Fairgarth

21 hours ago, C 2 C said:

A person might learn from their experience or mistakes, but it is much more efficient to learn from the mistakes and experience of others.

Or to re-phrase that:  you can learn from other people's mistakes.  You haven't got time to make them all yourself.

15 hours ago, visagrunt said:

Volume. 
 

Aha!  Volume.  I didn't think of that, thank you.

5 hours ago, visagrunt said:

Koningsdam is provisioned every Saturday in Vancouver and typically there will never be true shortages--though there may be times when access to individual items may be at issue.  If, for example, a delivery is rejected on quality grounds and a replacement can't be secured before departure time (K'dam can sometimes be subject to departure restrictions depending upon tides in order to clear the bridge) then the galley will have to "work around" whatever couldn't be provisioned.

We sailed on her in early June.  The beer list in the bars was almost entirely 'out of stock'.  However, they did have lots of craft Alaskan from Juneau which were not listed.  Which was fine, much enjoyed.  However, again, there are lots of craft beers in the Vancouver area but none on board.  Why not?  Price?  Taxes?  Buy American?  

We boarded Koningsdam in June.  Check-in with HAL was very quick and slick.  The line-up for security was not too bad.  But then we had to line up for an hour and a half for U.S. Pre-clearance.  Nobody can jump the queue as far as we could see.  Vancouver port and Canada gets the bad reputation but c'mon folks, the problem is U.S. Customs.  Just a thought - can anybody recommend arriving very late after all others are processed?

Don't know what ship yopu were on but here's a photo from our cruise in June.

What a glorious video and lovely photos, thank you.  We were on her in June and also got lucky with the weather in Glacier Bay.  So that's what we looked like!

In 2017, I good friend of ours was leaving Vancouver on the Zaandam.  We decided to get on to the Lion's Gate Bridge and wave at the ship passing underneath.  It was very late, we waited and waited, our paid parking expired and we had to top it up.  Finally, we saw the ship move.  He told us later that they had a medical emergency before they even left so that involved an offloaded passenger, doctors, ambulances and probably a lot of paperwork. 

On 7/3/2023 at 10:41 PM, QuattroRomeo said:

On the left, before you enter, there are washrooms. If you don't have Priority boarding, use them! Use them now!! 

 

Oh my!  Great advice.  We boarded the same cruise on 10th June.  After an hour in the U.S. Customs lineup I was desperate for a biological break and figured I'm not gonna make it.  I beckoned to one of the ground staff who pointed me to a washroom so I fled the queue.  I was afraid that my party would have cleared customs by the time I got back.  Ha!  Their progress could be measured by micrometer, not tape measure.  Incidentally, all the ground staff at Vancouver port were excellent, smiling, friendly, helpful.

Some years ago my wife was flying from Winnipeg to Vancouver on the 12:30 flight.  It pushed back on time but then sat for several minutes.  The pilot announced that he was not happy with one of the instruments and had called maintenance.  The woman sitting next to her got a bit agitated.  After a while, the pilot announced that the problem could not be fixed and the flight was cancelled.  Now the woman was really agitated.  She was heading for a Holland America cruise sailing out of Vancouver at 5:00pm.  Where were her brains?  I've said it before:  her faith in the airlines is touching and totally misplaced.

On 6/23/2023 at 9:01 AM, FlaMariner said:

 

We are not picky flyers.....we are fine with steerage class.  

 

But I've been reading negative reviews about Air Canada.

I have flown on airlines all around the world but as a resident of Canada, I have used Air Canada more than all the others put together.  Ignore the negative reviews.  You can, on occasion, have a miserable flight on AA, BA, United or anybody else.   The probability is very low on AC.  Go ahead.

20 hours ago, everbeentoseabilly said:

Thank you to you and all who work at the port. We just embarked the Queen Elizabeth yesterday and all the port staff that we came into contact with were friendly and helpful!

I agree absolutely.  Port staff were great, smiling and helpful.

14 hours ago, Heidi13 said:

 

Unfortunately, getting a price quote yesterday may not reflect the actual cost. With multiple cruise ships disembarking at Canada Place on a Saturday, Uber may have surge pricing levels in effect, due to high demand.

I have had two negative experiences with Uber in Vancouver.  It did not work out.  On request, they tell me that there is a cab 14 minutes away....no, make that 8 minutes away....no, make that 11 minutes away...no, make that 12 minutes away...no, sorry, no cabs available.  All right, sport, I'll call Yellow Cab.  Four minutes.

21 hours ago, colesc15 said:

Options are looking like Delta, American, United, and air Canada for the most part. American doesn't have direct from ohare 

Well, you have not said when you are travelling or where you are starting from but..... currently American does fly non-stop between O'Hare and Vancouver.

We disembarked Koningsdam on Saturday.  Next to us in the queue for taxis was a couple heading to Abbotsford to catch their flight.  They were moaning that it would cost $160 and did anyone want to share?  We did not know what they saved on the air fare but it would certainly not be worth it to us.  Abbotsford airport would be an hour and a half from the port on a good day, or a lot more if there was an accident or roadworks on the highway.  What is your flight time?  Too tight to be sure?  Six hours wait at the airport?  Flying YVR - YWG may cost more but for us that would be money well spent.  Make sure you know the total cost of flying out of Abbotsford.  Not just the fare but baggage, seat selection etc.  What's the back-up if your flight is three hours late or cancelled due to a mechanical?  Your choice!

Well, I have now had personal experience of this "shambles".  Blame U. S. pre-clearance.  We took a tip from 'martincath', dropped off our baggage at 11:00 and went for a wander along the waterfront.  Had a nice lunch at Mahoney's.  Walked back to Holland America check-in, no waiting, very slick and quick and moved on to the next.  Bit of a line-up for security then a major line-up for U.S. pre-clearance.  That took and hour and a half or more.  Out of 21 cruises, this was by far the most time-consuming.  Be prepared.

On 6/12/2023 at 12:28 PM, lovecruzin said:

We’re cruising Alaska RT from Canada Place, do we need to go thru Canadian Customs screening upon disembarkation?

We disembarked in Vancouver yesterday.  We went self-assist.  From cabin to cab rank took five minutes, if that.  There were a number of officers collecting customs declaration cards so no line-ups and nobody checked passports.  I suspect that if you board in Vancouver you have already been admitted to Canada so why do it again?

1 hour ago, FOPMan said:

You will receive tickets and/or other excursion information/instructions in your stateroom when you board.l

Thank you, Sir.  We normally do our own thing ashore but this is the first time we have booked and paid for a ship's excursion in advance of boarding.

We booked a trip through HAL for the railroad in Skagway.  Do we get tickets for that?  Can we board the train and how do they know we paid already?

On 5/29/2023 at 9:56 AM, RickT said:

Been looking at flights to Australia and have noticed flights via Air Canada (via YVR) are significantly cheaper if using LAX as the departure city.  It still makes financial sense to fly into LAX and spend a day and the. Connect into Sydney but it would save a lot of time if on the return flight I got off in YVR rather than continuing onto LAX.  

Sorry, I don't begin to understand the question.  Let me make some assumptions.  If you are starting in Halifax, then your outbound could be YHZ - YYZ - YVR - LAX - SYD for example.  But on the return flight you have SYD - YVR - LAX - YYZ - YHZ.   If you have already made it to YVR coming home, why on earth would you proceed on to LAX if your destination is Halifax?

7 hours ago, xlxo said:

I just tracked the Koningsdam activity the last two days for you...

 

sunset at this time of the year is 9pm, twilight for about 45 minutes afterwards so you get 50% of the South Inside passage segment in daylight.  Sunrise is 5:15am with twilight beginning around 4:30am.

 

That is very interesting, thank you.  I'm surprised how the speed varies.

Cedar Valley golf course - about a five minute drive from the port in St. John's.  I used to drive past it every day, it looks OK but have not played it.  Check it out on Trip Advisor first.  Do it yourself, no need for an excursion.

6 hours ago, mahi mahi said:

We did inside passage in June last year and I can tell you there is a LOT of daylight this time of year!  I clearly remember getting up around 3 am with the sun coming up and standing on the balcony in awe.  There is nothing like sailing very slowly almost silently along, so close to spectacular scenery.  Breathtaking.

That's good to know.  Thank you.

On 5/23/2023 at 10:54 PM, Globaliser said:

 

What airlines have learnt is that providing good customer service can build up lots of goodwill and warm fuzzy feelings to passengers, who will then decide how to purchase their next flight by reliably selecting the cheapest option in the market. 

 

There's no other way to explain the rampant success of airlines that do treat their passengers like dirt, and make no secret of it. In Europe, Ryanair is the shining example.

 

Reminds me of a quote from Bob Crandall, legendary head of American Airlines years ago.  Can't remember it exactly but something like "passengers would slit their grandmother's throat to save one dollar on an air fare".  He was right and it's till true.

I was thinking - always dangerous - that Vancouver Island is almost 300  miles long.  So if you depart Vancouver port at 5:00pm, you travel the inside passage largely at night so you won't see anything.  Same thing coming southbound.  If you arrive Vancouver at 7:00am, you have travelled the inside passage all night.  Am I missing something?

22 hours ago, JeannyJ said:

We are heading to Alaska in July (on the MS Volendam), out of Vancouver, and I was wondering if the smoke is affecting any of the cruises from that port.

You'll be fine.  The prevailing winds in Vancouver are westerlies so short of a conflagration in mid-Pacific we usually don't get much smoke (although we did get a lot from our neighbours down south last year).  In fact, due to these winds, we send our smoke to Saskatchewan.  You're welcome.