Expert: Curtis Thorsen - 8/19/2004

Question
Curtis,
Could you just answer one that you have expertise on?
Thanks.
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Followup To
Question -
Hi,
We'll leave New Orleans and arrive Vancouver, BC midday and board the Celebrity Summit which is scheduled to pull away from the dock around 5:30 PM.  Do you know if we'll go through C/I in Vancouver?  If so, will it be at the Vancouver airport?  How long will this take?  Can we be ready ahead of time? If there is usually a large crowd when embarkation begins at the pier, should we wait until later (4PM)? On our last cruise - Princess/Panama Canal - we waited in line for about an hour to board. The lines were very long.  This time we'll cruise to Alaska and the California coast for 14 days on Summit.  We disembark in San Diego to fly home.  What about C/I on the return?  Also on the Princess/Panama Canal return disembarkation (Ft. Lauderdale) it was a "zoo" locating luggage and finding suitable porter help with baggage.  There was another long line for that wait.  I have my 81 year old Mom with me. Just the 2 of us.  Could you suggest tours suitable for us in Juneau, Skagway, Ketchikan, Sitka, Victoria, Seattle, and San Francisco?
Please pardon my rather "long" message.  I do appreciate your help!
grome
Answer -
I am sorry but because of the numerous questions you have posed on me I am unable to assist you. Being that your questions are all related about Immigration/Customs, tours etc.... I can only suggest that you speak with the Travel Agency or Cruiseline you booked your cruise with as this is their responsibility and I would think customer service philosophy to advise you of everything related to your cruise before you depart.

Answer
Airport Security will be HIGH and crowds will be large for any before or after cruise depsrtures/arrivals. There is really no way to tell you how crowded it will be. I always encourage clients to be prepared to board the ship at approx. 12 noon. It is a crap shoot to say what time is best to board the ship as some will come early and some will come late ! Locating luggage is always a chore no matter what cruiseline you are sailing on. I just grab a porter As soon as I get off the ship and tell them I aam in a hurry with a $5 tip in hand to get the ball started !

I am going to suggest that you go to either www.cruisecritic.com or www.tripadvisor.com for your other questions regarding ports of call information as you are there able to post these type of questions and read others comments about all you are curious about.

This is all I can do to assist you at this time.