SilvertoGold

Canada Place has ONE large terminal for the usual 3 ships in port, ONE Xray area for all ships, ONE US immigration area for all ships -- that makes for LONG lines at peak times. Ports that have separate teminals, one ship per terminal at a time are the best and most logical. Ft Lauderdale has alwys been great. As a very frequent user of Canad Place, I have to note that the terminal staff there are so-so. Sometimes great, often almost clueless. A few of the older Red Coats retired during Covid and have been replaced with not too well trained peole. Doing 5 back to backs last year was a nightmare for the turn-around day. We had different sets of info on how In Transit pax would proceed and the staff in the terminal did the set-up differently each time. The last turn-around day was finally better handled, but it was an embarassment overall. BTW: if you have "priority" you might have to be a bit pushy as some staff aren't too aware. Have your paperwork handy.

Absolutely looking forward to hearing all about your cruise and your opinions. Having gone through Canada Place so many times and knowing how ineptly boarding can be handled I am interested in your impressions of boarding in Boston. Always fun to compare and contrast. Hope YVR treats you well on your way and you have a good flight :)

Smoking is on the starboard side so if you sit on the port side you may be able to escape fro the smoke. Your plan to be outside and then up to the Cros Nest is likley a good one: move around and see the sights from high, low, forward and aft and grab a seat. Good luck with seeing some wildlife: you never know when and where but the places I amentioned are usually good. For mountain goats look for tiny white dots on the hillsides. Binoculars are mandatory!

Crows Nest will ba packed all day. You would need to get there very early, 8 am? Outside decks will have the regular lounges and you are correct about a lot of pax out on these decks. Possibley the aft decks which have some chairs/lounges would be good for you. Take a look around in the days before Glacier Bay to see what you think is best. Watch for sea lions by the Marble Islands, otters, bears, mountain goats at Gloomy Knob, maybe a humback whale or two.

We do pre-paid gratuities (and usually save a bit with the CND exchange). I make copies of the pages on both our HAL accounts (from the HAL website) that show items like the gratuities, transfers, etc. Our TA gives us the "booking confirmation" with all the HAL logos but that is not generated by HAL but the by the TA.

Twice on this route the seas have been over 25 feet for 4- 5 days and the wind was hurricane force 11 for a few days. Walking the deck was fun, but now I notice the ships tend to close the deck very quickly if the decks are wet and the wind is merely moderate.

This depends on the port. You, with Club O, should have an early "check-in time" assigned for starting the check-in process. Some ports do these priority groups first, after Handicapped. Some reps are not too well trained for anything "special" and you can get directed to the "regular" seating area if you arrive before boarding starts. Watch for signs for the priority groups. Be aware that there are often a lot of "priority" pax.

Welcome to HAL, the N. Amsterdam and Alaska, Mr Bill! Wind can be really bad in September, but it is a wonderful time to sail. Just prepare for bit of everything weatherwise. You will get past Jaw Point, right up close to Johns Hopkins Glacier! Enjoy and please tell us all about your cruise!!

Port side aft on deck can be noisy and there used to be very obvious vibration anywhere near the stacks, both sides on that deck. The Zaandam used to have a really strange area on deck aft where you could hear something like a bread mixer in the evenings. People would stop in their deck walks and listen. I would think this is fixed by now. Although this is not specific info, it gives ideas of the possibilities.

The current musicians and singers are much the same level of talent as the BBKings ones. In fact, we saw some of the BBKings entertainers on our two last cruises playing/singing at the Rolling Stone Lounge. It really is much the same, just a bit broader.

Our last cruise Pinnacle lunch was accounted for this way: $15 pp $15 + 18% = $17.70 minus 50% off the $15 ($7.50) = $10.20 pp charged.

Congrats on your 4 star accomplishment! Ummm.... however, you would pay $25.84 for your two Pinnacle lunches. You pay the 18% on both, unfortunately.

Most pax do not order extra entrees, I think, and thus HAL didn't make a lot of profit on that. Now, they lose if everyone starts on that second free entree (unlikely!). HAL's gain in looking good for discontinuing that particular charge anyways. So, that "now free" extra appetizer is one I really need to order since I will be paying that extra $7.00 anyways with the increase from $39 to $46.

Good to hear that all went well. Interesting about the insurance. I know it is a real hassle, very expensive, very time-consuming and frustating. Best wishes!

I am wondering about the 3 pm arrival for all flights through HAL which seems to be cutting it short. I do remember several years ago the ship extending our departure for several hours for FlightEase pax to arrive. It was very late that evening when they straggled onboard.

kjlimousine.com timelimo.com citylimos.ca are three of many

Take a Flight Ease flight and the HAL transfer. Or maybe you can get just the HAL transfer: have you asked HAL about that?

Surprising to us all the attitude on this ship as the General Hotel Manager is a nice guy and well liked from what I can tell. He leads and his officers follow. We have found that the bar guys and ladies who man the Explorations Cafe do not seem to be too positive about serving coffee and eats. They are all well-trained bartenders and servers and seem to prefer doing the job they are trained for. We have seen this on and off on multiple HAL ships over the years. Some are excellent, some not so much. Maybe it all comes down to personality?

In March- April and just recently there were also books available in the Explorations Cafe area on deck 3 forward starboard. Rolling Rock band plays pretty much a combination of rock and roll, soul, blues, Mowtown, etc.

This is one of the reasons we stay clear of the Lido whenever the MDR is open :)

Hi, Roxxy This sounds pretty good news for you. Radiation and hormone therapy seems the best bet. I understand you did cruise, though. How did that go?

We have had a few "surfer dudes" who had dance experience. Not impressed, and not all that crazy about the highly sexualized female CDs either. We liked Tom Faulkner, Bruce Scudder and the the CD on this year's World cruise: they were older, more experienced, understood the HAL vibe, especially on longer cruises.

Welcome to Vancouver in awhile. You have a good day for sail-away. Best wishes for the best cruise on my favourite ship, which is now docked and waiting for you!

I think this was Erin.