Vancouver airport help please!

[Racer X]

Finally planning for our summer Alaska Cruise!

We are going to fly in 3 days early to enjoy the city and give plenty of time before the cruise. My question is how to fly out. We are flying to east coast, most flights leave mega early or mega late! What is the earliest realistic flight do you think we could catch the day of disembarking? OR if getting a late flight of 10 or 11pm, what would you recommend doing that day with luggage, etc? I would hate to "ruin" the whole trip by either rushing when getting off the ship, or lugging around luggage all day and trying to stay awake for a late flight. I guess the advantage would be sleeping on the way back!

Or plan B would be to stay in town that Monday and fly out the next day.

Any advice or prior experiences would be greatly appreciate.

 

[mhorgan65]

There is a luggage shipping service at the port, so you can have your bags sent over to the YVR airport, and then maybe do some activities. I know the Fairmont at the YVR (Vancouver Airport) has dayrooms like the Hyatt at MCO! Staying an extra day is not a bad idea as Vancouver has some nice activities.

 

[xlxo]

For same day debarkation flights.... best not to choose anything earlier than 12pm. You need time to debark, time to get to the airport, and 3 hours preflight for check-in, customs and security searches.

With regards to luggage....

• cruise terminal can forward them to the airport for about $40
• cruise terminal can hold luggage until 4pm for a fee
• some say the Pan Pacific will hold luggage or a fee too... especially if you want to get past 4pm

If you have never been to Vancouver.... lots of activities to keep you busy for several days. If cost is a concern.... airport suburb hotels offer great multi-day savings compared to staying adjacent to the cruise terminal.

To clarify.... which sailing date are you on? I can review your Monday hotel options with availability.

 

[Kontos]

Have you looked into flights out of Bellingham? It's only about a 75 min drive from Vancouver.

 

[MunFam]

Vancouver is one of our favorite cities. I would stay an extra day and fly out the next morning. There is SOOO much to do there. Granville Island Public Market is one of our favorites. We also enjoyed spending time in Stanley Park, walking the sea wall and getting coffee at Tim Hortons.

 

[mhorgan65]

Another option is flying out of Seattle and that way you could get more flights. Would require taking the train but there are buses that go down there.

 

[Geomom]

We did the red-eye flight (10:30PM) from Vancouver to Boston with a change of planes in Toronto. We booked a Landsea tours (www.vancouvertours.com) all day post-cruise excursion--the Sea to Sky Tour (currently $120/adult, $70/child 12 and under, CAD). They picked us and our luggage up from the port by 10AM, we stopped at multiple places--Horseshoe Bay, scenic stops along Howe Sound, Brittania Mine Museum, Shannon Falls, and the Sea to Sky Gondolas.) After the tour is over they can drop you and your luggage off at the airport--I think we got to the airport around 6PM. It was a great way to spend the day--they use small buses, our excursion had a total of 19 people on it. (They do have other post-cruise tours that they offer.)

But...I will say the red-eye flight was really rough on my 12 yr old...the rest of us could deal with it. DH and I just felt we weren't going to sleep anyway if we had a 6-6:30AM flight the next morning due to how early we would have wanted to be at the airport--so if we weren't going to sleep, we might as well be flying home overnight.

And as far as the earliest flight, I think they recommend flying out after Noon. The airport is 1/2 hour drive from port without traffic.

 

[tigerchic89]

I'd ask at the hotel where you are staying pre-cruise. They might hold your bags since you already stayed 3 nights, or they might give you a good price on day room.

Our flight from Alaska (6/2017) left around 4. We dawdled getting off the ship, took DCL transport, and were still at the airport by 10:30 or 11. My mom was able to get on an earlier flight, but that wasn't an option for us. It felt like we sat in that airport FOREVER.. we were so early, we couldn't check out bags yet. While I know you can't bank on 10:30-11 arrival, you could look into your airlines' schedule and policy on switching to an earlier flight, etc.

 

[bumbershoot]

Another option is flying out of Seattle and that way you could get more flights. Would require taking the train but there are buses that go down there.

But there are only two trains a day. One too early for a cruiser and one late. So they have the same issue.

 

[RedSox68]

We did round-trip from east coast to Seattle and took the gorgeous Amtrak train round-trip to Vancouver. Even with the train fare, we saved a few hundred on airfare and had plenty of time options for flights.

 

[Racer X]

Thanks everyone for all the input and very helpful suggestions! Until you have actually done this yourself it is a bit overwhelming with all the planning!

The cruise is Mon-Mon. We are planning to fly in Friday to have a good 2.5 days to sight see. Currently looking into the Pan Pacific.. expensive yes, but at this point everything is relevant...

As some of you have said, its either a REALLY EARLY flight, one which you would not sleep the night before anyway, or might as well take a late flight and sleep on the plane! Still looking at all flight options out of some neighboring cites as well.

Thanks again

 

[tink1970]

The Pan Pacific is lovely! We stayed there before our AK trip 5 years ago and it was so nice as well as convenient.

I agree with PP who don't recommend a flight earlier than noon. I was worried about the tight connection so DD and I took our time getting to the airport and stayed one night at the Fairmont at the hotel.Our room was ready early and it was a lovely hotel as well. Took an early flight and home smoothly. Lots of decisions I know but it's a great cruise!

 

[Geomom]

Thanks everyone for all the input and very helpful suggestions! Until you have actually done this yourself it is a bit overwhelming with all the planning!

The cruise is Mon-Mon. We are planning to fly in Friday to have a good 2.5 days to sight see. Currently looking into the Pan Pacific.. expensive yes, but at this point everything is relevant...

As some of you have said, its either a REALLY EARLY flight, one which you would not sleep the night before anyway, or might as well take a late flight and sleep on the plane! Still looking at all flight options out of some neighboring cites as well.

Thanks again

If you're staying 3 nights, take a look at the Westin Bayshore and look for the 'pay your birth year' deal. First night is rack rate, then the next 2 nights, you pay the last 2 digits of your birth year. With the exchange rate we ended up paying $191 USD/night--about $575 total for the 3 nts. We did take a taxi to port due to the amount of luggage we had--but it cost less than $10. Westin Bayshore is right near Stanley Park--so you can walk there, and you can walk to the port area--but I wouldn't want to do it with luggage. Vancouver airport has flat taxi rates to/from the airport--so it costs around $35CAD to get to anywhere in the port area.

 

[RedSox68]

Thanks everyone for all the input and very helpful suggestions! Until you have actually done this yourself it is a bit overwhelming with all the planning!

The cruise is Mon-Mon. We are planning to fly in Friday to have a good 2.5 days to sight see. Currently looking into the Pan Pacific.. expensive yes, but at this point everything is relevant...

As some of you have said, its either a REALLY EARLY flight, one which you would not sleep the night before anyway, or might as well take a late flight and sleep on the plane! Still looking at all flight options out of some neighboring cites as well.

Thanks again

We loved Pan Pacific -- stayed four nights and got a terrific deal by pre-paying for the stay -- even got the bridge view. They will come and take your luggage right to the port -- you just go to the lobby and take the elevator down to the terminal entrance. So convenient. And it is right next to the plaza where the Olympic Torch is stationed. Lovely walking paths along the water also.

There is an escalator inside that will take you to the mall underneath -- where there are plenty of eating places.

Be sure to see Stanley Park and have a Jappa Dog (they are amazing). We loved Vancouver -- one of our favorite cities now. We bought tickets for the Pink hop on/hop off and got one day free.

 

[tigger2002]

We did the red-eye flight (10:30PM) from Vancouver to Boston with a change of planes in Toronto. We booked a Landsea tours (www.vancouvertours.com) all day post-cruise excursion--the Sea to Sky Tour (currently $120/adult, $70/child 12 and under, CAD). They picked us and our luggage up from the port by 10AM, we stopped at multiple places--Horseshoe Bay, scenic stops along Howe Sound, Brittania Mine Museum, Shannon Falls, and the Sea to Sky Gondolas.) After the tour is over they can drop you and your luggage off at the airport--I think we got to the airport around 6PM. It was a great way to spend the day--they use small buses, our excursion had a total of 19 people on it. (They do have other post-cruise tours that they offer.)

But...I will say the red-eye flight was really rough on my 12 yr old...the rest of us could deal with it. DH and I just felt we weren't going to sleep anyway if we had a 6-6:30AM flight the next morning due to how early we would have wanted to be at the airport--so if we weren't going to sleep, we might as well be flying home overnight.

We did the same thing, got off the boat and went on a six hour tour with Sea to Sky Tour (They picked us and our luggage up from the port by 10AM, we stopped at multiple places--Horseshoe Bay, scenic stops along Howe Sound, Brittania Mine Museum, Shannon Falls, and the Sea to Sky Gondolas.)
The tour was fantastic. I would highly recommend it. It was much more than we expected.

 

[IBelieveInTheMagic]

We've done two Alaska cruises from Vancouver with our most recent one this past August. I agree with you, flying home to the East coast the flights were terrible. For the cruise in 2013, I booked us with two one way tickets on two different airlines as it was the cheapest and allowed a flight time around 12 noon going home. In 2013 it was United going to Vancouver and American coming home. This past August we did American RT and they were the only one I found with a departure of 1pm but it got tricky later. I booked the airfare the day the schedule was released so almost a year out. We were RT from where we live then the flights changed later down the road where we would not have made our flight to Vancouver or coming home through DFW as the flights were leaving earlier jacking up the connections. So, we switched to another city, almost 1.5 hours away but it was really our only choice. Then, literally the night before we were to get up at 2am to drive there, we got a call at 8pm the flights leaving RDU were delayed and again, I knew we wouldn't make our connection in DFW to YVR. I called the, spent at least 2-3 hours on the phone and now we were out of CLT which is about 2 hours but it ended up being the same flight times. WHAT A MESS. My advice - look for one way routes with all the airlines as usually, not always, they will allow that. Also - have a back up plan just in case because if you do find a 12-1pm flight home they appear to be rare so if something happens to that flight, you'll need to decide if you'll stay another night and just catch the first flight home in the morning.

As many others have said, extra time in Vancouver is never a bad thing and it remains among our very favorite places in the world. It truly is an amazing city and so much to see and do. It's become part of our Alaskan adventures and we always get excited for Vancouver.

We stayed at the Pan Pacific both cruises and as mentioned, very nice, primo location and very easy (book early).

Good luck!
Heather

 

[Racer X]

Thanks so much for all the replies! Lots of great ideas and suggestions, i sincerely appreciate all of them! There really is no replacement for talking with someone who has already been there and done that, and learning from the first hand experience.

The one thing i want to be sure to do is not be "penny-wise and dollar-foolish" and try to rush out of there. An extra nite at a hotel is certainly not going to break the bank... heck, that thing is already beyond broken!

I will look into the Sea to Sky tours, that seems like a fun way to spend our last day in Vancouver. Then, either take a red eye, or spend the night at the onsite hotel, and grab the early flight home. This will allow us to enjoy the day, and in the morning not be stressed about waking up at 3 or 4am to make a daybreak flight.

Thanks again

 

[WeLoveStitch42]

We live on the east coast and flew in to Vancouver the night before the cruise and spent the night at a hotel near the airport. One the way back, we stayed overnight in town at a Marriott near the port. We spent the day exploring on foot around the port, then headed to the airport the next morning. I think our flight out was around noon.

 

[xlxo]

The cruise is Mon-Mon. We are planning to fly in Friday to have a good 2.5 days to sight see. Currently looking into the Pan Pacific.. expensive yes, but at this point everything is relevant...

Vancouver has a very compact downtown with many hotel choices to meet every budget... especially for a multi-night stay. Again, if you share your cruise date.... we can make suggestions based on availability.

 

[anricat]

We ran into the same scenario. What we did was to give our bags to CDS Baggage at the port. For $40 (CAD) they took four of our bags to the Fairmont at the airport. Then we got some day transit passes and spend the day exploring the city. We went to Stanley Park and Gastown. We had already done more sightseeing before our cruise as we flew in two days early. At the end of the day, after we ate dinner (and stopped at a Starbucks for a couple of muffins) we took the train to the airport, checked into the Fairmont where our bags were waiting and went to bed early. The next morning, we woke up, rolled out of bed, gave the little one a muffin to hold her and went right downstairs for our 6:40 AM flight. We got some real breakfast after we cleared security/customs/passport control. It was great! I would have way rather done that than a super late flight. I don't sleep well on planes and neither does DD. And a 6:40 AM flight really helped us get back to our time zone much more easily - that's like 8:40 central time, which is really totally reasonable.