PasadenaDave

This was opposite to our experience, service was atrocious and our worst cruise ever. This evaluation was made many days prior to our getting sick on Thursday. Crowds, incorrect room service orders, lack of information. I will do my own summary later. Prior experience with Princess and Viking, I think we are done with ships that carry more than 1,000 passengers

Update remember what I said,I tested negative my wife positive. We had an extra proctored test kit which we used in Quebec to get on the ship. My wife took it today when we got a good signal in Portland and as expected it is negative. We always thought her test was faulty. we await a call from Medical. If the test was ok to join the ship, it should be ok to be released from quarantine. my sinus infection is following its expected course and I am negative. if we were sick with Covid we would not travel but I repeat, we are not sick with Covid

The cruise ends Saturday in Boston. Yes, we are very smart with precautions and have flown 8 round trips in the past 14 months masked the entire time including international. the challenge is that not only this, but most everything else on HAL, no one can answer a question or pick up the phone. we really liked Viking last May spit in tubes daily to catch any Covid We are not changing plans and I actually got a doctors appointment….antibiotics here I come. yes, we have plenty of masks

I made the mistake rather than getting off the ship to find a clinic to treat a respiratory infection. I called medical. It took four hours to get a Covid test. I’m negative and my wife is positive. She feels fine. Medical told her that we would both need to be tested again tomorrow. They also told her she needs to quarantine before flying home. can they require both of us to retest? Tomorrow is Portland, should we get off the ship and take the two hour bus to Boston and fly home without testing? We really don’t miss much?

Don’t get me started with trying to phone them, I never got through and I am now on hold with guest services concerning a toilet issue. There is no service in customer or guest services

HAL is a step up from Princess and the food is top notch, but I am continually comparing it to Viking, which isn’t fair but can’t be helped. We choose cruises based on destination and will do Viking on the Nile next April, but like Andy, I have to wonder if we will stray from Viking in the future. They are truly on top. I also have to mention that we don’t like casinos, crowds, photographers and all sorts of motorized scooters everywhere. Waiting 25 minutes for a shuttle is also a bore. We walked by people waiting for the shuttle back to the dock and we arrived first and we were just ambling along.

We are crushed over this news today. St Anthony and the UNESCO site convinced us to take this cruise. We loved Quebec and we were there for three days prior to boarding. Second time hurricanes marring a trip to the maritimes, the first was in a tent in 1971, my parents actually took us to eat breakfast at a diner after a long wet night in a flooded tent

We are currently on a step down cruise from Viking and the plan was to see where Vikings lived. This is HAL Quebec City to Boston with three ports in Newfoundland. We are in Corner Brook today and just learned that St Anthony and St Johns canceled due to rough seas from Hurricane Earl. Replaced with PEI and Sidney. The Viking UNESCO site was the main reason for this itinerary and HAL. Oh well Quebec was off the charts, but no Viking thermal spa

We boarded last Wednesday in Quebec. HAL had a tour at our hotel and offered bus service to the ship$30 pp. We were told cabs would be busy. Our boarding time was 12:40. There was no way I was paying $60 US for an early line up for a bus. we checked out of hotel at 11:00 had a $10CAN cab ride to the ship and we were eating lunch at noon, 40 minutes before our scheduled boarding time

To quote our children and grandchildren “what is this magazine thing you speak of”. As someone who grew up near a paper mill known for high grade magazine quality paper, they don’t make that stuff anymore

On a whim I went to speak with the HAL representative in the lobby. As expected she only knows about the pre cruise extension and bus transport neither of which we are part of, returning to the room I lost the call in the elevator after 36 minutes. Richstowe, I see Expos shirts everywhere. When I was a kid in Maine I listened to the games on radio from Jary Park. Do people think that the Expos and Nordiques will return?

We board tomorrow but a missed entry on Navigator tells me to call them. How long to wait on hold? Customer Service or lack thereof seems common place today. I have given up after 3-4 times being on hold, but they tell me if I am showing up tomorrow that I must call. 14 minutes now! Really now how much patience is expected?

I saw your ship today. We arrived last night. We sail Thursday. My fourth time to Quebec City, but no skiing this trip. Hop on Hop Off bus was fun. Now two full days, a partial day boarding and one partial on day of sailing. I love Quebec City, Europe in North America

I gave up trying and in fact they billed my credit card. I tried to call but “thanks for calling,due to unexpected high call volume blah blah blah.” There seems to be a major lack of customer service everywhere. No one cares. I will try to deal with this on the ship. I find HAL the least customer service focus compared to Princess and Viking which I have experienced both lines in the past 9 months

Louis burg looks a bit more developed than when I visited in 1971

Virtually no wait leaving or arriving at the gangway at all ports. Excellent service for early morning coffee and sweets in the Living Room. We are joining HAL next week Quebec City to Boston, chosen for itinerary. I am already doing the Viking comparison in my mind. Lowered expectations generally is a good thing.

Thanks for your complete diary of your cruise. We are also on the Quebec to Boston cruise. This is our first on HAL after four on Princess and one May 2022 on Viking Ocean. We chose this cruise based on itinerary and we hope we haven’t been spoiled by Viking. We have not enjoyed Princess food and Viking was good so we look forward to HAL based on your comments. Entertainment is low on our priority. Destination and comfort is what we like

I thought the 5150 title was perhaps about a cover band playing Van Halen songs and that they were doing a residency on the ship

We agree, but I go a step further in that we avoid that area of the world between June 1 and October 1, it is just too hot and we are not beach people

My wife and I are among the 18% of US that has not had Covid. We don’t often see crowds and we mask when we do. We did Istanbul to Venice on Viking in May and found most people reasonable. I flew twice in the last month, R/T Burbank to Sacramento and also to Denver, both trips I was part of the 10% to 15% on the plane wearing masks. Both my wife and I have had allergy induced sinus infections this month treated with antibiotics and Covid tested negative each of us when seeing physicians. Saturday we fly to Quebec City to take HAL to Boston with three bucket list stops in Newfoundland. We will mask in crowded areas. Sister and niece in New York will visit us in Quebec for a few days pre-cruise but Brother in Law won’t. He refuses vaccines so Canada won’t allow him to cross the border, oh well…….. I suggested that he play tennis at the US Open in place of they guy from Europe who can’t due to anti-vaccines position. we also did a Mexican Riviera cruise last December, all of the locals wore masks, most of the tourists did not. People wonder why the US suffers so much from Covid. Too much “My body my choice” attitude, but only when it fits one’s own perspective

We found the Palace of Knossos fascinating. We were there in May, I wouldn’t want to go in a hotter time of the year as there is no shade.

Travel R, Andy's website is a wonderful read. We took our first Viking Cruise in May Istanbul to Venice. Like Andy our prior cruises, not that many, were on Princess. Viking is so much better that you cannot compare the two as they are different planets. We are doing HAL Quebec to Boston in two weeks and I suspect that we will spend the entire cruise complaining that it isn't Viking! But one day is Viking, when we see a bucket list site of l'Anse au Meadow in Northern Newfoundland.

A business accepting US Dollars at Par in Canada is not being unscrupulous, rather they are factoring in the hassle associated with time at the bank and the bank charge for the exchange. When one realizes how little labor is available for retail establishments, I can understand them saying I'll accept at PAR and if you need change, you will get it in CAN $. This is especially true given the think margins that many small businesses operate on.

And the ice is necessary to drink the small bottle of Ouzo you purchase in the Greek port so that you can say that you drank the Greek drink in Greece! Sharing the experience of a “friend” Yes, that friend could have been my wife and I.

Drink prices are reasonable but the pours are more like half pours compared to what I am used to. We find that both of us don't consume enough alcohol for the Silver Spirits package to pencil out. We are fine with beer and wine provided and we also buy a bottle of gin off ship for a pre-dinner gin and tonic in our cabin as we get ready for dinner or wind down in the afternoon.