3rdGenCunarder

3 hours ago, twincheryl said:

Just know that the queue for cabs can be VERY long, depending on how many ships are in port and what time you disembark.  Plan accordingly...

There was only one other ship when I disembarked at Vancouver a few years ago and I was standing in the queue for an hour. The other ship docked first and their people got out first. I think this summer I'll do a ship transfer. I don't like the transfers, but I have too much luggage to do SkyTrain. 

The problem with Canada Place is once you get down into the bowels of the building to start the process, where are they going to make you wait? Or will they send early passengers back out to the street or up into the hotel? I hope they'll at least accept the luggage. 

When I boarded Queen Victoria in Southampton last fall, they were holding early arrivals in a queue alongside the terminal building. Priority passengers (Grills, Diamond, Platinum) got waved through, so I went right in and checked in quickly. The odd thing is that there weren't many people in the building and most of the check-in staff had nobody in front of them. It seemed like a waste of person-hours to have staff doing nothing while there were people who could be checked in. There was plenty of seating, too. But that's their rule and they stick to it. 

I love aft cabins, especially on Oosterdam and the other vista class ships. I've been above the dining room and had no issues with noise. Being over an entertainment area, OTOH, is not my idea of a good location.

22 minutes ago, kazu said:

There would have been a lot more choice if I got a lot bigger and a smidge more if I was a bit smaller.  LOL.

Isn't that always the way it is????? 🙄

7 hours ago, kazu said:

 

Thanks.  I’m going to break down and get something in the gift shop.  Was hoping to see a Lido sale today but so far,no word.

Now that you mention it, I don't recall any Lido sales on Zaandam this winter. 

It would be interesting to see if the other cruise lines are doing this on busy days. If HAL pax abide by this but Princess and NCL and whoever else don't, HAL's system won't make much difference.

8 minutes ago, SeaMatesNYC said:

For every concern I register on Let Us Know, I try to send one commendation. It feels good to know someone’s day (or more) is better as a result. 

My husband was a teacher and he always said if he had to do parent calls, which were usually about problems, he would find a kid about whom he could make a positive call. It made his day feel better, and he enjoyed the astonishment from the parent when their kid WASN'T in trouble.

I haven't done a whale watch in New England. I did one in Iceland, and Alaska was better than that.

Do some research about independent whale watches and check the descriptions to see if you can figure out who the vendor is (try googling the tour title). Ship's excursions are often large boats with a lot of people. I've gone on smaller boats in Juneau (Gastineau Guiding) and Icy Strait Point (Hoonah Adventures). Because I wasn't squished at the rail by other passengers, I was able to enjoy watching and photographing the whales.

As for price, Alaska is expensive and HAL has been marking up tours more than they used to. 

I've only seen orcas at ISP. Humpbacks, seals, eagles on both. 

2 hours ago, Iamthesea said:

What a shame that your meal last night was not excellent.  I will be ordering the same exact foods in a couple of weeks (I saw the menu on the other thread last night and made my pick. 😁)  I was looking forward to the dinner this year, as we missed the first Gala night in OC last year because we were eating in Tamarind.   I love lamb!  I had also planned to substitute the "beans" with potatoes.

 

As for the escargot, we had the same experience with it in Rudy's last year. I could not eat the escargot.  I all of my cruises, that had never happened.  Our water did ask why and I told him they were tasteless.

 

Hope the crème brûlée is good on the Rotterdam or DH will be very sad.

 

Have a great day!

I don't get the combination of bean puree with lamb chops, either. I always sub potato for beans when I have the lamb in Pinnacle.

How disappointing that the creme brulee was sub-par. That's always been one of their best desserts. No comment on escargot as I don't eat that. But I never ask for a small portion when they're serving rack of lamb!!! I'm glad that was good.

Just found this thread. Have a wonderful time! I'm sure you and your friend will enjoy each other's company.  Have lots of adventures but no MISadventures!!!

1 hour ago, DDOlson said:

Hello again, 

Quick update: I called HAL today and a very nice lady helped me. She canceled both of my in-laws, then changed my name to my father-in-law's name (so he and my husband could share the same room). There was a $50 change fee. When my father-in-law was canceled from his first room, his excursions and waitlists were also canceled. Thankfully, she was able to re-book and re-waitlist him for those excursions. I had to pay for the re-booked excursion and will be reimbursed for the canceled excursion. 
While we were on the phone she emailed me proof of the canceled room, and the name change for the room we kept. I really appreciated this, as it allowed me to verify everything before we got off the phone. In total, the call took 1hr & 15min. Most of that time was spent on hold while she was waiting for managerial approval.
Because we purchased platinum travel insurance through HAL, we will get a credit for 90% of the cruise price for the two canceled passengers, not including the cost of travel insurance. 
All-in-all it was way too time consuming, but she was very pleasant to work with and we got it done. I learned that once you are paid in full, you can't cancel or change names yourself, it has to be done on the phone with HAL. So, you were all correct, you have to call. 
I'm sad to not be going, but I'm thrilled the guys are going. They do an annual Father/Son trip every year and an alaskan cruise is the bucket list of trips for them. Very exciting. 🙂 
Anyhoo, thanks again for everyones help. I really appreciate your time.

Thanks for coming back to give an update. It sounds like you got someone good to help you. I like that you were sent the confirmations while you were on the phone. An hour and a quarter is a good trade for getting things sorted out and not being out too much money. And another example of why travel insurance is so important. 

7 hours ago, exlondoner said:

Yes, it is odd how often people get to the front of the queue and appear astonished to discover they need to remove their outer garments, despite the notices everywhere telling them to do this.

I have a knack for getting in the gueue behind that person. 

5 minutes ago, YourWorldWithBill said:

After all, I'd be fine with an upgrade in most cases, but not all. And as far as your point, @Gsel, I seriously doubt that they would move someone from a Neptune suite.

Well, there is the Pinnacle Suite...

4 hours ago, SeaMatesNYC said:

If it’s like the Effy Jewelry cruise, these may be big “art” spenders who received the cruise “free” based upon past purchases. 

I know they've "paid" for their ticket in art purchases, but if someone on a freebie gets something that I PAID for and can't have, that's gotta hurt. 

1 hour ago, C 2 C said:

Celebrity also lets Park West use their best lounges for auctions, blocking off the equivalent of the Crow's Nest during the entire day.  Complaints have never worked on X about this issue..

 

The lure of a sure large booking is too great to ignore. 

5 minutes ago, exlondoner said:

Mind you, on some cruises, by the time they have let in Grills, Diamond, Plats, and possibly BC, there are only a few people left behind. The only reason I can see for keeping people outside is if the terminal itself was very crowded even though the check ins weren’t busy.

There was a lot of seating available that day, which is why I thought it was odd. Staff with nothing to do could have taken care of those passengers easily. Even if early arrivals had to sit, it was better than standing outside. 

On 4/21/2024 at 7:21 AM, Poole Boy said:

Boarding times are assigned to ensure a smooth flow of people through the terminal, I'm sure your hotel will hold you bags for a couple of hours and you could go to West Quay for lunch and then go to the port.  The risk is if you go to the port early they may keep you waiting outside until there is space inside the terminal building. In any event boarding does not usually start until 12:30, so the terminal will already be busy.

They held people outside when I boarded QV in October. The only people allowed to go right in were Grills, Diamond, Platinum. There were plenty of staff at their posts with nothing to do, so I don't know why they held people outside. 

7 minutes ago, PORT ROYAL said:

D+ is Diamond Plus level of Cunard World Club.  This attracts the benefit of priority boarding  at embarkation.  Which we don’t use, preferring to arrival later.

What's Diamond Plus? The highest level I'm aware of is diamond.

24 minutes ago, Sea42 said:

Are you sure they are paying less? From what I've seen with other groups, participants pay higher fares to be a part of the group. It may be different though for a sales driven situation?

I suspect the organizer is getting a discount price and then marking it up to cover their expenses. So the participants may be paying more, but that doesn't mean HAL is getting all of that money.

14 hours ago, Blackduck59 said:

I think if the Cruise line is charging me full fare for a cruise, I have an expectation that I will be able to use the amenities that come with the booking. If the cruise line decides that some group who may or may not have paid full fare should have exclusive use of amenities they just rented to me (in my full fare) I'm going to be looking for compensation. I really don't care that the contract says "we (the cruise line) can do whatever we want; all contracts are based on a "meeting of the minds" as it were and if at the time of my booking you said that amenities such as the Crows Nest or anytime dining are included in my fare. Then Bob's Book club shows up with 600 passengers (most likely with discounted fares) and I (full fare booked well in advance) is now excluded from these things, well they have broken that contract.

I've seen the Crows Nest blocked for an hour or two for a mariner event or a roll call meet & greet, but those are one-time events. And roll call events don't get the entire space. Even the art auctions are a half day once, maybe twice if the cruise is long. On one or two cruises, I've seen a lounge used for a travel agency's group. Again, a few hours one time. Okay, so no big deal. But EVRY DAY is outrageous. 

And your point about the fares is what makes it so annoying. You paid more than the group did, but you're getting less. 

I did a Great Lakes cruise last year. There was a Road Scholar group on board, and they had lectures in the lounge on sea days. It was a small ship with only one lounge and the bar area just off the lounge. Hearing the group stories here, I wondered how that was going to work out. American Queen did not close the lounge to other passengers, but instead allowed everyone to attend the lectures. Nobody in the Road Scholar group seemed to mind. 

52 minutes ago, NE John said:

The “Zoo” phenomenon in Brooklyn immigration stems from the US Customs law that every ship has to zero out with all pax disembarking and then re-embark, even if staying on the ship for the next leg of the voyage. 
That applies to all US ports and Brooklyn seems to take the brunt of bad press because of this policy. However, I also heard Vancouver bad too on the US side for Alaska cruises. 

I think part of the problem in Brooklyn is that there isn't a lot of space for the in-transits to wait in the terminal, and itisn't very comfortable. Nobody is allowed back on until everybody has cleared immigration. So if one last person dawdles, the rest are left 'captive.' 

I've heard Vancouver can be bad, but the one time we were in transit there, we spent the day off the ship, sightseeing, and by the time we returned all the in transits and most of the newly embarking passengers had been processed. If I find myself in the in transit situation again, I'll take a tour or go out sightseeing.

Except for the time an idiot took one of my suitcases, I have found luggage collection to be easy in Brookyn.  The crazy thing was, the staff that are cranky handling embarkation (especially the gorgon who guards the entrance to the grills/platinum/diamond waiting area) were exceptionally kind and helpful, tracking down where my case went. 

5 hours ago, Torquer said:

Wow...this is the second time in one week I have read about a large group disrupting ship activities for non-group members on the ship.  I have been reading the HAL board on CC for 10+ years and I never saw this mentioned before and now two at the same time...what is HAL doing.

 

FYI...here is the other thread about closing the lower dining room for anytime dining after 6:30 PM to accommodate a large group:  https://boards.cruisecritic.com/topic/3003701-what-to-do-received-limited-dining-email-this-morning/

 

Large groups taking over dining times happened fairly often in the Before Time. Not so much since the break, but the groups and charters are starting up again. Mostly, it happens on 1-week cruises because those sell well for the people in the group. It's why I won't book a 7-day or a 14-day that's two 7s back-to-back. I don't trust HAL to not load a large group onto one of the weeks, or even charter it after lots of people have already booked. 

9 hours ago, Mary229 said:

That is a different thing they have been doing and I am not really sure what it portends.  About 6-8 weeks out they have been “closing” the bookings then reopening them later.  This started soon after RCCL had to turn away people at the pier because Royal had overbooked.   Perhaps it is a new back office booking software?  

I don't know if it's always been at 6-8 weeks (I think it used be later), but at some point HAL has usually closed certain categories when they start placing guarantee bookings. If you're watching availability for some reason, suddenly one category says sold out. Then the next day, there is availability, but less than before the "sold out" break.

5 hours ago, TRLD said:

Point is that to the cruise line it is not subjective at all it is how the rooms are coded and class assigned.

 

Just like not all  rooms in hotels are equivalent. You can book ocean view in a hotel, but not all are equivalent.

This is true. To HAL it's all just inventory. But for those of us who have our own criteria for cabin choice, we're paying to make that choice. If we can be moved around at will, then we've basically got guarantees. 

Just to be clear, there are two interpretations of your question. 

First, are you planning to put out your luggage the last night and collect it on the pier after the ship unloads it? If so, you don't have to get a porter. Just find your luggage and roll it to the Immigration queue. However, sometimes in Brooklyn the Immigration inspectors take people with porters faster so that the porters can go back and collect more passengers. 

Or are you asking if you can carry your own luggage off the ship yourself? That answer is also yes, but the ship will want you to go off in the first group and the deck you're on doesn't matter. You have to sign up for this. 

6 hours ago, Austcruiser84 said:

Taste is an interesting thing. So many loved QE2 but when I see photos from the 90s and 00s I see a dated decor that belongs in a grandparent’s home. Yet clearly many people (mostly grandparents? 🙂) loved it. 

5 hours ago, King Amo said:

Not just grandparents. I first went on the QE2 when I was 20, and the faded grandeur was one its most enduring appeals. There was something very special about that ship. 

 

When considering taste though, I'm not sure any ship could be considered particularly tasteful, if you look at the constituent parts. It's a bit like Vegas hotels. None of the decor would be what you would ever choose, but you find the place that feels right. 

What a lot of people don't understand about QE2 is that one of the things frequent passengers loved about her was the crew. For a long time, she was the only Cunard ship (not counting "the yachts of Seaborne" and the brief time they had Caronia), so crew stayed with that one ship and became family--amongst themselves AND with the repeat passengers. Being greeted with "welcome home" really meant something. 

As for decor, ship or hotel, I've seen some that were ugly and some that were beautiful. But even the beautiful ones weren't necessarily decor I'd want at home. But they fit the purpose for which they were designed. 

And on the subject of design, I do wonder about those chairs--they're everywhere. Different fabrics, but same chair. Comments about whether they'll be comfortable make my think they might be designed more for short-term sitting rather than a leisurely lounge. My mother used to talk about working in NYC in the 1950s and eating at Chock full o'Nuts lunch counter/coffee shops. She said a story went around that the counter stools were specifically designed to become noticeably uncomfortable after 20 minutes so that people would move on and another customer could be served. Perhaps that's what Cunard is up to with those chairs?