rj59

You get a better deal if you buy 'remainder of cruise', which at a certain point gets you something like 40 hours for the price of a one-day pass. I can't remember exactly when that kicks in, but you can just check as the cruise goes along. In ports I buy a travel esim through the Airalo app, which I think was $6 for 1GB of data in Mexico, which helps for using maps, and I've even used it for Uber in Mexican ports, as well as a translation app if needed. Despite the cost without a package, it's nowhere near as expensive as Royal/Celebrity, and I've been around on HAL long enough to remember paying by the minute for slow internet. Another tip for internet addicts without an internet plan is that the free sites available include free NYT access.

The exception to this on Princess, HAL, and Celebrity is they don't care when you get to a port. So at the first port in Mexico or Alaska I come back with a 2L of soda, which is much easier than carrying cans of soda. It's the same with a full water bottle, ship security doesn't care in ports. It gets more complicated in a place like Vancouver, where you can have passengers from 3 ships going through one security point, and the workers there probably aren't up to speed on each line's beverage policy, so I keep a copy printed or on my phone just in case (for instance, HAL officially doesn't allow wine on board without paying a corkage fee up front, nor do they allow soda at all at embarkation, according to their policy). Celebrity used to allow 2 bottles of wine per person, which port security in LA tried to prevent me from doing, so I had to pull out the line's policy.

I've never had a balcony, which will be freezing and rainy and cold most of the time, and will suck all the warmth out of your cabin. You also only see a quarter of the view, and you'll miss whales and other wildlife. I always go where I can get from one side to the other quickly, particularly the aft outside seating areas on Royal-class ships, on either side of the aft lounge. On Discovery several summers ago, I saw a dozen or so whales right next to the ship as we approached the WA coast, splashing their fins and tails, on my last trip to Glacier Bay there was a whale breaching repeatedly at the bay entrance, but only on the starboard side. The older Princess ships have promenades by the water, which are even better for seeing wildlife and scenery and getting good photos, and you get to meet other people. There also can be some very fierce winds in Alaska, and I've had lots of leaky balcony doors that let in a high-pitched whine from the wind. Then in Alaska you also get light pollution from curtains, a big problem early in the summer when it doesn't get dark until 11 at night and then the sun is up before 5, so it can mess with your sleep schedule. Fares, packages, and excursions are also much more expensive now, so I'd rather spend money on a good whale-watching trip than a balcony. A possible middle-ground would be an oceanview--I'm going to be on Grand tomorrow going to LA, with L303, an oceanview with a floor-to-ceiling window, and in Alaska one could just go up a deck to observation areas, or on a lower ocean view go out to a promenade deck. Most people spend their Alaska vacations shopping in ports and on the ship, drinking, playing bingo, and eating. On my last cruise their in August on HAL I was on the promenade or open bow every day for hours, so I ended up seeing over 100 whales, dolphins, porpoises, otters, and the fjord and glacier, both going in and out.

A taxi is easy, a Princess transfer will be a nightmare, because they load all the luggage, have to wait til a bus is full before leaving, and at LAX they have to stop, find a parking spot in the LAX zoo at every one of 8 or so terminals, unload the often infirm passengers, unload their luggage, and proceed from there. For much less you can hop on a taxi and be at the airport before the bus leaves. You can have cell phone access in the US and in Mexico, by buying an esim. Most new phone plans are loaded with esims instead of traditional sim cards, so the technology is not that difficult. I use an app called Airalo, and instead of paying $20/day for wifi to Mexico, I get a $6 1GB one-week pass that covers me on land, which allows me to use translation software, as well as Uber, which costs a fraction of the cost of what a taxi will demand there. It also gives you cell phone access if you get in trouble and need to contact the port rep. I'm sure Airalo has a US pass for Canadians, which will pay for itself with an Uber/Lyft ride to/from San Pedro. You can practice fake bookings on Uber and Lyft before your cruise, and get an idea of prices at the times you'd use it, such as a Saturday morning. They're perfect for a hotel pickup and more interesting and safe than a taxi, since they're rated on performance and professionalism--on my last ride to San Pedro I had a friendly woman who rented a Tesla, so it was fun gliding down the freeway and seeing all its tech in action. When I'm booking a ride, I check both apps, and pick the best price, which saves me even more money.

I'm afraid they'll get rid of the last of the traditional libraries, with the outdated books, and just make it a carbon copy of the generic library on the newer ships, with multiple copies of a curated selection of books. I actually liked it on Eurodam and Westerdam, in a space which used to be a movie theater, and unlike the old locations in the Crow's Nest or Explorations Cafe on Zaandam/Volendam, it's enclosed and doesn't have a bar or coffee shop, so fairly quiet, with windows out across the promenade deck. It's a nice change, since they got rid of all their Crow's Nest libraries, having some books there for a while, and now evidently just board games, and all the other lines have slowly shrunk or eliminated libraries, except for a few older Princess ships, I think. It makes me excited for Volendam for 14 days in June 2025, since it's the only pre-Pinnacle ship I haven't been on yet. Zaandam was a perfect ship for Alaska, and I'm sure it will be for Canada/New England also, the only ship in a major line that goes all the way to Montreal. I think it or Zaandam is also doing some cruises up the Amazon, so hopefully HAL will buck the trend and keep some small ships around and continue to do thoughtful updates, instead of constantly building bigger and bigger ships.

Value of unused gift cards in the US is currently $23 billion. If a 'deal' encourages you to buy a gift card for something you wouldn't usually buy, then you lose, especially if AARP can sell you something else from its many advertisers trying to get to you. You can't use Princess gift cards through a TA, can you? So then you lose out on cruise discounts or additional OBC. It just takes one cruise you don't really want to take but do so because of gift cards that offer a 'bargain'. I've done it myself with Carnival gift cards, bought in supermarkets with the AMEX Blue cash preferred, but then I didn't really want to go on the cruises I booked. The same goes for NCL offering a 10% off for military, or their scammy cruisenext certificates, they're designed to get you to book more cruises. To the OP, though, another option is to try a credit card with a substantial supermarket cash back, like 6% on AMEX Blue Cash Preferred, especially since last year they had a $250 or so Princess credit for a certain spend, which beats any AARP savings. If you want a free option, the basic free Discover card has 5% at grocery stores, drug stores, and Amazon/Target/Walmart throughout the year. But of course realize that 5-10% savings on some gift cards pale in comparison to the costs of a cruise, with flights, hotels, onboard spend, buying a balcony/suite, Plus/Premier, etc, which people conveniently ignore because they got a 'deal' on some gift cards. It's how Costco and every credit card makes their money by attracting shortsighted consumers.

Have your room steward do it, because room service is constantly swamped by OceanNow delivery, so minibar swapping is low on their priority. The last time I used room service, when nobody appeared by the second day of a 4-day cruise I had to go to customer service and get them to write an email to room service, so not at all worth the frustration and uncertainty to use room service. Just take out everything you want replaced and write a list of what you want. The reason you can't get coffee is because coffee cards no longer exist. If you do a search on here, people have spelled out what you can swap for what, like booze for beer, or booze/water/soda for water or soda. You can't demand certain types or brands of liquor or beer, and you're also limited by soda options, so I've never been able to get Coke Zero, only Diet Coke, and never Sprite Zero, just Sprite. So be polite and reasonable, especially since your steward has had a rough embarkation day, working from before dawn. I keep it simple by swapping out all waters and sodas for diet coke, and then I drink the beers, and most of the minibottles go home with me.

My favorite is the minibar. I ask the steward to swap out waters for diet cokes, and I end up taking most of the minibottles home, though. For laundry, since every floor has a laundry room, I just ask guest services for some tokens, saying I don't have time to send my clothes out, and then I save what I don't use for future cruises. The wine tasting can be a good way to meet others and have some fun, even if you don't care about wine. I used the priority tender operation once, which is a bonus in a place like Cabo, and priority disembarking is nice if you have an early flight, if you do self-assist disembark and carry your own bags. The minibar, along with the half-off internet, allows me to skip Plus or Premier, since I get military/shareholder OBC also. I sometimes stop by the evening cocktail hour and might pick up a plate of snacks, if there's something interesting, but I don't like having ship's officers making awkward small talk, and the discounted drinks aren't anything I like, so I mostly skip it now, along with the captain's reception, which is too crowded, with all the platinum/elite on a ship and again not worth getting a free drink or two. I wish it had a nicer medallion look than black, so it would have a bit of a prestige element, like how they used to put loyalty-color name tags on rooms, although it is nice to be able to get the fast line at guest services, especially on embarkation day when 90% of the people are there to figure out how to get their internet working ("airplane mode? but I'm not on a plane!"). The doubling of internet prices hurts, since $5/day was pretty nice, but the discount also applies if you pay for 'end of cruise', so I usually wait until the 1/2 sea days returning home in Mexico or Alaska to pay for internet, or just do without. The pushing of Plus/Premier and increased benefits and removal of free benefits for everyone else (like Alfredo's and oceannow delivery) makes me feel not very Elite, though. As someone on here said once, the tangible benefits are minor, like $30 of drinks in the minibar and $6 for laundry if you did it yourself (or free on Discovery), and so it pales in comparison to the increased cruise fares, onboard costs, and other costs of travel. It's the same with single-mindedly pursuing a single airline loyalty program, since you miss out on a lot of savings and varied experiences, and the same goes for cruise lines.

There's nothing similar, except the Explorations Cafe, which opens around 6-7 in the morning in the crow's nest. They might have a few cookies or something, but nothing substantial. What I do, as an early riser, is to bring a couple of plates to my room from the buffet before it closes at 8 at night, so I have a fruit plate in the morning, or some bread and cold cuts and cheese. You could also fill a small glass with some muesli or something else at breakfast and keep it in your fridge. They also often keep some breakfast cereal out before the buffet opens in the morning, as well as some fruit, so I'm up at 5 or so, whereas on Princess I'd get fruit and pastries at the IC, on HAL I get some cereal and have a banana. A final thing I do is often bring back some of the small servings of desserts in the buffet and keep one or two in my fridge, and have some of that as a snack. One of the advantages of HAL over Princess (besides scoop ice cream) is that they serve smaller servings of most of the MDR desserts in the buffet, so I usually sample several. Room service is also a possible option to order something non-smelly the evening before, since room service is still free on HAL. Other snacks I bring back to my room are tortilla chips from the taco bar they usually have on the pool deck, their delicious cookies, and some small sandwiches they have in the buffet in the afternoon, which are often really good. On my last two cruises they had fresh sliced strawberries, so I brought back a bowl to my room every morning. So basically, you won't starve, even though they don't have the 24/7 Princess option, if you're willing to keep some food in your room (I bring a plastic tray on my cruise to make it easier, as well as to make it easier to carry. food in the buffet, particularly since I like eating on the quieter pool deck in the morning, as I do on the aft outside deck on Princess.

If anyone lives anywhere near the West coast, the easiest way to get higher level as a solo is just do short Pacific coastal cruises. Princess has a huge Alaska fleet, and most go to SF or LA before and after the season, and some do 2-3 night cruises between Vancouver and Seattle to line up Alaska schedules. You get double cruise credits, so 8 short cruises will get you to Elite, and 3 will get you Platinum, which it's possible to get to Elite with under 30 days of sailing. They also have the best deals now, especially compared to current very high fares for solos and very few single supplement reductions. So in a few weeks I'm going solo on Grand for $340 and then they have Majestic doing 2 nights for $215. Once I got to Elite I also found I get a lot of upgrades on coastal cruises, and with the half-off internet and minibar and military/shareholder OBC, I have no need to pay for Plus. I also found that the front desk will always give me laundry room tokens instead of sending out my clothes to be laundered, which I like. Another benefit I found of the coastal cruises is that when ships return from Australia, they usually have a good selection of Aussie beers they're trying to unload, so I've used OBC to do beer sampling. The drawback of short cruises with Elite in can be challenging to get through my minibar in a few days, although I usually bring home a lot of minibottles.

I used it on a Europe cruise where my cat burned his paw badly on the stove. I had their Premium, so I got the 100% fare back. The problem I had is that they only gave me 1 year to use it, and it was the year where fares skyrocketed and most cruises to Mexico, my preferred cruise, were sold out. There were cruises I wanted, but they were past the 12 month mark for FCC expiration, so I ended up going on a last-minute cruise I didn't like, just Seattle-Vancouver for 2 nights, just to use the FCC. So while it can be beneficial, it's not without issues. They did give the FCC without going through the process of getting denied by AON, the insurance provider, whereas lines like NCL that have cancel for any reason make you get denied by insurance before giving a FCC through them.

It will certainly create a lot of confusion, but I'm sure the Americana option did already. It seems like that space tried to recreate the Local/Sheehan's pub on NCL ships, so it's better suited as a smaller space, as on NCL. I'm not happy about the Celebrification of Princess with such moves, where more and more space on Celebrity ships are devoted to Retreat guests, including their own dining rooms and the entire front of the ship, the same as on NCL. It will make me look to HAL more, which doesn't have any significant privileged spaces for suite guests, other than cabanas that don't remove public spaces, particularly at the front of the ship. Having one of three MDRs set aside for sanctuary swells isn't to my liking, just as it wouldn't be if suite/guests took an entire dining room on older ships. Even Royal-class ships feel overcrowded in Alaska, with people crammed inside to escape wind/rain/cold, so Star doesn't really appeal to me, especially if they have 4000+ people and no reservation system for the dome/main theater shows, as NCL and Royal do for their shows on 4000+ ships. A packed buffet with no outside seating likely in Alaska and having crew serve everything to that many people also sounds really stressful--again, no other ship that size has crew serve everything. It seems to me like they're just repeating all the mistakes of NCL Prima/Viva, adding lots more small, interesting venues but shrinking the buffet and increasing privileged spaces, so you have too many people in too small public spaces and people have to wait in long lines far ahead if they want to get in to see a show.

I found that NCL also has last-minute deals comparable to HAL standby to fill open spaces on their ships to Alaska. After getting denied for standby several times, I was going to try NCL Encore or Bliss instead, but I ended up getting a surprise Westerdam spot. When it was $49/nt, plus taxes, it was a no-brainer, but now it's not always the best deal. So I'm doing $100/nt on Princess to Mexico in November, plus $200 obc, but I'm on standby for Koningsdam in January, as well as March and April. For winter cruises out of San Diego, my plan is to just fly there the night before if they haven't denied me, and if I don't get a last-minute spot, I scheduled a refundable Southwest flight home a few days later, so instead of a cruise I'd just get a beach getaway. As a retired solo cruiser, it's still a great deal much of the time, and although I don't like the stress and uncertainty, I do like the price certainty, whereas with other cruises I'm constantly. monitoring fares and have a lot of remorse when prices drop after payment. I also get a lot of cold feet and cancel cruises, especially back when I could get a good chunk of taxes/fees back, so I actually like that I'm committed to a standby cruise and can't back out on a cruise that I don't really love, like a somewhat useless Seattle-Vancouver 2-nt one I booked a few weeks ago.

Do you have a cell phone with data? That's all I use in Alaska, with great coverage through ATT (Verizon also has coverage there, but T-Mobile uses roaming, so not great coverage). I get data signals when sailing between ports often too, as well as anywhere near the WA coast. That way I'm not wasting time in port hunting for wifi. HAL also offers wifi by the day or remainder of voyage, so on the way home you could sign up for that. My phone plan also gives some Canada data, so I can get service in Victoria. or else I stop at the Black Ball ferry terminal to use their free wifi and washroom. If your plan doesn't have Alaska coverage, there are e-sims you can buy for $10 or so for a week that will give you Alaska coverage, which is what I get for Mexico, the Caribbean, and Europe.

They've never not allowed OBC for shareholder's, and they're not likely to abandon something that every other competitor provides, especially since RCL has restarted a dividend and has had incredible gains (glad I bought at $40, for the OBC for some Celebrity cruises). I don't know about HAL, but Princess won't process the OBC if it's too far out from the cruise. Of course, you have to use the stockperks app too, which is confusing and convoluted, but helps prevent fraud from someone buying 100 shares and selling as soon as they get a statement.

I was on Westerdam last week, and they brought back a 3-piece classical trio in the Explorer's Lounge, without having to play a corporate playlist on ipads, the same on every ship, every cruise, as Lincoln Center did. Also, what I do is make a trip to the buffet before it closes at 8 and then make a cheese/charcuterie/bread plate for a late-night snack, or else a big salad bowl with cheese and bread, and then a bowl of fruit for when I wake up. I bring a plastic tray with me so it's easy to carry things to my room. The staff have been up since before 6 am usually, so they'd probably appreciate not having to work until late for those whom an MDR meal and buffet visit before 8 isn't enough. There's also room service at any time, still free on HAL. I don't know if they still do it, but I used to also order some MDR items, like a salad and creme brulee, and have it as a late-night snack after the buffet closed. I remember they used to keep the pasta station open late too, so I always rushed there after the early show (production shows, remember those?). I know 'HAL is going downhill' threads are popular (although I've never heard any muesli rants before), but there has also been a lot of improvements I've noticed. They usually have cereal out before buffet opening in the morning and will open up pastries early too, so early risers like me have something to eat before the hordes arrive. I've noticed more new MDR meals, particularly the Alaska ones, that I like (really good salmon bowls). They have a crepe machine by the ice cream now in the evening. There are also varied lunch menus, instead of a single one. There was nothing like Orange Party before, and with Princess having Love Boat deck parties and Celebrity having silent discos, it helps them liven things up a bit. It seems to me that MDR portions are getting larger, and the dining room at last having some diversity--there were 4 Thai females in the MDR on Westerdam. They also had a mints table again. I also noticed a lot of crew are wearing a pullover blue-striped shirt that looks nice and is probably more comfortable to work in. I also really love the return of libraries, and in a separate space, not among the noise of the Crow's Nest, with multiple copies of books that have been carefully curated.

Personally, I wouldn't do it. They serve Ivar's chowder, which you can pick up anywhere in Seattle. On my two recent Westerdam cruises, they had mussels several nights for free in the lido, as well as different types of berry crumble--always a huge pot by the aft coffee machines. You can also get salmon and shrimp every night in the MDR and most nights in the buffet, and I much prefer the salmon bowls in the MDR. You're also in a sectioned-off part of the Lido, where people watch you and wonder if they can join in, so staff are trying to keep people who haven't paid out. I think they had something similar on Cunard or Princess, and the people there looked silly, since they put bibs on everyone. My advice--skip the lines at Tracy's Crab Shack and head down the harbor to Tracy's Crab Shack 2, which has outdoor seating and a more casual atmosphere and without the lines out the door of the restaurant.

It probably isn't allowed in foreign ports like that, since it would be easy for people to get lost or otherwise delayed, and you still have to through security again. Some ports will let you go if there are in-transit passengers, or if the ship leaves late, as happens sometimes in Vancouver, when ships have to leave during the night because of tides and fitting under the bridge there. I once had to do it in Seattle, since I left my prescription glasses in my car, only having prescription sunglasses, and it definitely wasn't fun doing the entire process again and explaining to everyone that I was already checked in, and I got stern warnings about all-aboard time.

My Halloween 5-night on Bliss is still showing Ensenada. I suspect the issue is that Ensenada can only handle 2 ships at a time, as can Mazatlan and perhaps Puerto Vallarta. Carnival added Firenze to the Radiance and Panorama that stop there, and Navigator of the Seas also stops there twice a week. You also have more cruises to Hawaii r/t from California that have to stop in Ensenada as a foreign port. It will probably get worse, since Royal is adding Quantum and Ovation to Mexico for the non-Alaska months, so the lines will be scrambling to arrange ports, along with the few berths in San Pedro--hard to imagine Bliss/Encore and Ovation/Quantum in San Pedro at the same time. Radiance and Navigator have to go there twice a week as the only foreign port option for 3-4 night cruises, as do Hawaii trips, but 5-7 day trips have other options, like overnighting in Cabo. The same sort of situation will come up in Alaska, with Juneau restricting ship visits and other cities trying to do the same, while more ships and lines are going to Alaska (including Virgin in 2026). Smaller ports with fewer ships is one big thing that attracts me to Baja Mexico over the Caribbean, where there can be 10 ships or more in Cozumel or Nassau, but it's going to be a big logistical headache going forward (Virgin will be doing sailings from San Pedro too).

I think HAL is actually doing a decent job of preparing for future cruisers. They have some unique itineraries, for those who care about destinations over casinos or shows. They're implementing some new shows, and I was impressed by a new StepOne show I saw, with more energy than the incredibly dull Princess song and dance shows. There are a lot of foodies among my fellow boomers and younger, and they're really making a strong effort, with sustainable seafood, getting away from traditional cruise food like lobster and prime rib on veggies instead of with baked potato. I just got off Westerdam since it's last refit, and it looked quite nice, and I found Zaandam less dated than older Princess and Royal ships, which are just ugly. 'Dressy' night is also an attempt to move on, I would use the example of the numerous younger gay couples on HAL that it's doing well at appealing to younger cruisers who want an elevated food and destination experience, with smaller ships without ship-with-a-ship class systems or kids attractions, whereas Royal and NCL are going after families looking for whiz bang and who trade that off with megaships and megacrowds and megamediocre and a lot of boring trips to Cozumel. While I find a lot to like in Pinnacle ships, the loss of a traditional promenade is a huge negative for me, as is the convoluted top deck blocked off by a huge, visible crew smoking area and with a sad, useless walking track. The same is true of Sun Princess--they tried to go for families with outdoor attractions, none of which have operated, so lots of wasted outdoor space, it turned into lots of privileged private spaces and sections of the ship, I don't think it has a promenade, like the Royal-Class ships I dislike, and it has over 4000 passengers trying to fit in a buffet in the middle of the ship. So the pattern for all the lines building new and larger seems to be removing public space, making more of it pay/class-based (I love Edge-class Celebrity ships, but they removed all front-space access, whereas they used to have a Crow's Nest kind of lounge/viewing area), adding more attractions/restaurants/shops/gimmicks to raise revenue, and making the entire experience more stressful and unpleasant for those who want privacy, quiet, a library, a variety of music, interesting art and antiques, an open, easy-to-navigate layout (and hallways without carts and not too far from an elevator), and ships that are actually beautiful inside and out. At the same time, I'm a solo cruiser on a limited income, so some high-end boutique/luxury line would be a waste of money to be stuck with a lot of ancient, boring wealthy people--even on Westerdam the past two days, which is staring a 54-day cruise, I got sick of angry, entitled old men demanding to speak to managers. I value HAL for offering those long, unique cruises, and I really wanted to do a cool cruise around Japan that stops at Iwo Jima and passes Midway Island, but no new ship would ever do that. At the same time, I went on Westerdam 3 weeks ago, full of yokel masses, and it was a really great Alaska cruise, with only 1900 passengers, few kids, open bow whale watching several days, and their unique Alaska menus. So I drifted away from HAL for several years when it felt too boring, the same experience and entertainment on every ship, every cruise, but now with every line at 100% or more occupancy, I value HAL's smaller size, simplicity, comforts, and reasonable innovations. They even brought back a classical trio on Westerdam, although I'm hoping for productions shows across the fleet.

I cleared 4 days before for a 2-night cruise on Westerdam tomorrow. Never look for a boarding pass in the app, because it's the last to appear. Just look at your check-in online, where they have documents, and print out a boarding pass with your luggage tags. If not, don't sweat it, just show up and they'll print one out for you at the pier. The same thing happens if you don't appear in the face ID check-in machines, they'll just forward you to an agent who will look you up and print out something. On my first standby, they couldn't even do that, and wrote 'he's in the system' on a sticky note, and when I got to security, they saw I was registered for the cruise. On my last standby, my steward asked where my roommate was, the person who had canceled to give me a spot. You'll probably need to go to guest services and register a credit card, or ask for an invitation to any mariners events, or for mariners cocktail coupons, because those also don't make their way to rooms that quickly.

It's part of the growing inconsideration in public everywhere. People listen to bluetooth speakers on pool decks and riding bikes around town. People watch videos on their phones everywhere now, without headphones or ear buds, including on airplanes. They Facetime or do video chats the same way, without regard for others or for the privacy of those they're talking to. Talking on phones in bathroom stalls and even at urinals. Taking their dogs everywhere, including walking a German shepherd in the Windjammer. It's young people and trashy people mostly, so I haven't experienced much of such behavior on Celebrity, Princess, or HAL. Ships well over 100% full, growing numbers of young and new cruisers, bigger ships, and better technology to make noise and reduce privacy and quiet make it more likely that the problems will get worse, not better. But then the ship does a lot of the same thing, with announcements, shop events with microphones, ships blaring their own soundtrack, and then the barrage of Royal promotional emails.

I'd take a taxi, which usually takes 35 min or so, although on a Wednesday morning it might be longer, since you have to take city streets, suburban streets, and a highway to YVR. Waterfront Station is across the street and you just tap a credit card at the entrance and you don't have to worry about traffic, just pre-plan your route so you know which line and train to take. I never take a cruise line transfer, because it's not only more expensive than an Uber or taxi, particularly in Vancouver, but you'll suffer through frustration all along the way--the bus might be late, it's a zoo in the bus loading zone under Canada Place, you have to load a lot of people, many infirm, their tons of luggage, and you can't leave until they fill the bus, which is just infuriating if you have a flight to catch. You could be at the airport in a taxi before your bus even leaves the terminal. Going from YVR to Vancouver is even better by taxi, since they have a flat rate of $35 CAD, but the metered fare will be similar. Remember, you also have to pass through US customs at YVR before going back to the US, I believe, and Ii remember having a very long walk from my plane to customs the last time I went through YVR.

If they put gelato by the other ice cream people would realize they could get scoop ice cream for free. There aren't a lot of food options on older ships, nothing like the International Cafe on Princess, so I wouldn't want space and crew taken up by it. The gelato on newer Princess ships makes more sense, since they don't have free scoop ice cream (although they serve gelato in the dining room, just disguising the name). Celebrity also keeps gelato by the coffee shop, instead of by the excellent scoop ice cream in the buffet, and they offer a free scoop for higher loyalty levels. Princess also offers some elaborate, diabetes-inducing premium ice cream desserts as part of their Plus program, so perhaps HAL could throw in some gelato on Pinnacle-class ships to persuade more people to upgrade to HIA.

It depends on the itinerary and the season and the ship and the inherent value. The only important thing for me is the price (I never have gotten HIA and always book inside), so I track and compare them over time, not only with HAL but with other lines. As a solo, I haven't seen many bargains on HAL lately, so I have been going with their standby program, which as a solo beats any sale I've seen. I find that using cruiseplum helps, because when you select a cruise, it lists the price over time, and I can break down a search into overall price per night. Then I just look for a bargain fare, like one I got in Alaska in late May on Zaandam for $100/nt or so. That site especially helps with HAL, because their website doesn't allow me to search cruises for a solo rate. Most 'sales' are just the equivalent of car sales commercials and ads, just to get you excited and book something. Celebrity/Royal are the worst for gimmick sales, and NCL constantly puts a deadline on their Free At Sea program that is always available. So my advice is to ignore the websites and their promotional emails and get a good travel agent who will get you a good deal, and then get a fare reduction if the price goes down, and maybe get you perks beyond what the cruise line offers.