Hal Alaska cruise boarding and lunch

[Watson's aunt]

Hi I am a 1 almost 2 mariner member on HAL lines, I printed out my boarding pass and it says I can board at 1pm, But the Mariners club luncheon is from 12:30-1:30. How do I board before the 1 pm. During this cruise I will make have 2 stars.

 

 

Mary

[vbmom87]

Take a look at post #6 on this thread that I found on the West Coast Departures Board. This poster was on the Amsterdam in May, 2010. I hope this helps.

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1220086&highlight=amsterdam

[vbmom87]

I found another thread that should be helpful. This one is found on the Holland America Board:

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1404231

[Watson's aunt]

Thank You vbmom87

 

Mary

[vbmom87]

Thank You vbmom87

 

Mary

 

No Problem. I will be on the same cruise in August, so I need to learn these things too. I thought HAL began the embarkation process at 11:00 a.m. but needed to hear from others. I know we boarded shortly after 11:00 a.m. when we cruised with HAL from Vancouver in 2008. I don't know why your documents say to board at 1:00 p.m. except perhaps they want to stagger the process. This time I am not sure how early we will board. I think a lot will depend on the weather and if there is still something else we may want to see in Seattle. If it is a nice day, I want to head back to the Pike Place Market and get a nice bouquet of flowers for our cabin. I understand you can get nice bouquets very reasonably priced. Posters have also said we can get vases from our room stewards. I hope that is true, otherwise I will have to use an ice bucket as a vase. :eek: I will be looking forward to hearing from you and other cruisers on these earlier dates upon your return.

[PennyAgain]

Yes, you can get very nice flowers at Pike Place Market. Yes, you can borrow a vase, but I travel with my own. There is a line of weird looking plastic bag sorts of things that you can shape into a vase by adding warm water to them. Magellan's sold them for years but I found my most recent ones at a Tuesday Morning store.

 

They are reuseable. When you want to flatten them out again for packing, just put in more warm water and smooth them flat.

 

I love having my own fresh flowers in my room in a hotel or on a cruise ship.

 

Here's a link to some sorts of travel vases. http://www.thetravelinsider.com/travelaccessories/wondervase.htm There are several online stores that seem to carry WonderVase. I found them on Amazon.com as well.

[vbmom87]

Yes, you can get very nice flowers at Pike Place Market. Yes, you can borrow a vase, but I travel with my own. There is a line of weird looking plastic bag sorts of things that you can shape into a vase by adding warm water to them. Magellan's sold them for years but I found my most recent ones at a Tuesday Morning store.

 

They are reuseable. When you want to flatten them out again for packing, just put in more warm water and smooth them flat.

 

I love having my own fresh flowers in my room in a hotel or on a cruise ship.

 

Here's a link to some sorts of travel vases. http://www.thetravelinsider.com/travelaccessories/wondervase.htm There are several online stores that seem to carry WonderVase. I found them on Amazon.com as well.

 

Those vases look very interesting. However, I am trying to be on a mission to pack light this time. I recently read of someone who went on a 7 day cruise and 7 day land tour to Alaska with a carry on.....hmmm....I don't know if I can pack that lightly. I will just be happy if I can get everything in a 26" with a little room to spare.

[dan1618]

We are sailing out of Vancouver on May 21st. I just printed our documents and they say embarkation at 12:00 PM.

[agabbymama]

Hi I am a 1 almost 2 mariner member on HAL lines' date=' I printed out my boarding pass and it says I can board at 1pm, But the Mariners club luncheon is from 12:30-1:30. How do I board before the 1 pm. During this cruise I will make have 2 stars.

 

 

Mary[/quote']

 

Just because your documents state you board at 1:00, doesn't mean you can't board at any other time you choose. Show up at the dock whenever you want. If the ship has been cleared of people & they start boarding, you can board anytime. They have never made us wait for a specific time. If you show up at 11:00 and it isn't ready for boarding, you'll wait in line.

 

With HALs new policy of having the cabins ready before letting boarding begin, you might have to wait anyway. I haven't sailed since they started that, so not sure how that is working out.

 

Have a great trip!