visagrunt

And herewith, day the first. Embarkation could not have been easier. We elected to trundle across the street with our own bags, rather than to trust the good offices of the Fairmont to deliver them. What might, in days of old, have been a simple drop off at the taxi rank became a descent to P2 (short wait for the single elevator to take as many parties as possible at a time). We then followed the standard route from the P2 luggage drop off, up the lift to the Port of Vancouver interpretive centre and into the infamous Room C. Priority boarding was clearly marked and included no one in front of us. It took us longer to take the route out than it had to check in. The walk outside and the escalator back down to where we started involved no stops, and security took longer to walk through the rope maze than it did to clear. The queue for US preclearance was empty and a kiosk became available as we walked up to the end of the queue. Much scanning and button mashing ensued prior to the delivery of two receipts which were handed off in short order, bringing us to the hold-room-to-get-into-the hold-room. We were seated and groups of HAL passengers were invited to advance to the actual-hold-room, where the wheat (priority boarding) was separated from the chaff. About 15 minutes later embarkation began and we set foot on the deck of Koningsdam at 1108 am (I looked). The longest delays were the two periods of being seated in the hold rooms. None of the processes involved anything that a self-respecting British person would call a queue. (That being said, the non-priority check-in section looked somewhat different from our experience.) Having embarked so early, rooms were only very nearly ready (not that this prevented us from dropping our carry on bags). Bars were only just in the process of opening, impeding the first beverage (a mojito, given the strength of the noonday sun today in Vancouver). I am pleased to report that the Mariner's lunch in the dining room has returned and we were spared any need to contemplate the Lido Market. All of our pre-departure purchases and bookings were confirmed/obtained in good order. Baggage arrived at the room by 2 pm and we were unpacked before the hour for muster check in rolled around. I am also pleased to report that the speed and friendliness of service cannot be faulted. In February on Celebrity Edge we would get so fed up waiting for a bar server we would walk up to the bar and order (while someone was designated to preserve our seats from poachers). No such fears here. In the Ocean Bar (in the crush of embarkation day traffic on Deck 2) we were able to order drinks within seconds, and no fewer than three other people inquired whether we had ordered in the interval before said drinks arrived. Some brief quiet in our Cabana followed (with even prompter bar service from our cabana attendant Paolo) followed by mani-pedis during which my nail therapist nicked my toe during the trimming phase (which was addressed most professionally). My husband proceed to tease her mercilessly (fuelled no doubt by the three glasses of prosecco he managed to quaff during proceedings). A note on Navigator complimented my nail therapist for her professionalism. I chose not to berate her colleague for fueling my husband's prosecco habit. Much laughter was had before we headed down to Club Orange for dinner. I can report that the Alaskan rockfish and the pork medallions both received rave reviews from amongst our party of 7. The Club Orange special was a Peruvian chicken which we had encountered last year in the very same room, but which was eclipsed by may more interesting choices arising from HAL's heritage dishes that are featuring on the menu. Our less adventurous colleagues opted for striploins ("You know we are going to Pinnacle Grill on Monday, right??") The hour is late but the light is strong. Our room attendant has turned town my bed and I am sorely tempted to fall into it so fatigued is my drinking arm. So I probably shall. Though I may find some second wind after I hit, "Submit Reply."

A lavender bergamot sour at Arc in the Fairmont. It's pretty enough (especially for Pride month) but I think a Shiso sour or three at Tamarind Bar will be called for.

Some other action before Koningsdam arrives tomorrow.

We have made the arduous 30 km journey from our home to our pre-departure hotel stay at the Fairmont Waterfront. A few beverages while we watch the Radiance of the Seas and the Crown Princess sail away will aid in our recovery (and to get my drink lifting arm in training for the week ahead!). Updates will follow as events unfold (and as wifi bandwidth permits) James & Chuck

Singapore and Hongkong you can use credit cards everywhere and ATMs are plentiful for withdrawing cash. Leftover cash (in bills) is easily converted downstream on your trip. Thailand and Vietnam will depend on where you are calling, but in larger centres the same is true. Have a few baht for tuktuks, etc or a few Dong for street vendors is useful, especially if you are going to explore on your own. In Cambodia US$ bills are widely accepted--the US$ is effectively a second official currency. In fact, getting Riel can be difficult outside of Phnom Penh and Siem Reap (and even in those places can be tricky). For small purchases you may get Riel in change, but almost all large purchases are done in US$. Credit cards are widely accepted in China, and ATMs are widely available in large centres. But if you are going into smaller areas, there can be difficulties and having RMB available is useful. You can take RMB (up to 20,000, I think) out of the PRC and you will be able to exchange it for Yen in Japan. In Japan it's a very mixed bag. Large stores, hotels and restaurants will accept credit cards, but often smaller ones will only accept cash--and only Yen. Getting some early in your visit will stand you in good stead, especially if smaller ports don't have ATMs in or near the terminal.

But remember, a great many people are dining in PG on HIA credits. And while the charge is buried in the price of HIA, I imagine the corporate reasoning is, "if you're getting a 'free' specialty dinner, then the $7 or $15 supplements are easier to accept." The recent change to "pay the difference" on the beverage packages strongly suggests to me that we will be seeing drink prices increasing in due course.

To some degree it depends upon your preferences. While Rudi's is more expensive, it also has fewer supplements--the lobster tail that is a $15 supplement at PG is included at Rudi's, for example. But those are easily avoided. Rudi's menu is more varied; PG is focused in the tradition of a classic steakhouse. But both venues are served by the same galley, so it's not like your steak frites at Rudi's are being any differently prepared than your steak with a side of french fries in PG. Rudi's is a more attractive room on K'dam--the PG is kept very dark--perhaps to prevent you from seeing whether or not your steak has been correctly cooked without the aid of your cellphone flashlight. On balance, if I could only visit one, I would opt for Rudi's, because the brasserie dishes are the type of food that is harder and harder to find at good restaurants on land; whereas steakhouses (and better ones than PG) are to be found everywhere. But that assumes I don't have a dining credit that could only be used at the other specialty venues.

Interestingly, Koningsdam followed a route between Texada I. and Lasqueti, Jedediah and Jervis Is. That channel is quite a bit narrower than leaving Lasqueti to starboard, but I suppose it does save you a tiny bit of distance.

I do not know whether His Majesty is intending to stow away on Koningsdam next week, or simply impede our progress. But he, too, knows that something is up.

There's no way that a NB vessel ex-Vancouver would go west of Haida Gwai. That's a ridiculous route when you need to drop the Canadian pilot at Prince Rupert. Hecate Strait is never narrower than about 50 km providing plenty of room for a vessel to proceed at her most economical speed. A vessel northbound from Seattle which has not embarked a Candian pilot, on the other hand, could go west of Haida Gwai and then enter at Dixon Entrance to pick up an Alaskan Pilot at the AB line.

The exemption from ID requirement appears to be limited to children under 16. A 16 years old needs ID on a closed loop cruise. Also, bear in mind that the cruise enters Canada and every passenger must have appropriate entry documents for Canada. Canadian Immigration law contains as similar age limitation. Without a passport or government issued photo ID she risks being denied boarding for failure to meet Canadian immigration requirements, even if HAL policy could be overcome.

A belated Happy Towel Day to you.

Tracy Arm is almost never available in May due to ice conditions and wildlife protection (if seals are still pupping). Officially the season should begin "mid-May" but I've taken the Inside Passage in the last half of May a couple of times and it has been cancelled for ice and pups. It has nothing to do with the route taken north because the entrance to Tracy Arm is only a few hours away from Juneau. If you're on time arriving in Juneau, you're passing the entrance into Tracy Arm that morning.

In six inside passage cruises in the last 10 years (4 on HAL and 1 each on Regent and Seabourn), I have only taken the true Inside passage going north on Seabourn, which had the advantage of a significantly smaller ship and a 14 day itinerary. Navigation through the IP is much slower than Queen Charlotte Sound and Hecate Strait, especially after the sinking of the Queen of the North. A true IP northbound would make it impossible to reach Juneau on Day three until the evening. Even steaming through the Sound, the Strait and Dixon entrance still only puts Juneau in reach by late morning.

No, they can't do like Canada. Canadian legislation allows for officers to clear passengers from a manifest. US law requires every passenger to be seen face-to-face by a US CBP officer. Even if the hard work has been done by the kiosk, that slip still needs to be handed over in person. And since ships are not equipped with US CBP kiosks, that would all have to be done on-shore at the first port of arrival.

If you're only going to do Antarctica once, I recommend considering whether a sail past is the way to do it. There are plenty of operators of expedition ships doing cruises with landings on the white continent. And while they are considerably more expensive than a larger ship, there is no substitute for setting foot on the seventh continent. We did the Antarctic peninsula on Ponant in 2017 and it is the best travel experience we have ever bought. And don't be put off by the "expedition" label. The oldest passenger on our sailing was 91 and she was getting in and out of the zodiacs with the rest of us.

I tend to be a Champagne boy--especially if I'm on board closer to lunch hour than cocktail hour. Once the sun's below the yard arm, though, it's usually a Boulevardier for me (think a Negroni with whiskey instead of gin); though sometimes an Old Fashioned or a Manhattan is in order. On a Signature/Pinnacle Class ship, I'm heading to the Silk Den/Tamarind Bar for a Shiso Sour.

Airport hotels are a good option in Vancouver, too. All of the chains have their basic brands (e.g. Four Points, Garden Inn, HI Express) in Richmond and all of them have regular, complimentary shuttles to YVR running at all hours that there are flights. If you base yourself in Richmond for an extra day, you can easily shuttle to the airport to hop on Skytrain to get anywhere on the Vancouver transit system.

My first HAL cruise was on Zaandam in a Deck 3 OV which was terrific. Steps away from the promenade--easy access to public areas on Decks 4 and 5. The only things you are really separated from are the Lido and the Crow's Nest, but that's going to be the case with almost any OV. My only advice would be consider the move from EE to D. I sailed in 3365 which is immediately behind the staircase connecting decks 3, 4 and 5 and it made getting to a lot of the places I wanted to go very easy.

Even the worst pre-clearance experience is vastly preferable to clearance at the first arrival port in the United States. Think about arrival in Juneau (let alone Ketchikan or Sitka!) if the ship must zero-out for customs and immigration on its first arrival! US Pre-clearance might be a chokepoint at embarkation, but it's is vastly preferable than US inspection in mid-cruise. Why do you think that Victoria is at the end of Seattle itineraries rather than the beginning?

Even if everything works in your favour at Canada Place and your ride to the airport, you are still arriving at the busiest time of day not only for YVR but also for transborder flights. You need to get through printing your baggage tags, bag drop before security and US pre-clearance. Priority security exists for Nexus card holders, Visa Infinite Privilege, business class and certain frequent flyer elites (depends upon the airline). Preclearance can be a mixed bag. Even with Nexus, Global Entry or MPC you may still be looking at a moderate delay. I would only try it with hand baggage only and a Nexus card.

Embarkation is never a great experience. It is a series of obstacles that stand in the way of you (and a few thousand close, personal acquaintances) and your cruise. The very best embarkation experience is merely the least awful one. So I always try to bring a few things: my patience; my sense of humour; a fully charged electronic device; a carry-on with wheels. Too many agencies have their hands on the processes to lay blame squarely on any one of them. I have had bad and not-so-bad experiences on various lines--and luxury lines are no exception. My embarkation on Crystal in Venice was poisonously awful it will always rank as the work travel experience of my not inconsiderable travel history. My embarkation on Celebrity Edge in February was as painless as any I have ever had to wait through. HAL has run the gamut. So I never assume. I just remind myself that the ship isn't sailing without me.

Canada Place was designed at a time when the check-in process was: 1) security; 2) customs; 3) check-in, and the typical passenger capacity of ships was less than 2000. A heavy day in 2013 might have seen 5000 embarking passengers. A three ship day in 2023 can see double that number. US Customs now mandates that both check in and security happen before customs which means that the exhibition rooms in the convention centre now need to be used for check-in--a function that they were never designed for, and for which the passenger movement had to be reinvented. Furthermore, the United States requires that every single one of the thousands of passengers goes through a choke-point after the passport readers. That legally mandated face to face encounter while a passenger hands over the slip from the passport reader sets the pace for the entire embarkation process. It might only take a few seconds, but when you multiply that by the number of passengers to be screened, the time adds up. It is fervently to be wished that the United States will introduce technologies like Mobile Passport Control at the pre-clearance station in order to accelerate this process.

This is the same on all Cunard Ships: Queens Grill, Princess Grill, Britannia Club and Britannia Restaurant are all assigned based on cabin category.

The key issue is likely licensing rather than a pre-determined limit on the number. If local government requires it, the cruise line needs to obtain liquor licenses for every venue that will sell alcohol. In addition to the need for licenses, the municipalities where terminals are located may also have jurisdiction over the number and density of licenses for temporary licenses (which is why practice in Victoria can differ from practice in Vancouver, for example). Furthermore, the line must balance the potential revenue against the cost of the license. How many people are remaining on board? How much will they be drinking? Do the food venues have to be licensed as well? Even if you can license every bar on board, will each of them earn enough money to offset the cost of the license? Every port will have slightly different answers to these questions and F&B managers need clear guidance on what is and is not legal and what licenses can be acquired and how. One bar, or one bar per deck provides some of that clarity.