cgolf1

We have used the same one for years from our time doing Disney cruises and they also handle Celebrity. The downside is if there is an issue or a need Celebrity won't want to talk to you directly. In some cases I got around that, but others not. For that reason, we had to remove the TA from our reservation for our Galapagos cruise, which the OBC really doesn't matter for anyways. The Galapagos cruise have a concierge like line we can call with any questions, which we have already used. Now that we have a HAL cruise booked, TA doesn't book them, we may need to look for another TA if we find we like HAL as an option too.

I want to confirm that the 1 site I found that said yes, still holds true and it wasn't removed during a dry dock. In the past I have enjoyed this on lines that had them. One line had one that actually had an ocean view which was incredible.

Want to clarify the rough handling of the carry on bag was going through TSA in the US I honestly don’t think we can even complain so I let it go and thankfully the bag has a ton of padding so everything was just fine.

I will look into that. Maybe it’s on the US side I need to be worried about which is typical;) hopefully they are friendlier. For some reason my carry on needed to be rescanned and I saw my bag with my good DSLR, brand new long lens, and CPAP get tossed very roughly onto a cart. Was seeing red but I knew calling them out on it was more trouble than it was worth.

Yes we are doing the Montreal to Boston cruise. The odd bit is on the Link that was shared the declaration part makes it seem like you do. Honestly then you wonder if you just leave the camera and stuff home. It will probably be easy, the planning is always tougher than reality.

That was the one I saw that I needed to declare in Canadian dollars the cost of my stuff under making my declaration. Almost have that stuff figured out anyways and if they don’t ask all the better.

Do they ask you the cost of stuff bringing in? I saw something and I am now costing out my camera and CPAP machine because of government site I read.

So I have started to research a US citizen flying into Canada. I am not learning much and what I am sounds easy. Below is what I have found. We just need to bring our passports dont bring meat products like beef jerky even if it is sealed. medication in original containers. Need to buy smaller Alleve and Guafenison because I don’t want to carry the Costco jumbo bottle;) Didn’t see any restrictions on prepackaged breakfast items like granola bars or bagged peanuts or cashews. The part I am confused on is it doesn’t seem as if we need to fill out a declaration form of any kind. This doesn’t make sense. Again this is to aid in my research, I will trust but verify any answers. We have not flown outside of the US before.

I am surprised that US port towns or border towns don't take Canadian money, it actually makes sense which is likely why it isn't allowed. I am sure there are people that cross regularly that then either have to use a card or carry both currencies.

Many years ago when we crossed into Windsor from Detroit, they did. Honestly in the Caribbean they all accept Dollars even though that is not the currency there. So it is a fair question.

So to prepare for this cruise, how has everyone handled this? If we carry dollars will we get the right rate or will it be guestimated? The difficult thing is we have zero clue how much money that we will spend. Luckily we both have 1 card with no foreign transaction fees so we should be good for credit purchases. For stuff like stopping at a bar, Mug and Anchor, we would likely use cash. Not sure how many other things would require cash. Thanks in advance

New to HAL, do all the ships have a happy hour and is it even for first time HAL cruisers? On our previous 18 cruises across Disney, Royal, and Celebrity this is unheard of. The closest was on Royal were we got a 10 drink punch card that gave us 1 to 2 free drinks. This does sound cool to me.

So far looking at this board doesn't even come close to what I have been seeing on the Celebrity boards and on social media. This board is a breath of fresh air:)

Not one hundred percent sure on hotel yet. The issue we have is our flight gets in at 10:45 pm so not sure if pays to get a hotel near the airport and get a ride in the morning or get to the hotel by the port at roughly midnight. we don’t know how long customs takes but guessing it will be a bit. Lots of decisions but it will be comfortable weather when we go.

So confused and trying to figure this out. I believe the Zaandam will sail out of the, Montreal Cruise Terminal - Iberville Station, and we are looking at a hotel that google maps says is a 9 minute walk or another is a 3 minute walk to the port. Is the area down by the port safe to walk with luggage and is the port easily accessible to walkers? When sailing out of Tampa we walked into the port and it worked out really nicely.

It looks like Bar Harbor will be ok for us. Just bummed that Oak Island isn’t doing tours this year. We are huge fans of the show.

A Canada New England Cruise.

We are officially booked. Super excited especially to be back on a smaller ship.

Being mid to late 40s sailing the Edge twice now with the Constellation between those, we had a different opinion of the Edge second time around. The first time we loved it and the music vibe that they had on the ship. The live music was insane along with the production cast. The second cruise on the Edge with the exception of one singer was just meh, so we found we enjoyed the ship less. We still love the magic carpet, but besides that it was difficult to find an outdoor space to play cards due to how the wind travels through the ship. The Connie, man we loved that ship. We do want to sail it full, less than 600 when we were on, but it is what a cruise ship layout is to us. We are going on an S class in 2025 so we will see how that goes and how we like it. So far M class is #1 for us, but there are things we like about the E class and have no issues with booking on them again.

Apparently we are at a crossroads too. We are looking at booking a last minute Cruise on HAL and if I am being honest I am really excited about it, incredible itinerary, assuming the wife gives the go ahead. Who knows we may find another cruise line that we like as a secondary option.

To introduce us we are in our mid to late 40s and started out sailing Disney then moved to Royal and now have landed at Celebrity where we have done 3 cruises and have 2 more booked. We are low key and like to hang out and watch the ocean pass and honestly don't do a lot of activities other than the shows onboard and generally failing miserably at trivia. We aren't foodies by any means, but we do love good food. I am the adventurous one that likes to try new dishes and my wife is really starting to branch out. I am also gluten free, so that can sometimes be a challenge. My wife did some quick research on here and did find good reviews for HAL's handling of food allergies. We found an amazing itinerary on the Zaandam to hopefully book last minute. My wife wasn't really onboard until I heard grumbling when she read about each of the ports and most had places that she really wanted to see, and some she had already known about. This will be the smallest ship we have sailed by quite a bit. The good news is a rough ride doesn't bother us. Our favorite cruise to Hawaii regularly had 20 to 30+ foot seas. I am making an assumption that a smaller ship doesn't sail as smoothly. So very generically what can we expect and any tips for sailing on the Zaandam? Most important question, does the promenade deck have a walking path that fully circles the ship and are there spots to sit outside on that deck? We loved this on Disney and are finding that many ships no longer offer this.

Hi all new to this board. We are looking at one of the Montreal to Boston cruises, and from what I am reading here, the Bar Harbor stop that is listed should stay this year. That was one of the ports selling my wife on booking this pretty much last minute, at least for us. Thankfully work is flexible enough. Would hate to book only for it to change.

I think the wife and I fit into the demo they are looking at, 40s, who will likely stick with Celebrity for a while. The only issue they likely don't like about us is that when we started cruising we weren't in a spot we could spend a lot of money on rooms or high price upgrades onboard, minus the Disney cruise hoodies I still wear and are in my closet;). We did try suite class at some point and said not for us along with specialty dining. Now all my reviews are the thrifty cruiser, because even though we can now afford much better we actually found that we prefer sailing in inside rooms, and still can do without the dining or a drink package. One thing they will always get us for though is the excursions. On one of our first cruises they held the ship because our ship based excursion was quite late. I now we could save money doing it on our own, but removing all worries on a cruise is worth a little extra to us. I have always wondered if cruise lines would prefer that people like us find another way to vacation;)

It must have after our trip which was a lot of fun last month. Since we are fairly new to Celebrity though, we have a different sky;)

I highly disagree with #1. People are people regardless of the amount of money they have. It's always a toss up whether you will get a great group of passengers or not regardless of the line you are sailing.