porsena

On 11/20/2023 at 12:36 PM, OlsSalt said:

To save everyone grief, each ship should have a supply of working Navigator "devices" ready to be handed out to passengers when they board.  

 

A dumb, closed system device that we can't even screw up on our own,  to give to for those of us who remain too dumb to actually figure out how to make our own individual devices work with "their" Navigator. 

Yeah, Scenic used to offer something like that on theirriver cruises. 

I think all HAL's ships use diesel-electric drive. Isn't the stateroom tapwater produced by seawater ditillation using waste heat from the diesel engines? 

ArriveCan is no longer a Canadian requirement. I went into the USA a couple of months ago, did not fill it out, and was not asked for it on my return to Canada. It too is a bit of a pain to set up and use, but it was required for an Alaska cruise out of Vancouver last summer. At a land border or an airport ArriveCan might still speed up entry. On a cruise where everyone has the same travel information, not so much. 

QE staff on Q218N checked that all passengers had an ArriveCan clearance several days before returning to Canada. The checks were done deck by deck and, unhappily, it was a two step process. In the first step we showed our documents or electronic clearance to a crew member who checked us off. Having done that, I turned to leave but my wife noticed there was a second step in which you had to tap your room card to record that you had been there. It seems that quite a few people missed this step and the crew did nothing about it. When we got to Victoria, before 9 am, Canadian Border Sevices came on board and would not let anyone leave the ship until they could be assured that all the clearances had been checked. Passengers who thought they had already showed their documentation were called back to show it again. The first passengers went ashore at about 10:20.

I hope that QE staff can learn from this mistake and alter their procedure.  

On the QE with Castro and Millie. Compliance with the indoor mask rule would be close to 100%, though I have seen a couple of renegades in the theatre. Masks are not required while seated in any of the lounges or dining areas or using the gym. 

We had no idea, when we booked our June 4th cruise to Alaska, that it would begin on the weekend celebrating the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee. Appropriately, the galley laid on a special tea in the Queen’s Room. Racks of sweets and a large ice sculpture of the lion, and unicorn with the Royal coat of arms flanked a large cake decorated as the Union Jack. The tea-time sandwiches were supplemented by savouries and a wide variety of small cakes, sweets and chocolates. With just 939 passenger aboard, the sailing feels uncrowded, but there was a line of people awaiting others to finish so they could get seats for the Jubilee tea.

Yesterday’s ports speaker told us that Sitka would be a tender port.   

I did not ask. We had our antigen test in Victoria the day before embarkation.

i believe the Canadian requirment was the day before until quite recently. We had a cruise at the end of April with Holland America under a day-before requirement, but HAL is now going with two days. Cunard may be trying to minimize risk by sticking to the one-day liimit. 

Ships boarding in Vancouver today are the QE, Koningsdam, and Majestic Princess. Our assigned boarding time was 1:30. We showed up at 12:45, dropped our bags and went to Cunard's almost empty check-in desk. Check-in took maybe five minutes. Changed for us is that we picked up the key cards from the rack outside the room door. As expected, the delays were at security screening, where the line moved quite quickly, and US border control. We're enrolled in the Canada-US trusted traveller program called Nexus, which let us cut the long line for border services. We were on board by 1:45 and had the pool to ourselves a bit after 2. 

There was no ship's screeing or bag check to get onboard. A bit after 3 we failed to find anything to eat, even a cookie, in the lido, which closed at 3.  

Cunard says here that the pre-boarding submission will cover the whole cruise, which I take to mean that a separate submission from somewhere in Alaska is not required to return to Victoria or Vancouver.

And Canada's border entry requirements have changed again. Fully vaccinated travellers arriving by air, land or sea after the end of March will not have to present results of a COVID test unless they are randomly selected for testing on entry at the border. 

Travellers entering Canada should be aware of Canada Border Services' requirement to submit arrival information in their ArriveCan app. 

I spoke yesterday with my personal cruise consultant about this. If I understood correctly, HAL will administer a rapid antigen test on board for the port turnarounds in Vancouver during the Alaska season as long as they are required. Arrangements will be made through guest services. For these turnarounds in Vancouver, everyone dismebarking will have to be tested, not just the Canadians.  

The responsible government minister hinted during Tuesday's announcement that further relaxations to the Canadian border entry requirements might be made in a few weeks. We can always hope. 

Canada's requirement for a PCR test will change on Feb 28, well before the Alaska cruise season begins. Fully vaccinated travellers arriving at the border will then have the option of presenting results from a cheaper, faster rapid antigen test or from a molecular test. The government hinted that further relaxations may be forthcoming in the next few weeks. 

@Tira04 do you know what kind of COVID test (molecular or antigen) Cunard performed for the overnight in Lisbon? 

@3rdGenCunarder is right in thinking that the quarantine plan could include a hotel reservation, or at least a place where accommodation can be found. People entering Canada are being told they must use the ArriveCan app, online or on their phone, to submit the information required on arrival https://www.canada.ca/en/public-health/services/diseases/coronavirus-disease-covid-19/arrivecan.html. The link has more information. 

I’m booked on Q218N, the QE’s first cruise of this year’s abbreviated Alaska season, which is scheduled to depart Vancouver on June 4. A reminder yesterday, two weeks ahead of the final payment date, prompted me to phone Cunard about COVID testing onboard.

Canada’s present border entry requirements for entry by ship are at https://travel.gc.ca/travel-covid/travel-restrictions/covid-vaccinated-travellers-entering-canada#pre-entry-testing. They are out of step with common international practice and have been for quite some time. Everyone entering the country must present the results of a molecular test taken within the previous 72 hours; results from a rapid antigen test are not acceptable. Foreign nationals without such a test result can be turned away at the border, while Canadian residents in such a position can face quarantine and a potential administrative penalty.

Unless this requirement will change, and who is to know that in advance, every passenger on Q218N would have to get a molecular COVID test on-board or at the last port stop in Alaska (Ketchikan) within 72 hours of the QE’s return to Vancouver. After consulting his supervisor, Cunard’s agent was unable to tell me on the phone that the onboard option would be possible. He did say that Cunard presently offers testing onboard QE for a fee. He had, however, no information about QE’s onboard practices after May 14 and said that it would be unsafe to assume that the present onboard testing would continue beyond that date.

Cunard’s booking agents do not seem to have been prepared to answer the obvious questions related to Canada’s border entry requirements. Does anyone have information?

...and the replacment cruises are available for booking. 

Cunard's website still shows nothing for the QE between Feb 20 and Jun 4. I wonder if her 5 cruises between Vancouver and Alaska next year are being reconsidered? Canada's present requirement for travellers entering the country is that all must show proof of a negative PCR test for covid taken within the previous 72 hours. If that doesn't change, Cunard would have to test everyone onboard, at least all the passengers.

Delayed until at least 2023?

It's another unwelcome development. The Ocean Bar has been our go-to lounge through the years. We have an NS booked on the Konigsdam this spring and a cruise on the QE a month later. It will be an interesting comparison.

We were in an SA on Niuew Amsterdam in late 2019. I could not find a magnetic wall. 

AKJonsey: As you noticed above, we took the bus from San Antonio. We were prepared to walk to the bus terminal but the bus line had a coach waiting just inside the port exit, just before where you would walk out on the street. If you see a bus parked there, ask the ticket seller about it--they will speak English. Their trip ends at the main Santiago bus terminal, which is not that far from the sights of the city and on Santiago's main road. 

I don't know if you'll be able to store your bags at the bus terminal. Assuming you can, in one day Id skip Viña del Mar (although it hos one of the world's great beaches) and focus on Santiago..

From the bus station (Estaçion Central , you might take a cab east up Ave Bernardo O'Higgins to La Moneda (the mint museum). From there you could walk around the city centre, which has lots to see and good food. If you're able to walk uphill, we'd recommend the climb up Santa Lucia park, which has some amazing architecture and good views from the top. The Santiago funicular to the top of San Cristobel Hill is also worthwhile.

Santiago is a good city to visit. We felt safe there and enjoyed our time.  I hope you do too!

2 hours ago, English Tim said:

We leave for Budapest on Thursday, where we join Scenic Amber to cruise to Nuremburg. Unsure if this will affect us. Have heard nothing from Scenic.

We're still hearing June 19th for completion of the repairs, so you should be OK. The traffic density coming down will be governed by the locks above Regensburg: one ship at a time. 

On 6/14/2019 at 12:21 PM, Stickman1990 said:

I wonder how other lines are handling it for impacted cruises

We docked in Regensburg at. lunchtime on Scenic Jade, from Budapest to Amsterdam. The ship has its scheduled tours in Regensburg today, then we will overnight here instead of saiing for Nuremburg. Tomorrow morning we get bussed to the Jewel in Nuremberg, which will hopefully be able to avoid the traffic jam leaving for Amsterdam, and the Jewel's passengers wll be bussed to the Jade. Aside from the ship swap it's all pretty uneventful for us, but I certainly sympathize with the commercial ship operators, who will lose two weeks and $$$$. I wonder what the liability of Viking's insurers will be? We're fortunate that the damaged lock is right in the middle of our trip, in an area where ship swaps routinely occur due to adverse water levels. 

Our port presentation this morning included information on the canal. There are somewhere around 5,300 ship transits a year, of which about 43% are passenger ships, 9% smaller pleasure boats, and the remaining 48% are commercial (numbers from memory; not guaranteed but in the ballpark). 

Arriving in San Antonio, there is no need to book ahead for the bus to Santiago. We arrived last November prepared to walk to the bus station to catch the next bus, but one of Chile's two major bus lines had a higway coach waiting right at the port exit. It left when it was full and went straight to Santiago's (large) main terminal. These coaches are safe and comfortable, and are how many Chileans travel between cities. I remember the price as under $10 per ticket, which we paid in local currency (end of the cruise). 

On 1/31/2019 at 1:33 AM, Gphanton said:

We used tourguideushuaia.net last year and they brought us to a Tour that included the National Park with hiking. Very memorable and highly recommended.

+!. We did the same and would recommend it, with the caveat that it is not suitable for a person with any mobility problem. Beautiful scenery and a well-informed, naturalist guide. 

One caution. We posted a rip-off priced postcard from the private post office at the End of the World, just because. Three months later we still do not have it, so you might not want to repeat that experience.