oaktreerb

No idea what the “starting at” refers to but it’s a great excursion. We transferred to the smaller boat directly from the cruise ship and the ship went on to Juneau. The smaller boat took us into Tracy Arm and returned us to Juneau to meet our ship. You won’t have much time left for Juneau but we had been there before and we did have some time to visit our favorite shops in Juneau. We saw the glaciers calve, saw mountain goats, a bear along the shore, and whales. A very nice box lunch was served onboard (included). The sandwich in the box lunch was made by a shop in Juneau and it was outstanding!

San Diego also has Total Wine and more shops if HAL doesn’t have a Costco membership.

The ship is really important here if you want advice. The Koningsdam has two NS with extremely small balconies far forward on the ship. Most NS will be great staterooms but some do have a connecting door to the stateroom next door. You may also get an aft wrap NS which are highly regarded by some. In the Alaska market I think the K is the only one with far forward NS’s. That would keep me from booking a NS guarantee on the K. On other ships a guarantee might be a good deal.

This cruise was round trip out of Vancouver following drydock.

However, once the credit is attached to the Mariner Number it will be noted for future cruises, but you may have to be proactive to see that it is applied to a preexisting booking.

The process has changed recently. An outside company is verifying the credit. You may want to call the Mariner Society to help you on this issue. Maybe they can tell you who to talk to. My PCC was able to add it for me on an already booked cruise once we submitted the DD214 and had confirmation of acceptance. The next cruise I booked the credit was added automatically to the booking number.

visitor center in Skagway has map of hiking trails. Walk down to Hoonah in icy Strait. Juneau is walkable, get a map of the town. We walked to the governor’s residence.

Are you talking about room reservations or dining reservations? You would only have dining reservations if you are eating with your tour group. Denali has a variety of places to eat as does Anchorage.

Glacier Brewhouse in Anchorage is very busy and you need reservations for a table, but if you don’t plan ahead you can eat at the bar and the bar has a lot of shared seating (extra bar height tables near the bar). Just tell the hostess you will eat at the bar and find empty seats (or someone ready to leave). The halibut fish and chips was sooooo good!

You certainly have me concerned! The Step One Dancers are very talented but maybe dancing is not the best entertainment for the rough waters of the Pacific Ocean. We are booked for the 28 day Alaska Summer Solstice cruise in June of 2024, I am hoping HAL has some great location related entertainment planned for us. No more Step One or BBC, please. Who is the Captain of this cruise and who is responsible for the “vibe” onboard? Who is your Cruise Director? Is there an entertainment coordinator? It seems like the entertainment staff should be trying harder to keep people engaged around the ship. Several years ago we sailed FL to SD on the Westerdam. The cruise seemed somewhat free wheeling to me. Now-a-days the Westerdam has been described as the Testerdam (testing new concepts). This current experiment of shutting things down early doesn’t seem to be working for the active adult passengers. I’m hoping for improvements in the on-board experience within the next year.

You are on a Yukon land tour. Do you have your tour#, like Y1C, Y1L, Y2C, Y2L?? Y is Yukon, #of tour, C is cruise first. I have taken these tours in the past but there have been changes recently. Have you looked up your specific booking #? The Yukon trips have a “journey host” who you will meet at your Anchorage hotel. The train will leave Anchorage early and you will arrive at Denali mid-day. You will probably have your TWT tour into the park on the second day. mid-day Bus to Fairbanks next day, overnight, fly to Dawson City, probably fly to Whitehorse and fly back to Vancouver. Generally your transportation will leave early in the day, except for Denali to Fairbanks. Your journey host will have a packet of information about the land tour. These tours are very well coordinated by Holland America staff.

Nice location, should be smooth sailing. Enjoy your cruise.

It sounds like your messages to your PCC have not been returned. If the message says they are out of the office you may never get a return call, the PCC may not even work there anymore. (It happened to me a few years ago.). I called the Mariner Society to complain and they transferred me to the PCC department and I stayed on the line until I was connected to a PCC. He has been attentive and efficient and calls me back within a few minutes. Anyone on the PCC or reservations lines should be able to answer questions and create your booking. . There are too many pitfalls to self booking online.

Icy Strait is available to explore without excursions. Whale watching should be arranged in advance. The zip line may be a walk up adventure. You can always walk down the road to Hoonah. There is a bus in Juneau that goes to Mendenhall. Look online at the Juneau visitor’s bureau. If you have a national park pass, take it for entrance to the visitor’s center. Don’t know how long you are in Victoria. It is an easy walk down to the inner harbor which is beautiful and interesting. Most stops in Victoria are very short.

I remember that…..like at least 10 years ago when selfie sticks were the rage! It was several years before the Covid shut down.

The ships bus in Sitka drops you off in town at the convention center. There should be a bus for a fee to take you on the loop from the Fortress of the Bears to the Raptor Center and back. You can also walk through the totem park to the Raptor Center. The Fortress of the Bears is farther out. I don’t remember any tour vendors other than the loop bus (which is a good deal). No booths like in Juneau.

We are 4* and I reported that in San Diego we were ushered into the terminal (vs standing outside in the sun.). At the end of the check in line there was a split for priority boarding. Once through that if you are 4* you should ask if the ship has begun boarding. If so, go ahead and board. If you have been assigned a boarding time and you are told to sit in a particular area, don’t argue the point, just go to boarding or find another worker who knows about 4* boarding if you need directions.

Before Covid the CO menu was in a white cover vs black for others. Even in Club Orange post Covid the server just tells you what the additional entree is. No separate menu. There is a separate CO room service order form in the stateroom. At breakfast you can order fresh squeezed orange juice.

In a Neptune Suite you should receive priority (Club Orange status) in the dining room. Ask the maitre’d if he could please assign you and your family a table for 6 at early dining each evening. He can assign that table in either dining room.

Sorry you felt that way. There is a travel agent in the Pacific Northwest who offers large group bookings on HAL and other lines and while they are not partial charters they do have assigned dining and some group activities like tours and cocktail parties which leads to developing friendships among cruisers. These cruisers are from across the US and Canada and are well traveled and friendly for the most part. I hope your future coastals are relaxing and enjoyable.

The Koningsdam is not going to be a Panama Canal transit ship. It does round trip San Diego to Mexican Riviera/Pacific Coast/Hawaii/and South Pacific. I wouldn’t consider them “fillers”. Disney also sails out of San Diego on mostly Mexican Riviera 3-4 day short cruises. The repositioning cruises for other HAL ships happen every fall and spring and they do stop to pick up passengers in San Diego. Koningsdam is home ported in San Diego between Alaska seasons. The K also does a Hawaii cruise RT Vancouver before the Alaska season begins. The round trip do have to stop in Ensenada. The repositioning cruises do not.

I would not expect to pay HIA on a fare that is for a “nonperson”. Maybe pay the HIA for #1 and the advantage for the “nonperson” #2 fare, a child as #2 would not have to purchase HIA, would they? I would consult my PCC on that issue. My DH and I always get the same points added to our mariner account. We sailed to Hawaii for 18 nights in a VB stateroom and got 18 (days) and 18 spending points (max) for a total of 36 points. We did both have HIA and that expense and CO must have earned us the spending points.

If you have paid for HIA you don’t have to drink the drinks. You have already paid for them whether you drink them or not. Because you paid for the drinks you get the points (credit).

You don’t get the double points because you are one person in the stateroom. You would not have two HIA packages. If you have HIA you have it for one person. You may have to cover the stateroom charge for the second “nonperson” in your stateroom but they don’t pay for HIA or spend for anything onboard. With two people with HIA in the stateroom they both get the points for both HIA packages and any other onboard spending. It’s not double points, it’s points earned for both people in the stateroom. Each person earns credit points, both get the same mariner spending credits for the stateroom account.

No. It’s hardly worth messing with since they changed it….but it’s nice to have that deposit available when you are ready to book a cruise.