ACorgan

Glad we had planned to go a little early. We left the hotel around 10:15, which Uber said would give us a 10:30 arrival, but traffic was a snarl as we got closer to the port. After we sat for some time, not moving, only about .3 miles from the port, we just had the Uber driver let us out and hoofed it the rest of the way. We were greeted with massive lines of people and suitcases and had some mild panic when we saw it. Luckily, I asked someone and we quickly found out it was just the never ending taxi line for all the people getting off the other HAL ship in port and trying to get to the airport 😅 Once we picked our way around everyone, we finally got to our terminal just a few min before 11am. We dropped our checked bags with the friendly porters out front and followed the “passengers” signs to go inside. There was a separate area for those who had completed VeriFLY. We showed the gate keepers our passports, the VeriFLY ready to sail screen on our phones and the ArriveCAN receipts on our phones. They sent us up the escalators to security. We had one small “boxed water” from the plane that we thought we could take on board, but security told us no drinks at all and we needed to chug it or toss it. Wasn’t a huge deal to us, so we surrendered the drink and, since it was unopened, they said they’d donate it to the homeless. After security screening, we went to individual kiosks where they had friendly helpers to help take your pic and scan your passport to get you checked in. From there, we were ushered into chairs in waiting areas. I had thought we were early, but the section 1 waiting area was already full and we started the section 2 area at just a few min past 11am. Almost 11:30 now, so no idea what time they’ll let us on the ship. One thing of note - they mentioned that people are required to have a paper copy of their boarding passes. Luckily, I had printed them for our whole group (just in case), since my traveling companions had just planned to use the ones on their phone. Now we’re just crossing our fingers that we’ll make it on by noon so that we can grab lunch in the MDR 🤞

We were worried about oversleeping this morning due to the time change, but the bright sunshine had us all wide awake very early. Definitely a change from the Pacific Northwest weather we’re used to 🌥 We were all very efficient packing up and now are just twiddling our thumbs at the hotel waiting to head to the ship Our boarding passes say 11am, but none of us are certain what that means. Should we wait to show up at the pier until exactly 11am? Or is it more like the airport where we should plan to go a little early to clear security so that we’re ready to go at 11am? Right now we’re leaning towards trying to have a car drop us off at 10:30. I’m not sure where the Ubers drop people off and whether we’ll have any difficulties figuring out where to go. Would appreciate any advice people might have for arrival times at the Boston port 🙂

Someone else might have a better idea, but a quick google search shows that there is an ARCpoint labs right by the pier that says they do COVID testing without an appointment. Looks like they open at 10am tomorrow morning. Good luck!

We made it to Boston with only a 30 min delay. Our flight landed on time, but we had to wait for a gate since operations were disrupted due to the storms. It was a quick (10-15 min) Uber ride to our hotel. The rideshare pickup area was a bit of a hike from the baggage claim. The directions to the rideshare area were well marked with signs and arrows on the floor, but included a few escalators, a moving walkway, and an elevator. Next time I fly into Boston, I would seriously consider grabbing a taxi instead of Uber. We’re all checked in to the Residence Inn Boston Seaport and are happy with the room and the location. We walked about 12 min to the Legal Seafoods Harborside for dinner and we’re only about a mile from the port, so should make tomorrow morning very straightforward

Our trip is off to a relaxing start. We got to the airport far earlier than we needed to, but had plenty of time to enjoy a drink in the Alaska lounge before boarding I’m still keeping an eye on the possibility of thunderstorms in Boston, but feeling much better now that our plane is en route. Even if we end up delayed, should still make it into Boston sometime tonight. They fed us a delightful strata for breakfast on the plane Only 4 more hrs until we reach Boston (assuming no weather delays)

They told us the same thing about deleting the app. Luckily, once we uninstalled, reinstalled, and re-input our info, we finally got the desired “ready to sail” 🎉 I think we should be in good shape with all our required documents. Now I’m just closely monitoring the Boston weather forecasts. I’m hoping the expected thunder storms ⚡️tomorrow night don’t impact our flights

Today we did our virtual proctored tests. I found the eMed service very easy to use. I chose to use the website, instead of the QR code with my phone, since I thought it would be easier to use my computer camera. The website was listed right on the outside of the box along with the unique code I needed. It just took a few min to set up my account and then they connected me to a live agent right away. I did have an issue with my microphone not working (user error - I didn’t realize I still had my computer set up for a headset), but the agent just had me use the chat function, so it wasn’t really a problem. They check your ID, walk you through opening and self administering the test, set a 15 min timer on the screen for you, and then that agent disconnects. You don’t have to stay in front of the camera during the 15 min, just have to make sure the test itself stays in frame. Once the 15 min is up, there’s an audible timer and a clickable button to connect to a new agent. The new agent checks your test results and then you’re done. I had my confirmation email with negative test results within a few min. Once we had the test results in hand we tried to update our VeriFLY apps. Mine was very straightforward - once I uploaded my test results they were accepted within a few min and I was cleared as ready to sail. Another person in my group had an additional item on their checklist that I didn’t have: Proof of Documents. They were asked to add info from ArriveCAN; not sure why one had that step and I didn’t 🤷🏻‍♀️ The same person with the added step is also having issues with the health questionnaire on VeriFLY. Every time they try to complete it, it gives an error. We’re going to give it a break and try again later. If still an issue, might need to reach out to VeriFLY tech support

I’ve found this forum to be invaluable while we prepared for our cruise, so want to try to do a live thread, in case it’s helpful to others. We’ll have three adults in their 30s and 40s sharing a Neptune Suite. All our previous HAL cruises have been balcony rooms, so this will be our first taste of the “suite” life. I’m especially looking forward to complimentary pressing and breakfasts in the Pinnacle Grill. We’ve completed our HAL health questionnaires and the ArriveCAN app. The ArriveCAN app seemed fairly straightforward to use, the only hesitation I had was around one of the last questions that required a Canadian address. Since we’re not staying at a hotel post-cruise (heading straight to the airport), I was at a loss as to what to put here. In the end, we just used the address for the cruise terminal in Montreal and that seemed to work just fine. We all got our receipts with the QR codes and the “I” next to our names, so checking it off the list. Next up is our proctored tests tomorrow. We’re trying the Optum test recommended by HAL, so we’ll see how that goes. We also started setting up our VeriFLY apps, but can’t complete them until we have our negative test results. Although we all feel healthy, I definitely have some test anxiety 😅; I’ll feel much better about this trip once we have an official clean bill of health. Once that’s done, I can focus more on packing 🧳

I hadn’t come across this. Can you expound or point me in the direction of those posts? We’re leaving out of Boston this weekend, so would love to know what to expect 😬

I thought I remembered someone raving about the peanut butter pie at the Lido on embarkation day? I haven’t tried it yet, but it’s on my list to look for on my next cruise

I’m not sure that you’ll be able to “officially” see this info until you’re on the ship. If you look at trip reports for the same itinerary, you can probably figure it out though. I’m doing Boston to Quebec and based on past trips it sounds like my two nights will be at Bar Harbor and the Sea Day

While I really hope I don’t get COVID, personally, I could think of worse scenarios than being someplace that has room service (so I don’t have to cook), has beautiful views out my window, and when I already have coverage lined up for work. I would be sad to miss all my shore excursions that I’m looking forward to, but if the worst happened and I tested positive, at least I’d be in a situation where all I had to do was rest and recuperate

We’ve been monitoring the Costco travel site and a rental finally came up for our port day in Sydney. It was a “Special: winterized tires or equivalent” so no idea what that’s actually going to look like in August 🤷🏻‍♀️ We grabbed it though and will keep our fingers crossed that they’ll actually have a car of some type for us

We’re booked for a NE/Canada cruise at the end of the summer and had hoped to rent cars in several of our ports to do some exploring on our own. However, we’re finding that this may not be a feasible plan. At the Charlottetown stop, we had to snag a car at the airport since all the closer locations were sold out and I can’t find any rental companies with availability in Sydney - they all show sold out. Is this common? Have we just missed our window for finding cars? Or might there be more availability as we get closer to our cruise date?