waiting2retire

Just got off a ship in Brooklyn yesterday morning. Special line for Canadians in the cruise terminal. There were 2 of us 😁. Asked to pull down mask, stood in front of a camera (facial recognition I presume). Have a nice day. Didn’t ask to see anything. Easiest disembark ever!

The captain is going to dodge as much of the bad weather as he can and slowly meander back to New York, arriving on Saturday as scheduled. Starting to feel the motion of the ocean!

Enchanted is actually in Saint John today, Halifax tomorrow hopefully.

Can anyone tell me whether it is clear where to get a taxi when disembarking in Brooklyn? I will be walking off as early as possible and plan to catch a cab to LGA. Are there lots of cabs available?

I do believe HAL needs to be taken to task for its treatment of these passengers. On a Spring TA on the Rotterdam, my daughter had a serious gallbladder attack. She was hospitalized in Cherbourg, France, and I needed to pack up our belongings and leave the ship prior to the end of our cruise. The onboard staff provided assistance with packing and escorting me and our belongings to the medical centre for paperwork and then to awaiting taxi. They also booked a hotel for me (at my cost of course) and supplied contact numbers for the Family Emergency Services office in HQ and the local port agent. Why can’t they do the same for Covid patients and their travelling companions who need to quarantine in foreign cities prior to returning to their homes? Why are they treating Covid patients any differently than they would any other medical situation?

I also have booked the lowest category obstructed verandah and upgraded to a VS aft-facing balcony when purchasing Club Orange. I usually go through the booking process on the HAL website until it asks what cabin I want to book. I choose the aft cabin I prefer, note the cabin number and specifically ask to be upgraded to that number when I call my consultant at HAL.

I think b2b is considered two separate cruises for Club Orange. I booked a 14 day TA and the 7 day immediately following at the same time and was charged $15 for the 14 day and $25 for the 7 day.

I believe it is usually $25 pp/pd on cruises under 14 days and $15 pp/pd on cruises 14 days and over. As with everything, I’m sure there are exceptions, but this is what I have found to be the case.

I do the same and so far it has cost me less than if I had booked the higher cabin initially and I get the bonus of the Club Orange dining room, priority embark and tenders and separate guest services line. I have heard that some people have received some OBC when booking CO and staying in their cabin. Won’t know if you don’t ask.

Note that some shorter itineraries still require pre boarding Covid testing, eg any cruises that stop in Canada, so it does still depend on where you are planning to travel. Enjoy your return to cruising!

From the HAL FAQ page: Updated) Am I still considered fully vaccinated if I did not get a booster shot? Yes – guests are still considered fully vaccinated with completion of a primary vaccination series at least 14 days before embarkation.

Exactly what I do.

Easy one for me. I love tenders (crazy, I know) and I love the water/beach in Half Moon Cay. Also nice to have a free light lunch onshore if desired.

I have used Airline Limousine (416 675-3638) for many years. I find it worth the cost to know that my ride will be at my door on time and I will have a smooth relaxing trip to the airport. Travel is stressful enough these days!

Not happy about this at all. We had originally booked the 14 day TA and the following 7 day Norwegian fjords cruise separately as it was much more cost effective to do so. @Overhead Fred, where does your new itinerary go after the TA portion ends in Rotterdam on April 19? The second leg of our b2b is booked from Amsterdam on April 29. That’s 10 days between the cruises now and we didn’t budget time or $$ for that. This change messes everything up and I’m not at all sure I want to travel that far north for the majority of the TA portion. At least leaving from Ft Lauderdale going to the Azores, in mid-April, the weather was likely to be much warmer. And if we decide we don’t like the new 16 day itinerary and want to cancel, will HAL refund the 50% non-refundable portion of my deposit? It’s really not nice of them to mess with booked itineraries like this 😡

There doesn’t appear to be a lot of rhyme nor reason to the “special pricing”. My daughter and I are both 3 star Mariners and the last cruise we booked together, her pricing was cheaper than mine 🤷‍♀️ Sometimes they are the same price, either “special” or with no Mariner discount at all.

Yes, to fly into the USA a Covid test is required.

But July 1 is a holiday in Canada, so if you are in Montreal a day early you should see some.

Success! After persistently (obsessively?) checking the site over the past couple of days, I just booked an appointment in Niagara Falls, which is a one hour drive, for Friday this week. This will be my first Nexus application and will be very glad to have it done with!

Glad someone finally sat up and took notice. Maybe some publicity will light a fire under the CBSA to reopen Canadian centres sooner rather than later. I have booked an interview in Detroit (a 4 hour drive) after failing to find an interview time in Niagara. Would be lovely to book something in Mississauga!

We were very happy with 4195. I love the larger deck 4 balconies and the fact that there seems to almost always be either sun or shade to be had, depending on your preference at the time. It was a nice quiet room with no excessive motion. Enjoy your cruise!

The cutoff is where the fire doors are. There is a fire door across from 4169 so that the only stateroom access is aft of the elevators. We were in 4195 in April and I’m pretty sure that once we turned starboard at the aft side of the elevators we could turn right to access our cabin but not left. That would mean the last accessible cabin on the starboard side was likely 4175.

We just had a similar situation with Holland America. My daughter contacted the Family Assistance number from the information provided. The rep said she contacted the ship and the Port representative in Amsterdam was to take care of shipping the items to us. That was two weeks ago. We still have our fingers crossed.

We used Walmart. No email, but they provide you with a paper copy which we took a photo of. We carried the paper copies as well, but the photo was sufficient.

For anyone still interested in the OP’s original question, I was in an obstructed balcony cabin on the Rotterdam for one day in April to isolate pending a second negative Covid test. I believe the cabin number was 4132. The tenders had just been out, but I’m pretty sure they were back in their normal position by the time I took this photo.