boom_boom

Cruises are not what they used to be 20 years ago. Service is much worse, food is much worse. BUT....it is still better than not cruising!

I'll continue an average of a cruise every other year so long a there are ships the size of M Class or smaller. I've never been on a megaship and never want to be.

And.of course, so long and health and finances allow.

Haven't stayed at either, but would agree that a City hotel would be my choice, lots of good restaurants in Vancouver and we love Granville Market. Good food there as well. We're on the same cruise but don't have hotel reservations yet. My preferred place is sold out. Will stay somewhere in downtown on the 7th. See you onboard!

While I travel in Europe I've never had a problem getting local cash from ATMs. From what I've read it isn't so easy in Japan. True? And I understand Japan is more a cash-oriented society than the US. Short of getting Yen from my bank before I leave what's the best answer for getting cash in Japan?

My wife got hers roughly 1 week after she was notified her renewal application had been received.

We've done 2 Athens to Rome cruises, both in mif-late September, crowds were not overwhelming except in Athens. Santorni, Rhodes and Corfu were busy, but not so busy you could not avoid the crowds if you tried. Weather was warm, not hot.

We're on her in September of this year in the other direction. Will post about the experience when we get back.

If you have an early morning arrival in SEA, you could take the light rail from the airport to downtown and Amtrak has a 7:45 a.m. train to Vancouver. Take about 4 hours, including customs/immigration stop at the border.

We stayed at the DoubleTree and felt it was a very nice hotel and good location for sailing out of San Pedro. The San Pedro area itself isn't all that interesting, but it would be a much short taxi ride from the DoubleTree than from a Long Beach hotel.

Thanks for the ideas. We visited Kyoto (2 days) and Nara on our last visit.

In Tokyo area for 2 days in late September and would like ideas for a day trip, or 1-night stay,:( from Tokyo via train. Don't much care where, but would like to experience the bullet train. Have ridden JR's regional/local trains but not the bullet train. Thanks for any suggestions.

Going from pier to Tokyo? Easy to find your way? Thanks for the info above.

Agree with the others. We were on Westerdam in an aft Neptune suite 2 years ago and didn't have any more vibration than in midship suites. Want to do it again:D

Just to add my 2cents worth (not that HAL cares what passengers think) the loss of all the nice relaxing space to watch the waves, read a book, enjoy port arrivals or sailaways is a shame. If HAL thinks it needs all this tech find a less obnoxious place for it!

In visiting more than 40 countries in the past 20 years I've found none that exceed, and few that equal the Japanese in their willingness to help travelers who don't speak their language. Had a woman walk us from her train platform to ours, make sure we knew what to do, and then walked back to her own platform in Osaka. You will have no problem getting around, or finding help if you need it.

Going back in the fall and really looking forward to this visit.

Maybe it was sheer luck, on our Sand Diego to Vancouver coastal, but this was a good month or 2 before final payment. I made it clear to the TA that either we got an assigned cabin in the category of our choice or we would't sail.

We got the assigned cabin long before final payment. Could we do it again? Who knows, but the same rule would apply for me. Tell which cabin within my category or I sail with someone else.

As a 3-star Mariner with about 20 HAL cruises, if they make that shift on HAL esp. the dining room, I'm gone to Celebrity or Viking, but for sure not HAL. Still. I hope the company leadership doesn't go down that path. I'd rather stay.

Can't speak to Crete, but I think you would be sorry to miss Santorini, either as part of the cruise or an independent, ferry and land trip later. The place is really special, the views, the food and the people are all great.

Maybe a better TA will help. A couple of years ago we booked San Diego to Vancouver, the final leg of a voyage that stated in FL. While the original booking was a guarantee, we told the TA before final payment that if he could not get HAL to confirm a cabin we would cancel just before final payment.

The TA got HAL to assign a cabin, and it was one we liked. So maybe your TA should be more persistent:evilsmile:

Took meat, cheeses, breads on board when in Barcelona with no problem. Taking them ashore is a much a different issue. Most countries won't allow meat and cheese in particular. But, as mentioned above, ask the crew in each port for the latest rules.

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SDCruiseLvr - we were in Japan about 12 years ago, but never tried the bullet trains. Would like visit Hiroshima for historic value. We're Millennium in Sept. First time on Celebrity. Want to go NOW!

SDCruiselvr - I am interested in the same trip, Hope you get a reply so I can get the information as well. Vancouver to Tokyo inearly September,:)

For the drink packages, can you board, spend a day or 2 evaluating how much you drink and the cost before buying the package for the rest of the cruise?

No experience with Celebrity packages, but it sounds like you cannot decide, after say 3 days on `14 night cruise, to buy the package then without paying for the days already past. True??

:D In the end we decided on Millennium. Partly because of the earlier sailing date and partly because of the price. Are in an FV and looking forward to the cruise.