Choosing a later embarkation due to no mariner’s lunch?

[Homala]

My DH and I just booked the 2025 cruise from Boston to Canada/Greenland/Iceland. This will be our longest cruise to date and new ports, too.  We are extremely excited!  

Reviewing the HAL forum, I see a few changes since we cruised last year.  We have enjoyed the mariner’s lunch at embarkation on all but our first cruise and are disappointed to see that it has gone away. They haven’t restarted the lunch, have they?  Just wondering if many of you have decided to board later and have lunch in the port town.  We are not big fans of the lido, especially when it’s crowded, but we also are so excited to board as early as possible, so we’re torn. Just looking for a little input. 
 

One more question:  it looks like sail away will be at 3:00, which seems pretty early. Isn’t all aboard supposed to be 2 hours prior to sail away?  If so, we would probably just go ahead and board as early as possible.

 

Thank you all!

[Sea42]

We choose to have lunch onshore before boarding. On a longer cruise, you'll have plenty of opportunities to have lunch in the MDR and avoiding the rush of early boarders, to me, is a much more relaxing way to start a cruise.

[Homala]

Yes, I agree. Really leaning in that direction. If we do have to be on board at 1:00, maybe a late breakfast between 10 and 11. Really too bad that they eliminated the mariner’s lunch. Thank you for your input!  

[Wasasalad]

1 hour ago, Homala said:

My DH and I just booked the 2025 cruise from Boston to Canada/Greenland/Iceland. This will be our longest cruise to date and new ports, too.  We are extremely excited!  

Reviewing the HAL forum, I see a few changes since we cruised last year.  We have enjoyed the mariner’s lunch at embarkation on all but our first cruise and are disappointed to see that it has gone away. They haven’t restarted the lunch, have they?  Just wondering if many of you have decided to board later and have lunch in the port town.  We are not big fans of the lido, especially when it’s crowded, but we also are so excited to board as early as possible, so we’re torn. Just looking for a little input. 
 

One more question:  it looks like sail away will be at 3:00, which seems pretty early. Isn’t all aboard supposed to be 2 hours prior to sail away?  If so, we would probably just go ahead and board as early as possible.

 

Thank you all!

Boston dock workers are why we must board earlier than some ports. Even when we were sailing at 7pm we had to be on quite early. But they are good about delayed check in because of delays flights and weather. During a Hurricane we were boarding until 8pm! No power in most of the area. I had no power in my house. Two hour limousine ride after walking  over downed trees on my street. They told us fifty canceled last minute. With HAL Platinum you can do that. They offered to upgrade many of us but at full price! No way! We left Boston at midnight. 

[Homala]

Oh my, Wasasalad!  Quite the pre-boarding adventure!  Too bad HAL wasn’t willing to give away the upgrades for a better price. What year was this?

 

This will our third cruise out of Boston and also the earliest sail away. Love Boston!

[Gail & Marty sailing away]

We wish Holland American would bring back the Mariner's lunch.

[Homala]

12 minutes ago, Gail & Marty sailing away said:

We wish Holland American would bring back the Mariner's lunch.

I agree!  It was such a lovely, relaxing way to start off the cruise. 

[*Miss G*]

It all depends on the ship. If pinnacle-class, there are many options, including the Grand Dutch Cafe. The MDR is an option, if they are open, but I don’t really focus on getting onboard just for that. I have a leisurely breakfast at the hotel and leave for the port after checkout. For our Boston departure we left the hotel at noon and breezed through check-in and straight onto the ship. I think everyone else was onboard because the terminal was empty. Have a lovely time!

[Wasasalad]

53 minutes ago, Homala said:

Oh my, Wasasalad!  Quite the pre-boarding adventure!  Too bad HAL wasn’t willing to give away the upgrades for a better price. What year was this?

 

This will our third cruise out of Boston and also the earliest sail away. Love Boston!

The last big hurricane right before Covid 

[Homala]

The ship is the Volendam, so no Grand Dutch Cafe. I’d love to sail on one of the Pinnacle class ships, but the itinerary won out on this cruise. Pretty sure we’ll eat and then try to board around noon. 

[Hlitner]

When cruising out of Boston (or if there on a port day) we prefer to eat ashore where we can get our fill of lobster or lobster rolls.  If you are OK with walking, the Yankee Lobster Company has a a decent restaurant location within walking distance of the port.  Our other "go to" place for lobster is James Hook, but this is a longer hike and not a very fancy place (they actually have some picnic tables in their parking lot).

 

Hank

[FlaMariner]

3 hours ago, Homala said:

 Just wondering if many of you have decided to board later and have lunch in the port town.  We are not big fans of the lido, especially when it’s crowded, but we also are so excited to board as early as possible, so we’re torn. Just looking for a little input. 

 

We too enjoyed lunch in the MDR at embarkation but we've cruised many times since that went away and we've adjusted fine....

 

We've always been able to find a quiet table at the lido pool area furtherest from the lido buffet (closer to the spa/ping pong table) and we enjoy taking our time w/lunch.  Dive In burgers are a hit as is my first salad bar trip of the cruise.....It's fun saying hello to the crew, reading our program and planning our adventure.

 

We still enjoy boarding as early as we can and enjoying lunch onboard to "get the party started".....Plus, most importantly, that lunch is included in my cruise fare thus I intend to partake and enjoy.

 

[*Miss G*]

31 minutes ago, Hlitner said:

Our other "go to" place for lobster is James Hook, but this is a longer hike and not a very fancy place (they actually have some picnic tables in their parking lot).

 

Hank

 

Another shout-out for James Hook & Co!  It is a very popular place and has delicious lobster rolls!

 

@Homala, if your trip includes a visit to Peggy’s Cove, this food truck has the best lobster rolls I have had in my life!  And the young couple who run the lobster truck are the sweetest people ever!

 

 

They recommended the best place for fries and they were right!  We saw they made funnel cakes so had to give that a try too.  Luckily we shared everything because that was a lot of food!!

 

 

 

 

(Sorry if I have turned this into a lobster roll/food thread. 🫢)

[Hlitner]

oooo love funnel cakes.  And no calories LOL.  

 

Hank

[Mary229]

Too much good food in Boston to worry about a meal that will be repeated quite often during a 24 day cruise.  I do believe the 2025 version is classified as a “Legendary Voyage” with more interesting food choices but not on embarkation day. 

[Homala]

Thank you all!  Now I’m thinking we may go ahead and board early after all and just hunt for an outside table. I also wasn’t aware that the Dive In was open on embarkation day. We do love their burgers. I guess we’ll just play it by ear, but knowing us and how we are like children on Christmas morning, so excited to board that ship, that we’ll probably go to board as soon as they allow us. 
 

Thank you for the lobster roll tip. Somehow I didn’t have one on our last trip up from Boston to Canada, but I definitely want one this time AND to go to Peggy’s Cove this time. Win-win!  

[Alberta Quilter]

There is also the taco bar on the Volendam, right next to Dive In.  That’s where I had my embarkation lunch 3.5 weeks ago!  We had no issues boarding early in Boston.  Well, there was one issue which was no liquids in any kind of bottle so all had to be dumped out.  Caused some delay before getting to the security screening.

[Homala]

Alberta Quilter:  Oh the taco bar!  I forgot about that and we do enjoy it!  Also didn’t know that it was set up on embarkation day. 
 

When you boarded a few weeks ago in Boston, were there assigned embarkation times?  I saw on here that they’ve done away with assigned times, at least for some ports/sailings. I would have thought that most people would arrive as early as possible if there were no assigned times, which kind of makes me want to wait until later. Thank you!

[Alberta Quilter]

Our boarding passes indicated a noon boarding time which seemed really odd considering all had to be onboard by 1:30 for a 3 pm sailing time.  We debated when to arrive and ultimately chose to go early.  Sure glad we did; it was fairly slick and I think took less than half an hour.  We stayed at the Hampton Inn near the port and walked there with the luggage in less than 15 minutes (did get behind some slower walkers).  The rooms weren't quite ready so we went up to the Lido and got a drink (you can use your boarding pass for the first one!) and got a quick lunch at the taco bar.  Once the announcement came that the rooms were ready, we went to the room to start getting settled. And because we stayed out of the Lido (by the Lido pool), I think we avoided the typical Lido madhouse on embarkation day.  But I will say, that this crowd was a very experienced group of HAL cruisers, for the most part, so that probably contributed to the lack of madhouse feeling, too.

[Homala]

Another good tip!  I did not know that we could use our boarding pass for a drink. That might come in handy!  I’ve heard good things about that Hampton Inn by the port. Last year we stayed at the Seaport Hotel. Although we could walk to the port from there, we decided not to, because of our luggage, so we are considering the Hampton next time. 
 

Thank you for your responses and good tips!

[Ladybentley]

We're really disappointed about no embarkation Mariners lunch. We always went to the MDR lunch and looked forward to it. Sitting down, relaxing and having lunch served to us was the lovely moment when we knew we were on a ship about to have an enjoyable cruise. Such a pity that HAL is cutting so many things that did so much to enhance the cruising experience for what mostly seems petty penny pinching. 

[Gail & Marty sailing away]

13 hours ago, *Miss G* said:

 

Another shout-out for James Hook & Co!  It is a very popular place and has delicious lobster rolls!

 

@Homala, if your trip includes a visit to Peggy’s Cove, this food truck has the best lobster rolls I have had in my life!  And the young couple who run the lobster truck are the sweetest people ever!

 

 

They recommended the best place for fries and they were right!  We saw they made funnel cakes so had to give that a try too.  Luckily we shared everything because that was a lot of food!!

 

 

 

 

(Sorry if I have turned this into a lobster roll/food thread. 🫢)

Could they park near the Port? I'll be a customer.

[TiogaCruiser]

We just boarded Volendam Tuesday. Our boarding pass said boarding started at noon. We were there by 11:15 and there were practically no lines. We were in our cabin before noon. And that’s only because we had to return to luggage drop off to leave our bags. They were check on size, but the scanners can only fit carry on size. That’s a first for us.

 

 

[TiogaCruiser]

15 hours ago, *Miss G* said:

 

@Homala, if your trip includes a visit to Peggy’s Cove, this food truck has the best lobster rolls I have had in my life!  And the young couple who run the lobster truck are the sweetest people ever!

 

 

They recommended the best place for fries and they were right!  We saw they made funnel cakes so had to give that a try too.  Luckily we shared everything because that was a lot of food!!

 

 

 

 

(Sorry if I have turned this into a lobster roll/food thread. 🫢)

Thanks for this. Volendam will be in port tomorrow and we’re going to Peggy’s Cove.

[*Miss G*]

4 hours ago, Gail & Marty sailing away said:

Could they park near the Port? I'll be a customer.

We did a day car rental and there was lots of parking at Peggy’s Cove. When we got there, all the tour busses were just leaving so there was hardly anyone there. It was nice not to have crowds but it was certainly worth going even if going by bus. So scenic and beautiful.  Have fun!