AryMay

Thanks for letting us tag along on your cruise! I will be following to see what helpful little tidbits I can glean before we have our turn on the Koningsdam next month. We are doing the January 30th eighteen day itinerary. if you remember and have time, could you check to see what the cost for the Surf internet package is booked onboard? I am only 3 stars so no discount. I don’t want to purchase a package in advanced since we have a big chunk of OBC I would like to use. Bon Voyage!

Thanks! I had searched but only found which ships were in port…not the specific pier.

Is there any schedule published that shows which pier a ship will be docked at in Honolulu? We are on the 18-day Konigsdam cruise that will be docked overnight in Honolulu on Feb. 5-6, 2024.

Trying to do a little math here... The premium internet package for my 18 day cruise purchased at 20% savings in advance = $268 So full price on the ship should be = $335 Using your $18/$23 ratio that figures out to be about $262 for the Surf package onboard which is about the same cost as the premium package purchased in advance. But...since we want to use our OBC we will wait until we are on the ship and settle for the Surf package. I just want to be able to keep in touch with family at home so I think we should be OK.

Would you, or anyone happen to know what the Surf package price would be for an 18 day cruise? We have a sizeable amount of OBC and prepaid gratuities. Since we aren’t planning any HAL excursions I’m thinking I might splurge on an internet package to use some of the credit. Thanks!

Thanks for the quick reply! I did see that you are doing the 22 day itinerary next year. Fingers crossed that this time you will be able to stop in the Falklands! We were very fortunate to be able to make this port and go to Volunteer Point to see the penguins! I was so paranoid about missing out on the penguins that we booked tours in three different ports...and made it to all of them! (Our only missed port was Puerto Montt.) I don't think you visit Puerto Madryn on your next cruise, but if you do, our tour with El Pedral was outstanding for seeing penguins up close and personal!

Thanks for sharing your trip with us! Having done the shorter 22-day SA/Antarctica itinerary your reports are bringing back many special memories! We are booked on a B2B cruise on the Zaandam this spring. Can you tell me if the key cards are pre-punched? Thanks!!

Our cruise to Antarctica in 2019 is definitely tops on our "most favorite" list. Sailing on the Zaandam would have meant we had to book a suite to get a balcony and that just wasn't in our budget so we were in an oceanview cabin. We spent a LOT of time on the outdoor decks and it was COLD but we dressed in many layers and did OK. One tip I might mention is to bring some Hot Hands hand warmers to slip inside your gloves or pockets. I did daily blog posts with photos from our trip and then posted some videos on YouTube when we returned. If you are interested in seeing what we did at each port and in Antarctica, you can access the blog here.

Our cruise will be stopping in Astoria on a Saturday next April (2024). It appears that the only car rental agency in town, Enterprise, is not open on weekends. I have checked Turo but the few cars that show up on the website are quite some distance away...further than the owners are willing to drop off. Does anyone know if there is a shuttle bus to the downtown area? (We are on Holland America.) The trolley might be an option, but it sounds like it doesn't run very often. The distance to town looks to be further than we would be able to walk. We had such a lovely port day in Astoria a few years ago, but we were able to rent a car then. Ideas???

If you have a credit for excess port fees those should be refundable so no need to spend it on the ship...unless you want to!

I'm assuming that HAL has to pay for a permit to enter Glacier Bay and that cost is passed onto passengers...sort of like how the fee to transit the Panama Canal is handled.

Please report back if you find you actually are going to Glacier Bay on the 5th!

Here is a link to the 2024 Glacier Bay Cruise Ship Schedule: https://claalaska.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/06/GB-Glacier-Bay-2024.pdf According to this schedule it looks like the Grand Princess is still on the schedule for May 13 & 17, but not for May 5.

It will be interesting to see if skipping Glacier Bay results in a refund of some of the port fees.

I am booked on the 7-Day, May 1 HAL Zaandam cruise to Alaska (RT from Vancouver). I just got an email last night stating that the itinerary had been changed and instead of going to Glacier Bay on May 5th we are now going to Endicott Arm and Dawes Glacier on the same day instead. I checked the Glacier Bay cruise ship schedule and other than a few visits from NCL there are NO ships going into Glacier Bay in April and early May. Does anyone know why the change? How many others cruises has this affected? Here is a screen shot of the schedule. I hope this is readable...

I am booked on the 7-Day, May 1 HAL Zaandam cruise to Alaska (RT from Vancouver). I just got an email last night stating that the itinerary had been changed and instead of going to Glacier Bay on May 5th we are now going to Endicott Arm and Dawes Glacier on the same day instead. I checked the Glacier Bay cruise ship schedule and other than a few visits from NCL there are NO ships going into Glacier Bay in April and early May. Does anyone know why the change? How many others has this affected? Here is a screen shot of the schedule. I hope this is readable...

Here is a close up of a piece of art on the Zaandam...it was definitely a "surprise detail" to find!

Please let us know if you got this to work, OK?

That's great you were able to take advantage of the credit! My PCC still says he is "checking daily" with a supervisor but so far has not been able to add either the AARP or the Educator credits to our cruises. I have forwarded my verification emails and he "promises" me that he will get the credits applied. If I do a mock booking the HAL website shows the AARP credit has been applied so not sure why it isn't happening for real!

Are you set on seeing Glacier Bay from the water? If not, a flightseeing tour from Skagway that goes OVER Glacier Bay might be an option for you. We did a tour with Mountain Flying Service on a previous visit to Skagway (in 2017) and it was spectacular! I have a blog post about our tour if you want to get an idea of what it was like. I also have a corresponding YouTube video from our flight. We had a long port day in Skagway and were able to rent a car and drive up into the Yukon and still have time for the flight in the evening.

I have been verified for the Educator Credit and the AARP credit. I have email confirmations for both dated several days before booking a B2B cruise in 2024. When I booked these two cruises last week, my PCC said there was a glitch in the system (which I've read about on other threads) and he couldn't add the credits. I've called a couple of times to check on the status but so far he hasn't returned my calls. Has anyone been able to use both the Educator and AARP credits on a single cruise? Can I use these credits on more than one cruise? My husband has a casino discount on the cruises, but it isn't a huge amount. Certainly not the free offers that many get. Thanks for anyone who can share their experiences...just trying to figure out how these offers work. It is frustrating to see HAL make these offers but then have so much trouble taking advantage of them.

In our case we booked an obstructed ocean view cabin under a private fare offer (which we have done in the past and gotten extra OBC…educator and shareholder.) The casino discount then lowered the price another 15%. Since the fare was pretty low to start with, the extra 15% savings was less than what the OBC would have been. And doing a mock online booking said the AARP credit was applied to the reservation. Not sure why our PCC can’t add it when he handled the actual booking.

I had gotten an email with "Private Fares" for both of the cruises we booked which gave us a lower rate. Then when I added my DH's name & Mariner number to the booking, the price dropped even more to the casino rate. Our friends are traveling with us and were able to take advantage of our private fare, but not the casino rate. Not sure if the AARP & Educator credits can be applied to a private fare but if so we would be better off getting the OBC and not taking the additional casino discount (since it wasn't all that much.)

We just booked a B2B cruise using a casino rate...our first time for getting an offer. Not sure why we even got the offer since we are never in the casino. I was a little annoyed that even though I have documentation showing we should get both the AARP and Educator credits that our PCC said he couldn't see that they were available. He spoke to a supervisor and called me back and said there was a "glitch" in the system. He asked me to send in proof that we qualify and he will "work on it". Does using a casino rate disqualify us from other offers?

I honestly don't remember if we had to give our passport numbers or not. I went back and looked through my email correspondence with El Pedral and don't see that it was mentioned.