martinprof

Our family just got off the Grand Princess on June 22 in Vancouver.  The ONLY person who even asked about the ArriveCan app was our cabin steward when we boarded on June 15.  Nobody after that ever mentioned it.  Nobody certainly ever asked to see the QR code.  If fact, after we got off the ship, Canadian customs took our paper customs form but never looked at our passports, ArriveCan or anything else.  Nobody even checked our ID at all until be got to US Customs in the Vancouver airport.  That's right we got boarding passes without any ID check.   There was not any interest on anyone's part  in ArriveCan.  There was women on our ship to airport whose phone lost her ArriveCan stuff so she was trying to frantically re-enter it.  She shouldn't have been stressed.  NOBODY CARED.  Probably just a Canadian joke on Americans.

We just got off the Grand 6/22.  Five family bookings ($40,000 with air!!).  No surveys to anyone.  I have been annoyed with all things Medallion app, pre-cruise and during the cruise, now no surveys.

We booked this AK cruise on Princess because of a good experience in Jan, 2020.  This whole experience has been a nightmare start to finish.

We just got a last minute email from HAL about the Jan 16 (tomorrow) sailing of Koningsdam.  In the email was the following:

- Make arrangements to arrive at the pier at your pre-assigned Check-In time
(found at the top of your electronic boarding pass). We will conduct COVID-19
testing at the pier prior to cruise embarkation. By arriving at your scheduled
check-in time you will speed your testing and check-in process.cinated.

There is currently nothing on the HAL website about a second pier testing.  I called HAL and they don't seem to know anything about a seconds testing at the pier.  I am guessing that there ia no second testing and this is just HAL's idea of a joke. Also, the odd misspelling above was copy/pasted from the HAL email.

We just received our Hawaii Safe Travels QR codes by email this AM.  The email also stated that the Health Questionnaire is no longer required as of today.

Now if the Grand Princess actually departs for Hawaii later today I will begin to feel like the Jan 16 Koningsdam cruise will actually happen.

This AM, we we contacted by HAL by email with a whole new itinerary for for the Knningsdam Jan 16 sailing.  Guess what? It is the itinerary listed in the Hawaii and Catalina port websites.  Worst part (actually fairly typical) was that yesterday I talked with a "resolution specialist" at HAL about this very thing and was told they were aware of the issue and it was a problem with Hawaii having the wrong info.  Less than 20 hours later, they published the new itinerary.  Of course, they scheduled the Santa Catalina port call on 12/16, and the other port calls have been in place for months.  Bottom line: They just lied to me.  And they are still listing the now defunct itinerary on their website.  They have changed my booking to the new itinerary but if you book this cruise at the last minute be aware that you are dealing with "truth challenged" people.

By the way, we are HAL 5 star with 600 actual sea days.

First, Hawaii accepts full vaccination in lieu of PCR test to avoid quarantine but you must submit vaccination info on Safe Travels website.

Second, if you piece together the Koningsdam itinerary on Hawaii Portcall, you get a completely different itinerary for Koningsdam.  I get Jan 23, HNL, Jan 24 Kona, Jan 25  no where, Jan 26 Kahului Maui (NOT Lahaina), Jan 27 Hilo.  This is nothing like the HAL published itinerary.

Check for yourself.

https://hawaii.portcall.com/#!?tab=2&port=Kahului - Maui

We are also on Jan 16 Koningsdam sailing.  On Oct 17, I emailed HAL about Hawaii Safe Travels for cruises.  They responded on Dec 14 with this:

Good Day,

The state of Hawaii is still working on their Safe Travels web platform to accommodate cruise lines and they have informed us that they hope to have it updated by the end of the year.

Thank you for your time,

We are booked on Koningsdam on Jan 16 Hawaii.  Noticed that my boarding pass had disappeared from app.  Went online to check that pass and noticed that our stateroom had been moved from  a midship room on 4 to a room four from the back on 6.  My wife has motion sickness issues so the room was unacceptable. Also no notification.  Also five star.  Also marked as "no upgrade".  Told our original room was not available due to "operational reasons".  TA contacted them.  Was told nothing could be done and they had the right to change the room for "operational reasons" even if marked :no upgrade" .  Our TA kept at it and eventually got a midship room on deck 5.  Perhaps the implied threat of canceling our other six bookings helped.

We were also on  Nov 5 Rotterdam inaugural.    Had booked stateroom 4039.  Without notification it was changed to guarantee.  I noticed it when I went to print boarding pass.  Called HAL, explained motion issues, got the "operational reasons" excuse BUT got room changed to 4026. Great.  Printed new boarding pass.  Checked next day and found room changed to 4141 (no notification).  Called HAL and was told 4026 was not available because, wait for it, "operational reasons",  Printed boarding pass.  In last 2 weeks before the cruise, our boarding group was changed from A to B to C about every 3 days (at least got notifications about this).  I think I printed the boarding pass five times.  And there were only 900 passengers on the ship.  The cruise itself was great but dealing with Seattle was not.

Back to Hawaii cruise.  We have still not gotten any notification by HAL of the 2 day COVID test requirement but did get (yesterday) a response to an OCT 17 inquiry about Hawaii Safe Travels having informed HAL that the program will be adapted for cruise ships by the end of the year.

I started to question HAL in October about the Hawaii Safe Travels program.  Just got a response about an hour ago.  Here is first paragraph:

"In accordance with CDC guidelines, our cruises departing from U.S. ports through March 31, 2022, are available for guests who have received their final dose of an approved COVID-19 vaccine at least 14 days prior to the beginning of the cruise and produce a negative viral COVID-19 test (PCR or antigen) result taken within 2 days of their embarkation. This guideline allows our guest to travel to Hawaii. Inter-Island travel does not require testing at this time, therefor our guest are currently free to travel to Hawaii onboard our vessels."

They don't seem have a clue about Hawaii Safe Travels, port agreements, etc. and that it applies to all travelers from the mainland to Hawaii.  Then again I guess they could be right and everyone else wrong.