jm485

Boarding Day - 9 July

Boarding Day dawned bright and sunny. By 6:30, Koningsdam was in view and she was docked right at 7.

We called the bellstand at the Pan Pacific at about 8:30 to get our bags.  We were surprised that they came up right away to collect them. But they did, so we cleared the room and headed down to breakfast with our backpacks and mom’s tote bag.

We had buffet vouchers at Oceans 999 for 2 of us, and paid about C$35 for a third entree and drinks. Food was delicious, nice selection but not overwhelming.  

We had a 10am check-in time, so we finished checking out of the hotel and made our way down the elevator to Cruise Ship

level at a couple of minutes after 10.

Canada Place Boarding Process

Since we didn’t have to check our bags, we skipped the first stop in the boarding routine and headed directly to the check in room. There were about 25 people in line for standard check-in with paper documents.  With our “Ready to Cruise” VeriFly status, we simply walked up to a representative, showed the phone and had our pictures taken and passports scanned.  We were done before people who’d come in with us made it to the front of the line.  Depending on your tolerance for standing in line vs. wrestling with the app, you can decide if VeriFly is worth it to you.  I would imagine that the later it gets, the more time VeriFly will save you at check-in.

Then it was off to security, who will want to see the slip of paper given to you when you check in. Security was standard magnetometers and bag xray. Mom has both a hip and knee replacement, so she had to be wanded.

Last stop before the boarding holding pen was US CBP. There are a couple dozen automated passport machines and we walked right up to one, scanned our passports and got our customs print outs. We got to the boarding waiting area at about 10:45 and learned they would be ready to board at 11:30.

Finally On Board

Pretty promptly at 11:30, the Priority Boarding began. I think they let B2B passengers on first, then a few people who needed assistance. The crew scanned the boarding passes on my phone on we were on at the Deck 2 midship elevators. We cut thru to the Aft elevators to our aft-wrap Neptune.  Our room keys were waiting when we got here.

Since we’d just finished breakfast, we weren’t very hungry. Our cabin attendants came by and  we watched the safety video. Our bags arrived around 1. DN was quite the martinet getting us to unpack and stow everything, but by 1:30, everything was put away and we headed out to check in at our muster station and find some lunch.

The Lido seemed the best option, even as mobbed as it was. We just had a quick

meal, as we still weren’t super hungry. We sat at the pool for a bit, then Mom and I went back to the cabin while DN checked out the gym.

Sailaway was right on time at 4. We had a quick nap and decided to just get room service. No one was especially in the mood for a big meal. Delivery was prompt and the food was hot and tasty. We found a movie to watch and it was lights out pretty early.

On 7/9/2022 at 8:26 AM, willoL said:

Let us know how you divvy up those closets and work out the shower schedule! 

Turns out DN is an unpacking dynamo, because our bags were delivered at about 1:00 and in half an hour, we’d found a place for everything.

I got 2 drawers because I had more drawer than hanging stuff. Mom and DN each got one.   DN left work out clothes, underwear and socks in packing cubes on the shelves. We just hung things based on length rather than trying to divvy up the hanging space, so that stuff is a bit intermingled.  There are TONS of hangers!

We each took 2 drawers by the dressing table for toiletries and cosmetics. There is no room in the shower to leave anything really. Mom and I each have a drawer in the bathroom for toothbrush and shampoo and DN has a carrier on a shelf under the sink with her stuff.

There was one carry on that wouldn’t fit under the bed, so it’s under the coffee table. We moved that table and the 2 arm chairs off to the sides of the room so no one would trip over them in their original middle of the room position.  We have 2 backpacks and we stowed them in a cabinet under the bar.  So everything is pretty “ship shape.”

Also turns out that Mom usually showers at night. I take a shower first thing while DN is either sleeping or at the gym, then she takes a shower. So it all seems to work out fine. We have dinner at the Pinnacle Grill tonight so we’ll see how we do getting ready at once.

We spent a couple of hours Thursday morning doing COVID testing and dealing with VeriFly - mostly the actual COVID tests themselves.
 

When we got to the pier in Vancouver today, we didn’t wait at all in any line. At the first stop - check in - we showed the green VeriFly app, went right to a rep who took photos and scanned our passports and gave us each an orange slip of paper that they called the “boarding pass” at the magnetometers, which were the next step. Then we went thru US Border Control and had to scan passports. As we boarded the ship, they scanned the boarding passes on my phone.  So we showed 2 things on a phone and our passports. No juggling papers!

We were in an early boarding group, but there were 25 or 30 people waiting to check in with paper at the first stop.  We were in and out before people who walked in and had to

do manual/paper check in were even to the front of the line. Can’t imagine what it will be like later.

To me, you pick your poison - either take the time to do it ahead of time or hope you hit the pier at a quieter time so your document review goes quick. 

12 hours ago, DaveOKC said:

I assume that you know that the Pan Pacific staff will take your bags from your room right to the ship and to your cabin?  Last time we did this it was great AND the bellman would not accept a tip from us, since we were on a HAL package.

Thanks for the reminder. I stopped this morning to get the details on pick up for tomorrow morning.  We booked the cruise package directly through the hotel, but got the same info about them taking it on board.

We’re counting hours now!

Greetings from Vancouver!

After a very long travel day Wednesday, we landed in Vancouver at about 9pm.  Got thru passport control and took a cab from the airport to the Pan Pacific.  The fare was C$38 for 3 people and 8 various suitcases, carry-ons and backpacks.  We don’t travel light in our family.  
 

The most eventful things were that my Mom left her phone home, and that we had a crazy long connection to make in Dallas from gate D1 to the A terminal. We’ve decided that Mom will come stay with me so we can fly United from Newark from now on.  Whatever issues we may have with United, at least we can fly non-stop pretty much anywhere from there, rather than Philly to Dallas to Vancouver!

Yesterday, was cruise minus 2 day. Woke to overcast over the harbor and mountains, but living near the ocean, we know that morning clouds can often turn to beautiful weather!  We spent a couple of hours first thing dealing with the COVID tests and other paperwork. The process was complicated by mom’s lack of her phone, since she couldn’t remember any of her passwords and we couldn’t reset them without the codes that were sent to her phone!  Eventually, though, we all got our negative COVID tests reviewed and approved thru VeriFly and were “Ready to Sail”; submitted a cruise-related ArriveCan request and completed all the HAL formalities. It sems like there’s a lot of sending the same info different places, but maybe we were just very inefficient in how we approached it.

We have a harborview room, and amused ourselves watching float planes take off and land in the harbor while dealing with all this admin stuff. We treated ourselves to room service breakfast, too.  As we worked, the weather cleared and by the time we headed out for the afternoon, the weather was warm and sunny.  We spent a couple of hours walking around Granville Island, where DN treated us to donuts from Lee’s Donuts in the Public Market.  And yes, they really are as good as their reputation!

A bit of jet lag hit at that point, so we decided to just get very late lunch/early dinner at the hotel.  We ate at the Coal House Bar in the lobby.  The fish in the fish and chips was super-crispy and moist.

We have a trip to Capillano Suspension Bridge Park today and tomorrow is Boarding Day!  

On 7/6/2022 at 7:03 PM, rocksteady27 said:

One final note - Verifly kept offering a paid service to expedite the review of documents uploaded (vaccine record, test results) claiming they were busy.
 

We always declined and still got everything back as accepted in less than an hour. 

 

Fees were about $20 or so for expedited review but we always declined and did the normal review process.

The longest we waited was about 90 minutes.  This morning, they didn’t post that notice and our test reports were reviewed & approved in about 10 minutes.

56 minutes ago, CruiserBruce said:

Nothing wrong with the water that comes from the tap.

I understand that the tap water is safe to drink. I think it tastes awful, and choose not to drink it.  YMMV, but not everyone finds the tap water palatable.

To OP - you and wife have 15 beverages each. If she doesn’t like the tap water, she can either use her beverage card, tell them she wants to pay for it or take the ones from the minibar (I think it’s the same price as at the bar).  
 

Too bad they don’t have a service I’ve used on other lines where you can have a 12 or 24 pack of water delivered to the cabin at the start of the cruise.  It was very easy.

Thanks for the suggestions everyone.  Some great advice. 
 

i’m all packed and just waiting for mom to

pick me up. I’m staying at her house tonight as I live an hour further away from PHL than her, so easiest to stay there tonight.

Bye til Vancouver!

@bbstx - see you around!  Good luck

with your flights!

In 48 hours, my mom, oldest niece and I depart on a trip to Alaska that -- like so many others this summer -- has been 3 years in the making.  Originally planned as a college graduation gift for my niece in 2020, we delayed twice but finally (fingers crossed) will be leaving Philadelphia Wednesday afternoon to fly to Vancouver.  We'll spend 3 nights at the Pan Pacific at Canada Place before boarding Koningsdam on Saturday for a round-trip voyage to Alaska.  After a final night in Vancouver due to flight times, we will be returning home on 17 July.

Background and the Cast of Characters

    Who?

Dear Mommy (DM) is just shy of 79 and has never been on a cruise.  She doesn't really enjoy traveling, but Alaska is a place she's always been interested in.  I'm hoping she'll enjoy it, so I'll have another future cruise buddy.  Daily Mass on HAL was a big selling item for her.  She doesn't have many hobbies and has spent the last 2.5 years mostly watching Hallmark movies and true crime shows.

Dear Niece (DN) is 25 and went on a short (maybe 5 day) Carnival cruise 4 or 5 years ago.  She's a nurse, loves to travel, and is generally a lot of fun to be around.  I think she was about 5 or so the last time I was on a trip with her, so I imagine this will be a rather different experience.

I'm 55, and married to a DH who doesn't like to travel. My regular traveling companion in recent years has been HIS mom.  She and I get along well, but we now all live together and sometimes it's nice to get a little break from each other -- especially after all the "togetherness" of recent years! 

This will be my 8th cruise, 4th on HAL.  I've also done one trip each on RC and Quark, and 2 on NCL.  Did not care at all for the giant ship experience on Royal, but thought the smaller NCL ships were just fine and not so very different to HAL.  YMMV, of course, but I'd be happy to take a trip on a smaller NCL ship, especially if it leaves from NYC to avoid flying.  I'm fairly self-entertaining, not a "foodie" and find HAL's ships really pleasant to be on, especially compared to the mall/amusement park aesthetic of some of the really big RCIC and NCL ships.

   How, Where & How Much?

We planned the trip thru a PCC at HAL who my MIL has used for years.  We booked air thru HAL FlightEase, and haven't had any issues of note (that thumping is me knocking wood).  We are staying in an Aft Wrap Neptune on Deck 8.  Neither of the Deck 7 suites were available and I really thought the wrap around deck would be great for Alaska, even if it meant sacrificing proximity to the Neptune Lounge.  Weather is not promising, with rain in the forecast pretty much every day, so the full cover over our balcony should be good.  I'm hoping the bad weather will mean less pool use and chair scraping noise above us.

Our package includes the "crew appreciation/gratuity," beverage package and 2 specialty dinners for each of the 3 of us (these are often just for guests 1 and 2 but it was a promo when we rebooked last year), as well as internet for 2 people.  Not including flights, the fare averaged out to about $2800 per person for 3 in the cabin, including port fees and taxes.

We booked hotels on our own, and will just get cab/ride share to and from the airport in Vancouver.  We are tentatively planning a day tour of Vancouver on Thursday and then a day trip to Victoria for Friday.  Our boarding time on Saturday is 10am, but since it's just a trip down in the elevator, we won't have to rush to get there on time.

We have HAL shore excursions booked in each of the 3 ports (Juneau, Skagway and Ketchikan).  Three "cruising"/sea days gives a nice blend of active and not.  2 of my last 3 cruises were in Europe, and the port-intensive itineraries are fun, but not necessarily relaxing.  Mom and I are planning things like the train ride and whale watch  cruises, while DN has a full slate of hikes, zip lining and kayaking planned.

Pre-Cruise Planning

I don't remember a trip that required this much pre-cruises stuff to be done!

We have registered with VeriFly, as much for our trip with American Airlines as HAL.  We have set up ArriveCan, and completed it for our flights.  Will do again for the cruise on Thursday morning after COVID tests.  We're very relieved we don't need to have a negative test to fly back to the US at the end of the trip, but will still need to test negative to board the cruise.  Plan to do that first thing Thursday morning via eMed. I used them when I went to the UK for work earlier this year, and knowing how it works was worth paying the $30 to do it this way vs. finding a less-expensive option using the free tests from US government.

That's about it for now.  Hopefully, my next report will be from Vancouver later this week.

Welcome Aboard!

Cruise departs 7/9. I emailed my info this past Monday and OBC posted to account on Wednesday or Thursday. I do have a HAL PCC who I copied on the request. Maybe they process by a combination of soonest cruising/ in order received?

2 hours ago, PACD_JG said:

So far this only applies to the one-ways, but the interesting part to me:  "we also strongly recommend wearing masks while ashore."

 

 

From some things I read on Princess, longer cruises seem to be generating more COVID cases, and it looks like a lot of the trips where HAL is calling for masking are longer than a week.

On 6/11/2022 at 1:20 PM, CruiserBruce said:

Deck 4 is very frequently recommended here as the biggest balconies on the aft. Deck 5 has amongst the smallest.  Only Dec we haven't experienced is Deck 6, until next month when we will be in a Deck 6 aft corner. 

We have a Deck 8 aft wrap on K'dam next month.  Did you find the noise from above to be a problem?  We're morning people to begin with and coming from the East Coast, so I suspect we'll be up early anyway -- but wondering how you found it.  Also, do you recall any issue with smoke from the smoking area above?

Thanks!

30 minutes ago, SeeSun&Sea said:

Consider upgrading from the included Signature Beverage Package to the Elite Beverage Package for $10 more per day. This gives you unlimited soda, coffee and personal bottles of water (but not 32 oz bottles) plus 15 alcoholic drinks priced up to $15 each (instead of Signature's $11 limit)

 

Once onboard, BEFORE YOU BUY A DRINK, ask the bar tender to upgrade your Beverage Package.

I can upgrade a free beverage package?  I like  that I can get the higher priced drinks, since my recollection is that HAL charges full

price if you buy something above the $11 limit, not just the amount over $11.  I never knew I could upgrade the included package!

25 minutes ago, LynnTTT said:

We have a cruise leaving Vancouver on July 6. Flying into Canada from the US is no longer a problem, but HA requires a monitored Covid tests within 2 or 3 days of boarding the ship.  WE'll be  in Vancouver for several days before embarking so we'll probably need testing done there... Which is really expensive.

HA poted on the cruise web page that there may be tests available at the ship that day, but you can't sign up til ten days before.  Any advice?  

 

I think we are on the same trip as you, Lynn.

I had to travel to London earlier this year and bought the Binax test kits that include a monitoring service. The morning before I flew home, I logged on with my computer and took the test in my hotel room.

We’ll also be in Vancouver for a few days, so planning to do the same thing one morning. It was pretty quick and easy. I bought the tests from Optum store, but I think there are other places you can get them. 
 

ETA: the tests including monitoring are $33 each at Optum 

Very relieved if this is true … but I just a couple of hours ago ordered tests for an upcoming trip!! Doh!

The aft views are endless …

So sorry that the trip you've been looking forward to was such a nightmare!  Hope your flight home was smooth and that you can at least relax knowing your home.

Fingers crossed that there's no more snow!

We moved our July 2021 Alaska trip (which had been rescheduled from 2020) to 2022 on Monday. 

We have a specific cabin type we want and the weeks we can go are limited due to work stuff. We’d rather wait another  year and know we’ll have the trip we want than compromise or put it off for another year.

The price was about $1000 more and we lost some OBC. But at this point, with 2

extra years and no travel!!, we decided to go ahead.

YMMV of course

44 minutes ago, FlaMariner said:

 

That's good...and leaves more time for all this to sort out.....

 

I have not been notified by TA or HAL that my final payment date has changed.

 

 

We have an Alaska trip that's scheduled to depart 8/29.  When I go to My Account on HAL's website and select the "Manage Payment" option, on the Make a Payment page, on the BALANCE DUE line, it shows a Balance Due date of June 30.

1 hour ago, Level six said:

 

I agree.

 

We also know now that they made a horrible mistake on the FEB 1 cruise that I should have been on.

 

Since we made the right decision and cancelled instead of being stuck like the passengers are now, we are not getting a refund.  

 

I feel for all the passengers, I really do.  But I also think that passengers that cancelled should get a refund.  I surely don't want future credit because I will never step on another HAL cruise after the way they have handled this.  

 

But, good luck eurolady, I am sure you will get a refund.  

I know it's probably a lot of aggravation, but might be worth it to keep plugging away at them, to contact any local consumer advocate services TV stations sometimes offer, etc.  Publicizing that you rightly cancelled before the trip and now they aren't giving you your money back -- even though they are refunding others -- might get you something.

These items were all available on the Nieuw Statendam earlier this month.

I can attest to the deliciousness of the Jack Knife, but didn't try the other new items.

You can absolutely "customize" your orders.  We got sauerkraut for hot dogs even though it's not on the menu.  And Dive In sauce is great for fry dipping!

We are on Nieuw Statendam now. Ship is sold out, which I mention because it may be impacting how Anytime Dining (AD) reservations are being done. 

AD reservations are being taken only for times between 5:15 and 6, and for 8 or later. Anyone wanting a table between 6 and 8 is walk-up only.

We’ve been on board for 4 nights and ate in dining room for 2 (not on gala night).  We’ve never waited more than 5 minutes for a table, including the time waiting to get to the front desk.  We usually get to the dining room at about 10 to 7.

We are not especially concerned with having the same wait staff or table, but we have generally been seated in the same area of the dining room. AD is on deck 2 and deck 3 is for traditional.

As I said, I don’t know if all sailings on Nieuw Statendam are the same, so YMMV.

Thank you so much for this wonderful review.  I thought I was excited to be boarding the NS in 11 days ... but now I'm positively delirious!  Your review is so even-handed, too -- it was really a pleasure to read and your photos are stunning.

Living in NJ, I can tell you that those beach "tents" have become quite controversial.  A number of towns now allow them only at the back of the beach, so that they don't block water access.  Stepping around a blanket shaded by an umbrella is one thing, but on some beaches, the tents were being set up in a way that pretty much required you to walk right through someone's "campsite" to reach the water.  Crazy!

We had laundry service on a cruise earlier this year, and I sent all sorts of "regular" clothes (nothing too delicate).  No issues with shrinking or fading. 

I don't know if they do cold water wash, but I've seen other people post that they will write things like "cold water wash" "delicate" or "low dryer" and the clothes come back in good shape.  It went well enough that I bought the laundry service for my upcoming cruise.  It lets me pack lighter and come home with less dirty wash.  As I'm a larger person, with correspondingly larger clothes, the "fill the bag for one price" special doesn't always work well for me.