yes. You can all check-in together at 11am and will stay together thru customs and embarkation.
We did it with no problem as Silver and Gold in our group of 5.
cruising out of Vancouver is a very unique experience.
I'm not sure what your pre-cruise arrival method is but I'll walk you thru the process as best I can.
The Cruise terminal is on the parking level at Canada Place.
You can access it 2 ways:
1. by elevator inside the Pan Pacific Hotel.
(follow the "P" on overhead signs on the Convention Centre floor to locate the designated cruise ship and pkg elevators)
The convention centre is on the ground floor at street level. This is a photo of what you see when you first enter the doors to the hotel from the outside. Walk directly beyond the escalators to find the cruise/garage elevators.
Note: The hotel lobby is located on level 3 where the escalators take you.
We went down at 10:30am
Which takes you to the parking garage at Canada Place directly below the hotel.
2. where you merge with the street level ramp.
Here, you can also self-park or arrive via taxi and shuttle pick-up / drop-off points which are further in.
We are walking toward the terminal with just our carry-on items. Since we were hotel guests at the Pan pacific, bell services collected our checked luggage directly from our room and delivered it to the cruise ship. for anyone bringing their bags, you will see a big sign for the luggage drop-off area once we get inside the Terminal entrance.
entering the main entrance
Here's the luggage drop area - at the big "D" sign to the right of this taxi que.
We arrive at the screening and security line.
Passengers for all cruise lines embarking that day get in this que together.
At this point, Basically it's a 3 step process: Not every step allows photos but I'll try my best.
Here's the official link from the Port Authority describing Embarkation:
http://www.portvancouver.com/cruise/passenger-information/
(Step 1) Passenger screening
Once passengers are ready to board, you must go through passenger screening. At this point, passengers are required to provide attendants with your cruise ticket and identification. If leaving the secure area after check-in, you must pass through passenger-screening again before embarking the ship.
At 10:50pm, we're finally at the front of that initial line about to venture beyond the mysterious frosted panels.
(We may have had to show our passport but I can't remember.)
At 11:00pm we're thru and on our way to U.S. Customs.
(Step 2) U.S. Customs and Border Protection (no photos - sorry!)
As passengers embarking in Vancouver are considered to be entering U.S. jurisdiction once they board the cruise ship, you will go through U.S. Customs and Border Protection. Ten BorderXpress Automated Passport Control (APC) kiosks are available at the Canada Place cruise terminal with the goal of improving passenger experience
Note: These BorderXpress kiosks were New for 2015 so we were among the first to use them.
Local article with photo.
http://www.vancitybuzz.com/2015/05/automatic-passport-control-kiosks-canada-place/
and here's the official YVR website regarding the APC units with photos and attached pdf brochure for assistance.
http://www.yvr.ca/en/business/self-service-border-products/automated-passport-control
U.S. Customs at the Port was where it got a bit heated for our cruise.
As the above article states, there were only 10 automated Kiosks. Each family uses their own, so we had 2 for our particular group. It's relatively quick but it's a computer and everyone must be entered individually - 1 at a time - scan your passport/answer questions/ take a photo. from there you proceed to the Customs agent booth with the printed docs.
Because of the limited space and quantity, along with the utilization of this new technology, there grew a huge bottleneck of gridlock arriving at and working thru the kiosk area.
So we all got detained. After a few hundred of us went through step 1, they seated us in the back rows of the main waiting area with groups already completely checked in. It's a huge area with folding chairs in long rows.
As soon as the kiosks would free up, Homeland Security port personnel would direct guests one row at a time to leave the waiting area and enter the que for customs.
But the problem was, it was 1 person and she had no idea in what order we were initially brought in. so she wound up releasing the DCL rows in reverse order to how they were holding the passengers. And we quickly found ourselves much further back in the process anxiously awaiting our turn to be sent. Which caused several passengers to vent, voicing their complaints!
Finally at 11:30 we were thru customs and directed to the DCL check-in.
(Step 3) Check-in
Once through passenger screening and U.S. Customs and Border Protection, cruise line staff will verify identification and boarding information and provide each passenger with a boarding card as part of the check-in process.
(Our group remained together thru this entire process).
At this point, we got in line together but checked in at 2 separate booths
We were given Boarding Group 3 and positioned ourselves here to enter as a family.
(I can't remember what number my BIL had but we were allowed to board together as a pty of 5)
At 12:00 pm we were walking on the ship.
so this whole process took 1 1/2 hrs. But obviously use it as a guide only. We were the first cruise to Alaska last season, so the timing may vary from the regular schedule. But I hope it proves helpful..
