Packman1000

Great.  I'm getting on the Neptune in 12 days.  Hope they clean the ship thoroughly. 

1 hour ago, CCWineLover said:

we learned, return every year from Antarctica on exactly May 10!  Who knew.  Simply amazing.  

I wonder if leap year messes up there flight plan?😆

I'm not sure what "final documents" are, but when we took a selfie on the Viking app and uploaded it, we got an email with our boarding passes.  We're almost 4 weeks out from our cruise.  We got our luggage tags a couple of weeks ago in the mail.  Should we be receiving something else?

I agree with Jim.  Would like a nice Sea of Cotez and Mexico.   Maybe a two week round trip from LA or San Diego. 

Why would it be necessary, or beneficial, to transfer to a TA after booking?  I'm still trying to decide if booking with a TA or directly with Viking is better.  Seems like a TA would provide OBC where Viking doesn't.   But would a TA give OBC after booking?

My DW and I will be on our first Viking ocean cruise in July.  We did a Viking river cruise last summer and have done more than 30 ocean cruises, mostly on Princess but also HAL, Celebrity and RCL.  Since Viking would be considered a premium line compared to our other ocean cruises (certainly a premium price), I am wondering what others think about why Viking can command that premium.  I know from our river cruise that Viking on-board customer service is better.  Though we are not foodies, we didn't think the food was 'that' much better than the others.  Is it simply the smaller ships and better service that warrant the higher costs?

I'm interested in your opinions and looking forward to our cruise in July to experience ourselves.  Thanks.

7 minutes ago, Hazelnut1106 said:

Or you can look at it as a discount if you let Princess pick your cabin.

Not sure why some people look at it as an extra cost to select your cabin.

Because it never cost extra in the past.

On Princess' website, it looks like they are charging extra ($300 pp on a 15 day Hawaii cruise) to select your own cabin as opposed to letting them select your cabin.  Is this a new policy that Princess has added?

20 hours ago, martincath said:

May is usually a pleasantly warm and dry month (anecdotally us locals would say May, 'Junuary', July as we always seem to get hit with a heatwave in May but then a string of cool and rainy days in June), but I'd normally still wait to buy. However right now, until Feb 15, you can get a heckuva deal if there's 2+ of you - second ticket half off. Discounts usually only run a few bucks with leaflets, so I would be tempted to book in advance at the moment!

 

Personally I would neither buy at the kiosk, nor board right off a ship, at Canada Place - purely for practical reasons of so many other folks walk out, see the kiosks, queue up, and try to board there. The routes are loops and the next stop isn't that far! Walking down into Gastown and boarding there (near the Steamclock, outside Trees Coffee - try the cheesecake!) - the stop before Canada Place - means that as long as the buses are still on their first go-around (before 10am or so) you will always board a bus with no other same-day disembarking cruisers!

 

Schedule does vary - but even in summer in TheBeforeTimes the buses only started just before 9am and stopped by 6pm at the latest with 20-30min frequency; this summer should be a little better than last year but I doubt the first bus will be any earlier than ~8:50am or so and the frequency will probably be more like 40mins as they have struggled to recruit more drivers since getting shot of most pre-Covid.

 

The single most consistent complaint about HOHOs locally is always 'the bus was full and I had to wait for the next one to get on' - you can't avoid that risk at other stops, sometimes more folks want to get on at Stop X than get off, but you can avoid it at the worst of the bunch for initial boarding, Canada Place... After 10am of course everyone has been kicked off the ships so this stop becomes more normal - but if the plan is 'get off, stash bags, get on HOHO' then the Gastown walk is time well spent. It also lets you find alternate places to stash your suitcases for far less than the official pier storage (also faster, as queue time gets mental at the pier with folks who have not done research having no other option!)

 

The Pan Pacific Hotel bell desk is the closest decent priced option - but a bunch of online storage agencies opened up in recent years, who have deals will all sorts of shops and hotels all over the city. Several touristy stores on Water Street have signed up with different online services, so you should be able to find a place you are literally walking past anyway to stash bags for $6-9 ea for the day with almost no wait time, compared to $12 and a big queue using WestCoast at the pier...

Very helpful!  Thank you so much.   We'll walk to Gastown and get tickets there (and cheesecake).  We don't need to store bags as Vancouver is just a one day stop on out San Francisco r/t cruise.

We will be in Vancouver in early May.  We'll be prepared for any rain, but just wanted to know if anyone had experience with buying the HOHO tickets at Canada Place.

I'm trying to decide on the purchase of HOHO tickets in Vancouver.   Are the lines long to simply purchase tickets at Canada Place?  I know I can buy them in advance but would rather wait until in port to see the weather.

50 minutes ago, princeton123211 said:

Uber and Lyft work very well in Honolulu and has become our go to when we are there for bouncing around. Cars are readily available and you can use the XL version to comfortably take 4 adults. 

 

I don't think you are going to see the compression in demand because of the cruise ship arrival that you think-- on a port stop a sizable portion will be piling onto busses for prearranged tours. If it were the end of the cruise you would most likely see more demand. 

 

Bonus is that we have found that a sizable amount of Uber/Lyft drivers are off duty service members or the spouses of service members stationed locally. 

Good points about Uber at this port, since it's not the end of the cruise.

We are a party of 4 adults arriving at pier 10 in Honolulu on a Monday.   We need to get to Pearl Harbor in the morning, then we are going to Waikiki Beach, then back to pier 10 in the evening.   I'm looking for advice on which type of transportation would work best for us - taxi, Uber, or The Bus.  I estimated that a taxi on all three legs would be over $120 + tip, which isn't terrible but wanted to know about less expensive options.   Does The Bus have an express version, or is it normal city bus with many stops?  Is Uber readily available at each of our destinations (in the past we've found that getting an Uber shortly after the ship docks is difficult)?  We can also use different transportation options for each leg of our trip if that would work better.  Thanks for any advice. 

On 7/13/2022 at 6:49 PM, scottca075 said:

 

What are the actual hours in port? What month of the year?

We are in port from 8 to 5 in October.   However, I am just looking for something to do in the range of 4 hours.

We are docking at Kahalui.  I will look into Kanaha beach.  I'll also try to search for tour vendors, but I have to admit that the search function on these boards is not very helpful.  I'll keep trying.

Thanks

Any ideas on what we can do in Maui for about a half day?  Can we find a tour at the port that is reliable?  Are there tour companies that would pick us up at the port and do an island tour?  We don't want to do any ship excursion and also don't particularly want to rent a car.  Are there any beaches that are close enough to walk to or a short taxi ride?

Thanks

From the Crown Plaza hotel,  can you walk to the ship with your luggage?  We just have one rolling bag each.

Thank you.  This is the advice I was looking for.  I will call Princess to find out my options.  My only concern is that our Princess rep will surely try to talk me out of canceling.  She is very pushy when it comes to making/keeping reservations. 

In over 20 years of cruising on Princess, we have never had to cancel a cruise.  Nor have we ever booked a cruise less than 90 days prior to departure.  We are currently booked on the 11/27 departure to the Mexican Riviera, but are not sure we want to go because of Covid.  Our final payment is due next week  Our deposit was made with two FCD's from Princess-cancelled cruises, so no additional deposit money is involved .  I am familiar with all of the health and cancellation policies of Princess so I know we could pay for the cruise and still cancel up to 30 days out for a FCC.  However, the ship we are sailing on has a lot of open cabins.  What would be the downside of canceling this cruise now, and waiting another month or two to see how the Covid situation transpires?  If Covid improves, and we decide we would like to go, why couldn't we just book it again?  I know the price could increase, though it could also decrease.  Is there anything we could lose, like FCD's ($200 pp) or the goodwill credits ($75 pp) we have received from Princess-cancel cruises? 

Steve, thanks for your info.  I hope you are correct about the one day parking fee of $15.  It's not a big deal, but the Crowne's web site says that the daily parking fee is assessed "when checked in" at the hotel.  So I would think they would charge that extra fee of $15.  Just a sneaky way of getting a few extra bucks.  In any case I just booked it today for $219 plus tax of $34, which includes the week of parking while cruising.  And free cancellation is a nice benefit too!  Have fun on your cruise.

We are going on a Princess cruise in November and driving to the port the day before boarding.  I have stayed at the Best Western Plus before, but am considering the Crown Plaza this time since it's closer to the port and to restaurants.  I have found that they have a park-and-go option at the Crown, but it also says on their website that they charge $15/day while checked into the hotel.  So I assume I would pay the one night rate, plus the park and go rate, plus the $15 which totals about $250 +tax.   Does that seem correct?  I am also very picky about my car and wondered how their parking works for the week it is in their lot.  Is is underground parking and secure?  Is it valet or self park?  And do you need to leave your car keys with the hotel while on the cruise or can you just come back and get your car, like I did at the Best Western?  If there is any other advice about this, please let me know.  Thanks

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• I am a long time cruiser on Princess, with several cruises on Holland and Celebrity.  I am considering moving up to a more premium line.  So, for anyone that has sailed on both Viking and Oceania, I would be interested in your thoughts.  The pricing over Princess is roughly double when you compare apples to apples.  I am fully aware of the differences between lines regarding excursions, drinks, airfare, etc.  I am just trying to find out what the "experience" is like between Viking and Oceania so that we can pick one that best suites our wants.

I am a long time cruiser on Princess, with several cruises on Holland and Celebrity.  I am considering moving up to a more premium line.  So, for anyone that has sailed on both Viking and Oceania, I would be interested in your thoughts.  The pricing over Princess is roughly double when you compare apples to apples.  I am fully aware of the differences between lines regarding excursions, drinks, airfare, etc.  I am just trying to find out what the "experience" is like between Viking and Oceania so that we can pick one that best suites our wants.

I have reservations for a Viking river cruise in 2022, but this question is just about the ocean sailings.  Thanks.

Generally speaking, is there a "better" side of the ship for a balcony cabin?  Maybe one that faces the pier more often?  Or one that has better view coming into or leaving a port?  I am also considering the rear most side cabin on the Emerald (like C742 or C743) as I understand the balcony may be a bit larger and no one is on one side.  I have been on aft facing balconies - while nice with a larger balcony, I didn't find the price premium to be worth it for us.  Any suggestions?

OP here.  I thought I would ask about the laundromat option as I read that most river ships take the passengers laundry off the ship to wash - that they have enough to handle with sheets, towels, etc.  Not sure if that is true, but if it is, I thought there might be an option for the passenger to do it themselves at 1/10 the cost.

I also could see an entrepreneur in one of the port towns opening a laundromat by the docks with hundreds of potential clients walking by every week.  As far as time, it's an hour, maybe 90 minutes to wash two loads once in a three week trip, no big deal.  Otherwise, we'll do our small items in the sink and pay for the rest.  Thanks for the responses.