em-sk
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Posts posted by em-sk
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On 9/26/2022 at 2:26 PM, Grazz111 said:
Hello, I am planning my first cruise to Alaska but hit a snag. I have had several convictions for various crimes and two dui's. The cruise I want has two stops in Canadian ports and from what I've been reading I may be out of luck. Does anyone know if I can cruise to Alaska and not disembark in Canada to complete the trip?
Thanks
There are a number of things that are illegal in the US and are legal in Canada. If it is one of these then it would be looked at quite differently. For example marijuana is generally legal in Canada.
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2 hours ago, 6rugrats said:
I would only add don’t forget that at JFK, you will need time to reclear security after dropping your bags off for your next flight. If they tell you in ATH you don’t need to pick up your bags at JFK because they are tagged through to ABQ, don’t believe them. I hear this all the time.
In most parts of the world it would be transferred behind automatically. If the transfer was in Toronto you would go through US customs and the bags would be handled behind the scenes. The US airports are the exceptions.
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17 hours ago, zoncom said:
Coming back International from Amsterdam on UA; UA just shortened the time to 2 hours between flites for Aspen connection early June. Recently in Chicago customs lines 23/4 hrs. If we cannot get thru Houston customs in time and miss flite is UA responsible for getting us on next Aspen leg? We are Platinum.
The biggest factor for you is if your a US national or not. I know they sometimes feed us Canadians into the same lines as US nationals even if the signage does not indicate that.
Where the Platinum status helps is if you miss your connection and need to go on the standby list for a different flight. Those standby lists are usually processed just before boarding and status helps. As others have posted they are not going to bump someone off the flight that has a confirmed seat.
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8 hours ago, Magicat said:
I just did a high level search...does JetBlue fly from YVR? They had some good flight options, long days but no overnights. Not sure of your exact dates so just guessed at Feb for 8 nights.
JetBlue does serve Vancouver. I think it is the only Canadian city they fly into.
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On 10/11/2022 at 12:52 PM, Middleager said:
I just found out if withdrawing from my HSBC accounts from HSBC or Cirrus ATMS abroad, there is no ATM fee. There are lots more Cirrus ATMs than HSBC ATMs, so it's good to know.
On my HSBC WE MC, there is no foreign currency conversion fee (usually 2.5% on other CCs). I was planning to put cash into that CC, then do cash advance withdraws. It's good to know there's no fee from those ATMs.
We'll may payments using my wife's HSBC WE MC (which she just got, first year fee waived too)
I had a HSBC account for a number of years. At some point want to simplify things and dropped it.
HSBC for ATMs uses "THE EXCHANGE Network". The Exchange network is also used by most credit unions in Canada. The EXCHANGE Network also extends into some part of the US. If it is one of these machines you get full banking including the ability to do deposits etc. When all combined they are one of the largest networks of ATMs in Canada.
HSBC Canada is based out of Vancouver. Left over from when they first entered the Canadian market by buying our the Bank of British Columbia. I hope they get taken over by someone like Vancity instead of RBC.
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15 hours ago, NWT Cruiser said:
I noticed this also when I went into the Gov't of Canada site. Hope they stamp our passports, would be interesting to see their new official name spelled out. lol
Türkiye is one of those countries where you will only know if they stamp your passport when the day comes. I remember being on the NCL Jade several years ago. The day before we arrived the cruise director give a presentation on what to see and someone asked about that. He said, there are arrival cards you may be required to fill out or not. It all depends on if they remember to bring the cards to the port or not. They may want to stamp your passport or not. Depends on how interested they are that day. If it is time for tea, then likely won't.
Despite that it is a great country to visit. Look forward to the next time I go back.
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8 hours ago, 3Shelaghs said:
Does anyone know if cruise lines have issued any statements re potential EU fuel supply issues, or possible escalation of Russian/Ukraine conflict affecting river cruises or Baltic/Scandinavian waters?
It is going to be a non-issue for cruise lines. Close to shore cruise ships use diesel and out at sea they under bunker fuel. Both those are refined from crude oil. Oil refineries will always be able to buy crude oil from Africa, the Middle East or North America. They may not like the price, being demanded. Cruise lines may start playing with surcharges if it gets bad.
The real "fuel shortage" concern in Europe is natural gas. Natural Gas is used for heating, cooking and electricity production on land.
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On 10/3/2022 at 10:19 AM, whee-sailing said:
There are no direct flights from Vancouver to anywhere in Florida (currently, that is). It's always been a hassle for us to get to east coast sun destinations. Air Transat started direct flights to Fort Lauderdale in 2019. I got to take their direct flight back from a cruise in Feb 2020 and it was SO nice, but they haven't brought those back post Covid.
Unless the TA can scramble up something better I'm probably going to go with the red eye leaving at midnight, going through JFK, and arriving in San Juan at four in the afternoon. It's JetBlue, so that's a big con, but it's only one stop instead of two so that's a pro.
Both WestJet and Air Canada are going to start offering flights from Vancouver to Florida non-stop. However that does not mean onward connections would be any better.
If you try flying from anywhere in the region to their (Vancouver, Seattle, Portland) your going to have the same problem. Jet Blue is not a bad airline.
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7 hours ago, LHT28 said:
you just need to tell them you have $10K no need to say they are winnings ...is there?
The reason they ask is they are looking for illegal activity.
Gambling is not illegal. Winning is not illegal. Lottery and casino winning is not taxed in Canada. Not clear why you would try to hide it.
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12 hours ago, jonikal said:
Now that the Covid testing is no longer required at the border, and the ArrCAN process is also not needed, are masks still required when flying into and around Canada, and if so, is it enforced on a non-Canadian carrier?
Obviously highly recommended but not required at this time.
Was on a WestJet flight flight today and the crew were all wearing masks. About the half the ground staff and perhaps 1/4 to 1/2 the passengers.
Some foreign airlines may have requirements imposed by their home country or corporate policy as well.
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15 hours ago, *Miss G* said:
Like this guy? He stole my sister’s blanket while she went to the bathroom. He is forever known as blanket-fort man. Weirdo. 😂
Blanket-fort man is a bit extreme. Weird also. Hopefully he did not suffocate or otherwise deprived of oxygen under the blanked.
Eye shades are usually good enough for me.
All of Air Canada widebody's have mode lighting. After the meal service they turn off the lights are slowly over several hours the colour of light and brightness will slowly change and become brighter close to when they do the breakfast service.
I think most airlines have the same feature on their newer aircraft.
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5 hours ago, ChiefMateJRK said:
Yeah, but I only remembered problems around NJ/NY. Not Canada. I asked a question and received an informative answer.
Some photos of the hardest hit areas:
Each of the provinces had their emergency response center activated before the storm hit and the federal government and other provinces will help if asked. There are around 300 Canadian Forces solders with military helicopters and heavy equipment dispatch already to assist local emergency services. The local power utilities have crews from other utilities coming in to assist with restoring power.
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1 hour ago, MyTMo777 said:
I feel this way too!! And no masks on airlines! Yay! (I live in Canada.)
It is still highly recommended.
I have a flight on the 28th so one more day of this. I suspect the flight crew will likely go through the motions.
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9 hours ago, vjmatty said:
Question about this.... if a bag has to be gate checked for that reason once you're on board, do you pick it up immediately after exiting the plane where the gate tagged bags are, or do you have to go to baggage claim? And if you go to baggage claim, I assume gate checking does not include checking through to your connecting flight? This would be an overseas Turkish Airlines flight in business class.
Extremely unlikely they would check a bag at the gate for a Business Class customer at the gate unless it just does not fix on the aircraft. If it is an overseas flight is is going to be on a widebody aircraft that has a lot of room especially if in business.
They will gate check to the final destination at baggage claim, unless it is something you need in the airport like a baby stroller, wheel chair etc.
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10 hours ago, lluvia2rain said:
Appreciate your help. First trip to Europe 3 adults and two girls (10,14) coming from california. Last time in Europe was 30 years ago. We are trying to pick a cruise leaving last weekend of may/first week June 2023. Looking for family friendly, we love water hoping to swim, eating 🙂 and seeing big sights. Don’t want kids or us to get bored.
1. Athens, Mykonos, zakynthos, Cofu, kotor, dobrovnick, koper, venice. NW gem
2. Rome, Naples, caliari, Mallorca, Ibiza, Barcelona, Cannes, Livorno, Livorno, Rome. NW epic (they also have this RT from Barcelona versus Rome)
3. Rome, Santorini, Mykonos, Cofu, Malta, Sicily, Naples, Livorno, Rome. NW breakaway.
Unless your into ancient Greek culture I would go with number 2. It gives you a great mix of different cities in Spain, France and Italy. Cruise 3 is more of a dive into Italy with a side visit to Malta.
There are lots of things to see in Rome and give the distance from the port to the city, you will be limited in what you can see. That would be the motivation for starting there.
Barcelona has the cruise ships close to downtown. I would be happy with either option.
Cannes is an interesting city to visit it is also an easy train ride to Monaco if that is something your more interested in.
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3 hours ago, Davey Jones Dentist said:
Air Canada kept changing flight times to my first leg of trip to Rome. I booked on January 18th with EZAir as Premium Economy. At the time, they gave us Business class seat reservations since they did NOT have Premium Economy on that flight. Five times they changed flight times until they finally changed arrival in Montreal AFTER our flight to Rome had left. So, the changed us to an earlier flight. (Sounds good, right?) HOWEVER, they took us out of Business class and they do not book seats in regular Economy until 24 hours before flight. So, not only would we have to pay an extra $50 out of pocket to reserve seats, but with an almost 5 hour layover, we don't automatically get to use the Lounge. They also removed ou Premium Economy on the Rome flight, which I was able to re-instate.
Unfortunately, I spoke to someone at EZAir who was completely inept and not helpful. (Just venting for a moment folks!) Will make the best of it but not the way I wanted to start this vacation.
In years past Air Canada was much better with this stuff.
This past summer with the ramp up from COVID they have had lots of problems getting new airport and inflight staff trained. They are starting to get their act together again but it a slow go.
Being in a smaller Canadian city my two choices are Air Canada and WestJet.
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54 minutes ago, waiting2retire said:
They glanced at to make sure I was Canadian, that’s all.
The US government starting in July to deploy a facial recognition system at all the international airports and cruise ship terminals.
For foreign travelers from what I have read it sounds like they store a scan of your passport page from the first time you enter the US. Then they do the facial recognition against the stored image the next time you enter the US.
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16 hours ago, renroc13 said:
Looking for some information. I tested positive for Covid (masked throughout) on a Celebrity cruise three days before we ended the cruise in Vancouver with 55 others. I was told by the cruise Covid coordinator that we would have to remain in Canada for a period of ten days post day 0 the day I tested.
We are in Canada now. We are American citizens and were tod the first time we can fly out is Oct 1 after quarantine. The Canadian government tells people who were positive with no symptoms that they can return to work after day 5. We are trying to figure out whose law this is. Does anyone on this board know. All we have is a contact with the cruise operator.
Just trying to get the facts straight.
Thank You,
Karen
Hopefully the cruise line is covering the quarantine costs and they set you up in a half decent hotel.
Staying in quarantine for 10 days should avoid infecting others on the flight and once you get home family, friends and co-workers.
What your seeing here is the weird division of powers we have in Canada. The federal government has responsibility to regulate to border entry, and inter-provincial transportation and international transport. Cruise lines and airlines fall into that. They are saying 10 days.
With some very limited exceptions the feds don't have responsibility for local health and worker safety. Each province establishes the rules there and they are saying 5 days.
I believe the US government also has some rules about people entering the US.
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5 hours ago, John99 said:
I just checked or EZ Air on the Princess website. Also, I checked Delta website.
Has this happened to anyone else?
Seats on EZ Air do not agree with Delta website.
The flight confirmation numbers still remain the same.
Princess EZ Air:
Delta DTW TO FLL (departure) – seats 32c & 32d
Delta FLL to DTW (return) – seats 34e & 32f
This is wrong.
Delta Air website:
Delta DTW to FLL – seats 32c & 32d
Delta FLL to DTW – seats 34d & 34e
Oh yes, this is what we booked several months ago.
Who do we believe: Delta or Princess?
If you have EZ Air, please check your flight arrangements.
John
EZ Air is in all likelihood using one of the GDN/GDS computer systems providers to make the booking and access the reservation information. The GDN (is what travel agents use) and talks to all the different airlines internal systems. Sometimes the GDN will get out of sync with the actual airline. When that happens it is very difficult to fix.
The good news is Delta is going to base things around what is in their computer system not the third party GDN. You may want to call Delta to confirm or change them in the Delta portal.
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On 9/22/2022 at 6:49 AM, SeaShark said:
Please tell me that you don't really think that you get the package for free. As the cost is built into the fare structure, you're paying for it whether you take it or not.
Not certain about other countries. But on the NCL site when in Canadian dollars as soon as you get to selecting the state room your presented with the option of the Cabin without the "free package" and the cabin with the "free package" It is odd but at times you can get a sizable discount by not accepting the "free package".
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2 hours ago, Sailing12Away said:
It all depends on where you go and what you want to buy. At the Moosehead brewery, they took US$ but gave any change back in Canadian coins, and again, the exchange rate was whatever worked out to easy math for them so you could get back whole amounts. So your 3 pints that would have cost you 18 CAD (~$14 US) is now going to cost you $18 US so that they can give you back $3 CAD from your US $20.
You should always expect change back in local currency . Most retailers are only going to have one cash drawer on their register. They are not going to be setup to give change in foreign currency. If they get any US$ is going to go into the bottom of the door for the back office to deal with at the end of the day.
The only place I have ever seen a retail setup to give change in more than one currency are some of the airports in Europe where they will have a drawer for each currency they are working with.
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15 hours ago, 6rugrats said:
No, no, no. Consider this fact; planes are flying full and airlines do not sell discounted business class tickets to consolidators. Most of these companies purchase frequent flier miles and then book you tickets using another person's miles. This is against the rules of every airline's frequent flier program. Airlines track this carefully, and if they catch these tickets, they will cancel them, leaving you stranded. I can look at your ticket and see exactly where it was purchased.
Read the the terms and conditions of the company you are considering purchasing from. Many of them now have a clause that if this happens, you are not due a refund. Go the air travel forum on Tripadvisor and read about these companies.
I would never consider using such a company.
When the OP used the word consolidator, I think they were referring to the flight booking office of the cruise lines. I don't think any of the major cruise lines are playing around with buying frequent flyer points. The cruise lines are major buyers of flights are they likely have negotiated deals on business and first class. However, since these are not fares offered to the general public we just don't know the details of what conditions are on the ticket.
The airlines will discount business/first class. For corporate accounts the discount can be substantial.
If the OP is in fact talking about these companies that are trading points, I agree completely best to stay far away from them.
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On 9/21/2022 at 7:14 AM, Lois R said:
Looks like Canada might be lifting requirements to enter the country on the last day of this month.......
See this news article that was published yesterday:
In Canada we have Orders in Council (OIC), similar to the Executive Orders in the US, the difference being we have a cabinet instead of a single individual the approves. When the OIC was updated in June its expiry date was pushed out to Sept. 30. The government has decided not to renew the order. So it off the books on the 30th.
ArriveCAN app is then optional to enter Canada, no proof of vaccination required. No random testing after the 30th.
The bad news is the rules requiring Arrive CAN to board a cruise ship in Canada did not come from the OIC but a separate set of rules specific to the transportation. That will likely disappear for next season but we will have to see.
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2 minutes ago, ChiefMateJRK said:
No way!! Who would be stupid enough to fall for that?
If I was running a stand selling coffee that is what I would do.
That at least recovers the fees that bank is going to charge to deposit foreign currency into a business account.
Flying into Canada from the USA
in Canadian Cruisers
Posted · Edited by em-sk
Depends. Terminal 1 is streamlined and simple. Terminal 3 is not as simple but still better than before. If your coming in on one terminal and leaving on the other then it is painfully and you need to handle your baggage.
If you flying Air Canada/United your in terminal 1. It is handled behind the scense.
If your flying WestJet/Delta/American your in Terminal 3.