Fouremco

We find the ceiling approach works particularly well for hanging damp (not dripping) bathing suits or other apparel by the AC vents to dry them more quickly.

Every winter, the National Capital Commission transforms the historic Rideau Canal into the world’s largest skating rink. The skating season typically runs from January to early March, but it is very much weather-dependent. For the last couple of years, there's been almost no skating, a big disappointment for residents and visitors alike.

We've sailed on a wide variety of HAL ships, most recently the Nieuw Statendam, the Nieuw Amsterdam and the Koningsdam, and have yet to find one whose walls and ceiling wouldn't hold a magnetic hook. While we haven't sailed on every ship in the fleet, I'd be surprised if one of the ones we've missed was an exception. We use the hooks for a wide variety of purposes beyond hanging up our lanyards, as this small example from the Koningsdam demonstrates:

LOL. As a former Maritimer who moved to Ottawa to retire, weather was certainly not on the plus side of the balance sheet. Of course, Southern Ontario is another thing altogether, but our kids and grandkids are here in Ottawa. For the OP's consideration, I'd say that you have a better chance of good viewing if you sail from Montreal or Quebec City and head in a Southerly direction. Colour are at their peak earlier in Quebec than in Nova Scotia, so as they go past their best in Quebec, they'll still be at their peak in Nova Scotia. If you start in Boston and get great colours in Nova Scotia, they'll be past their prime by time you reach Quebec.

HAL was one of the last to disallow smoking on balconies, and currently is one of the only lines to continue allowing smoking inside the ship.

Or simply remove the lanyard from around your neck. We keep a magnetic hook on the wall just inside the cabin and hang our lanyards there. Very convenient and no need to look around for your card when leaving the cabin.

I was simply agreeing with @CDNPolar that complaints like this stem from a lack of training, a problem not restricted to taking passport photos.

Are you referring to itineraries where scuba diving excursions are offered by HAL, or to itineraries to ports where scuba diving can be acquired from local dive shops? If the former, Caribbean cruises seem to be the only ones currently with scuba diving excursions. If the latter, just pick a destination and you'll probably find local dive shops that can accommodate you. For example, none of HAL's cruises stopping at Canadian ports offer scuba, while local providers can be found at most (all?) ports, some even catering to cruise passengers. For example, Torpedo Rays in Halifax will pick you up at the cruise terminal, bring you to be fitted for any needed rental gear, and take you diving. Some of the third-party shore excursion providers also include scuba opportunities. Viator, for example, includes over 3,000 dive possibilities globally.

Based on the many posts across all of the forums, that seems to be a very common lament when people contact their cruise line looking for information! A real pity...

It's about a 20 minute drive, so you should be ok with an 11:30 flight, particularly if you self-disembark. That's the same time as a drive to the airport in Fort Lauderdale, and I use 11:30 as my cut off time (no flights earlier than 11:30). Unlike pre-clearance in Canada when flying to the US, there is no pre-clearance capability when flying from the US to Canada. Consequently, you won't need to pass through immigration in Seattle. On the other hand, NEXUS members have expedited screening with TSA Pre✓, so you'll definitely save time there. If you aren't familiar with Pre✓, this Air Canada webpage covers the basics: https://www.aircanada.com/ca/en/aco/home/plan/travel-requirements/tsa-precheck.html#/home:

Thanks, and the same to you!

It depends largely on the strength of a region's tourism industry, and Florida businesses can afford to take a hard-nosed approach. On the other hand, there are northern NY State businesses that run promotions not only offering to accept CAD, but to do so at par. As figures for US tourists visiting Canada continue to lag behind 2019 numbers, it seems logical for businesses to be as accommodating as possible, including accepting USD.

While USD is not legal tender in Canada, there's also no prohibition on the use of USD. As those Canadian businesses that accept USD set their own exchange rate, and as you say, often accept it at par, thus making a nice little bit of extra profit, I doubt that they feel disrespected.

Vaping within your cabin (but not on your balcony) was initially allowed ever since it came into vogue. The rationale was/is that there is no residual smell or lingering second-hand smoke, so there is no impact on the next passengers to occupy the cabin, nor any need for cabin stewards to undertake additional measures when cleaning a cabin. The question was raised as to why not on your balcony or elsewhere outside the ship, other than in designated smoking areas. The response from HAL was that it difficult to tell whether someone is smoking or vaping, particularly in the early days when vaping devices that looked exactly like cigarettes were more popular, and they didn't want to have crew members running around to check if someone was smoking or vaping. You couldn't be seen in your cabin, so that was ok, but not on your balcony where you might be seen and reported. Today, there is some apparent confusion, as pointed out by @*Miss G*. To add a bit more, there is even contradiction from one KBYG to another.

We've used Shoppers Drug Mart for our last two renewals with no issues. It's the closest company to home that does passport photos, the price is good, and they are quick.

While I can make changes, I can't cancel and get a refund. Besides, the best alternative would be AC, and who knows whether they'll even be flying early next month. We might find ourselves out of the frying pan and into the fire! While we tend to book early to get our choice of seats, particularly on longer flights, we are reconsidering this approach.

Well, good old Porter has done it again, less than a month from our departure date. Today they cancelled our direct morning flight to Vancouver, and switched us to a flight that doesn't get in until 9:58pm PDST. As we had afternoon and evening plans for Vancouver, this change is bad news. So from a February booking with two direct flights at great times, we have one direct flight at a terrible time and one 1-stop through Pearson, also at a terrible time. With a month left, hopefully Porter won't make further changes and go from good to bad to worse. I know, flying these days isn't what it used to be, but Porter just doesn't seem to be able to get its, er, act together.

Maybe we've just been very lucky, but in all of our flights to the US from Ottawa we've never had anyone ahead of us in the NEXUS line. Mind you, there never seem to be a lot of people in the regular line either compared to what you'd see at YYZ or YVR. I've never downloaded MPC, and probably won't bother.

NEXUS isn't alone. In Ontario, and I imagine most provinces, you can renew your driver's license and your health card early and still retain your expiry date 5 years from your coming birthdate, not 5 years from your renewal date. Surely the GOC could do the same thing for passports.

Yikes! Given the GOC's wide range of legislation to protect consumers, I'm surprised that it hasn't done something about these visa/eTA companies.

This information is intended for US citizens. Canadians should not rely on this CC webpage. From the articles intro: Here are some countries that require a travel visa for U.S. citizens on cruises.

It depends a lot on your spending habits. If you prefer to use cash instead of credit/debit cards, you'll have no trouble having USD accepted. However, you'll get a very poor exchange rate for the most part, so it might be worth your while getting CAD. If you generally don't use cash at home, don't bother for just a couple of days here.

How strict is Celebrity these days with the 6-month rule, as both Spain and Portugal only require that your passport be valid for 3 months beyond your date of departure from the Schengen area? I'm not suggesting not renewing - we always ensure we have 6 months in hand on our passports - but I'm wondering if Celebrity would actually refuse you boarding were you to not renew.

According to the CBP website: Travelers who successfully use the MPC app will no longer have to complete a paper form and may be provided a designated queue. As a result, travelers may experience shorter wait times, less congestion and efficient processing. https://www.cbp.gov/travel/us-citizens/mobile-passport-control I've not determined whether or not every airport offering MPC provides a dedicated MPC queue, but I'd imagine that the decision is based on volume, with larger airports doing so but smaller airports possibly combining priority lines. Maybe I've just missed it, but I've not noticed a separate line for MPC at the Ottawa airport, while others have reported having separate lines at Pearson. Maybe others who normally fly to the US from Canadian airports could comment.

You can't use both Mobile Passport Control and NEXUS simultaneously, but some travellers have both, using whichever line is shorter.