cruisin'mama

15 minutes ago, Sea42 said:

Why do you not use your cabin card? I use my key card to enter the cabin and put it right in the slot. When I leave I take it out of the slot and go. Don't see how it could be any easier.

There are 3 of us traveling and I like to keep my key card with me. If one of the others were to be in the room already when I entered, then their key would have to be in the slot. This just makes it convenient for everyone.

I punch a hole in the card I take to use in the slot, tie a string/ribbon to it and attach a magnet to the other end. That way, when I leave the cabin and remove the card from the slot, the magnet keeps the card hanging right there ready to put back in when I return.

1979 Azure Seas

4 hours ago, Ourusualbeach said:

Correct.  If you want to use OBC to pay for gratuities it must be used on board

Thank you. That what I thought

New to RC… I have OBC from my TA. I assume this cannot be used in advance to prepay the gratuities and can only be used once onboard. Correct?

17 minutes ago, Foodluvr said:

If they do a family show, It's in the afternoon in main theater. If it's in the comedy club it's usually adults only.

Thank you!

Do they have adult only or kid friendly shows? Or both?

We are currently on the Nieuw Amsterdam and there was a 5:00 Mass yesterday upon boarding. ( Sunday boarding in Vancouver)

They suggest $3-$5 per bag. We have 4 bags between all of us and I plan to tip $20

2 hours ago, Banditswife said:

Just remember those tags they attach- I find them when we are out & about.

I love when I have something washed on the ship and then not wear it again onboard. When I’m home and end up wearing it again days,weeks,months later, I find that little tag and it brings a smile to my face!

1 hour ago, david,Mississauga said:

We have stayed there several times and used the hotel porter service to deal with our two cases. Although we have yet to see the card about "gratuity based service" we wouldn't  think about requesting such excellent service and not giving a good tip.

 

We almost always stay on the Club floors. Taking the cruise package would be a waste of money because of the generous breakfast in the Club Lounge.

 

If you wish to handle your own luggage, it is not quite as simple as taking a lift down to the terminal. The lifts from the rooms go only to the street-level lobby. Another lift will take you down to the terminal. It's not too difficult, though, but nothing beats having your luggage collected in the hotel room and not having to deal with it it until you unpack it in your ship's cabin.  

 

The Fairmont Waterfont across the street also offers the delivery to ship service. Although the Pan Pacific is our favourite, last year there was a huge difference in the rates so we "cheated" on the PP that time. For our cruise next month we found the PP to be about half the cost of the Fairmont for the equivalent, so there is no consistency.  

 

 

I called the Pan Pacific and verified that we don’t have to have the Cruise Package to have our luggage transferred then I switched my reservation to the Savour Summer rate with the Pacific Club Deluxe room. The person I spoke with was even kind enough to give me a lower rate than I would have been able to get on their app.

Now we have a $50CAD food and beverage credit, on top of the breakfast we get in the Club Lounge and saved about $85 USD.  A total win-win for us!

We’re ending up in Anchorage but I’m sure it would work for Girdwood too. After disembarking, we are catching the Glacier Discovery Train that goes to Grandview. It’s very scenic. It picks us up ( and all of our luggage ) in Whittier around noon and we get back to Anchorage about 9:15pm. We love the Alaska Railroad so this was an easy decision for us.

I’ve done it twice, both through HAL and both leaving from Juneau, not directly off the ship. Each time I went I was on different sized boats, the first one was smaller than the second one. I loved Tracy Arm and would go again!!

19 hours ago, Ferry_Watcher said:

Here is the actual card from the Pan Pacific front desk (5/23)

Well they sure fooled me into buying the Cruise Package. I’ll be there in a week so I still have time to cancel and rebook! Thanks for the heads up!!!

Luggage is transferred if you bought the Cruise Package on top of your room reservation. Breakfast for 2 is also included in the Cruise Package.

1 hour ago, vacation44 said:

 

Did you make your reservation directly with the hotel (Comfort Inn) or with a third party?

I booked directly with Comfort Inn ( and my reservation still shows on their app)

I called Wyndham and they said they show nothing for me in their system.

But unfortunately some people won’t know that they don’t have a reservation anymore until they get there!

31 minutes ago, SeaStar102 said:

I tried to cancel my reservation on the Choice Hotel website a couple days ago, and could not. I ended up calling and getting a cancellation number from them, although it still comes up on my account as a current trip.  Thanks for finding out what is going on. 

FYI costs have sky rocketed in the other downtown hotels.  

 

CT 

I still show that we have a reservation on their website. We were staying there because of the convenience when we arrive by train at 9:15pm. Luckily I have Hilton Family and Friends so I was able to get the Hampton Inn, it just won’t be as convenient.

Just a heads up for anyone who has a reservation at Ship Creek, it is not longer a Comfort Inn but now part of the Wyndham group. Our traveling companions and us had reservations there for June 11th and my friend just happened to call the hotel directly about getting a room later in her trip. She was told that they aren’t honoring current reservations and aren’t taking any new ones at this time.  We were not notified by Choice Hotels that we no longer had a reservation so luckily she found out by accident. Now we are having to find another hotel just a couple of weeks out! 
 

2 hours ago, Moonbug said:

I learned by asking that when insuring a trip, you can insure your trip for any amount you want to be reimbursed for.  You do not have to insure the full price of the trip.    Hubby is over 80 so therefore prices high.   We bought a policy offered when purchasing the plane fare for 54 bucks each.  Then purchased insurance for a 6000.00 trip for just under 600.00.   To add the plane fare amount to the trip insurance would have been over 1000.00.   So something to consider.  

Last Dec my brother an I were scheduled to go to Wake Island where our father had been when he fought the Japanese during the Pearl Harbor attack and was eventually captured and held as a POW for 44 months. My brother purchased the roundtrip flight from Honolulu to Guam and purchased insurance on the flight when he bought it. Well the government decided that there were too many things on Wake Island that they didn’t want civilians to see, so 2 months before we were to leave, they denied our arrival. Long story short, even though my brother had purchased insurance on his $8000 flight purchase, he was only able to get credit from United that has to be used within 12 months. So…, insurance didn’t help in his instance.

There are definitely areas that show disrepair but in general the public areas looked pretty good

There were many areas that I was hoping to be able to see and explore, but they are still doing a lot of work so many areas are closed off. The Observation Bar was open, the Chowder restaurant was open and the Starbucks was open. All the other food and drink areas were not open. There was a gift shop open too. I hope to go back and stay again when more things have been renovated and opened, but I did enjoy my stay this time too.

Ok I’m onboard now. The areas that are open to the public look pretty good for being an old girl but there are a lot of areas off limits except to employees. Our room is classic ocean liner with some upgrades that don’t distract from its charm. How I would have loved to have sailed on her!