Alaska Disembarkation

[Lawdawg]

I’ve been on several out of port canaveral, and with the exception of one time where fog kept us from coming into port on time, we’ve always been off the ship by 8:00 am. Barring something unforeseen like that, does anyone know if it generally runs that way in Vancouver as well? My flight options are 11:10am or not until 7:00pm that night, which wouldn’t get us back home until about 7:00am the next morning. So, I would definitely prefer the 11:10, but need to be off the ship by 8:00-8:15 to make that I would imagine. Thanks.

 

[xavier2001]

Last June we were off the ship, at the airport and through customs, and eating 'lunch' by 10:30. That was with everything running smoothly. That same cruise the computers at customs went down and people 20 minutes behind us in line had to wait an extra hour in line to get through. By that standard its luck of the draw. I'm not a 'has to fly in the night before' person but I wouldn't book an 11:10 flight.

 

[Racer X]

We did Alaska last summer. Your window seems pretty tight, even with everything being perfect. Don't forget you have to clear customs at the airport also. Our flight was like 6am and it still took a while. With that being said, we did express walkoff to make a tour and we were off the ship pretty quickly in the morning. In a perfect world you could probably make it. I know the idea of flying all night is a drag. For this reason we did a tour on debarkation day, and stayed the night at the airport Fairmont so we would be good to go the next am. Expensive, yes. Sometimes peace of mind can be priceless.

 

[lisaradz]

DCL said not to book a flight before noon. 11:10 would make me too nervous.

 

[cmph]

We have an 11:50am option and I'm too nervous even for that! And as it turns out, the cost of that flight is more for my family than staying the night at a hotel plus next-day flights, so we'll just do that!

 

[Lawdawg]

Last June we were off the ship, at the airport and through customs, and eating 'lunch' by 10:30. That was with everything running smoothly. That same cruise the computers at customs went down and people 20 minutes behind us in line had to wait an extra hour in line to get through. By that standard its luck of the draw. I'm not a 'has to fly in the night before' person but I wouldn't book an 11:10 flight.

As long as the Global Entry kiosks are working, we should be ok, as we have that and would not have to go through the standard customs line. So, that combined with walk off should get us there, but then again, it is a big risk. Any little thing goes wrong and we are doomed. Thanks for info.

 

[Racer X]

Yeah its a gamble. Question is do you want to rush after a nice vacation? If you need to then that's certainly one thing, but if you can spare another day, Vancouver is a great city to tour.

 

[MUN]

I’ve been on several out of port canaveral, and with the exception of one time where fog kept us from coming into port on time, we’ve always been off the ship by 8:00 am. Barring something unforeseen like that, does anyone know if it generally runs that way in Vancouver as well? My flight options are 11:10am or not until 7:00pm that night, which wouldn’t get us back home until about 7:00am the next morning. So, I would definitely prefer the 11:10, but need to be off the ship by 8:00-8:15 to make that I would imagine. Thanks.

My advice is to book the early flight the next day and spend an extra day after the cruise in Vancouver.

MUN

 

[DCL Repeaters]

We were a party of 9 last May, some with mobility issues with a 11:35am flight. This is what worked for us. Met at Cabanas at 6:30 for breakfast, met in the atrium with all of our luggage at 7:15 Doors opened at approximately 7:45, took DCL transfers and had several hours wait for our flight.

 

[Lawdawg]

Yeah its a gamble. Question is do you want to rush after a nice vacation? If you need to then that's certainly one thing, but if you can spare another day, Vancouver is a great city to tour.

It was too much of a gamble to have that hanging over our head. We elected to take the 7:00pm flight and just fly back over night, and rent a car for the day and see some sights in Vancouver before heading to the airport later in the afternoon. Thank you all for the info.

 

[Racer X]

Good luck and have a blast! Just a suggestion, you may want to check out LandSea Tours; they have some great tours, can pick you and your luggage up at the port and drop you right at the airport at the end of the tour. We did one and had a great time. They have many to choose from as well.

 

[bcwife76]

Good luck and have a blast! Just a suggestion, you may want to check out LandSea Tours; they have some great tours, can pick you and your luggage up at the port and drop you right at the airport at the end of the tour. We did one and had a great time. They have many to choose from as well.

I second this suggestion. Getting around Vancouver and vicinity in a car can be a PITA. Several people on our Alaska cruise did LandSea after getting off and loved it (we live in Vancouver so obviously went straight home lol)