bookbabe

You enter on street level. The elevator/escalator/stairs up to checkin is after security.

I didn’t notice any, but we were there fairly early. They might have moved over to that side after they were done with the disembarkation folks.

Entering for your cruise and dropping your bags are all on the left side of the building, towards Anthony’s, and disembarking passengers have all the areas on the front and right side of the building, towards the street and the Edgewater Hotel. For our May 8th Encore (and the May 7th Bliss, when we scouted out the setup) there was only one bag check area, towards the back left of the terminal building. Poor choice of location, IMO, since everyone had to haul their bags between all the people waiting in line to enter security. However, there are/will be *two* lines to enter the building, but they aren’t really signed well as such. The long line (the left set of doors of the left-side main entrance, by the stairs, where the queue ropes are) is the regular line. Once they start allowing people in, there will be a second line announced and created alongside that line (the right set of doors of that entrance) for Haven. A security person on May 7 told us to just line up on the right the next day, not to get into the long line. Once that Haven line officially opens, port staff walks the line telling Haven guests to move into the second (new) line. We just waited on the bench by the door since my mom can’t stand for long periods of time, then stood up and went right in when that line opened.

We used Azova and the Ontario-issued Rapid Response tests to board NCL at the beginning of May. Quick and easy, no problems with having them accepted. https://www.azova.com/travelvideo/

Walk a few yards further to the Eden Rock Dive Center. I think they’re still open. https://edenrockdivingcenter.com

Teppanyaki is now $49, and I think Moderno may have gone up too.

Ward Cove - derelict paper/pulp mill turned cruise terminal

I think that’s the only restaurant there at the moment. There’s lots of great restaurants all along the waterfront and in Pike Place Market, though.

LOL…we were on the same cruise, and it’s funny how experiences can differ. I guess not having anything to compare it to makes a huge difference, I know my mom (new to Haven and hasn’t cruised in 25+ years) felt much the same as the OP. The Seattle Haven lounge is really dumpy if you’ve been to the swanky new one in Miami. Atmosphere, food, furniture were all an order of magnitude nicer in Miami. The Seattle lounge was a bit of a letdown in comparison. Adrian, however, is best concierge we’ve had thus far. Service in the Haven restaurant was not nearly as good as we’ve had in the past. Much slower than on previous cruises, and the wait staff was fairly chaotic and unorganized compared to previous experiences. The food was okay, but it was better at Xmas…we wondered if the chef had just switched out? On the Victoria night, the slip printer in the kitchen went down, and no one noticed, leaving meals unmade for about 45 minutes before the issue was fixed and they could try to catch up. Luckily, we didn't have an excursion booked so the delay wasn't an issue for us like it was for one family we saw, who had to skip dinner since they had to leave before it arrived. Ward Cove wasn't nearly as bad as some of the naysayers pre-cruise warned about. Was it as good as walking off the ship into downtown? No, but NCL seems to book the cheap seats at most ports, so that’s par for the course as it were. Freestyle Dailies for the week were posted in the roll call, and in the roll call group on the Book of Face. Glacier Bay was great, and had the best weather of the trip. Watching the glaciers go by from the comfort of your balcony, while wearing shorts and a t-shirt was just awesome.

GSC is different in that most of the “excursions” like cabana and villa bookings don't have set meeting times that you must stick to. Your ticket will have a start time, 9am, but you don't have to go then, you can head down to the tenders later whenever you are ready. The villas do count as an excursion, so they will likely include priority tendering instructions either with the ticket, in a separate letter to your cabin or in the Freestyle Daily. If you are in the Haven, the concierge will escort groups down to the tender and you’ll get a letter about that too. Essentially, they provide instructions for pretty much everything if you read all of the info in the package of excursion tickets and all of the letters left in your room as well as the entire Freestyle Daily each day. Then, if stuff is unclear, ask the department that provided the info for clarification. The instructions sometimes change from week to week and ship to ship, so it’s important to read what’s provided to you onboard rather than relying on what might be no longer accurate info from someone else’s cruise. 😉

We’ve done Bliss once and Encore twice since November. Physically, both Havens are nearly identical. The big difference that will make or break either one is which crew are on board and which butler is assigned to you. The current Encore Haven crew are fabulous, so if you are looking for a cruise in the next few weeks that’s what I’d go with. For further out, there’s no predicting who will be where, so just book the one with the better dates and itinerary.

Your butler definitely can get you the entire week’s menus in advance. We asked on our Xmas Encore cruise and got them, and when we had the same butler (the fabulous Rao) last week for our Alaska Encore cruise he automatically brought them for us again. It’s really handy for figuring out what nights to eat where.

Interesting CBC article about the Pearson delays... https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/toronto/toronto-pearson-airport-wait-times-1.6450780

We took the Allen Marine Whale Watching and Wildlife Quest on Tuesday, booked through NCL. It was okay. Their double decker "catamaran" looks a lot like your typical cattle car tour boat. Sit on the lower deck if you know you want to stay inside, especially if it's raining, since the upper deck windows are alternately rain-splashed or blocked by passengers standing outside, limiting your view a lot. If I was doing another trip early in the season, I would arrange time to do whale watching in Seattle/Vancouver/Victoria, and not Juneau. Our one spouting but barely visible otherwise counted as "seeing" a whale, and the only other wildlife was a bunch of seals sleeping on a buoy. Not our best tour ever, but not really Allen Marine's fault, I guess.

Nope, you'd be doing it on your phone or someone else's since there's no paper version of ArriveCAN

There was a Walmart shuttle running today in Ketchikan, from berth 4 where the Ward Cove shuttles were dropping off/picking up.

On the Encore Alaska sailing as I type this, and everyone needed to show their ArriveCan receipt at embarkation. People who didn't have it completed had to step out of line and complete it in the app or on the website before they could check in.

lol Just read in today's paper that Dart is hoping to reopen Calico Jacks, however it likely won't happen in time for a June cruise visit. https://www.caymancompass.com/2022/05/10/dart-plans-to-reopen-calico-jacks/

We had totally asymptomatic Covid back in January, only found out on a travel test to leave for a vacation, so we are well aware of how it works. And Canada doesn't require a test to return home anymore, so we are more worried about a shipboard or mid-cruise quarantine. Thanks, though.

This exact situation is why we chose to (sadly) cancel our fully-paid February 2023 Panama Canal cruise with Viking and book a similar NCL cruise instead. While we are eager to cruise with Viking at some point, the testing and the possibility of (rightful or wrongful) quarantine adds a layer of stress to the journey that we just don't want to deal with at this point. Viking has been very clear on their policies, so it's up to each individual to determine their comfort level with those policies. Knowing the policies and going on the cruise, only to get upset with the policies afterwards isn't reasonable IMO.

At this point, it's looking like what's open now will be what's open for you in June, at least if you mean this June. Next June more should be open. Summer is the slower season, so most of the reopenings I've heard of, like Rum Point, are slated for the early winter at the soonest. You should make your plans based on the info in this and the other recent threads here. Calico Jacks will definitely not reopen, so you'll need a new go-to place. Cemetery Beach is nice, but there's no facilities.

Taxi rates vary by number of passengers as well as by distance. There's an app to calculate your fare. https://www.explorecayman.com/getting-around-in-cayman/getting-a-taxi-in-cayman

I can confirm that the butlers do keep a file of notes on past passengers, either that or ours just has a great memory. We boarded Encore yesterday and entered the Haven lounge to discover we had the same fabulous butler Rao as we did over New Years. He not only remembered us when he saw us in the lounge, but when we told him the cabin number and he learned it was one of his, he insisted on grabbing our carryons to take to the cabin, and told DH that he'd go stock the fridge for him with his fav soda (ordered with every meal delivery last trip, even breakfast, they lose money for sure on DH's soda package).

Cayman is a tender port, so by the time you're off the ship, you won't have long to wait for the turtle center to open. There will be taxis at the port, or you can book transport through the turtle center, or at least you used to be able to. Taxis are easy, though. Easy walk to Macabuca, I'd contact the dive shop there about lockers, I've never seen them, but I've never looked. https://www.crackedconch.com.ky/sun-divers For the return, have the restaurant call you a taxi.

If you call or email the distillery, they will know which tour company stops there on an excursion.