steve4031

12:40. They had only one wheel chair. I opted to walk so gf could get a chair. An elevator that is normally used was out of order so we had a pretty good tour of the building. When we got to the gangway I asked for one for me too. Based on today’s experience anyone who absolutely has to have a wheel chair needs to be prepared to advocate. Two people in one family needing a wheel chair might be separated. I saw some of those scooters that HAL is famous for. I could see rent some for the week if you really need a wheel chair. I saw one lady working her way through the massive line without a wheel chair. She almost collapsed. I think they were on the process of getting one.

We got upstairs and asked for wheelchairs. The lady fast tracked us through the check in process. Not the best thing for someone who needs a wheelchair. Anyone in this situation needs to advocate that things move at a pace that isn’t too fast. The lady escorting was anxious for in a hurry because there was a shot help. She stated that the ship was delayed 30 minutes which caused the long lines. We were checked in by an agent using an iPad. The cruise terminal has the ambiance of a warehouse. I am sure that once we are onboard we will be ok. We arrived about 11:30. At 12:04 we are waiting for wheelchairs to go through security. Everyone has been coursed helpful.

We are at the terminal and there are computer issues so one long line. No separate line for suite passengers. I asked for wheelchairs.

Just woke from my nap. The navigator app does show are plans in the itinerary section. I can see the Pinnacle grill reservation at 5. One thing I didn’t know is that it sends reminders to my Apple Watch. Just got the reminder for Pinnacle grill and I had visions of clothesline bacon. the weather is perfect. View from our room.

We woke up and had a wonderful breakfast. The food at the Fairmont is outstanding. Not normal mediocre hotel restaurant food. I opened the navigator app and it had stopped working. Our boarding passes were not on it. And a weird error message. I’m glad I print everything out. The VeriFLY app is still working. So hopefully we will be ok with that. We are going to nap until 10:30 and then head to the port.

We landed and got through customs and immigrations and checked into the Fairmont at the airport. We were fortunate to get checked in and go right to our room. We were in the room at 1:05 pm. The rooms have an interesting design with two entrances to the bathroom. One as you enter and one coming from the bedroom. The photos confirm that the weather is perfect.

We are off to a good start. As I covered in another thread I opted to do the Emed online Covid tests. This worked very well. The complete process takes about 30-45 minutes per person. What’s nice is you don’t have to make an appointment. The person on the other end was supportive and helpful. I was allowed to assist my gf in completing her test. The results arrived via email and I printed immediately. A couple of days before I printed the cruise docs. And I stapled are test results to the boarding passes. We have are vaccine cards with us and I also completed the VeriFLY process. Verifly is not the easiest to use. The test results were password protected so I had to save those as PDFs that were not before uploading to Verifly. We got notified within 5 minutes that documents are approved. We stayed at the Ohare Hilton. It is connected to the terminals. I was lucky when my dad dropped us off. There was a empty airport luggage cart sitting there and we loaded are luggage. We probably overpacked a bit, but the luggage card saved the day. I wheeled into the room and we used it this morning to go to United Check in. We are traveling FC so we got an easy check in and no luggage charges. United employees were helpful at every point. We are now on the non-stop flight to Vancouver.

Thank You very much for your responses, especially Canadians. I know that some US citizens have not been respectful in the past. I wanted to make sure not to make assumptions. Normally I would be spending several days in Canada so stopping at an airport ATM would work. But this was 2 days in Vancouver and then on to Alaska. And then 2 days when we return.

We are flying into Vancouver on Friday and departing on Saturday. We will be requesting wheel chairs at the airport in Vancouver and at the port. We will also be using the porters who load the luggage onto the ship. I think onboard the ship we are ok tipping with US currency. My concern is showing consideration for the people we tip in Vancouver who help us with wheel chairs and luggage. Ideally, I would like to get to an ATM in the airport to get Canadian currency ASAP. My questions are about what to do if this is not possible. My questions are: 1. Is it better to tip in US or Canadian Currency? 2. If we cannot get to an ATM would US currency be better than not at all? 3. How difficult is it for Canadians to use US currency? 4. Would tipping in US currency at the airport be considered offensive? Thank you.

ArriveCAN worked flawlessly. I was also able to upload the email with QR code into the United app. Tomorrow I will do the Covid tests and the VeriFLY. I will do this at home before heading to the airport. We are staying at the airport Hilton that is connected to Ohare. I can use my printer at home to print everything out.

Vancouver. I think it is the standard 4pm or 5 pm. At one point I received an email explaining scheduling changes for the cruise. My main focus was getting to Vancouver the day before. And then following the boarding times. I was surprised too.

Thank you for the ArriveCAN advice about return into Canada.

I am in a Neptune Suite on the Konigsdam for Saturday, August 6 and was placed in boarding group A at 10 a.m.

Thank you. I am in the process of doing Verifly too. I have started the process of uploading the vaccine certificates. We will make sure to have the paper copies of are information too.

I just downloaded my boarding passes and luggage tags. Now I just have to do the health attestation on August 3rd and the covid tests which will be done online. I want to thank everyone on here for sharing their experiences. Whether I participated in a thread or not, I read everything I could on the Konigsdam and the Covid testing which helped me to figure out the best way to do things. I was originally planning to do Walgreens, but their app was only allowing me to make appointments for the same day or one or two days out. I called the Walgreens that I normally go to, and the response to my question was. a brusque use the internet to schedule appointments. This occurred last Friday. I decided to do the online testing, and used the link provided in the Holland American website, which I had missed the other times that I had checked on Covid information. I chose the online option because many people on here reported that that was the best way to get it done. The test ordered through Holland America's link to optium arrived today. So the expedited shipping service worked flawlessly. We are in an aft corner Neptune suite and were placed in boarding group A at 10 a.m. Saturday morning. Once the cruise starts I will try to do a day by day trip report to describe my experiences. I hope mine is as helpful as the 20 or so I read to prepare for my cruise. LOL. I will try to answer any questions as they appear in this thread.

This was helpful. I just bought tests from optimum.

This was a great question. I will be doing this in Vancouver. Thank you Op

I too have a question about wheelchair procedure. Also, what directions can you give a cab or ride-share driver to ensure they drop you off in the parking garage? Do they get charged for doing this?

That's really hard on the affected passengers. So they don't even get a cruise.

Are cruises being canceled or are the land packaging cancelled?

It is definitely important to be flexible. But since we can drop out stuff off in the cabin it will make eating easier and finding a place to sit easier.

Thank you for this information. Since we will likely be able to board earlier we could go to the MDR for lunch. That would be the most relaxing approach IMHO. IIRC the cabins are open for immediate occupation when we board.

I am on the Konigsdam out of Vancouver for an Alaskan Cruise. In the past before COVID, I know they had a lunch in the MDR for Mariner members. I was wondering if their are additional lunch options available for suite passengers.

They should have put the people in the other room and left your belonging alone. I would would be angry. I wouldn't worry about what the other people think.

There was an act 2 to my experience on Carnival. A couple of times during anytime dining I sat with same group of people. They were cool the first two times. The 3rd I figured out one was trying to match me up with this Hispanic lady who I knew was not interested though she kind of mixed her signals. When I detected what was going on, I told the one lady who was trying to set up she could share my information(she already had it) with the Hispanic lady if she was interested. Then I avoided all of them the last day on the cruise. Easy enough to do on a sea day.