Alberta Quilter

Can we only get one year memberships? I first selected a 5 year membership but once I entered that I was from Canada that option disappeared. I have a few cruises already booked but am about to embark on one so thought I would get the membership now, in case I book a cruise onboard.

Or use a credit card and avoid that altogether. I get that that is unfair but why, oh why, do Americans think the USD should be accepted in every country in the world?! It will cost that cabbie time and money to exchange those USD at the bank unless he holds onto it until his next trip to the US (which delays his payment for a period of time). I cannot use CAD in the US, nor anywhere else in the world, but some Americans seem to think that their currency should be accepted anywhere! Rant over.

It seems to still be on according to the local tourism website: https://saguenaylacsaintjean.ca/en/attraction/quoi-faire/la-fabuleuse-histoire-dun-royaume The actual website (https://fabuleuse.com) for the show was not available this morning so I couldn’t check that. The name of the show is La Fabuleuse Histoire d'un Royaume. As I recall, it is usually performed in French but on cruise ship days, there is a performance in English for passengers.

One time we outran a hurricane; missed Sydney and St. Pierre & Miquelon while we hid by Anticosti Island, away from the storm. But one cannot predict the seas on a cruise in the future. Just book it and pray for smooth seas/good weather! Or make sure you have the medications that will work for you, if you think you'll get sick.

My vote is for Saguenay! Lovely port, lovely people. I quite enjoyed Portland, too, but I've only been there once. I've been to Saguenay three times. And going up and down the fjord is very scenic. As for feeling overwhelmed with ports/research, etc, just take it one port at a time. Set up a spreadsheet with your entire itinerary on it and start making notes for each port. Read the cruise line shorex choices to see what options are available and then read reviews and start to narrow down to what interests you. Read the various threads in this forum. Read prior roll call threads. Read every single Live From thread that you can! The amount of information on this site is amazing. For Sydney, I recommend going to Fortress Louisbourg for a first time visitor but there are lots of other interesting tours. We also did the Cabot Trail. On one visit to Halifax, we went to Mahone Bay and Lunenburg, another time, we did a private taxi tour to Peggy's Cove, had a lobster lunch, and saw the Titanic cemetery. The third time, we walked along the waterfront, had lunch and walked back. We also did the Immigration Museum right at the port on one visit. In Charlottetown, one time we did a private tour around the island. The other time, we stayed in town and had more lobster! One time we missed the port due to high winds. If you do choose the itinerary with Saguenay, I highly recommend the ship tour to the show that the townspeople put on depicting their history. I found it quite entertaining. They are the same performers who welcome the ships when they dock. Hope that helps!

I too usually have to face the direction of travel but I have not had an issue with how the bed is oriented. If you think it will be an issue, could you try to change cabins to one that has the bed oriented towards the bow? I realize it may be too late, given you’re sailing in September…. Good luck!

The only thing I can think of that may be the confusion, because I also book through the same TA, is that they show HAL's OBC on their confirmation as well as the shop card info. On your confirmation, is there a third line stating the TA OBC amount? I've not seen them offer OBC in addition to the shop card; it was one or the other. But I haven't cruised in a long time so I could be wrong. At any rate, I hope you get this sorted out. It's not an enjoyable way to spend one's vacation time.

If the big box TA is the one that sells $1.50 hot dogs, isn’t their perk a shop card instead of OBC? Or is it different where you’re from?

In case anyone else needs this information: https://www.faxafloahafnir.is/en/

Oh, that makes much more sense! Thank you for reporting back on that.

Can anyone direct me to the official port website for the Reykjavik cruise port? I'd like to confirm at which terminal my ship will be docking so I can arrange pickup for a private tour. I googled and found several sites with schedules but the only one that I think might be official only goes to 2023. I found others that show the Volendam in port on Aug 9th but do not name the terminal. It looks like most (larger?) ships dock at Skarfabakki but there are two other terminals. Thank you!

Wow, $50/person for a shuttle? That's a very steep price! I don't blame you for staying onboard but it's too bad you didn't get to see Dutch Harbor. Thanks very much for your (and the others) Live From reporting, and the pictures, too. Wonderful to cruise vicariously through you.

@Grandmaanne7 You could also try posting your question in the East Coast Departures forum. There are a few locals who might be able to provide more suggestions.

@Grandmaanne7 I recently checked out the water taxi for my upcoming cruise. It's $50/person which would be less expensive than the HAL tour but maybe a car service would work better for you. I read in @The-Inside-Cabin's website about Malden Car Service https://www.maldencarservice.com/index.html which may work better for your large group for a little more than the water taxi. FWIW, we decided against both due to cost/hassle (we're only 2 people). We tweaked our plans for our disembarkation day and will stay in the Seaport area, store the luggage at our pre-cruise hotel and take an Uber to the airport for our late departure. Hope that helps.

Oh, no. That would be awful to find out at checkin. There's no good time to find that out but at checkin, I think it would be worse. Especially if one is counting on priority boarding. Do you have any idea how many people were affected? And how are you enjoying your cruise? As disappointing as this was, I hope you and your family were able to move past it and not let it affect your enjoyment.

If the customer cancelled CO, I agree they should either pay for the upgraded cabin or lose it. But in this case, it was HAL's error to overbook. I think the customer should get to keep the upgraded cabin AND the OBC, AND get a full refund for the cost of CO. Or, at least, increase the OBC amount to cover the cost of the upgrade and give a full refund of the CO cost.

Oooh, that would burn my butt if they did that! Sure hope you get the full credit, if you truly cannot get CO, and keep the upgraded cabin. After all, it's not like you overbooked it yourself. They made the error; they need to fix it in a way that is acceptable to you.

Only directly with HAL, not online. Which is why this makes no sense. I'm really sorry to hear of this issue, OP. Not what one wants to have happen right before departure. Please keep us posted of any resolution.

Thank you very much, Princeton! That's exactly the info I was looking for. I'll go over it with my sister and we'll figure out what to do. But it sounds like we should use Uber over the water taxi.

Hello! We're flying into Boston in late July, staying at the Hampton Inn Seaport for two nights before embarking on a RT cruise. We've both been to Boston before so didn't need to be close to tourist sites. Even so, I think I've found some activities to do in Seaport (and we'll need some time to recover from jet lag anyway). On the one full day we have in Seaport, I'm thinking of visiting the Boston Design Centre and America's Test Kitchen. Is there anything open at ATK for drop in visitors, even if it's just a shop? Or should I cross that one off my list? Dining would be at Flour Bakery and Drydock Cafe. We may venture a little farther afield for other seafood; it looks like it's only a 15 minute walk from hotel to Legal Seafood or some other nearby places. Is it safe to walk there? Fairly level walking? Any other suggestions within Seaport? What time do they start accepting luggage at the cruise terminal? And processing check in? The last time we embarked there, I recall getting there fairly early but others who arrived later had to wait for hours outside. Or should we just have lunch elsewhere and show up later? Departure is at 3 pm. There is only the one ship in port that day so it may not be too bad. Post cruise, our flight is at 6:25 pm. I'm thinking of using the Boston Water Taxi option where they pick you up between the hotel and the terminal, take you to Rowes Wharf and store your luggage. Then they take you to the airport whenever you want to go. But it's $50pp which seems a little steep but maybe not since we would have to pay for two taxi rides and luggage storage either way. How safe is the luggage storage there? The plan that day is getting cannoli at one of the pastry shops in the North End. How is the walking from Rowes Wharf to Hanover Street? We're trying to avoid steep hills and any sketchy areas. No plans after that; we may just wander around so if you have suggestions, I'll welcome them. I don't feel the need to do Faneuil Hall again but could, to kill time. I'd rather kill time there than at the airport where there doesn't seem to be a lounge that we can access. How does it work from where the water taxi drops one off at the airport to get to the airport? Is it just a matter of catching the airport bus (I think it's free), and they take you to the terminal? Is it easy to schlep luggage on and off the water taxi? We'll have one medium - large bag each and one carry on each. How about schlepping luggage from airport water taxi pier to the bus? Any suggestions for dining at the airport? We'll be in Terminal A. Basically, I'm looking for some reassurance that the Boston Water Taxi will work for us, post cruise. I am concerned about leaving our worldly goods there, not that they're worth all that much but there are some expensive items. We are open to Ubering, if necessary to get around; I would just prefer to walk off the calories from indulging in lobster/butter/cannoli/sticky sticky buns! If the Boston Water Taxi is not recommended, do you have any suggestions where we can store our luggage for 4-5 hours? Back at the hotel? Thank you for your help!

I think that's what Marty is looking for - the Explorer's Lounge as opposed to the Explorations Cafe. Starboard side of the ship. Enjoying your review very much, thank you!

The Canadian Museum of Immigration at Pier 21 is well worth a visit. It was very special to visit with my mother who came to Canada 70 years ago, even though she arrived in Quebec City. And so very easy to do.

I recommend going to Saguenay! It’s lovely there and very friendly people. It’s actually my favourite port in Canada/NE. Boston is expensive, and the fall can be even more expensive, from what I understand. But I would bite the bullet and pay the price for one night minimum just to go to Saguenay again. Oh, and it’s Saint John, not St. John's. St. John's is in Newfoundland, Saint John is in New Brunswick.

I've never seen a group rate for shorex. What might be less expensive is to book your tours privately. But I don't think you can do the Tracy Arm excursion privately...

Please check out this post from the HAL forum: But I highly recommend going to Fortress Louisbourg, if you've never been before.