rodndonna

Canadian verses USD pricing.

I don't think it's ever "worth" when you have to pay, only when you are lucky and they just permit the bottle or 2 extra (which is fairly common). The purpose of paying duties and taxes is to equalize and cover the additional to what we would be paying in our province for the product(s) we are bringing in outside of our exemption.

That's me - I really miss mini-golf! I know, most people would ask - why???? Oddly it is the one thing I miss most on HAL and Celebrity. It's just one of those things you can wander over to any different points in the day or night and evening and play - and unlike Shuffleboard or pickleball, there is always space for anyone who wants to play. I think it is viewed as a kid's activity and takes a fair amount of space which I guess is why it is not there on HAL or X, but I do miss it. On HAL I have accustomed to it is another few laps around the promenade instead of minigolf, but I still miss it.

Maybe a version thing - it was opposite for us - works in Safari but not in Chrome 🤔

I would think that would be the case but not sure.

Not really - at 4 drinks a day (not a "boat load" by most vacation drinking standards - one in the day, one pre dinner cocktail, glass a wine at dinner and one drink in evening watching a show .. with gratuities you are close to the $50/day depending on what you drink (you're over $50 if they are all at the $11 limit). If you like "good" coffee and want a cap or espresso throw that extra cost in there. Want to take a can or two of water to your cabin or to shore .. add those in there. And that also assumes there is an inherent $0 value to you to have Wifi, a night of speciality dining and $100 towards a shore excursion.

It seems to be (at least for this season) as there is a review (as a post) from 2 weeks ago where they did stop in Bar Harbor.

I'll be the odd one out - I would say if it was "me" I would do it, but not sure I would recommend it for someone else without knowing them. We are still in good health and very mobile (even with luggage) and are at least familiar with Vancouver and the skytrain (which is a very short walk from the cruise terminal and gets you to the airport in 30 minutes and leaves every 10 minutes or so.

Can I break bills in the Casino? Not always easy to get a supply of US$1's in Canada, and that is really my concern (and was therefore hoping I would just have a $0 receipt to tip on instead but doesn't sound like it.)

Can you make break larger bills in the Casino?

No - not crazy, only one cell phone for us as well. You don't actually need data to run their app while on the ship, so you may want think about at least trying it for this cruise. I don't think It's totally necessary, but it can be useful and i would recommend at least giving it a shot.

When you have the "free drinks" in the Casino (when playing) offer, how do you tip for those drinks? Do you get a slip for $0 that you add a tip to, or is it normally done with cash bills?

That sounds right. I think here (in Canada) it is the best of the cheap Gins. I think it is better than "Amsterdam" which was the default Gin on one of our HAL cruises, but maybe it is just because Gordon's is always my benchmark Gin.

Late September 'should' be nicer weather than late May, no promises though. 🙂

I gotta say - I am pretty sure Gordon's was there because that was my parents brand from my childhood - and now I've never see anyone drink it (not sure why) . I always order "Tanqueray" because it sounds classy 🙄 Edit: I don't see it on the list above from 2022 - maybe it was Celebrity. 😗

Hubby seems to think Hendrick's was there, but only in the premium package or for an "upcharge" . Seem to recall Bombay, Gordon's, Tanqueray being available at the Ocean bar.

This has come up a couple of times, and I agree - I don't see evidence that HAL is expensive for what it offers, and in particular against other cruiselines. Since Covid we have been on 5 cruises (mostly HAL) and have 7 more booked (out to March 2025), again mostly on HAL(3) with splatters in Celebrity(2), NCL(1) and Princess(1) - I'm one of those excel spreadsheet people who evaluates them all ad nauseam (retired engineer - too much time on my hands in winter perhaps) and HAL is a great value.

I agree. Since coming out of Covid - the timeframe is a huge factor. Our first HAL cruise coming out of Covid was Dec 2021 (the emergence of Omicron), we then sailed Jun 2022, Sept 2022 and then Dec 2022 . The experiences across those 4 sailings in a 1 year timeframe were QUITE different with the last being the best of the four.

Thanks - we've checked in ! Waiting to see what room we are assigned is kind of exciting - although not sure why really.

We are 3 weeks from sailing and our checkin is now open. I have never understood the reason to check in so early - am I missing something? Honestly I always leave it to the last minute in case something came up and we could not make it (although not sure if not being checked in makes it any simpler) For this particular cruise case I have 2 questions 1) we are a GTY room (still unassigned) - will checking in expedite assigning our room? If so would that be advantageous? 2) We are still in the fence about adding HIA - is it too late after we checkin or would we still be able to add it next week?

Thanks for your review and post. Like you this will be our first cruise on the Zaandam (reverse itinerary) in 3 weeks today. Like you we are introverts and generally prefer smaller ships. Oddly as introverts, I actually find we tend to meet and interact with more people on smaller ships even though there are less of them on board.

I "think" the change gets collected (donated) to maybe a charity or crew fund. I don't recall where, but I seem to recall that is where all the coinage amounts go when cashing in.

Did you try calling in? We added it to 2 Casino cruises last year and booked a Casino cruise just last week (for June) and was offered to add HIA for the standard $50/day/pp . We are undecided and told to call in if we decide to add it. I think the problem is just that HIA can't be purchased on-line with Casino bookings.

we used to live in NB about an hour from the US border and would cross a few times a year to shop. At times we would bring back liquor (or wine) and it always seemed an unwritten rule " 1 extra was OK" but not always. I do recall when we paid tax, it was more just that hassle of having to pull over and go in and do it (maybe 10 minutes). The cost (when having to pay taxes) never amounted to more than it would have cost us in Canada. Have all your receipts handy and be honest ...