Embarkation and Disembarkation Questions

[mtnhappy]

We are taking a Princess SB cruise out of Whittier. A few questions about embarkation and disembarkation:

 

Embarkation: The schedule says the boat departs Whittier at 9:30 p.m.

-When does embarkation start and end?

-How long does the process usually take?

 

Disembarkation: The schedule says arrival into Vancouver at 7:30 a.m.

-How long does it take to disembark?

-Can you be towards the front of the disembarkation process, even if your flight doesn't leave until the afternoon?

-How long does it take to get to the YVR airport from the cruise dock?

-We have a flight at 1 p.m. and would like to walk around Vancouver for a few hours. Will we have enough time?

-Does the cruise ship provide food/bfast the morning of disembarkation or should we plan to try to find food in Vancouver?

[ARRTrain]

Whittier Check in starts at 12:30pm.

 

Everyone is usually checked in by 8:00pm.

 

The tunnel into Whittier opens on the bottom of the hour, so check in is usually busy from :45 after to about :15 after the hour.

[maltoose181]

You can take all of your own luggage off Princess and leave anytime you want. You only have to wait if they take some of your luggage the night before. Breakfast is served the morning of disembarkation - I think only at the Buffet.

[Disneyworld]

Is one of your questions on the day you disembark to return home, you have a 1 pm flight? and you'd like to see some of Vancouver before flying home on that day?

Well, according to these posts, having a 1 pm flight, going directly fromthe ship, you will be just about making your flight, certainly not leaving any Vancouver touring time.

Our flight on disembarkation is at 12:50 (just about your flight time) and after reading some of these posts, I am thinking of hiring a limo to get us to the airport on time since getting a cab, doing customs, etc. takes a lot of time and having a limo waiting should help with some of that.

[cruiseryyc]

Regarding your flight home, the previous poster was correct - with a 1:00 p.m. flight you will only have time to get off the ship, go through Canada Customs & Immigrations, travel to the airport, check in, go through security and US Customs & Immigration, then get on your plane.

[PK4SC]

My suggestion would be to at the very least see what is happening in Whittier or take a PWS tour and have them drop you at the ship afterward. They will keep your luggage for you. There will be plenty of time on the ship over the seven days period. The idea is to see Alaska right.

 

That being said, I believe they will start the embarkation around 12:30 p.m. The last chance to embark I believe is one half hour prior to sailing. You can check in to the ship and then get off and look around Whittier and get back on before 9:00 p.m. or whenever they recommend. How long it takes to process just depends on when you arrive. If you arrive with the crowds early then it could take longer but if you embark after the crowds (say around two or later) then you can process on board in a matter of minutes. That is providing you took care of providing all of your information on line and have printed your boarding pass.

 

I hear that the debarkation at Vancouver is very easy most of the time and goes quickly. If you are concerned you can sign up for the princess transfer and do the US direct (which is what we are doing and I think is well worth the cost). By the way Princess usually serves breakfast in the dining room as well on the debarkation morning. Enjoy.:D

[designsbyjuju]

My suggestion would be to at the very least see what is happening in Whittier or take a PWS tour and have them drop you at the ship afterward. They will keep your luggage for you. There will be plenty of time on the ship over the seven days period. The idea is to see Alaska right.

 

That being said, I believe they will start the embarkation around 12:30 p.m. The last chance to embark I believe is one half hour prior to sailing. You can check in to the ship and then get off and look around Whittier and get back on before 9:00 p.m. or whenever they recommend. How long it takes to process just depends on when you arrive. If you arrive with the crowds early then it could take longer but if you embark after the crowds (say around two or later) then you can process on board in a matter of minutes. That is providing you took care of providing all of your information on line and have printed your boarding pass.

 

I hear that the debarkation at Vancouver is very easy most of the time and goes quickly. If you are concerned you can sign up for the princess transfer and do the US direct (which is what we are doing and I think is well worth the cost). By the way Princess usually serves breakfast in the dining room as well on the debarkation morning. Enjoy.:D

 

We did not find disembarkation in Vancouver last week quick or easy. Hopefully, it was just a fluke..but we had to meet in Explorers lounge at 8:45. They did not let us out of there until 10:15. We then had quite a long line for customs, and did not get to our hotel until after 11:30am.

 

Anything can happen when it comes to customs. Our bags were some of the earliest left out the night before and the ship docked on time, yet they told us there were issues with getting luggage off the ship, and there was some issue with customs that day..I think they only had 2 agents at first, or something like that, and there were 2 or 3 ships!

 

Point is, anything can happen. I was disappointed because I had planned my day to the T and obviously, the plans changed. Next time I will be sure to allow ample time for disembarkation..hope for the best, plan for the worst and don't set my expectations too high. Above all else, if you have a flight that day, be sure to book a transfer through Princess as those that have to get somewhere are a priority. If you do it on your own, you are truly on your own..they won't care if you have a flight or not.

 

Julie

[designsbyjuju]

My suggestion would be to at the very least see what is happening in Whittier or take a PWS tour and have them drop you at the ship afterward. They will keep your luggage for you. There will be plenty of time on the ship over the seven days period. The idea is to see Alaska right.

 

That being said, I believe they will start the embarkation around 12:30 p.m. The last chance to embark I believe is one half hour prior to sailing. You can check in to the ship and then get off and look around Whittier and get back on before 9:00 p.m. or whenever they recommend. How long it takes to process just depends on when you arrive. If you arrive with the crowds early then it could take longer but if you embark after the crowds (say around two or later) then you can process on board in a matter of minutes. That is providing you took care of providing all of your information on line and have printed your boarding pass.

 

I hear that the debarkation at Vancouver is very easy most of the time and goes quickly. If you are concerned you can sign up for the princess transfer and do the US direct (which is what we are doing and I think is well worth the cost). By the way Princess usually serves breakfast in the dining room as well on the debarkation morning. Enjoy.:D

 

ps. we liked embarking early. My parents are the same way..they always embark as early as they can. Some folks just like to get on the ship and relax the first day. We enjoyed walking around, having a cocktail..or 2..or 3 :), taking a tour of the spa etc. We had already done a lot in the previous few days. If we hadn't, we may have opted for the PWS tour..but personally, I can't imagine doing an all day tour before embarking. I'd be too stressed. LOL

[mtnhappy]

Thanks everyone for the info!

 

It's a bummer that we already have our airplane tickets booked because we were really hoping to walk around Vancouver for a little bit before our departure. I guess we'll have to go with the Princess transfer and not see any of Vancouver. At least we'll get bfast before we get off....

 

You can take all of your own luggage off Princess and leave anytime you want. You only have to wait if they take some of your luggage the night before. Breakfast is served the morning of disembarkation - I think only at the Buffet.

 

Is it true that you can take your own luggage off the ship? I thought you HAD to leave it out the night before and have them take care of it?

[NWWanderer]

If you don't need any assistance with your luggage, then yes, you can take your own off.

[L.J.]

OK ... I need to get this clear so I can let my DH come up with this idea on his own ;) I don't have to put my luggage out the night before if we are going to lug it off by ourselves. We can disembark at our leisure, dragging the luggage behind us, and catch a taxi to our hotel (we are staying an extra day in Vancouver so we can see a little of it). No waiting to be released, no hunting for luggage, only have to wait for customs and taxi .... sounds like DH has a plan!

[Grommet]

We are planning on taking the PWS tour from 1:30-5:30pm. We are debating whether we should check-in our bags and into the ship first and come back out for the tour or if we should go straight to the tour, store our bags with them, and check in after? Will they provide transportation to the cruise ship after the tour or is it within easy walking distance? We will probably have quite a bit of luggage with us so we're hoping transportation will be provided.

 

Also, we plan to visit the AWCC before our PWS tour - what time should we aim for the tunnel to ensure we'd not miss our PWS tour? 10:30, 11:30 or 12:30pm? I guess my question is how long does it take to get from one side of the tunnel to the other and arrive at the PWS tour location?