CowPrincess

Thanks, all, for your responses. As I said, we are first time cruisers, and was questioning the advice of a family member who cruises often. I am very much looking forward to our cruise at the end of this month. I have several family members who work in the service industry as servers and bartenders on land and have told me countless stories of people who don't tip. Because of this, I like to give servers a good tip. I'm certainly not trying to "bribe", insult anyone, or imply that I want a "generous pour" that could cost someone their job. That's not how I roll. Thanks for your input and advice!

I'm pretty sure a lot of the snarky comments are just people seizing an opportunity to be rude.... not intended AT you, simply intended to be generally insulting (tips are a hot topic on CC) :)

We've never tipped in advance, and still have gotten excellent service most of the time. There is a gratuity automatically added to your drink bill. If you want to say "thank you" to someone in particular with cash, the end of the cruise (last night onboard) is the time to do it.

Have a great first cruise. Warning: cruising may be addictive :)

What type of things can you find at Granville Island? We usually try to get xmas ornaments every place we visit. We enjoy hand made items. Is this stuff we would find at Granville?

We were just there recently, and PD is correct, no special Christmas store. There are, however, loads of shops, including some that sell NW Coastal art. I did see one shop that had Christmas ornaments. Let me see if I can figure out where it was.

I'm pretty sure it was in either section 8C or 8D on this map.

http://granvilleisland.com/directory

It was NOT a Christmas store. I'm pretty sure (but not 100%) that it was a place that sold art.

Well I thought I was going to be able to report on an Oceanview cabin but thanks to the up-grade fairy at the check-in we find ourselves in our customary balcony room. What a very nice surprise!

 

>SNIP<

 

Another surprise was that our TA has provided us with dinner at the Pinnacle Grill. This is unusual for us Brits. We hear our Canadian and American friends get this quite frequently. Now we just need to co-ordinate our bookings with our fellow CCers to be sure the fun and laughter abound.

 

Sweet! Congratulations of the upgrade, that's awesome :D

We are on RCCL. I would never wait until the day of.....but I tried to get a couple of the girls to join in with our rental car but they do not want to commit this early. Thus responding they wait to the day of.............

I thought maybe it was common.

I don't understand it. But I am not the norm or normal lol

My personal motto is "Not my circus, not my monkeys" and it REALLY applies here, IMHO. I traveled with a pair who had zero plans. Not my circus, not my monkeys -- I made my arrangements and they futzed around getting nothing sorted.

Enjoy the plans you have made, with the friend who is joining you :) And if the rest do want to join you, make it clear that "this is our plan, this is what we are doing". Don't let them try to rearrange what you have decided on.

I google-earthed and google-street-viewed the homeless shelter. I'm a bit surprised that they see enough cruisers in there than an article was warranted. It seems a bit "off the beaten path" for most cruisers. JMHO though.

In addition to being the most scenic section of highway in Alaska it's also the most dangerous with many accidents each year. Not a good area to be driving dozy.

I agree. A basic rule of road safety is "don't drive when tired".

Welcome to Cruise Critic!

 

Don't totally dismissed taking an excursion offered by the ship especially if it is your first time in a port. :)

I agree, and I'm generally anti-ship-excursions :)

Have a wonderful time, thanks for taking us along :)

Personally I think you should decide based on itinerary and port times. The ship is just to get you there imho :)

I'm not certain people expect upsells, it just seems that by a certain date prior to sailing, the inventory people know what's available and start sending out emails. That's just my take on it.

 

Smooth Sailing ! :) :) :)

OP put 'expect' int66h4rw thxread titlee.

ger_77, I agree with your interpretation. Sail, I don't think anyone expects an upsell. I think there's an expectation that if upsells are available, it would be around 10 days or 2 weeks before sailing. Most of the posts we see here on CC about "should I take this upsell?" are for sailings in that sort of time frame.

The bow will be open for the day they do their glacier cruising.

Tell them to check out the Room Service menu, which has some really good items.

Lunch at the Pinnacle Grill is $10 per person. DH and I do that for lunch at least once per cruise. It is quiet, the menu is interesting, and the food is good.

Also, if they haven't booked shore excursions, there is a wealth of info on the Alaska forum (yes, I know -- not ship-related but may be helpful :) )

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/forumdisplay.php?f=55

This makes it sound like other posters who have experienced being asked to make a purchase for the treats are lying.

 

As we well know, nothing is consistent from ship to ship on HAL, and sometimes things aren't even consistent two cruises in row; sometimes they're not even consistent two days in a row.

 

I would recommend to the original poster to ask about the treats on their cruise.

(bolding mine)

That's one of the most sensible things I've heard today :)

Well....................

Ohmigoodness :D Thanks for the laugh-out-loud moment :D

Thank you so much. This has been a wonderful trip report.

For everyone who has disembarked the ship, thank you so much for the thread and your posts. It's been great :) And for the hardy souls left onboard, thank you for keeping this thread updated!

How exciting! Have a marvelous time! I love following your thread since I too, also love Alaska! This summer we are going on our fourth cruise there. Though not on HAL, it's the 10 day from San Francisco on Princess. A new route for us so we're looking forward to that. Continue to have a great time!

Enjoy the new route! My ninth (I think) trip was last year on the 14-day R/T Seattle, that took us to Homer, Kodiak, Anchorage, and ISP, in addition more frequently-visited ports. It's great to get to see new ports or glaciers or .... :)

Now, if the Cdn $ would improve, I'd seriously look at spending a week on Douglas Island. I found a cute little airBnB place that I'd love to stay at :)

Bon Voyage!

There is a big difference between lunch and dinner offerings in the PG. I will see if I can find a post where KK has listed the menu offerings. Give me some time :)

We try to always do a lunch in the PG. It is so good, my DH (Mr. Frugal) requests that we spend the money for lunch :)

There's an ongoing thread about tipping, here

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=2265928

which Walt wants us to use for tipping discussions and questions

You might find the information you are looking for in it. :)

 

Where else can you read those big heavy travel books, atlases and maps of where you are currently cruising and where you can dream about cruising next?

Oh yes about the atlases and maps. DH and I enjoy those many times on a cruise! :)

Post #7 says that there is going to be a library.

 

A kindle weighs next to nothing. I haven't held a book in years and don't miss it at all. Times change.

For some of us, part of the joy of reading is holding a real book, turning real pages. Seeing the actual book on a table, or in my hands. There's more to it than just reading the words, there is the sense of touch, too. To me, a real book engages my senses more than pixels can.

That's just my opinion, though I know other people who feel the same.

DH and I are happy to make room in our suitcases to take along a couple of books.

You may want to also post on the Family Cruising forum here:

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/forumdisplay.php?f=49

Best? There is no one-size-fits-all answer. You need to consider your kids' abilities first -- how long before they get bored or tired, what will happen IF they are bored and/or tired, can they walk the distances needed, or will you carry them -- and then see which excursions might match up with their attention span, need for entertainment, food, naps, etc.

Alternatively, think about taking public transit to the beach at Douglas (easy to do) and let them play in the sand.

You can guarantee your hotel room for late arrival, meaning you will be charged whether or not you show up, but they will hold the room for you. Make sure you find out what time check-out is, would suck in a major fashion to arrive at the hotel at 6 am, only to find out you need to be out by 11 am, imho.

I thought I heard my name:) Here's some info from my sister, "The Second Sister", regarding our docking experience in Sitka last year on the Westerdam in early May:

 

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showpost.php?p=46524422&postcount=20

 

 

Rowsby's link above also works very well:)

Thanks for the link. I was pretty sure it was the two of you ;) (sometimes my brain is scary-good.... and then there are those other times :D )

Lizzie 68, I agree, that site is a great resource!