MarinersBaseballFan

4 hours ago, Roz said:

Where is the train station and how do you get to it from Seatac?  How much does it cost and where does it drop you off in Vancouver?

I would avoid walking from light rail to/from train stations at either end, after dark, due to sketchy areas. Daytime ok. Light rail websites soundtransit.org and translink.ca, we have rode light rail in both Seattle and Vancouver. Beats waiting for taxi at Canada Place after cruise.

3 hours ago, Haljo1935 said:

Slightly off topic, but related.

1) Can you add Club Orange to a free cruise or only to regular fares?

When I mentioned deck preference to our PCC, she said our "free" Guarantee Interior will be "assigned"  and entering a preference is not possible. Then she said we could add Club Orange, and that CO was still available (2+ months out at that time) which would allow us to choose our interior stateroom. We declined CO, but did add Platinum Protection at time of booking. We're sailing July 8, 7-day Inside Passage on Koningsdam. 3 days ago received our cabin assignment Interior deck 4 over MDR. Happy with location.

We're new to cruising. Never gambled on our 2 HAL cruises. Cruise 1: May 2022 we paid $4k for 7 day AK verandah including HIA. Spent our extra $150 obc in the shops. Next we did 16 day Hawaii October 2022 with private fare verandah at about $6k including Platinum Protection but did not purchase HIA. Also did not buy any HAL Hawaii excursions.

11 hours ago, spally said:

Our stateroom is still unassigned for our cruise in early august.  Our travel agent insists that they do not oversell cruise ships, and not to worry.  The news I'm seeing lately seems to debunk that 😞 Anyone else have an unassigned stateroom pretty close to the sail date?  Did you end up in a better class of rooms? how far before sailing did they finally assign a room?

We booked Interior Guarantee for July 8,  7-day Inside Passage out of Vancouver on the Koningsdam. Sailing date is sold out now (or nearly so). Just received our stateroom assignment 2 or 3 days ago: K4189. Pleased since over Main Dining room, rather than over music venue. Guarantee was part of the good email deal.

Koningsdam just got Starlink when in drydock within the last month or so. We're booked on Koningsdam for the 7-day Inside Passage cruise with same ports-of-call. Our cruise is round-trip out Vancouver embarking 7/8/2023. We may will wait until onboard to pay for the basic internet at $15 per day for 1 device at a time as found in the HAL FAQ section (7x$15=$105 total for 7 days if there is no discount for this number of days). Otherwise, the Premium Internet Plan is available on our booking for a prepay price of $127.99 which isn't much more.

It will be interesting to see if the Starlink is more reliable than the spotty service we experienced on the Eurodam, a year ago in Alaska.

Jeff and Lisa

1 hour ago, Clay Clayton said:

It will be interesting to learn how they test those embarking today given the reports that some have been told that no testing is required. 

Wife and I received the email from HAL advising no test for fully vaccinated guests on 16 day Hawaii from Vancouver. We have Verifly with Ready to Sail status (no test). Info button on Verifly states vaccine OR test required.

Same problem for us with VeriFly still showing test required for Oct 8 embarkation out of Vancouver. We added our cruise to VeriFLY on 9/24 and uploaded vaccine card photos the same day.

On 9/27 we received an email from Holland America with the newly revised Covid protocol stating no Covid test is required for fully vaccinated guests on our cruise.

Today, VeriFLY shows Proof of Vaccine as "Completed" but also shows "Submit Negative Covid-19 test results" as "Required". I will probably wait to see if VeriFLY changes on its own to drop the test requirement. If not I will delete the trip in VeriFly and start over by adding the booking number again.

1 hour ago, Clay Clayton said:

One more related question.  Has anyone had any issues with having both parties on the same Verifly and ArriveCan app?  I’ve got it set up that way for us but could easily change it if is slows anything down. 

I had me and wife on my VeriFly for cruise out of Seattle in May. No problem. Just click arrow on right edge of screen for next person.

5 hours ago, *Miss G* said:

As we cross the border, on our way to Seattle, the smoke gets so heavy that everyone’s headlights turn on.  We pull into our hotel and it looks like it is snowing.  It is ash.  By the time we have checked in, taken our bags to our room, and returned to park the car, it is covered in ash.  A man sitting outside listening to a radio says it has been like this all day.

Too bad you caught the smoke - bad luck. Today was the first day this summer that we've had any significant wildfire smoke in the Seattle area, though it has been more of a problem on the east half of our state. Fortunately the forcast has the wind blowing off the ocean by Monday 9/12 which will clear out all the smoke west of the Cascades. Growing up north of Seattle, this was never a problem until about the last 10 years. 2 or 3 summers ago we had smoke for maybe 3-4 weeks total, up to a week at a time.

In a different HAL topic, SGCruiser2013 recently posted the entertainment schedule for a typical day on the Koningsdam for 8/17/2022, after a day of Cruising Glacier Bay.

Link to Topic:

https://boards.cruisecritic.com/topic/2873339-live-from-koningsdam-august-13-rt-vancouver/

I cropped the image below to show only the evening events.

28 minutes ago, IneedaVacation1977 said:

...we are thinking of booking one of the partially obstructed verandah cabins.  There isn't a lot of information or photos of these cabins available online.

Any advice would be appreciated.  Please provide me with the pros and cons 🙂

 

We will be staying on the Koningsdam in an Obstructed Verandah for our Hawaii cruise 10/8 - 10/16/2022. Found a stateroom with oversize balcony and a decent view and saved $600 compared to an Unobstructed Verandah. I did quite a bit of research studying the layout of the deck below for noise considerations. Also found some reviews, photos, and YouTube videos before choosing VH4041 or opposite side VH4042. See YouTube: https://youtu.be/IAYsFX5q-nY

There are life boats forward of the midship elevators which are shorter and don't obstruct the view as much as the taller tenders found aft of the midship elevators. For Noise considerations deck 5 above is no problem since it is all staterooms. Watch out for BB Kings on deck 2 which is two levels tall at the open-to-below area between the 2 shops and art gallery. Think loud booming bass vibrating the staterooms above and below well into the night.  Thus I would avoid anything from VH4063 to VH4086.

I agree with crystalspin's post above for value. Pros of Deck 4 obstructed Verandah are less side-sway in rough seas compared to higher decks, less fwd/aft teeter-totter sea motion since obstructed Verandah stateroom are not available in the Fwd and Aft areas. Higher open-air public decks are great to view the glaciers and Inside Passage.

I'll let you know more, after our cruise.

Jeff

My Pharmacist in WA state said I would need a prescription from my doctor for Paxlovid, even if I tested positive. Would also like to get some in advance of 16 day Hawaii Circle cruise with my wife and 80+ year old parents. Our itinerary includes 5 days at sea each way with no other option other than ship medical center.

4 hours ago, ColoAndy22 said:

... how is the hole in the card shaped? Is it a circle so it could go on a key ring, or is it an oval? TIA.🙃

Slotted long enough for snap loop attachment. But... I had key ring lanyard thru slot and servers had trouble swiping since the slot is too close to magnetic stripe! Switched to black squeeze clip near corner of card shown in attached photo and problem solved. This is May 2022 card from Eurodam out of Seattle. Not sure if all HAL ships use same card type with slot.

Jeff

On 8/2/2022 at 3:13 PM, starrii said:

On this trip I hope I'll get to see glaciers up close from the boat.

Yes you will (weather permitting) in Glacier Bay.

On 8/5/2022 at 4:10 PM, starrii said:

Thanks, my PCC gave me great offers with 4053/4 ...

Wife and I did our first cruise ever on the Eurodam, Alaskan Explorer Itinerary in May of 2022, in stateroom 7107 with a verandah. We loved the sights but the staff and music venues really did it for us. 4053/4 is a great choice for less motion. Isn't 4054 over Women's room near meeting room? Probably little used after shows end well before midnight. Imagine the meeting rooms below are seldom used very late. SIDE-SWAY motion was much more noticeable than any fwd/aft seesaw on the open ocean days/nights and is amplified on higher decks. It was difficult to walk straight and staff said the sea conditions were not unusual. Fortunateley the open ocean days are only near beginning and end of cruise. Our 7107 had vibration too due to aft location over props (not enough to cause regret, not bad in bed).  On our cruise, movies were only shown in the main showroom. 

In Icy Straight Pt we enjoyed the cooking demo excursion, ending with prepping our own Halibut and Salmon portions cooked over wood fire grill. Lower tram is free but we went to cannery museum and shops instead. Very scenic but days were longer at end of May.

Smart to skip HIA, we will just buy our few non-alcoholic drinks on next cruise. Have fun!

Jeff and Lisa