SUPER ALASKA CRUISE
E. Day 1 Part 1
Vancouver and Boarding
Vancouver Downtown Picture
I arrived in Vancouver a day before sailing because I wanted to make sure I made it to the boat. Since my airline travel was not made through the cruise line, I was responsible for getting my self to the dock before sailing. Making your own airline reservation, or having your travel agent book the reservations has the following advantages.
- The airfare could be much cheaper (I paid less than half of the cruise line’s published fare).
- The cruise line will likely fly you into Seattle and make you then take a 3 ½ hour bust ride up to Vancouver, while you can choose to fly into Vancouver ( http://www.yvr.ca/ ) if you make your own reservation.
- The cruise line may make you take an indirect connecting flight, on an airline you do not like, at an inconvenient time with a long layover. You may have to depart before 7AM in your home city. Also you may have to take an overnight flight (red-eye special) on the way home.
- You will not receive your flight itinerary until shortly before your day of departure, making long term planning difficult.
But, there are some advantages in booking your airline reservations through your cruise line.
- The most important advantage is that you are guaranteed to get on your cruise. If you make your airline reservations through the cruise line, the line is responsible for getting you to your ship once you have boarded the first leg of the flight. On my cruise I saw this policy in action. There were several late fights. First, the ship departed about 30 minutes late because of one late fight. Then right after the ship left the dock another late flight was discovered. The ship waited for an additional 45 minutes in the bay outside of Lion’s Gate Bridge. These passengers were boarded onto a small speed boat (maybe 20 feet long) and driven out to the ship. They then boarded through a hatch in the side of the ship.
- If your bags are delayed by the airline the cruise line may provide you with clothing allowances and will send them on to the next port.
- If you are making last minute travel arrangements the cruise line fares may be better than those booked separately.
- If you purchase cancellation insurance through the cruise line, it will cover the airfare only if the airline reservation is made through the cruise line, but it will not cover non-refundable tickets or change penalty if the tickets are purchased separately.
- If the cruise line should cancel your cruise and/or offer you a different day of sailing, the cruise line would be responsible for arranging appropriate flights without penalty. But you may be hit with worthless non-refundable tickets or a high rebooking penalty if your flights are booked separately.
Customs in Vancouver Airport (at least for US citizens) is very easy.
1. Make sure you fill out the customs declaration form given to you as you checked in for your flight.
2. When you get off your plane you will go to an immigration area where you will show your passport and the customs form and be asked why you are entering Canada. You will say going on an Alaska cruise, they will stamp your form and you will proceed to the baggage room.
3. In the baggage room there are luggage carts available at no charge. You will retrieve your luggage from the appropriate carousel. As your party leaves you will turn in the stamped customs form. You are now in Canada.
Note: The easiest and cheapest way of getting Canadian currency (at the best rate with the lowest fees) is through an ATM machine in Canada. As soon as you leave the baggage room there is an ATM machine of the Royal (Trust?) Bank of Canada that belongs to most major ATM organizations. (Also, in most of Vancouver (including taxis) American Currency is accepted, albeit at a less favorable exchange rate.) In the downtown area of Vancouver there are lots of banks with lots of ATM machines.
The cost to get from the airport to the downtown area (where the hotels and the docks are) is very reasonable. A taxi ride is $22-27 (Canadian) including tips. (Note: the Canadian dollar was worth about 2/3 of an American dollar when I went on my trip.) There is also a bus service (Airporter) that will take you to major downtown hotels and both cruise ship piers for $10 a person. (Note: This may be the easiest way to get back to the airport at the end of your journey because the taxi line will be very long at the dock.) The Airporter picks up right outside of the door when you exit the airport. Tickets can be purchased either at the information desk as you exit or at a kiosk after you exit.
Map of Downtown
Vancouver 
The Alaskan cruise ships depart from one or two port terminals in downtown Vancouver (Canada Place and Ballantyne Pier). Canada Place is in the downtown area adjacent to the business district where there are lots of large hotels, office buildings, shopping centers etc. Ballantyne Pier is in an industrial area a few blocks away (much too far to walk). Since the taxi fare between the two locations is less then $10 Canadian (including tip) and the ride is no more than 10 minutes in heavy traffic, do not use the departure pier as a factor in deciding on your cruise vacation. In addition, since you will have lots of luggage, you will be taking a taxi anyway from your hotel (unless you are staying in the hotel at Canada Place) so the additional cost to get to Ballantyne Pier will be even more minimal. If you are arriving directly from the airport or from Seattle, there will be no difference in cost. Make sure you look through all your paperwork from the cruise line when you get your tickets to determine which dock your ship departs from (call the cruise line if you cannot find this information). Many cruise lines use both piers, depending on the sailing. (Note: It is a daily occurrence for passengers to arrive at one dock, unload their luggage, walk around the dock, only to find that they are at the wrong place. They then have to hail a taxi, re-load the luggage into the car, and ride over to the other dock.) As a check, you may want to check out the web side for the Port of Vancouver (http://www.portvancouver.com), it has the schedule for Alaskan cruise ship sailings for both docks for the whole season.
It rained heavy the day I arrived in Vancouver and the morning of my departure, but about the time I was checking out of my hotel it stopped raining and was nice for the rest of the day.
Here is a picture of the Norwegian Wind at Vancouver's Ballantyne Pier
The Norwegian Wind (for my voyage) left from Ballantyne Pier. As soon as you get out of your taxi/bus you will place your bags in cargo bins for loading onto the ship. Therefore, make sure you have attached the luggage tags you received when you got your tickets (make sure you put the stateroom number on the tags). If you are arriving by cruise provided transportation the luggage will go directly from the bottom of the bus to the ship, so make sure that it has the tags with stateroom numbers before you get on your flight. Because I stayed the night before in a Vancouver hotel, I arrived at about noon. After depositing my luggage in the cargo bin I went into the building where I went to a counter for check in. I gave them my ticket and showed them my passport. I was issued my boarding pass (the boarding pass has your room number and your dinner seating time/table/room on it). I then went through a security checkpoint to an upstairs waiting room. Even though the literature said boarding would begin at 1pm, they started letting us aboard at 12:30.
Note in the waiting areas there are racks of free Alaska information. Pick up a package, it contains coupons good for bargain priced or free souvenirs in all the ports you visit.
In the line to get aboard there was a station where passengers were photographed by the ship’s photographer (photographs available for purchase in a day or so), and a US customs station for persons neither Canadian nor US citizens. Once aboard personnel escorted each passenger to their cabins.
When I got to my stateroom, the room keys (key-cards) information papers, and my pre-reserved excursion tickets were sitting on the dressing desk. You might as well get on the boat as soon as possible since the dining rooms are open for lunch (open seating) when boarding begins. Take time to eat and explore the ship. This would also be a good time to establish your credit account before the lines get long, and to purchase excursion tickets before they sell out.
It took a few hours before the luggage was delivered to my room because of the hundreds of bags that had to be sorted in the ship’s lower level and dragged up to the staterooms. I took the time before sailing to explore the ship, get acquainted with my room, unpack, set my safe combination, eat and relax.
Lifeboat Drill
When I arrived in my stateroom, life vests were on my bed. About 15 minutes before scheduled sailing time there was a mandatory lifeboat drill (if you miss it you will be required to attend a make up session the next day). On the wall by the door there was a diagram showing where my assigned ‘muster station’ was. All passengers were required to put on their life vests and go down to assigned muster stations (mine was on the outside Promenade deck). There a member of the ship’s staff took attendance and showed us the proper way to put on the life vest. (Note: there is a plastic whistle on the life vest, resist the urge to blow on it because you don’t know whose mouth it was in last.) After all passengers had gathered there were announcements over the ship’s public address system explaining emergency procedures and a demonstration of the emergency signal using the ship’s horn and bells.
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