Vancouver BC cruise terminal, Pros and cons

[pachy25]

We will be on the September 23, 2024 cruise to Hawaii. Have heard horror stories about the awful embarkation process here. Some stating they had 2-4 hour waits in line to complete the boarding process. If this is the case, we might just cancel.

 

[sadiecatie]

We will be on the September 23, 2024 cruise to Hawaii. Have heard horror stories about the awful embarkation process here. Some stating they had 2-4 hour waits in line to complete the boarding process. If this is the case, we might just cancel.

This was not our experience on our Alaska sailing out of Vancouver last summer. Embarkation was fast and easy. Also, if you’re concerned about a long wait, I’ve heard lots of people suggest getting a later PAT (or just arriving later in the process).

 

[NAB]

Don’t cancel. We took the Hawaiian cruise out of Vancouver last Oct.

I have seen you tubes saying they were 4 hours in line for another cruise line. There ship was late and everyone came when told to but of course no one moved.

We went smooth for us . We went when we were suppose to. No different from any other port.

 

[sadiecatie]

Also, I will say, if something happened where the ship was late (like NAB mentioned), there’s lots to do around the port in Vancouver. You could drop your luggage and go walk around - it’s not like it’s just the cruise port with nothing to do. I’m not sure why people would just sit around for 4 hours, knowing their ship was late and they wouldn’t be able to get on when planned, when they could go enjoy other things.

 

[happycamper47]

We've never had trouble in Vancouver and we've done 3 DCL AK cruses.

 

[disneyfaninaz]

I've sailed from several different ports with DCL. Vancouver was one of the easiest and best organized.

 

[Flossbolna]

While it seems a bit of a process because you go through several stations that aren’t directly next to each other, we found Vancouver to be an extremely easy port. As someone else said: since it’s in downtown Vancouver: if lines are really long, go for a walk along the water front and come back 45 minutes later. Crowds will have dispersed by then.

 

[tvguy]

Like I posted on the other Vancouver thread, no issues there at all. But again, it was October on what appeared to be half empty ships (2 in port that day). I believe that was just one more cruise coming into Vancouver before it shutdown for the season. We flew in the day of, took the bus to the port, went through the check in process and on the ship with no wait at all.

 

[holula]

It was bad in 2012 when I sailed Alaska. However last year was a really smooth boarding process and I wouldn’t let a poor boarding process (coughSanDiego) stop you from sailing anyway.

 

[bcwife76]

We've sailed from Vancouver four times so far (we also live here), three times to Alaska and once down to San Diego. Never an issue. It gets busy if there are more than 2 cruise ships in port but 2-4 hour waits is a stretch

 

[auntlynne]

Most “horror stories” represent a one-off experience. And/or lead to a change in or cancellation of whatever is so bad.

And sometimes, people continue putting up with less desirable stuff if the payoff is worth it.

I find check-in for activities that involve getting lots of people sorted is often tiresome and seemingly disorganized. A well-oiled machine, sadly, is becoming less the norm.

With foreknowledge of a possible long embarkation process, would it leave a sour taste about the entire cruise - enough to cancel?

I would also wonder how many of these people arrived way earlier than assigned or needed?

Only you know if you should reconsider your plans.

 

[LAS2AMS]

Most “horror stories” represent a one-off experience. And/or lead to a change in or cancellation of whatever is so bad.

And sometimes, people continue putting up with less desirable stuff if the payoff is worth it.

I find check-in for activities that involve getting lots of people sorted is often tiresome and seemingly disorganized. A well-oiled machine, sadly, is becoming less the norm.

With foreknowledge of a possible long embarkation process, would it leave a sour taste about the entire cruise - enough to cancel?

I would also wonder how many of these people arrived way earlier than assigned or needed?

Only you know if you should reconsider your plans.

I have to disagree here. "Horror stories" happen regularly and can happen at any cruise terminal on any cruise line. Reality is, when there's 6,000 - 12,000 people (including employees) trying to get on & off the ship in a short time... $@!# happens.

We had a horrible experience in San Juan on DCL last year. The issue was largely cause by DCL using inexperienced cruise ship employees, rather than contractors, to handle the boarding process + the overwhelming number of people who purchased transfers that gave them priority boarding. The general boarding time fell behind about 90 minutes... mind you it was extremely hot out, there's no vending or concessions (other than locals attempting to sell bottled water at a price that would make even Disney blush) and Disney never bothered to bring out water.

 

[auntlynne]

I have to disagree here. "Horror stories" happen regularly and can happen at any cruise terminal on any cruise line. Reality is, when there's 6,000 - 12,000 people (including employees) trying to get on & off the ship in a short time... $@!# happens.

We had a horrible experience in San Juan on DCL last year. The issue was largely cause by DCL using inexperienced cruise ship employees, rather than contractors, to handle the boarding process + the overwhelming number of people who purchased transfers that gave them priority boarding. The general boarding time fell behind about 90 minutes... mind you it was extremely hot out, there's no vending or concessions (other than locals attempting to sell bottled water at a price that would make even Disney blush) and Disney never bothered to bring out water.

I sailed from San Juan in May. It was not what I expect for boarding any cruise. It was hot and humid standing outside and we couldn’t figure why they didn’t let us queue in the cooler inside (giant area with stanchions in place). After having a line to drop off luggage - that was out of the norm, too.

And reports are that San Diego is routinely a mess.

One person’s horror is another’s “oh, brother, they should do this or that - why can’t they do things like the Germans or Japanese - that’s how we view things. Create a flow chart, build lessons learned, root cause analysis.”

Again, I fully believe if someone will have a trip ruined by this, they should not go down this path / embark in this journey.

I think we had similar experiences, maybe even the same cruise - or it was a bad boarding more than once. I probably just chose to remember it with a different adjective.

A lot of what I post is my opinion, based on what I have lived. I have been very fortunate and not lived through any horror. Maybe it’s just that word applied to disorganization where no one (probably) was injured. Sorry to say I have been watching the news lately and it affected my take on this.

I hope I didn’t rile you up. We all have things we don’t like.

 

[LAS2AMS]

I sailed from San Juan in May. It was not what I expect for boarding any cruise. It was hot and humid standing outside and we couldn’t figure why they didn’t let us queue in the cooler inside (giant area with stanchions in place). After having a line to drop off luggage - that was out of the norm, too.

And reports are that San Diego is routinely a mess.

One person’s horror is another’s “oh, brother, they should do this or that - why can’t they do things like the Germans or Japanese - that’s how we view things. Create a flow chart, build lessons learned, root cause analysis.”

Again, I fully believe if someone will have a trip ruined by this, they should not go down this path / embark in this journey.

I think we had similar experiences, maybe even the same cruise - or it was a bad boarding more than once. I probably just chose to remember it with a different adjective.

A lot of what I post is my opinion, based on what I have lived. I have been very fortunate and not lived through any horror. Maybe it’s just that word applied to disorganization where no one (probably) was injured. Sorry to say I have been watching the news lately and it affected my take on this.

I hope I didn’t rile you up. We all have things we don’t like.

We were on the May 5th sailing (8 nights). We've done more cruises than I'll admit to and have experienced multiple "nightmares" getting on and/ or off the ship. While it's a nuisance, it doesn't deter me from staying away from any specific port; ultimately it's just a few hours of your vacation. And no matter what cruise line and ship you choose, the first day or two is always a mess as people get acquainted with the ship. It's the primary reason we rarely book cruises less than a week in duration.

That said, the San Juan experience would've been far more tolerable if Disney had brought out water, as every other cruise line usually does when lines stretch beyond the waiting room.

 

[tvguy]

We were on the May 5th sailing (8 nights). We've done more cruises than I'll admit to and have experienced multiple "nightmares" getting on and/ or off the ship. While it's a nuisance, it doesn't deter me from staying away from any specific port; ultimately it's just a few hours of your vacation. And no matter what cruise line and ship you choose, the first day or two is always a mess as people get acquainted with the ship. It's the primary reason we rarely book cruises less than a week in duration.

That said, the San Juan experience would've been far more tolerable if Disney had brought out water, as every other cruise line usually does when lines stretch beyond the waiting room.

I get what you are saying. I have always disliked Disney's disembarkation system....... okay, the LACK of a system, cattle call to get off the ship. I much prefer how other lines divide up passengers in public areas, have coffee and juice and pastries for you to munch on, and sometimes entertainment, while you wait for your group to be called to leave the ship. But Disney still doesn't do that, and apparently that is just fine with the majority of Disney cruisers.

 

[auntlynne]

We were on the May 5th sailing (8 nights). We've done more cruises than I'll admit to and have experienced multiple "nightmares" getting on and/ or off the ship. While it's a nuisance, it doesn't deter me from staying away from any specific port; ultimately it's just a few hours of your vacation. And no matter what cruise line and ship you choose, the first day or two is always a mess as people get acquainted with the ship. It's the primary reason we rarely book cruises less than a week in duration.

That said, the San Juan experience would've been far more tolerable if Disney had brought out water, as every other cruise line usually does when lines stretch beyond the waiting room.

We were on the same cruise. ☺. So I have an idea of your experience. We had a fairly early PAT, but were late (compounded with the surprise! luggage drop off.). And they did put us in the line ahead of those with later PATs - but not because we are special or demanded it. We just asked where we should be (since I didn’t realize the other line on arrival.)

There were so many people at the port, seemingly early - they were standing over to the side, near the building. They really could have used water; I imagine they were there a long time, based on our wait.

… Did you go into an empty area once you entered the building, or did they start letting people inside for a queue? I never figured out that aspect - and there were agents not processing people. Just waiting - and they were looking up, ready to work.


I do remember many boarding experiences, good or bad, so I imagine there are people for whom a poorly managed process could be a deal-breaker. And I commend them for knowing and following their feelings.

 

[LAS2AMS]

We were on the same cruise. ☺. So I have an idea of your experience. We had a fairly early PAT, but were late (compounded with the surprise! luggage drop off.). And they did put us in the line ahead of those with later PATs - but not because we are special or demanded it. We just asked where we should be (since I didn’t realize the other line on arrival.)

There were so many people at the port, seemingly early - they were standing over to the side, near the building. They really could have used water; I imagine they were there a long time, based on our wait.

… Did you go into an empty area once you entered the building, or did they start letting people inside for a queue? I never figured out that aspect - and there were agents not processing people. Just waiting - and they were looking up, ready to work.


I do remember many boarding experiences, good or bad, so I imagine there are people for whom a poorly managed process could be a deal-breaker. And I commend them for knowing and following their feelings.

We checked in as soon as we could, but the earliest PAT was 1PM. We had issues with our flights and arrived into San Juan super late, around 4AM. The hotel had agreed to cancel our reservation so after killing a few hours at the airport, we arrived at the port at 8AM. They started boarding the ship on-time but per the time stamp on my photos, we didn't board the ship until well after 2:30PM. They were clearly unprepared -- they never used the waiting room within the terminal and seemed to be caught with their pants down by the number of busses (that received priority boarding). Considering the ship had come out of drydock and had been docked for two days, I thought it was unacceptable.

That said, it was an awesome cruise!

 

[auntlynne]

We checked in as soon as we could, but the earliest PAT was 1PM. We had issues with our flights and arrived into San Juan super late, around 4AM. The hotel had agreed to cancel our reservation so after killing a few hours at the airport, we arrived at the port at 8AM. They started boarding the ship on-time but per the time stamp on my photos, we didn't board the ship until well after 2:30PM. They were clearly unprepared -- they never used the waiting room within the terminal and seemed to be caught with their pants down by the number of busses (that received priority boarding). Considering the ship had come out of drydock and had been docked for two days, I thought it was unacceptable.

That said, it was an awesome cruise!

Wow. Just wow.

So glad you have a positive memory of the cruise! I did a different Southern Caribbean (some repeat ports) with NCL in December (14 nights). I’m enjoying trying new itineraries.

 

[Clarkson U]

We checked in as soon as we could, but the earliest PAT was 1PM. We had issues with our flights and arrived into San Juan super late, around 4AM. The hotel had agreed to cancel our reservation so after killing a few hours at the airport, we arrived at the port at 8AM. They started boarding the ship on-time but per the time stamp on my photos, we didn't board the ship until well after 2:30PM. They were clearly unprepared -- they never used the waiting room within the terminal and seemed to be caught with their pants down by the number of busses (that received priority boarding). Considering the ship had come out of drydock and had been docked for two days, I thought it was unacceptable.

That said, it was an awesome cruise!

So we were on this cruise with
A Noon PAT and had no issues. Arrived at 11:30 to port, dropped off luggage and got in line to enter the terminal. Was in terminal before noon and on the ship before 12:30 and eating lunch by then. Frankly I remember seeing Calantha a little after 12:30-12;45 on embarkation day.

It was smooth for us so I guess there were different experiences for different guests at the same terminal same time.

 

[Clarkson U]

We checked in as soon as we could, but the earliest PAT was 1PM. We had issues with our flights and arrived into San Juan super late, around 4AM. The hotel had agreed to cancel our reservation so after killing a few hours at the airport, we arrived at the port at 8AM. They started boarding the ship on-time but per the time stamp on my photos, we didn't board the ship until well after 2:30PM. They were clearly unprepared -- they never used the waiting room within the terminal and seemed to be caught with their pants down by the number of busses (that received priority boarding). Considering the ship had come out of drydock and had been docked for two days, I thought it was unacceptable.

That said, it was an awesome cruise!

The ship experience was quite different - poor AC, non working aft elevators, power going out randomly in rooms, paint all over balcony, Air handler dripping water etc.

Would not say it was one of our better experiences but it was a great set of ports to go and visit.