PigsCanFly

I expect that, as long as you each carry your own passport and boarding pass any other required documentation, you should be able to board separately.

Geddy's was very tasty and they have varieties that include mayo, hot butter and hot garlic butter. I am headed on a canada/new england cruise next week and we plan to check out Bar Harbor for a lobster roll. We have also had one in Halifax last summer, but it was mayo and I do not recall the restaurant name.but I think it was McKelvie's Delishes fishes dishes.

On our upcoming b2b on Zuiderdam, I paid $128 for each 7-day leg.

Thanks, The-Inside-Cabin, I have no intention of using the casino as an ATM. I dug up my 2020 Zuiderdam statement and , as you stated, there were no fee charges from my casino buy-ins. Even if I won big on my first hand, I know that I would not be cashing in the rest of my buy-in. I would still be there til closing.😉

So, if I use my card at a table game to purchase Chips to play at that table, there is no 'fee'. That is great. My experience is mostly with Royal and I am not charged there due to my casino tier. I did not remember the details on our last HAL cruise last summer.

We were on Zaandam last summer with the same ports. Bar Harbor (tender) brings you to an area with shops and restaurants nearby Halifax has a a market type building at the port and quite a bit of stuff along the water. Sydney had had a few shops where we docked by the BIG Fiddle. Charlottetown had quite a few shops and other stuff right next to the port Quebec City has plenty to see. Try Old Town Enjoy!

I believe that HAL Casino does charge a fee to use room charge (3% or 5%), but I am not certain. We used our AARP gift cards to buy Casino chips and OBC pre cruise. I expect chips when we board, but someone suggested that they actually got cash at the casino cashier for their pre-purchased chip amount. I will know in 9 days how it works.

Have there been any classical music performances onboard? Which venue(s)? We love your photos. What are you using to take the pics?

The 2 I bought (and used) do not show any expiry date. My cards were emailed to me promptly and pretty much just showed a image of a card with card & PIN #s.

Sort of on topic..., We have found that picking a dining time at a specialty venue has become hard to do before we can see the entertainment schedule. Once we see the show schedule and book the shows, then we book whichever specialty restaurants we choose to attend. We take care of both while awaiting our room to become available.

I have a beverage card question for you folks who seem to have some knowledge of how they work. We will be on a b2b next month. Will a beverage card we bought pre-cruise from HAL be only usable for 1 leg of the b2b or can it work for both legs?

We used our AARP purchased gift cards for OBC and Casino chips. I expect the OBC will go toward our crew appreciation and any drink, specialty dining or gift purchases. The casino chips will likely be shared with the table games, but I believe they could be cashed in at the cashier. We don't have any experience with unused OBC. We have repeatedly spent it before the cruises were over😉

We went to our local US bank and waited the 2 days for a Can$ equivalent to be available. We have always used the Casino Cashier in Niagara Falls when we went to Niagara on vacation. They had the most favorable US$ to Can$ rates we have observed. Of course, any leftover Can$ could be exchanged back to US$ there also, but being a casino, that was seldom an issue. We do try to have Canadian bills/coins whenever we travel to our Northern Neighbors. We will resort $US if we run out. We have 3 excursions on our upcoming b2b cruise. I believe we have enough Can$ for tips and purchases.

Ours came in 2 weeks before our sailing. At the port, you should be able to have them take care of you. I only broke down and got a smart phone due to Royal and HAL going 'appy'. It is not manditory on board, but they have made it uncomfortable to do things without an app. I still have to make sure that I get a paper menu since I prefer not to squint on my phone.

We are also 4* and do not have any reference to priority on our boarding passes.

Great pictures. We are taking the same trip on Sept 9th and the return trip on the 16th. We appreciate you sharing.

I just checked the Key price on my Dec '23 Anthem ($42/day/pp) and my Feb '24 Anthem ($43/day/pp). Voom SnS is $20/day and $21/day for those same cruises.

Thanks OP. We have only sailed HAL and Royal for the past 15 years. We sail those 2 lines mainly for the excellent crew. The food on both is great (for us) and the variety of entertainment is varied. Royal tops HAL for Broadway type shows, HAL tops Royal for classical and BB Kings. Both line enjoy our casino donations and want us back. We are in agreement.

We have never sailed Princess, we have not sailed Carnival in 30+ years, and sail Holland America frequently. As soon as we book a HAL cruise through a HAL casino offer, we get lots of HAL and Carnival emails, sometimes Princess. We also frequently sail Royal with casino and crown & anchor offers. When we book we seem to get Celebrity emails and occasionally a Azamara email. At least , in our case, I believe our status & casino play incites the interest from sister lines of HAL and Royal.

In our experience, free drinks in the casino is available at the casino bar when the gaming is open. ie: If the bar is open , but the slots/tables not yet, your free casino drinks do not qualify. Most of my free casino drinks cost me more than if I paid for the drink (table games are not my friend, but I still spend quite a bit of time & money at them).

I believe there limitations on using OBC for ants.😬.

We just got notified from our PCC that our AARP OBC has been applied to to each of our upcoming Zuiderdam cruises. That was also followed up by emails with the new booking confirmations showing the OBC for each leg.

We were on Rotterdam VII when they first sailed from the US and we experienced a "plumbing issue" much less serious. Our toilet a few days into the cruise flushed fine, but continued filling after the flust to the point of overflowing. Maintainence fixed it promptly by adjusting a valve in the hall and the room steward scrubbed the bathroom floor thoroughly. It did happen again a few days later and they replaced the valve that time and re-scrubbed the bathroom. Our experience was much better than the OP's . We have never been disappointed by any of the crew on HAL (except Guest Services, but I try to avoid them).

In Our opinion, Granduer is worth the risk. We sailed on her on our first RCL cruise, and yearly after that until Jan 2020. We loved the crew and would sail them again without question.

We usually book with club Royale offers and they require full payment (taxes and fees) at booking (24 hours).