sunviking90

There is definitely interest from me. I think a lot of us who are usually interested in these threads may be on our own repositioning cruises (‘tis the season!) and not reading the boards regularly. I know I only have internet in port via eSIM right now so am not reading daily like I usually do. 
Glad that you were able to get into Ponta Delgada. We stopped there in fall of 2022 and loved it. We had the best one euro cappuccinos from a kiosk in a little park at the top of the hill. 

I just saw your thread and thought to myself “April 13? How did I miss following @*Miss G*’s trip!” I’m so glad you were able to come back and catch us all up. We are cruising now, and I respect all of you who take the time to do these threads. Really enjoying it so far! 

This has happened to me before when logged in. I logged out and suddenly the pricing appeared for the cruise. Just an occasional glitch I think.

2 hours ago, Horizon chaser 1957 said:

So I just got off the phone with HAL at 24 hrs 10 minutes before sailing.

WE ARE CONFIRMED! And for $69 CDN per person, we’ve upgraded to a veranda cabin. Now to finish packing and water the plants! 🎉🎉🎉🎉
  @rj59, my fingers are crossed for you!

Congrats! Glad it worked out so well for you! Is this a 7 day inside passage? Sorry, I can’t remember which itinerary you had.

4 hours ago, Horizon chaser 1957 said:

Actually, they do give shareholders benefit on standby. We have it on ours - IF we sail. The difference is that shareholder benefit is a type of dividend, and the others are promotions.

@sunviking90, I agree with you. We are on last minute (less than 48 hours now) for a cruise we could have booked on sale 3 weeks ago. Reserving our favorite cabin on a Vista class for sure would have cost $30 CAD in total more than sitting here wondering where we’ll be the day after tomorrow. We wanted to test the program out. I’m glad we did, but in future we’ll just wait for the sales.

Well I appreciate you “taking one for the (local) team”, lol. Its is interesting to hear your experience with it.

2 hours ago, BermudaBound2014 said:

Other than solos, I’m not following the benefit of this program for 7 day Alaska (or any of the “bus runs”). 
 

These cruises are the same price (or Pennies more) than the standby program and you get a regular booking weeks in advance. Heck, in some cases it’s cheaper than the $49 offer.

 

What am I missing?

 

 

 

 

You’re not missing anything. You’re absolutely right. I can see prices in CAD cheaper than standby currently. 

20 minutes ago, PacnGoNow said:

Not uncommon for them to disappear about 48 hours prior and they may reappear today or tomorrow.  Sometimes they show up on the web version of the App.

I wouldn’t worry about it.  You can bring this up with the DRO or hostess at the MDR where you booked on the first evening.  Hopefully, they will show it in their system.

 

Have a great cruise!

Thank you! You’ve put my mind at ease. 😊 
 

We board tomorrow. Just thought I’d double check our dinner reservations on the app. I had 22 days booked at the same time each day. App now shows NO reservations! Should be fun. They were there a month ago. 
I did screenshot all of our reservations in the old app at least if there’s an issue.

7 hours ago, CruiseDuckDuo said:

San Diego departures are repositioning to Vancouver and Seattle for the Alaska cruise season.  I think one of the Ft Lauderdale departures is Eurodam enroute to San Diego/Seattle, and the other departures are enroute to Europe.

This. There are no other sailings from San Diego from April until the ships go back down in September/October.

1 hour ago, cr8tiv1 said:

I stayed at the Pan Pacific for less than $1000 in September 2022.  I think it was even less than $400.  It's the Canadian fees that are outrageous.  

 

There is a fee (not suggested tipping) for the bell desk to come to your room, pick up your luggage, walk it to the ship, and "watch" that it gets loaded on to your ship.

 

Then you can skip the first step (drop off your luggage and go upstairs).  The Grand was the only ship in port.  We were seated in the first couple of rows by 10:30.  Boarded shortly after 11.  

 

It was all part of the "experience".  The Pan Pacific is the perfect place to do a pre-cruise stay.

 

Disclaimer:  A friend of mine is leaving out of Vancouver in September 2024.  Three ships in port.  No room at the "inn".  That's A LOT of passengers coming and going.

The fees are more related to that particular 5 star hotel than being “Canadian” fees. 

8 hours ago, VermeulT said:

Every cruise I want to look at comes up with unavailable or sold out.  I mean EVERY.  I cleared my cashe and changed browsers.  Makes it hard to see what the prices and availability really are.

This was happening for me too, until I logged out. Then everything was  available again.

We are fortunate to have many happy memories of land vacations in Maui. We usually stayed in Kaanapali so we were also able enjoy Lahaina. Our last visit was on the Royal Princess in January of 2023. I was so eager to get out of the heat and back on the ship, sadly not knowing I’d never see Lahaina as it was ever again. 
We almost went to Kapalua last January but just couldn’t bear driving past the ruins of Lahaina. 
We docked in Kahului on the Volendam last November and walked about 10 minutes out the gate to rent a car from Avis (in a small hotel). Very reasonable and was really nice to be able to drive down to Paia, Makenna, etc. There are really a lot of options when docking in Kahului. 
I could be wrong but I think the Royal Class ships are too large to dock there? 

Yes, just recently through my PVP. We were also able to keep our hefty OBC.

Bon Voyage! 🚢 

Have a great trip! It sounds wonderful, especially having your family with you.

We were very tempted in this itinerary, but we’re already committed on another cruise. Love the repositionings, but can’t do them all!

3 hours ago, Iamthesea said:

If I were you, I would call back and ask if anything has opened up.  And keep doing so!  You can check (by doing a mock booking) ahead of time to see if anything shows up.  Again, be prepared with your credit card and a deck plan.  

 

We have been in a SS on the Eurodam.  It wasn't the best location, but the larger bathroom, with double sinks was well worth the extra.  $219pp is a good deal!

Great advice. Don’t wait for them to call you. Availability can change daily.

7 minutes ago, Wehwalt said:

The OP posted almost identically to the Holland America and Carnival boards. The motivation to do such is uncertain, but may have to do with the 21st century connotations of the word "plantation", which are negative. I could be wrong. But I would take care.

Yes, this is where my mind went at that particular word. It wasn’t a positive connotation for sure, but uncertain exactly what they mean.

Thank you for doing this trip report. We are booked on Oosterdam’s return voyage at the end of October, so we are eagerly following along. I’m glad to hear the Step One Dance Company is aboard. 

We love the signature suites. I’m not sure if there are bad locations. We’ve always had them on guarantee and always been happy with the location. If you can get one for a good price, go for it. Is that price for 7 days?

Previous answers are likely correct that HAL has group space and that is waitlisted. Ask you TA (or do it yourself) to book separately and it will likely be cheaper. Register for Accor’s loyalty program first and you get 5-10 % off the rate and included wifi. 
Transfers are not really necessary in Vancouver IMHO. If you are mobile and able to manage your bags, there is the skytrain that goes from the airport right downtown. The taxis are also flat rate from YVR to downtown for about $41 CAD. I don’t know what they charge for transfers, but I’m sure it’s more than that and in USD, and per person. We like Uber, but are not fans of it here since we had a driver falling asleep while driving us to the airport at 4 am.
Fairmont Waterfront is closest to Canada Place (across the street). Fairmont Vancouver Hotel is a beautiful classic hotel, but about 4 blocks up from the waterfront, more in the shopping area.

Here are some photos of Zaandam 1877:

https://www.cruisedeckplans.com/ships/stateroom-details.php?ship=Zaandam&cabin=1877
It looks quite spacious.

Even checking it before debarking they can muck it up. We had about $25 in port charges refund sitting on ours that somehow had been zeroed out when I got the email final bill. Creative accounting. I called to try to rectify, but I’m sure we can all imagine how well that went these days. In the end decided my time was worth more than the $25. Too frustrating speaking to idiots.

This was months ago, so I’m sure there isn’t a check in the mail.

17 minutes ago, PescadoAmarillo said:

In 2017 when we were spending a season cruising out of Sydney, I bought my mom an iPad and put a shortcut to that webcam on the Home Screen.  When I replaced her iPad in 2022, I neglected to do that (since we were no longer cruising out of Sydney) and she called me to tell me how much she missed it and that she looked at it every day. I had to correct that ASAP!  It is quite entertaining. 

Aww, that’s very sweet. 

Glad to see you’re doing a live trip report. We always enjoy following along. There is certainly room for more than one as they are often the most interesting content on these forums.

22 minutes ago, shakuyi said:

 

thats the issue right there, the fact that you think its ok to give a 3rd party this info says a lot already. You may not think its not a lot but its too much.

We blocked out our address too, and it was accepted. Stockperks is managing the OBC regardless of how you send it to them.