Vancouver Port Arrival - Timing and Spacing questions

[EskiLvr]

Just to be sure that I'm planning appropriately...

The Vancouver Port page indicates to allow for an hour to get through customs prior to reaching your cruise boarding agent to begin the check in process.

Am I correct in thinking that the PAT time does not "start" until *after* you get through Customs? Or is it meant to be the time that you set foot in the terminal? My gut says that it is meant to be the time that you get to the Boarding Agent...

Also: how crowded is the waiting area? Is it Port Canaveral crowded, or is there more seating available?

Thanks!

 

[southerngirl528]

Not entirely sure about your first question, EskiLvr, but we sailed out of Vancouver for an Alaskan cruise 2 years ago and though Canada Place looks pretty on the outside, I thought it was a ZOO until we got through to the actual Disney check-in. I believe there may have been another ship checking in at the same time, but it was like herding cattle. Truly crazy. I know I'm probably a bit spoiled since almost all my cruises have been out of Disney's Port Canveral terminal, which is set up very nicely, IMO.

I don't think they're kidding a bit about the one hour time frame. It easily took us that long. Ugh….

 

[Club Disney Chandler]

I think what OP is asking is; if their PAT is 10:45, is that when they should be there to start going through customs or should they plan on getting there early enough to get through customs so they can start the DCL check-in at 10:45.

 

[xlxo]

When it's the only ship in the Vancouver port... things go smoothly. I'm reading on other forums in recent weeks when more than one ship is docked, you are sent to holding areas. Someone arriving at 11:15am was not on board until 1pm.

If I'm going this year... I would arrive around 10:45am, get processed in security and then wait until my PAT time in the lobby. There's Disney characters for an early start to the photo collection. Wanna be boarded with lots of time before the welcome lunch trough closes at 2pm.

 

[kuhltiffany]

Why would we need to go through customs? Is it US or CAD?

 

[Luvzmy3boys]

We zipped through customs in less than 10 minutes (mostly walking) but I believe the wonder was the only ship sailing that day from Canada place-- this was late August 2014. There was a line for US passport holders and one for everyone else because I believe it is US customs agents as you are leaving Canada for Alaska. After customs, we were directed by CMs to the Disney area which was pretty sparse and not fancy compared to PC but it was big with lots of seating. We had a 10:30 PAT and wandered over from the fairmont waterfront across the street around 10:15. We just had our carry on bag because the bellman dropped our luggage off for us that morning. We had plenty of time to take photos and check in for kids club. By the time they started boarding though the place was fairly full and not everyone could get seats but boarding moved quickly. It was all pretty civilized, perhaps less hectic feeling because of fewer people around.

 

[xlxo]

Why would we need to go through customs? Is it US or CAD?

While Alaska is in the USA.... Vancouver is not.

• It's US customs when you board the Wonder in Vancouver.
• It's Canada customs when you leave the Wonder in Vancouver.

 

[DVC Kathy]

This is a very helpful thread. DH and I are cruising with DB and DSIL in less than a month. DH and I are veteran Disney cruisers, but totally clueless about the process in Vancouver.

On a related question, how does Canadian Customs handle US residents who are passing through Vancouver/Richmond on their way back to the US? Are there regulations about how much I can bring in to Canada from Alaska, even though I'll be leaving Canada for the US in less than 24 hours?

 

[jetskigrl]

Just to be sure that I'm planning appropriately...

The Vancouver Port page indicates to allow for an hour to get through customs prior to reaching your cruise boarding agent to begin the check in process.

Am I correct in thinking that the PAT time does not "start" until *after* you get through Customs? Or is it meant to be the time that you set foot in the terminal? My gut says that it is meant to be the time that you get to the Boarding Agent...

Also: how crowded is the waiting area? Is it Port Canaveral crowded, or is there more seating available?

Thanks!

We had the first PAT for our Alaska cruise (I don't recall if it was 10:30 or 11:00) but went downstairs around 10:15. We were staying at the Pan Pacific so they had taken our bags directly to the ship for us. At that time, we were about the 4th row (switchback) back from the door. They did not open the door for about another 20-30 minutes. After that, we walked to the customs area and waited less that 5 minutes for an agent. He basically looked at our passports and said have a great cruise Then it was on to the DCL check in area. It was really easy but the Wonder was the only ship in port that day.

The waiting area was pretty big and had rows and rows of uncomfortable chairs A lot more seating than PC but more generic. Luckily we were in boarding group 3 and didn't have to wait around long.

 

[EskiLvr]

Thank you, everyone! We do have the 10:30 PAT, and we're staying in the Pan Pacific, so to elevators we'll go at 10:00 or so (I believe there's one other ship there our day of departure).

 

[AngelDisney]

There is one other ship (Pacific Princess which is not a big ship). Now I am worried! I hope it would not be like a zoo. Thanks for the heads up!

 

[Vegam060]

How do u find out if other ships will be in port that day?

 

[KristiMc]

How do u find out if other ships will be in port that day?

http://ports.cruisett.com/

 

[SomePixiedust]

We haven't cruised Disney in many years, so much has changed. What does PAT mean?

 

[jetskigrl]

We haven't cruised Disney in many years, so much has changed. What does PAT mean?

PAT = Port Arrival Time

When you do your online check-in, you will select a time frame (they are done in 1/2 hour blocks) that you expect to arrive at the port (your PAT). Your boarding number should be tied to the PAT so if you have an earlier PAT, you should have an earlier boarding number. But I'm not 100% sure that the Vancouver ports works the same way as PC (with how closely tied those two numbers are).

 

[Jess_S]

We did Disney Alaska last September. It was a special circumstance because embarkation fell on a holiday and there weren't enough customs agents available for the number of people boarding. (It was us and an NCL ship). I would imagine that your embarkation will go much smoother than ours, but we found the non-Disney part of embarkation to be really disorganized. I definitely wished I had arrived before our designated arrival time. (We wound up boarding an hour after our PAT.) I also wished that we had snacks. I was thinking we'd be at the buffet pretty quickly and didn't bring anything. That led to one very grumpy toddler (and two grumpy parents).

 

[DizMagic]

Looks like Norwegian Sun is at Port same day as us (8/31/15 sailing). Has about 2,000 passengers - hopefully it won't be too bad.
thanks for link KristiMc

 

[SomePixiedust]

PAT = Port Arrival Time

When you do your online check-in, you will select a time frame (they are done in 1/2 hour blocks) that you expect to arrive at the port (your PAT). Your boarding number should be tied to the PAT so if you have an earlier PAT, you should have an earlier boarding number. But I'm not 100% sure that the Vancouver ports works the same way as PC (with how closely tied those two numbers are).

Thanks! This is definitely different from the last time we cruised (8 years ago)

 

[Kalinda00]

If we get there and manage to clear customs faster than expected (fingers crossed) will they let us go in earlier even if we have a later PAT?

 

[Bill B.]

There is one other ship (Pacific Princess which is not a big ship). Now I am worried! I hope it would not be like a zoo. Thanks for the heads up!

I just checked out the Pacific Princess stats and it says she only holds 680 passengers. That should not be a problem at all. What could be a problem is we are the first trip to Alaska out of Vancouver for the year (for the Wonder). I'm sure there will be some hiccups along the way until the employees get used to the system again. The DVC members departed out of a different port on their cruise this week but will be returning to Vancouver. Have a great trip and quit worrying and start enjoying the fact you're only a few days away from a great experience (at least that's how I'm looking at it). We'll see you on board!