Alaska Cruise Disembarkation day

[Pixie2015]

Looking at an Air Canada flight but not sure of timing.......

Is a 12 noon flight from Vancouver doable or should it be later on disembarkation day???
Is a 1 hour and 50 minute connection in Toronto enough time to get thru customs and make flight?

TIA
Pixie

 

[Yokelridesagain]

I am presuming your final destination is in the United States. If this is the case:

1) Making a noon flight out of Vancouver depends on several things, principally:
-When you get off the ship (early or late breakfast, or skip it altogether)
-How you intend to get to the airport

If you go to the 8:15 breakfast, rely on DCL to get your bags off the ship, and go to the cab stand, you will likely miss the flight. If you carry your own bags off, leave at the earliest opportunity, and carry your bags to the train, you'll be fine. If it's a mixture of those options, it could be tight--the biggest delay is getting a taxi directly from the port.

2) No concerns about the connection time in Toronto if the flights are on time.

 

[lorenni]

You can also book a car service to take you from the port to the airport. That’s what we’re doing. $150 and the SUV fits 6 people and 5 suitcases. They’ll wait for us and we won’t wait at all!

Small price to pay not to worry about an airport scramble due to line ups for cabs or long waits for uber XL.

Edited to add: price above includes taxes and gratuity. Base price is $120.

 

[Van Houten]

We disembarked this Monday, Aug. 6. Our luggage group was 8th out of 10 (late seating / 8:15 breakfast), and we were not allowed to leave the ship until approximately 9:45. The entire disembarkation in Vancouver was very slow compared to PC, public areas of decks 3 and 4 were packed, and those who had first seating and early breakfast were still waiting when we finished our breakfast. Folks who opted to carry their own luggage were invited to disembark around 7:45.

You can make it from the port to the airport in under 45 minutes by taking Canada Line, this way you will not be impacted by the traffic. The train's terminal is near the port, elevators available. A lot less expensive than a taxi; ticket terminals accept credit cards.

 

[MillauFr]

Taking the train is the best way to ensure you won't get stuck in traffic.

 

[Van Houten]

Train costs $4.20 (CAD) for each adult, $2.90 for seniors and kids 5-18 on a weekday. No additional charges for luggage. Our disembarkation Monday fell on a holiday, so we paid even less ($2.95 and $1.90 respectively). We had a stroller and a rollaboard, kids carried their backpacks, and I pulled two 25" suitcases with boarding bags on top of them. Very manageable.

 

[southerngirl528]

The entire disembarkation in Vancouver was very slow compared to PC,

I entirely agree with this. It was quite a zoo when we disembarked in Vancouver on our Alaksa cruise 4 years ago. Good suggestions from PP!

 

[Van Houten]

It was quite a zoo

Didn't want to say it quite that way, but that's exactly what it looked like this past Monday. Folks napping in chairs and on the floor, MDR entrances nearly completely blocked off with bags, and multiple lines from gangway in atrium every time a new group was called, almost reaching Tiana's Palace. Very unlike Disney, more in line with what I remember on NCL.

It did clear up a bit once all the "girl" tags were called, "boy" groups were being called more quickly one after another.

 

[Pixie2015]

Ugh. Sounds like when we disembarked after hurricane Matthew as we spent 2 more days at sea (not complaining about that part) so I know that chaos and since we are taking dcl transportation I am thinking my comfort level would be very stressed with a 12 noon flight so will probably book AA evening flight to Phoenix and then an overnight connection to philly. Just to be a little less stressed!!

 

[southerngirl528]

Didn't want to say it quite that way, but that's exactly what it looked like this past Monday. Folks napping in chairs and on the floor, MDR entrances nearly completely blocked off with bags, and multiple lines from gangway in atrium every time a new group was called, almost reaching Tiana's Palace. Very unlike Disney, more in line with what I remember on NCL.

LOL! I didn't mean to be tacky about it, but a zoo is a zoo, eh? But I should have been clearer. Our "zoo" was not as much onboard the Wonder as it was in the terminal once we stepped off the ship. As much as we loved our Alaska cruise, and yes, I would do it again, but our experience in the port terminal in Vancouver was the worst I have personally ever experienced. I felt like part of a herd of cattle being pushed and shoved into spaces that were clearly NOT big enough for the numbers of souls.

 

[lilsonicfan]

We have disembarked in Vancouver a couple of times not with DCL and I agree it is chaos. Definitely consider the train as it isn't far from the port and is cheap. It's something like 30-35 minutes to get from Waterfront to the airport.

 

[Mich123]

My DD22 ate breakfast at Cabana's at 7 a.m. (and it was really good, definitely something to consider) and then walked off with her luggage at 8 a.m. and got a taxi at 8:04 a.m. She was at the airport by 8:40 a.m. and walked through customs (for the US) easily. We'd been worried about a flight earlier than 12 p.m., but it wasn't an issue at all. I regret not booking her an 11 a.m. flight, which would have been much easier to NYC, but I'm sure that would have made all of us nervous.

 

[jnsma]

We just got off the ship this past week and connected thru Toronto, so a few comments...
We were the 2nd or 3rd luggage tags to get called to depart. The ship does not dock until 7am (saw on embarkation that the ship was ready in the harbor but no one showed up at the dock to receive the lines), so it does take time to get all the luggage off and it is done in stages. We used Disney transportation, so they knew our flight time (noon). I'm not sure if that is why we were in an early group or dumb luck. We ran into traffic getting to the airport and it took a while. Since you are going "domestic" it is a different terminal than almost everyone else and it was pretty efficient getting through security.
We ran into problems with weather in Toronto and it delayed our flight out. We assumed we'd miss our connection, but Air Canada kept saying that Toronto was not accepting any flights so our connection would be late as well. I got the feeling that they didn't want to deal with it until it was known that we wouldn't make it but it seemed obvious to us. The line to talk to customer service in Vancouver got extremely long. The problem was Air Canada was not letting planes to Toronto take off until the weather cleared. So once it did clear, our flight from Vancouver took 4.5 hours but our connection came from a much closer place. So we missed our flight. AC had reps when we arrived waiting with boarding passes for a flight first thing in the morning.
In Toronto you will have to go through US customs so that does take some time. Air Canada seems fine with ~1.5 in the connection. You shouldn't need to pick up your bags as they should go through to your final destination, but your bags are "scanned" and must be scanned before you can go through customs. We ran into a problem the next morning that our bags, which AC kept were not processed the night before. We had to go retrieve the bags, check them and go through customs again. It was quite a mess at 5am after almost no sleep.
I totally understand it is weather related and uncontrollable, AC was good at having us rebooked and helping us make the flight once the baggage issue came up, but they were not proactive to rebook us and they really messed up not processing the bags to our new flight.

 

[ofcabbagesandkings]

Wow! Thanks posters for the recaps, we'll definitely just be bringing carryons and plan to take the train.

 

[arlopop]

We got off a couple weeks back and I don’t quite know what the problem was but it took forever to disembark. We had the third luggage tags called and we didn’t disembark until nearly 10:00. And then we had to make our way through customs which was time-consuming. It may have been a one time thing (there was discussion that 3 ships disembarking slowed things up), but I was glad we didn’t have a flight out that day (we had scheduled a night at the airport Fairmont just so we wouldn’t fret the flight.)

There were quite a few people looking really frazzled about flights that had seemed safe when they booked. The airport customs and security is rather time-consuming as well. After that morning I told my wife that no flight earlier than 2:00 felt safe to make off a cruise out of Vancouver.

If you do express disembarkation, hauling your own luggage, you might stand a chance, but otherwise I would try to book a later flight than noon.

 

[arlopop]

You can also book a car service to take you from the port to the airport. That’s what we’re doing. $150 and the SUV fits 6 people and 5 suitcases. They’ll wait for us and we won’t wait at all!

Small price to pay not to worry about an airport scramble due to line ups for cabs or long waits for uber XL.

Edited to add: price above includes taxes and gratuity. Base price is $120.

We had a car service scheduled as well (there were 6 of us). We felt that it was safe to schedule them at 9:00. I called them shortly before 9 when it appeared we would be late getting off. They said their policy was to wait for 30 minutes and then it was $1 a minute after that. They were also concerned because they had multiple cars waiting at the port for passengers and nobody was getting off. I told them I didn’t know what was going on but there was obviously a significant delay.

I should add, when we did get off and through customs, we waited for the car at the limo stand (you tell the attendant your name and they call the car down.) That took another 20 minutes to get the car and get it loaded as there are only two slots there and you have to wait for the cars in line ahead of yours to get loaded before your car can pull in.

So, convenient - yes. But still no guarantee you will be out of there quickly.

Oh, btw, in Vancouver there is no Uber or Lyft. Vancouver doesn’t permit it, so there are cabs or there are car services. That’s it.

 

[Pixie2015]

The American Airlines 5:45pm with the 11:30 overnight connection is sounding better and better !!! I won’t have to stress about making the flight!!

 

[mmmears]

My DD22 ate breakfast at Cabana's at 7 a.m. (and it was really good, definitely something to consider) and then walked off with her luggage at 8 a.m. and got a taxi at 8:04 a.m. She was at the airport by 8:40 a.m. and walked through customs (for the US) easily. We'd been worried about a flight earlier than 12 p.m., but it wasn't an issue at all. I regret not booking her an 11 a.m. flight, which would have been much easier to NYC, but I'm sure that would have made all of us nervous.

We did the express walk off after breakfast in Cabanas. Had no issues with crowds or getting a taxi to the airport. In fact we got there so early I was wishing I had booked us on an earlier flight.

 

[Dug720]

The American Airlines 5:45pm with the 11:30 overnight connection is sounding better and better !!! I won’t have to stress about making the flight!!

Probably smart. I have heard of Vancouver getting fogged in on occasion as well, and that can delay things at the port. Not as often as can happen in Tampa or Galveston, but it can happen.

 

[lilsonicfan]

Oh, btw, in Vancouver there is no Uber or Lyft. Vancouver doesn’t permit it, so there are cabs or there are car services. That’s it.

Totally true (and a huge downside to our beautiful city) but I do want to reiterate that from port, public transportation is the easiest and cheapest way to get to the airport, with the possible exception of a) tons of suitcases or b) mobility issues + tons of suitcases. It is literally one train from start to finish, no connections.