Vancouver, BC day of debarkation

[sleepy425]

Anyone want to give me ideas of what they have done the day they get off the ship in Vancouver?  It is looking like our flight will be 11:30pm that night (can't book it yet, the cruise is June of next year).  I see that there is a luggage service at the port, but for 8 people worth of baggage the cost would be about the cost of getting a hotel room for the day.  But then that brings me to the problem of possibly not being able to get into the room until 4pm, so I am leaning towards booking a hotel the night before also and letting them know we will be there around 9:30 am to start using it.  2 nights for a room with a kitchenette is about $450.  Not cheap, but possibly worth my sanity with 4 kids (10,10, 12, 14...so not small kids but 1 has special needs so having the room for her to decompress would probably be a good idea).

I am willing to entertain other ideas, or hotel recommendations. I still have 11 months until the cruise, but I like to make sure I have my ducks in a row.

[Zacharius]

I will say that I have absolutely no personal experience with Dayuse.com, but their whole thing is that they will source you day rooms at hotels...something some hotels do, and others don't, so having the option to find them on one site is handy. Whether or not you can book them directly with the hotel, or if the website is worthwhile, is not something I can comment on. 

Some in Vancouver have, for example, 9am to 5pm or 10am to 6pm reservations. Something like 10am to 6pm might work well because you would then only need to worry about killing a couple of hours before heading to the airport, which is quite easy to do in Vancouver. 

[sleepy425]

8 minutes ago, Zacharius said:

I will say that I have absolutely no personal experience with Dayuse.com, but their whole thing is that they will source you day rooms at hotels...something some hotels do, and others don't, so having the option to find them on one site is handy. Whether or not you can book them directly with the hotel, or if the website is worthwhile, is not something I can comment on. 

Some in Vancouver have, for example, 9am to 5pm or 10am to 6pm reservations. Something like 10am to 6pm might work well because you would then only need to worry about killing a couple of hours before heading to the airport, which is quite easy to do in Vancouver. 

I have never heard of this, so thank you!  I will definitely check it out.  I appreciate you letting me know!

[jojo03]

Hi there, my wife and I are about to go on Brilliance this Sunday for an Alaskan cruise. Our flight home on debarkation day is not until 10:00pm. We book an excursion through Royal from 9:30am - 4:00pm on the same day. At the end of the excursion, they will take us to the airport with our luggages. At least this way we are not lugging around our luggages in Vancouver for the day and only spending a few hours at the airport. Factor in that we will most likely have dinner afterwards and the waiting won’t be as bad. I hope this is an idea that may help.

[Carotthat]

@sleepy425are you determined for that late flight?

Or choose an earlier one the next day, pick a hotel next to the canadian route on translink and enjoy a day in vancouver...

 

[sleepy425]

4 hours ago, Carotthat said:

@sleepy425are you determined for that late flight?

Or choose an earlier one the next day, pick a hotel next to the canadian route on translink and enjoy a day in vancouver...

 

As of now that is the best option price and stops wise.  We need to get back to the east coast and have lots of JetBlue points - this is a nonstop.

[Carotthat]

46 minutes ago, sleepy425 said:

As of now that is the best option price and stops wise.  We need to get back to the east coast and have lots of JetBlue points - this is a nonstop.

I understand.

In that case dayuse.com is really the best option. I even got the Hilton F&B Voucher after staying at an airport hotel last time for only 6h.

[sleepy425]

7 hours ago, Carotthat said:

I understand.

In that case dayuse.com is really the best option. I even got the Hilton F&B Voucher after staying at an airport hotel last time for only 6h.

Thanks, I had never heard of dayuse so I am really glad I asked here.  It looks like it will be just what we need.

[MLH]

8 hours ago, jojo03 said:

Hi there, my wife and I are about to go on Brilliance this Sunday for an Alaskan cruise. Our flight home on debarkation day is not until 10:00pm. We book an excursion through Royal from 9:30am - 4:00pm on the same day. At the end of the excursion, they will take us to the airport with our luggages. At least this way we are not lugging around our luggages in Vancouver for the day and only spending a few hours at the airport. Factor in that we will most likely have dinner afterwards and the waiting won’t be as bad. I hope this is an idea that may help.

We are there in August. Could you come back and report on your embrkation experience. I have read that it can take up to 3 hours.thanks!

[WesKinetic]

One other option (and I'm not saying this is a great one) is there is bus service between Vancouver and Seattle. So if there is a better-timed flight out of Seattle, that might be something you could consider. 

Having a day in Vancouver would definitely be more fun, for sure. But if you have to be back home by a certain time, Seattle would at least give you some extra options. 

[sleepy425]

14 hours ago, jojo03 said:

Hi there, my wife and I are about to go on Brilliance this Sunday for an Alaskan cruise. Our flight home on debarkation day is not until 10:00pm. We book an excursion through Royal from 9:30am - 4:00pm on the same day. At the end of the excursion, they will take us to the airport with our luggages. At least this way we are not lugging around our luggages in Vancouver for the day and only spending a few hours at the airport. Factor in that we will most likely have dinner afterwards and the waiting won’t be as bad. I hope this is an idea that may help.

I considered something like this but my daughter doesn't do well on vacation, and by the end of this cruise I assume she will be just like every other cruise we've done - unsure what to do with herself and without much coping ability left (thankfully all of our cruises so far have been within driving distance).  I wouldn't want to subject a tour group to her at that point.

This also means a bus to Seattle full of people may be a bit much, but I will check it out.  I considered flying out of Seattle but adding two rental cars and dealing with customs at the border seemed like more hassle than it would be worth.  But I still haven't completely ruled it out, I will look into the bus.

5 hours ago, WesKinetic said:

One other option (and I'm not saying this is a great one) is there is bus service between Vancouver and Seattle. So if there is a better-timed flight out of Seattle, that might be something you could consider. 

Having a day in Vancouver would definitely be more fun, for sure. But if you have to be back home by a certain time, Seattle would at least give you some extra options. 

 

[jojo03]

On 7/25/2023 at 9:15 AM, MLH said:

We are there in August. Could you come back and report on your embrkation experience. I have read that it can take up to 3 hours.thanks!

Hi there, we just finished our Alaskan cruise July 30-August 6. It took my wife and I a total of 2 hours from check in to setting our foot on the ship. We arrived about 1:00pm. What took long was customs. The lineup was huge! It was basically one line for all 3 ships on port. Royal, Celebrity and Holland were all there. We actually arrived at the Port at 9:00am. We dropped off our luggage on ground level and went to the 2nd floor to check in which was a breeze since it was early. They give u a colored ticket afterwards. Since we arrived early, my wife and I walked around downtown for a bit. It was when we came back to get on the ship was when the long wait happened. Hope this helps.
 

[MLH]

1 hour ago, jojo03 said:

Hi there, we just finished our Alaskan cruise July 30-August 6. It took my wife and I a total of 2 hours from check in to setting our foot on the ship. We arrived about 1:00pm. What took long was customs. The lineup was huge! It was basically one line for all 3 ships on port. Royal, Celebrity and Holland were all there. We actually arrived at the Port at 9:00am. We dropped off our luggage on ground level and went to the 2nd floor to check in which was a breeze since it was early. They give u a colored ticket afterwards. Since we arrived early, my wife and I walked around downtown for a bit. It was when we came back to get on the ship was when the long wait happened. Hope this helps.
 

Yes Thanks! That is our plan as well I was planning on 9:30 but we will be on East Coast time and will now plan on 9.  We are going to take the shuttle to the Suspension Bridge and will come back to go through customs.