3rdGenCunarder

Don't tempt fate with comments like that!!! My itinerary is now different from what appears to be the standard order from Chicago--scenic sailing, Escanaba, Mackinac Island, Sault Ste Marie, scenic sailing and the rest. That's what is shown on the map and is a logical sequence in terms of geography. Now my cruise is scenic sailing, Escanaba, Soo locks (but no stop in Sault Ste Marie), then we backtrack to Mackinac Island (which explains why we won't have time to stop in Sault Ste Marie), then scenic sailing and the rest. I intend to print out every tour confirmation and bring it with me. I'm not doing the long Niagara falls tour. I may not bother with the standard one, either. It might be nice to just wander around Port Colborne, have lunch ashore (I found what looks like a good brewpub), and watch the ships on the Welland Canal.

I looked at other itineraries and, although it isn't on mine, some of the other Great Lakes cruises have an interesting boat ride (yes, I know we are already ON a boat ride!) for the Escanaba stop. It's a ride along the "pictured rocks" shoreline of Lake Superior. It's expensive, but I would do it if it were on my cruise. Looks like some great photo ops.

And another tour change for my cruise. I check about once a week to see if new tours appear--I was told some "really great" premium tours would be added for Escanaba, but so far they aren't showing for my cruise. As I scrolled down the list, I discovered that a tour has disappeared, along with the port stop. Sault Ste Marie is the port after Mackinac Island (Chicago to Toronto). They had been offering a HoHo bus on the US side. But now there's no tour and it says "scenic sailing." I looked at a few other cruises, and those still have the port stop and HoHo bus. It does not take all day to go through the Sault Locks, so what's going on???????

That sounds a little vigilante, but I'd join! Seriously, there really isn't anything you can do. There are signs asking people not to reserve or hold chairs, but the crew do nothing about it. I can't really blame them. I wouldn't want to get yelled at by an angry chair hog. And as much as I would like to collect all the hats and sunglasses and books and just dump them all together on one chair, I would be the one to get in trouble.

So was I. Well, the part about scolding you, anyway...

I did see that. I think they aren't promoting it in the US because it would mean last-minute airfare for a relatively short cruise. Plus, Cunard doesn't need us. I expect this to sell quickly.

I agree. If the cost difference isn't terrible, stay at the Westin and enjoy the plans you made for that area. You will have to check out of your room at the Westin before it's time for the transfer from the Hilton to the ship, but the Westin can store your luggage until you're ready to go over to the Hilton.

When I follow this link, it takes me to a page that asks me to choose US or UK site. If I choose US, I get an error message. So perhaps this isn't being offered in the US? I hope they give people on the cancelled voyages first chance to book this. If I were in the UK, I would absolutely want to do it.

It's sad to hear this. When surveys ask "would you recommend this cruise to friends?" I always think, well, depends on which friends are asking. But for the first time, I cannot imagine recommending HAL to anyone. What would I say? The plus factors are that they aren't megaships with 6,000 passengers and the itineraries are good. I have two HAL cruises booked, both on the remaining R ships. I booked them for the itineraries, both port intensive. I will go knowing that I may spend a lot of my onboard time reading. If the entertainment is good, that will be a bonus.

It's deep enough to stand in front of the side jets. It's great for walking to relax tired muscles after a long day in port.

NO! You shouldn't throw anything overboard. But you could hide things, like maybe leave them in a corner somewhere. Small things could go into the "used towel" bin.

Just when you think they can't screw up another part of the trip, they find a way!! 🤬

Supposedly, LC will be on various ships on the mainstage, but not all the time. Kind of like Cantare. Which ships and for how long remains to be seen.

Yes, Chicago is what made me choose AQV. I really hope the cruise is good enough to make up for the planning drama. I wouldn't do this cruise on ACL because I had a terrible cruise with them (Columbia/Snake rivers). I don't want to pay Viking's prices. I don't want to be out of options!

Around that time, I met someone who was in one of those cabins and she was very unhappy (kvetching in the launderette). There was a stretch of hallway about 8-10 cabins long where the vibration was noticeable.

Call your insurance company and ask. Policies vary, so they're the only ones who can give you a reliable answer. Does your insurance include cancel for any reason?

You need to try Cunard. There always are some kilted gentlemen on gala nights.

Normally, I would say don't bother, because not many people dress up for gala nights. But it's a special birthday, so if you want to dress up, do it. Nobody will look at you oddly because you're dressed up more than most people. You'll likely get some compliments on how nice you look. Consider having dinner in the Pinnacle to make it more special. I know that a lot of people don't want to miss the Gala menu, but I don't think it's all that special. The ambiance of Pinnacle is worth missing the "special" Gala night menu. I think the photographers set up around the ship on Gala nights, so you could have a formal portrait done as a nice memento of the day.

My insurance DID cover because we cancelled, not Cunard, so we got nothing back from Cunard. My point was that, although the overall trip was interrupted, neither cruise was interrupted, so we were reimbursed for "cancellation" of the cruises, which paid 100%, not "interruption," which would have paid more.

I agree. She can't get to NY and back in time for the next scheduled departure out of Soton. I think that's Norway? Too much of a domino effect, and too may schedule details to change.

The "trip" commences on the date you specified in your insurance. DH became ill in England before our first of two cruises. We had a few days in England, then a HAL cruise, then a day or two in England, and then QM2 home. Because the individual elements of the trip weren't interrupted, our insurance paid for the cancelled cruises (100%) but not interruption (150%). Interruption is worth more than cancellation because the extra covers the costs of re-working the interrupted trip.

Thanks for the update!

Four weeks. There was always a 3-week gap in the schedule after the 3-week cruise. So instead of two 3-week cruises, there's now a 2-week and a 4-week.

At some point, HAL may stop selling HIA for a cruise, or the specialty restaurants will be overbooked. I've seen posts about people having trouble booking Pinnacle because of limited availability of time slots.

A long time ago, in NYC security was after check-in and priority mattered from the beginning. But now, security always seems to happen first. And I've never seen priority lines for security when it's the first step. The good thing about FLL is each ship gets its own terminal, so there's no sharing of security lines. Vancouver can be awful if ships are sharing. In FLL this winter, I checked in around 11:20, and the non-priority waiting area was full (despite being 4-star, I was group C with a check-in time of 11:40). After I checked in, I went to the woman who was handing out boarding cards. She held out number 19, and I told her I was priority, and showed her the boarding pass. I got a priority card and was sent upstairs. Even at that early hour, I was priority group 2. It didn't matter because all the priority people ahead of me had just boarded. So if you are supposed to get priority embarkation and don't get it, ask.