Mary229

You can only hope

Thank you for all of the wonderful reports and photos. I truly appreciated the hiking reports as we are avid hikers also. I look forward to your synopsis. Have a great trip home.

It is no shorts in the MDR at dinner. I am not sure what you mean by dress shorts

We also travel for itinerary and we do enjoy the very reserved atmosphere, not stuffy but quiet. I can overlook a lot as long as they get me there, let me spend quality time in port, feed me healthy food and keep my room clean. The bonus with HAL is the staff - downright nice people who appear happy in their job.

I don’t take pictures but we both love flowers. We spent at least 5 hours in the gardens. We had an included tour which was simply a transport and entry tickets.

Your tour does go into Canada? Where are you going once you leave Fairbanks?

Fuel costs! Inflation is no fun

It is all voluntary. It may require one of the CEOs to show some courage - not a virtue I have noted among cruise ship executives

I did not like the escargot and usually I am a fan. The lobster was the best ever on HAL

We had shrimp cocktail but the jumbo was offered as an add on. I personally never saw the jumbo so I can’t comment. The regular was fine by me

I meant the overall price of the cruise even for the smallest cabin. There simply were no $100 a day cabins. I did not see any last minute deals but I am not a Florida resident but enough about lobster😉

I am talking about the price of the cruise not the cabin. There were no $100 a day rooms unless you got the last minute deal which I never saw

Maybe because we pay more. My cruise was not cheap, it was not $100 a day like the current Canadian cruise we started with in the thread

This lobster was good and tasted like American lobster. I was shocked.

That was the everyday price on my sailing but gala night it was free

That’s interesting, last month it was free and it was good. I have never been a fan of HAL lobster but DH asked the waiter to bring me one because it was so good. Maybe it is a supply chain issue. There are also new regulations governing lobstering in the US, this could also be having an impact. https://www.nhpr.org/2022-06-07/breakable-lines-remote-control-traps-maine-lobstermen-grapple-with-an-onslaught-of-new-rules

It was actually some of the best lobster I have ever had on HAL

I had it twice for free in May. Perhaps it is only for longer voyages.

I think ArriveCan is a requirement of the Canadian government. You won’t need it until you are ready to enter Canada.

We use the laundry bag instead of the daily fee. We can fit a weeks worth of clothes in those if tightly rolled. All for $20. I usually pack for 9 to 10 days and do laundry every 8 to 9 days. That would be $60 to $80 on a 35 day cruise. For this cruise, which I will be taking in 2024 I would back exceptionally light as it is 100% tropical. I do believe the roll call is already up and running be ready to relax, read, spa out, binge tv. I enjoy it all. Find the sauna, it is always vacant in my experience It is also my DH’s wishlist cruise. I am sorry for your loss

I have a pack of them in my luggage as backup should the laundry not get back in time. Eh, so so. I would not wear them daily.

My pharmacist agreed with your doctor. I find Pharmacist usually more up to date on drug matters. Anyway she said it mattered not one iota so I chose to switch to Pfizer as I had had severe reactions to Moderna each time. I did have a reaction with Pfizer but much less severe

HAL has had the option to drop testing for months except in Canada where it is a mandated program not voluntary. I think some of the Caribbean islands also have a mandated program

I see where my confusion came in. You are both right. Half way through the review the guys started mucking around with files and someone posted a gala menu but it wasn’t actually related to the cruise. we had a full gala dinner twice on our 21 day sailing last month

I so agree with this. There are better options on the standard, mass market itineraries. I am sorry you didn’t like the food and I am really surprised there were no seafood entrees. I usually eat seafood on HAL 5 out of 7 nights. Maybe you missed gala night as they do serve lobster, escargot and the other gala menu items. As a matter of fact another passenger on your same itinerary last week posted a copy of the menu showing those items. I am glad you had a lovely time nonetheless and what you describe entertainment wise is about what I would expect. HAL is definitely a different product than Carnival, Norwegian or Royal which I like too.