stairMaster

I would like to add my perspective to the Japan/Alaskan cruise. My wife and I are mid-fiftyish 3 star mariners and are on the Westerdam for the the last leg of the cruise from Yokohoma to Seattle. First off I'd like to thank the OP for the excellent posts and insights which we used to plan for our stays in Kyoto and Tokyo. Also, the post on the change of itinerary with an overnight stay in Yokohama was invaluable. Since we knew that we had another full day in Yokohama we were not rushed on embarkation day to visit all the touristy sites in one go. We took an early train from Tokyo station ; dropped off our luggage at the Yokohama cruise terminal at ~10:30 and leisurely explored the city for a few hours noting that we had a full night and another day in Yokohama to visit the sites we missed on the first day. In contrast to some of the posts on this thread I find that I am at times overwhelmed with activities choices on the Westerdam. As I am not a night owl, I cannot comment on post 10pm entertainment since I'm usually back in my cabin for some night time reading and relaxation. Some of the daily activities include morning talks with our ever present cruise director Rachel and special guest(s) ( ex. Head chef, engineer, entertainers, hotel manager, HAL cadets etc.) The talks were very informative and the floor was always opened to questions. Another well attended event on the World Stage were lectures from Andy Fletcher on the Universe and everything. He touched on topics like Einstein, Newton, Gravity, Quantum particles, chaos theory and much more. Bridge lessons, orgami folding, ping pong, pickle ball, fitness classes, mah Jong and of course trivia and others were always available everyday. A pleasant surprise was having the Captain introduce his senior staff on the 2nd night of the cruise before the evening show. He also presented a talk a couple days ago on the World Stage and took some hard questions especially on itinerary changes. We did have a couple of issues with our stateroom which were resolved efficiently in a few days. Overall, this has been an excellent cruise and we would not hesitate on taking another HAL cruise.

Agreed, HAL needs to handle overcharges in a better manner otherwise they will undoubtedly lose more good clientele like yourself, sunviking90. A rough calculation, assuming 1000 cruisers have a drink package of 15 drinks per day that equals 15,000 drinks served on any given day. If the bar staff get 99% of the orders correct that still results 150 overcharges and a lot of irate customers. Most of us would agree that anything over 90% success rate in any job is outstanding service. We seem to hold HAL to higher standards. Perhaps HAL's policy should be to just accept the x% error rate rather than having to dispute the overcharges. On another another note, the cruise staff are working months on end without any days off. I was on a 39 day Trans Pacific cruise and we had the same wait staff and cabin stewards, etc. for all 39 days. I will be error prone if I were working 7 days straight let alone a whole month.

I would advise one to tread very carefully with accusations of HAL employees not only being dishonest but HAL is also turning a blind eye to it. These are very serious allegations and are grounds for dismissal. If you have SOLID evidence of this occurring then the correct route is to bring this up with the hotel manager. Innuendo and speculation is not helpful for anyone.

2 hours ago, Real NHDOC said: The crew may allow it because they don’t like to say no to anyone but your fellow guests who paid for the extra attention might not appreciate it. Imagine if everyone brought friends or family traveling with them. Then I wonder who would be complaining about how they overbooked the service and there was a line to get in. Probably you. When we traveled with our family that was in a neptune suite we never asked to join them because we felt it was inappropriate. They joined us in the MDR on the pinnacle class for dinner and our waiter brought them the Club Orange menu which they could order off of but we didn’t ever join them in CO either. Since the breakfast menu is identical you might just “slum it” and join your BFs in the MDR if you want to eat breakfast together. 😃 I understand the desire to share a table with others but if Neptune guests were dining at the MDR then they would also be taking spots away from regular MDR diners. It works both ways. Perhaps the solution is to have breakfast together at the Lido and dinner in specialty restaurants.

The OP was asking if it was acceptable to tip in USD in Canada. The answer is definitely Yes!! I would not recommend going out of one's way to convert USD to Canadian dollars so they can tip in the local currency while on shore.

Yes. US currency is accepted by most establishments in Canada. Especially in the touristy areas, the exchange rate ( don't expect a great rate) will be prominently displayed at the checkout counter. Since, change will be provided in Canadian currency, I suggest you buy a snack at say 7-11, give them $20 US and you will receive Canadian $$ in change. As for tipping, US dollars will be fine.