sunviking90

I’m sure the casino will be open. That would be the only purpose of making this a 2 night cruise. It otherwise barely takes 1 night to get to Seattle. Additional advice is to wait to book this as they always go super cheap last minute.

Me too. They maybe have 2 sizes. I’m small and I swim in it, but DH is 6’ 190 pounds ands they fit him fine.

As you will be in transit, it will be tight but they should funnel you into your own line up for customs. At least that is how it is done here in Vancouver. The kiosks also really speaks things up.

So glad this has been resolved for you! You will preclear US customs in Montreal.

We don’t mind the ones on the floor by the bed. We just put the throw pillows down there at night. The big bright one in the closet is bad though! It has woken me up in the night when DH has gotten up. We now ask our steward on embarkation day to have it disabled and they are always happy to do so.

You could hear anytime. If the cruise is selling well, it will be closer to the sailing date if at all. You will receive a specific stateroom when you bid is accepted.

Port plug in is only available in some ports. I know here in Vancouver the are able to do this.

For those who receive these offers and are booking, are you actually travelling in the inside stateroom or upgrading? My sister received one and is bringing me along on one of them but upgraded our stateroom. Another friend I know received one and is looking at one of the Europe cruises and also is going to upgrade to a veranda for a total cost of $2000 cad. I checked my “restricted fare” showing in my own account on that cruise and did a mock booking for a veranda and it would cost me $2700. Not that much difference really. If most are actually upgrading then I’d say it is worth it for HAL to send these out. It also covers HAL’s port costs which I think aside from the head tax, are the same regardless of how many are on the ship. Crew still have to be paid, etc.

As always things probably varied from ship to ship. Our first visit 12 years ago on the Zuiderdam was wonderful! (And free) We went back a second night. Our most recent visit on Zaandam just before Covid was terrible, and we haven’t been back. I certainly won’t pay $29 even with a mariner discount to eat in the corner of the buffet.

I haven’t had the pleasure of CO on the Rotterdam, but I love the decor from the pictures. Reminds me of Rotterdam V.

This was E407 with a foot rest on the Discovery(obstructed deluxe balcony) We had one footrest shown here underneath the chair:

That’s crazy. This itinerary would only be useful to someone trying to accumulate airline miles or segments. Hopefully they will agree that the Princess transfer to Montreal is the best option. I am sorry you are dealing with this. It is especially difficult when you are responsible for making a travel mate’s journey as smooth as possible. I feel we were fortunate when we did a similar cruise to leave from Montreal instead of Quebec City (HAL Zaandam)

My DH would love this, but I don’t eat shellfish, so not interested. Can we reserve just for one of us? Would I be able to get food from the buffet to keep him company? It sounds like this is served in the buffet?

Yes, this is true. I have restricted fares showing for almost all of the one way Alaska itineraries in my account of $329 Canadian inside and $369 Canadian outside! Port taxes and fees are pricey, but still an excellent price. I’m just not ready to jump back on HAL after their accounting errors and “customer is always wrong” attitude afterwards from my cruise last summer.

You’re right tipping is not required, but we did “round up” a little bit in most places leaving a few pounds if service was good. You’ll need very little cash, but be sure you have a MC or Visa as Amex isn’t always accepted.

Good for you! Even though I didn’t get the offer, it’s always nice to hear of someone else’s good fortune.

My sister just got this offer too. I didn’t. Our last HAL cruise was together. I think she’s 2* and I’m 3* so not sure the logic. Seems random. Neither of us use the casinos and the offer doesn’t mention casinos at all unlike the pdf that was included in the other thread about casino cruises. It was for coastal repos, Mexico and Caribbean along with partial Panama Canal.

I don’t think this has been answered so I’ll try: if you click on payments in your personalizer, that is where the financials would show if you booked through Princess. Because you booked through an agency, it doesn’t, but you should have received an invoice from your agent. Any OBC you may have will show up on this page however, at the bottom.

I think so. We’ve had them on Royal class balconies mid ship (the larger angled ones), but not on the regular balconies. No room.

It is now $38 CAD (or about 28 usd) plus tax and tip, but I agree more cost effective unless you’re travelling solo. It’s not a great distance like in some other ports. Less than 10 miles.

I purchased one of the metal bangle bracelets on board last year and have worn it on all the cruises since. I love it. It does fit very small though. I have unusually small wrists and the small fit, but not comfortably. The larger size is good. I do keep the lanyard they supply for ports though, as it’s a magnet that holds the medallion in the bracelet, and I worry it could pop out off ship.

Have you looked at the seat maps for your flights? How full do they look?We fly AC often (due to lack of choices, lol) and if we are in coach I just wait until the check in at 24 hrs and get them free. If the seat maps look pretty wide open, I would just wait until then as most are doing the same thing. Just check in right at the 24 mark and you can get your seats for all 3 segments. You may also notice at check in that they have already assigned you seats (which you can change) and they will likely be together.

I do asap when I have booked our cruise. I have it done as far as April 2024.

I don’t recall being asked for good reviews on HAL, but on Princess and Celebrity we have been. On our last Celebrity cruise our waiter was very good, but the speech in the last evening for 10s on the survey was cringeworthy. It was very uncomfortable. On Princess we always have the same waiters and usually they just quickly ask kindly the last night to remember to fill out the survey and they hope we’ve been happy. Our one waiter added that it was especially important if we’d been happy with his assistant to mention his name as it was his first contract. I thought that was very kind of him to look out for his helper. I think also what they are trying to say in not so many words is that good reviews are almost more important to them than extra (over and above) tips

Remember also that tipping is not so much the culture in Europe. In restaurants in France, tax and “service” is included in the price posted outside and on the menu. We had wonderful service everywhere and the only time we saw an extra line on the bill for a tip was in a restaurant in Paris that catered to a lot of tourists.