KirkNC

We have done a lot of cruises over the years and one of our rules is never sail on a ship right out of dry dock.  Too many chances for problems.  Given the extensive work on the Onward, I would be more surprised if there weren’t any problems.

Let’s not forget that AZ has had to deal with Covid like all lines but also an ownership change which has caused it to reinvent how the back room operates.  Not making excuses, just some perspective.

We sail in March without using it.

58 minutes ago, SunnyNy said:

Kirk, was your connecting flight in the same terminal?  I'm on Delta, apparently flying into Terminal 4, but my connection flight might be from either T4 or T2.  That's where things may go wrong.  Of course, there's always the change flight times might change again - there's been a lot of that lately!

Can I ask what day and time your Lisbon flight arrived in JFK?

Yes, we were in the same terminal for both flights.  We arrived on a Wednesday just after 1:00 pm.  We were on Delta as well.  

My target is 2 hours or more.  If returning to the US and you have a connecting flight you have to collect your luggage and redeposit it.  We just did this returning from Lisbon to JFK and connecting to RDU.  We also have global entry (one of the greatest things ever).    Our time to clear customs, retrieve our luggage and redeposit it was well less then an hour.  Customs with GE took about two minutes.

We were on the Quest for the month of March.  Initially only Prime C was open with a reduced menu from Prime C and Aqualina.  Later in the month they opened Aqualina but both restaurants were still operating with a reduced menu.  Aqualina did have a chef’s special which we found to be quite good.  We only did one chef’s table because it was served in Aqualina at about ten tables of two or four.  Our table was at the fringe so we were basically eating alone.  The food and wine were quite good but the ambiance was lacking.

21 hours ago, uktog said:

Azamara do not dock far out where the big ships go, they dock right on the boardwalk so about five minutes walk to the beginning of the main street

Not when we were there in March on the Quest, we had to walk around, maybe a twenty minute walk.

2 hours ago, Hamwen3839 said:

We are doing B 2 B cruises in August so I checked Azamara’s present policy and also rang Azamara .I was advised that you would require a test between the two cruises but it would be “complimentary “. I asked the Azamara  rep. if that was definitely still the case in light of the post May 1 change to Covid testing. There was a pause but he said  as far as he was aware it would be complimentary between cruises.

In March we did a B2B2B on the quest, we were tested for free after the first leg (Miami) but no test was required after the second leg (Lisbon).

7 hours ago, laurieb said:

It can be submitted by you or your agent.  If you have an agent, I would suggest you ask them to contact Azamara to check on it for you.  If they won’t then you need a new agent.

Our TA did ours.  We never got a notification from AZ, it just appeared in our account.

3 minutes ago, Sebbiesgrammy said:

Land starts June 29, cruise July 20.

Our land Is June 14th.

2 minutes ago, Sebbiesgrammy said:

I think the test quoted refers to the pre boarding cruise test requirement, not the reentry from Canada land portion to Alaska land portion but HAL had us for 10 days on land before we board the ship so I m going to assume they have provisions to test us before we fly to Fairbanks or Denali.

One can only hope!

1 minute ago, Sebbiesgrammy said:

Reread my itinerary and you are absolutely correct!! Thank you.  We fly to Whitehorse, then Dawson and, eventually, into Alaska where I assume HAL will get us tested.  Documentation only talks about pre cruise test not arrival in Alaska by air or land.  Looks like I tried to make it harder than necessary.  Now, if we can all avoid getting Covid -- it's getting rough here in the Northeast with rising cases but few hospitalizations.  

What date is your cruise?

9 minutes ago, Crew News said:

Do the following quotes from the HAL website answer any of your concerns:    "ALASKA CRUISETOURS
• Land first Cruisetours: Guests will be administered a complimentary rapid antigen test before the cruise portion of their package."

 

"Pre-Disembarkation Test
If a negative antigen COVID-19 test is required for re-entry
into your home country, Holland America Line will cover the
costs of a COVID-19 test which will be conducted on board
prior to disembarkation."

I wonder if the first test is for US re-entry.

28 minutes ago, Sebbiesgrammy said:

Hi and thanks for responding.  All land first cruise tours Holland America offers on the Nieuw Amsterdam start in Vancouver with hotel stay at the airport and then ours flys to Whitehorse early next morning.  HAL does cover pre and post cruise tests but not for land, at least not so far. Currently, US requirement is "no more than one day before you travel by air into the United States". The further explanation is that " one day" could mean any time the day before travel which, for us, is a day spent in the air. As of today, our only option is supervised test on line, rush test at LGA morning we leave NY or testing in Vancouver airport the night before we fly to Whitehorse.  We might be ok with HAL test at Vancouver ship terminal day before flying home at the end of our cruise.

 

Seattle flights were much more expensive, fewer from NY and we would still have to get to Vancouver to begin land portion.  We tried every angle. Flights have changed 4 times since booking.  It's going to be an adventure so we're waiting to hear about experience from those who travel before us.  

We are doing the land first itinerary you describe.  I am confused, we don’t need a Covid test to go to Whitehorse.  Are you trying to get a test for our re-entry into the US after Whitehorse?  I had not thought about that but have to believe HAL would have to administer that test if necessary.

10 minutes ago, 5waldos said:

But there are random tests on arrival and as of about 2 weeks ago I was directed to schedule a test on arrival in case I was selected. Or has this now been dropped?

That is suggested.  

5 minutes ago, 5waldos said:

This is what I read on another thread: To get into the country, use the address of Canada Place Cruise Terminal, 999 Canada Pl, Vancouver, BC V6C 3E1, Canada

I saw that but if you are randomly selected for testing and test positive, the ship is not going to accept you for quarantine.  The odds are your quarantine plan will not be questioned but it almost sounds like you need a hotel reservation in case the plan is actually reviewed.

So what is everyone using for their place of quarantine?

I would rather they keep testing like they have been and just charging us if cost is what is driving this decision.  Having to hunt down a test a day before is a PIA.  

9 hours ago, FJB said:

Excellent question! A pill is better than isolation. 

Even if it was onboard and administered, I believe you would still have to quarantine.

No prebooking of beverage or dining packages.  Both must be done either a embarkation or on the ship.

Generally shuttle buses were not available on our recent cruise to Portugal and Spain.  The exception was Portimao.

23 hours ago, Tuscany4 said:

So the Pursuit still has full mask policy but the Quest does not?

Is it totally dependent on destinations? I noticed the Pursuit is in Italy which would probably support that but the Quest was in Spain which I also thought had full mask policy indoors. Very confusing.

I can confirm that the Quest did not require masks when we were on for 30 days starting March 6th.  That included the Carribean, Portugal and Spain.  When ashore you had to abide by the local rules which varied from no mask to mask to enter stores.

15 minutes ago, dfilpus said:

As I said above, go to the Alaska Planner 2022-2023. On page 20, there is a chart that  lists what is included in each cruise tour. At the bottom of the page, there is chart for the meal plans. Since it is a pdf, you can’t link to the chart directly. The planner is at https://www.hollandamerica.com/content/dam/hal/marketing-assets/PDFs/2022-2023-Alaska-Brochure.pdf

Thanks for the link, you would think HAL would send something like this to you when you book!

Thanks for all the information!

I tried a search with no luck.  I am trying to get clarity on how meals work on the land portion of the Yukon plus Triple Denali.   In the itinerary, it mentions a few lunches as do some optional excursions but no mention of breakfast and dinner.  Am I correct that we are on our own for most meals?

Thanks in advance.