Coyote Chris

12 hours ago, CruiserBruce said:

Discussed here quite frequently recently:

 

 

I think HAL could do a better job of putting out selective emails. Maybe if you are cruising Vietnam you need Verifly...so sent them the email...dont make us all do fire drills....

57 minutes ago, OlsSalt said:

 

I suspect the only way "HAL can make things better"  in San Diego or Vancouver is to stop using those ports.  Why do you think HAL wants their embarking customers to have a bad experience?

Cruise ship Pax capacity is going up 43 percent by 2026.  Just like airports, the Port/City etc of San Diego is gonna have to expand if they want the hotel rooms/food sales/docking fees/jobs....At Spokane International airport, its one expansion project after another.....I am not being judgmental about all of this.....but its a fact.  The only other way is to make sure the port docking times can be accommadating for all cruise ships seven days a week or start docking at 5p and sailing at 5 a.  

2 hours ago, *Miss G* said:

 

Did you happen to inquire as to why the terminal staff weren’t “policing arrival times”?  (This is not a snarky question; I am truly curious.)

 

Our check-in time was 10:00am and the place was swamped.  Suites/4*/5*/Club Orange all have priority check-in so that would impact assigned check-in times.  Likewise, those arriving via HAL transfers wouldn’t have any say in what time they were delivered to the port. 

 

I guess you could say there are a multitude of reasons as to how check-in times are impacted, including those who don’t “self-police”.  I have not been retained to find a solution so do not have a grasp on where all the speed bumps lie.  It seems to me that passing the buck may take the heat off one person but it does a disservice to all, no matter who’s passing it.

I noticed something in San Diego the last cruise.  I went through port security, which HAL has no control of, and then got in a line to get my pic taken.....no windows, no ques...THEN HAL sat me down for Boarding group B.  So yes, they were policing the actual time you boarded, but not sat. 

On 4/29/2023 at 6:46 AM, TriumphGuy said:

I got the Verify email for our upcoming Alaska cruise. Decided to not go through it as it seems unnecessary for this cruise and we have already checked in with photo, etc. Seems like just another place to put personal information that really is not needed. 
We keep our vax cards with our passports anyway so if anyone wants to see them we'll have them.

 

I too am going to Alaska on HAL May 6th and got that email. I wrote my PCC but I think it is just going out to all HAL cruisers around the world.  It MAY be useful in some countries but not out of San Diego/Seattle .  I was told in San Diego last fall they dont use it anymore.

I hope they dont mess with the wonderful aft pool deck covers with radient heaters...great place to hang out in the evening or going to Alaska.  I will be on her next in Nov to Mexico. 

55 minutes ago, luv2cruzuk said:

The food video is being edited right now. If you subscribe to my YouTube channel you'll get a notification when I've published it. 
 

You can subscribe here

 

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCQzoKbrqz2yvcq_-aSn-Fqw?sub_confirmation=1

 

With regard to the chairs. The lido market green stools are the same ones but the fabric has been replaced (with the same) on the ones with cracked fabric. This was done after the video I posted in the OP was published. 
 

 

Thanks!  I will. Did you sail out of Vancouver?  I have had terrible experiences at the airport and the cruise terminal there. Never had a bad experience out of San Diego.

What the heck did they do to the Crow's nest????? 😞

Please tell me they replaced all those torn cracked chairs in the Lido?????

In my senility, I did not see a link to the next food vid.

Greetings. I am on the Eurodam May 6 to Alaska.  A few days ago, I received an email from HAL prompting me to download the Verifly app, and go through the laborious proceedure of loading all my information, which on the last cruise in the FALL I was told that they didnt use it anymore???? Is this just a catchall for world wide HAL cruises?

22 hours ago, IPB4IGO said:

As it happens, I did that on the Koningsdam a couple months ago. I also used a Wi-Fi signal strength app, whcih showed a good deal of variance in Wi-Fi signal strength in various parts of the ship. In our cabin it was about half the strength as the strongest I could find.

The sad news is that signal strength had absolutely no consistent relationship with either ping time or throughput speed.  Pings were in excess of 1000 ms, and speed varied from zero to a couple hundred kbps. Although I didn't run speed tests on the public computers in the Explorations Cafe, they were clearly as dead slow as my laptop, phone, and tablet.

Sharing a satellite connection with 2,400 of your closest friends is just not fun.

Yeah, I didnt expect the cafe computers to be very fast, even with Premium....but maybe more secure. Anyway, I will take my data and post it.  I envision a second dish installed on ships in the future using low earth orbit birds....The backup is to have my wife at home buy the tickets, but ticket companies like AXS have made transfering tickets so difficult and even buying them difficult for seniors, its a big hassel. Oh well, its not cancer....

I use Farmacia PVR, about 100 yards south outside of the port walking entrance.  They will hand you  a list in English of many common drugs you dont need scripts for.  You can "walk" by it on google street view or get pics on the web. Be aware that THEY are afraid of counterfeit money, so the credit card prices are lower than cash prices.

17 hours ago, IPB4IGO said:

We took four cruises, on four different HAL ships, this year. In three of the four cruises my VPN worked, but not in the fourth (the first cruise). Interestingly, the cruise on which my VPN would load, Wi-Fi Calling would not work on my phone although it did on the other cruises. 

 

That said, our most recent cruise, on the full Koningsdam, the Internet was so slow that web pages usually would not complete loading and would often time out before even starting to load.

 

We had the Premium Internet plan in all cases.

 

Now, I just have to sit home and save money for the next couple years to return to cruising. Sigh...

I will be on the K-dam in seven days.  For fun, I will use an internet speed test app from the hottest part of the ship I can find with my signal strength app and then with a ships library computer.  My personal opinion about having my credit card info stolen is that is probably rare on a ship but not impossible. I have had my card info stolen before and I asked my bank how it happens....it can be as simple as a computer trying different combonations......

12 minutes ago, Florida_gal_50 said:

I think it is worse with more people on a cruise.  That said I’m not a good sleeper so sometimes I’d be trying to access my bank or Amex for instance at 4 am or midnight.  No difference.  You’d think there would be less people using it at 4am.

I agree with you on the speed and it also depends on who gets what package and who on this city of 3000 plus people is using the net and for what.  And who gets throttled.  Another consideration people tend not to think about is the latency, or ping.  If the ship is using a Hughes Net sat sitting up there 25,000 miles , whether or not you are sitting at home or on a ship with an antenna tracking the bird, high quality speed and buffering is suspect.  

On 12/2/2022 at 9:57 AM, The-Inside-Cabin said:

google Holland America Internet...it will be your first option

Thanks. While it doesnt mention commercial sites directly, it would appear to allow them. Especially at premium.  The question then becomes, if the onboard wifi is not secure for using a credit card, can then one use one of the on board computers in the "library" securely or better yet, plug ones laptop into an RJ45 jack in the library and just use a direct connection . Either way should be secure.

During a capt's lecture, someone asked the capt about wifi. He explained that the ship's com/nav system, etc took first priority, as well as the sea crew.....in fact the whole crew had some sort of pecking order as a number of crew members I have talked with talk to family members using video calls.  With the proliferation of Low Earth Orbit sats and other means, internet will improve for pax but its gonna take awhile.  And security is still an unknown.

16 hours ago, IPB4IGO said:

We took four cruises, on four different HAL ships, this year. In three of the four cruises my VPN worked, but not in the fourth (the first cruise). Interestingly, the cruise on which my VPN would load, Wi-Fi Calling would not work on my phone although it did on the other cruises. 

 

That said, our most recent cruise, on the full Koningsdam, the Internet was so slow that web pages usually would not complete loading and would often time out before even starting to load.

 

We had the Premium Internet plan in all cases.

 

Now, I just have to sit home and save money for the next couple years to return to cruising. Sigh...

I am not a web whiz (love your handle) but I am not so sure a vpn, which I have, helps scammers on an open network. I could be wrong.

19 hours ago, Lido deck main said:

It was also posted on the other unnamed site.

Sorry for the double post here.  Answer on the other unnamed forum was as you can see, incorrect.

6 minutes ago, The-Inside-Cabin said:

You posted the same question 12 hours ago and got an answer

 

 

Wow....thanks!!!!!  Important info!  I will make a note of it. couldnt make the link work but I believe you.

I was told on another forum that I would not be allowed to access commercial websites from the K-dam's paid internet wifi. This would be like ebay, amazon, Home shopping network, ticketmaster, etc.

Can anyone confirm or deny they were able to do this and make purchases?

I was told on another forum that I would not be allowed to access commercial websites from the K-dam's paid internet wifi. This would be like ebay, amazon, Home shopping network, ticketmaster, etc.

Can anyone confirm or deny they were able to do this and make purchases?

6 hours ago, Crazy For Cats said:

If you are on FB there are HAL fan groups where some people will share the PCC if they are good.

Thanks!!!!!

I know we cant mention HAL cruise consultants names here but I am kind of in a fix.

  Every time I get a new one I like, they leave or retire.....

Is it permissable to have people PM me with ones they like?  

If not, do I just take my chances?

21 minutes ago, quack2 said:

So far, Verifly doesn't seem to like my State of Oregon Electronic Vaccine card.

Its hit or miss. My state of wa worked.  But I also in another attempt just took a pic of both vax cards and they accepted that in 2 hours.  This electronic business is to just save companies money and at the same time promote other businesses.  If you want to go to a concert or lord forbid a 15 event figure skating competition, you have to purchase electronic tickets on Ticketswest.  In the email you get, you get sent to another website to see the tickets, take screen shots of them, and are told to put them into Google Pay or iWallet. Just in case there is no cell coverage at the event.  So they make you have a smart phone, and a google pay account.  They even threaten you that you will not be let in unless you do their steps, but at the end of the day, you can still take your receipt into the local box office and get a paper ticket.  Ask me how I know this.  At an international skating competition in Las Vegas last year some old people didnt even HAVE smart phones, so they opened up the box office and gave them paper tickets.  

It is my hope HAL uses their own app and just makes you put your info on that, with good customer help.  THEY have a dog in the fight. THEY want you to come back so they should take care of you.

Update. VeriFLY has now accepted my proof of vax. I now have a pass.  Odd that my Navica app has not been updated with my negative Abbott/Navica/Emed test I took yesterday. Frankly, I grow tired of having to do other people's jobs for them but as no one is willing to work anymore, no one will be disiplined or terminated.

12 hours ago, PoppyBanks said:

I am also having this issue. My daughters results just came back from Walgreens but VeriFly will not accept them. I keep getting error messages. I tried to print the attachment from Walgreens but the QR code would

not capture. 
 

Update. Verifly told me to reboot my phone, wipe away the app, and start over. 

Truth. This morning, suddenly, a "carrot" appeared next to the test in the check list. I Filled out the form and they would not take the walgreens QR code.  I then just sent them a pic of the Walgreen test and they are "reviewing" it. 

I sent this back to them.

6 hours ago, kstrittm said:

I'm new at this as well, but I think the health assessment form is completed 3 days prior to the trip on the HAL website.  I'm guessing you can print it when done.  The COVID test is 2 -3 days prior (depending on your vax situation). 

 

Like you, I'm not totally clear on how to transfer the info into VeriFly.  I assume I can take a screenshot of the health assessment and upload it.  I also assume the COVID proctor will send a QR code that can be scanned into VeriFly.

 

Great question - I'm following to see if I can learn from you!  

Oddly, it was easy peasy to upload my vax info....and when I did the HAL health assesment today on the HAL website, it transfered all by itself to the Verifly app.  The app tech support people seem to think there is a way to manually load the test results so I sent them this screen shot.  No way...nothing to click on. The odd thing is that they obviously know that some of us can have our tests three days out...They need a focus group of us old people to show them that they assume too much.  

4 hours ago, farawaygal said:

I am pretty sure you can't enter those 2 items until you are within 72 hours. We completed VeriFly and boarded in Seattle on April 30. Didn't do us much good because the check-in people inside the terminal never heard of VeriFly. There was someone with a VeriFly sign outside who let you in but once inside you were with the crowd. We used it in San Diego last month and it was very useful because the check in people were taught how to use the system.

LOL!  I needed that!  Good one. I will try tomorrow and see if I can upload the Walgreens or eMED tests I took today.  Oddly, I have the emailed results from both but the test hasnt shown up on my Navica app yet.  I fly out Friday for Seattle and board the E-dam on Sat.  My fourth Alaska cruise. Love it.  I am glad those of us who are boosted get to take the tests 3 days out from day of sail.  The docgo test times are way too early. That was my backup....10:30 am? Really?