in Vancouver?

[lovebug33]

Not to hijack your thread, but the only flight we could get out of Vancouver is 12:50. DH has to be at work the next day. If we dock at 7:00 and are taking HAL transportation, will we be okay? TIA!

[tiyana4]

Thank goodness we are only flying into Vancouver for our northbound cruise (2 days early). I have heard it is a hassle to get out of YVR.

 

But on another note, this really can happen on any cruise line. We had a very similar situation on Carnival out of San Juan. Our flight was originally scheduled for 12:55 pm but the airline changed it to 12:05 pm. It's amazing how much pressure losing those 50 minutes put on us. After waiting 2 hours to be called, I showed our airline tickets to a CCL rep and they let us off immediately. We made it with 20 minutes to spare. This was way too close for comfort and unless it is FLL, we will not be booking any more early afternoon flights. It's so important to give yourself ample time.

[dandro]

David,

Did you make it home eventually, and did you enjoy your cruise?

 

Will you be contacting HAL about the difficulty you encountered in disembarkation?