ALASKA disembarkation

[goingsouth]

I've been reading through all of the latest trip reports from Alaska (thanks to all who take the time!!) and I read that some cruises have experienced late disembarkation times. I read one report that said 10am.

My concern is our 12:45pm flight!

Have any recent Alaskan cruisers missed flights??

joanne

 

[lbgraves]

You need to talk to GS about getting your character tags switched to the first group. Either that or take your own luggage off and you can be one of the first off the ship.

 

[Spwhoney]

Just carry bags off. Its really not that hard. We did it, got up and ready in time to be at the doors when all clear is announced. Only a few ahead of us. Was off the ship, through customs and waiting for our bus in less than 30 min, probably more like 15 min. Just arrange for transportation to be waiting for you.

 

[CruznLexi]

What time was the first character tag called. And what time did you exit the ship. I would prefer not to carry off my bags but will do if no other choice.

 

[Spwhoney]

I really cant remember when tags are called but I want to say starting at 8. I believe all clear was around 7. I think if you let DCL know you have an early flight and they would probably help you get off early. But remember that there would be ALOT of other people getting off at the same tag time. This to me was MUCH slower than carrying own bags. I can understand though if you might have a lot of bags to carry.

 

[ScottFamily2005]

What time was the first character tag called. And what time did you exit the ship. I would prefer not to carry off my bags but will do if no other choice.

They didn't start calling character tags until well into our breakfast, which started at 8:15. So I would say 8:45 or 9:00.

We got off the ship at 10 and there was a twenty minute wait for a taxi.

 

[goingsouth]

Thanks for the replies. We don't mind carrying the bags and I already have a car service reserved. I was just concerned that the ship would not allow disembarkation before 9am. That does not seem to be the case.

Joanne

 

[CruznLexi]

Thanks will continue to monitor it and make my choice in a few weeks

 

[kgsmith]

We had no trouble making a 12:00pm flight after our Alaska cruise.

 

[lbgraves]

The ship isn't cleared in Vancouver until later because it arrives later than at PC. Both on our departure day and the day we left the ship it arrived after 7 a.m. It gets back to PC much earlier.

 

[OrcaPotter]

I think the ship was cleared around 7:45 and the express walk off were called around 7:50. The first tag was called around 8:05. We were Minnie, and were called around 8:40. There was no customs check, shockingly. We just handed over our customs declaration form to an officer, and that was it. No passports needed. The longest wait was for a taxi; took at least 15 minutes to get a van because of all our luggage.

 

[IBelieveInTheMagic]

I just responded to a post about this yesterday I believe so I'm going to copy and paste Bottom line - I think you'll be perfectly fine!

We were on the 6/17 sailing and therefore disembarked 6/24 (this Monday). Our AA flight was at 12:10pm and I was also a little nervous but previous cruisers reassured me.

Initially we were going to do the express walk-off to make sure we had plenty of time but we really didn't want to drag our luggage everywhere in addition to our carry on's. When Ray (cruise director) was giving his disembarkation speech on the tv loop, over and over and over he stated anything prior to 12:30pm was considered early however guest services uses 12:00 noon. They told me that if we didn't automatically get Ariel tags, just call them and they'd send them our way so we would be in the first group to get off which we were fine with. We ended up getting Tinkerbell tags, so I called them and sure enough, w/in 30 minutes the Ariel tags were at my cabin door.

Main/early dining was at 715 for us in Parrot Cay (it was 700 if you had Animators on your last night) and they started calling Express walk off around 7:45-8:00 as I remember. We finished eating breakfast around 8:00 and they called Ariel around 8:15am. We grabbed a porter for the convenience and since we didn't know what to expect and got in a taxi and headed to the airport as we didn't want to wait on a DCL bus to fill up (and save $) and we were at the airport in about 30 minutes I believe, even in traffic. It was $36 with tip.

We went through Customs and everything else with minimal lines and I think we were at our gate around 10. We waited 2 hours and felt like we had plenty of time and I wouldn't hesitate to book a 12pm flight again.

Hope this helps,
Heather

Ps. BEST CRUISE EVER!!!

 

[goingsouth]

Thanks, Heather! I feel much better after reading your response!


joanne

 

[MagicMe]

I know when we sailed in 2011 the customs line at the airport coming into Canada was super long. I was a bit worried about customs leaving but it ended up being fairly quick.

As far as at the terminal, we notified GS and received tags for the first group called. There is not a lot of room so they definitely need to stagger the departures (not like in PC). We got our luggage and proceeded out to the taxis. We actually needed two taxis and got them pretty quickly. Bottom line, we had plenty of time in the airport before the plane even started boarding (and we had an 11:35 flight - only one out that morning that would get us home to the east coast that same day since I had to work the next morning. Sailings were Tuesday to Tuesday that year).