sunviking90

Thank you for doing this report. I love it so far. Art and nature! Nice to see people doing things off the beaten track. you may want to change your title to “May” though. I started reading thinking you had hopped onto the world cruise somewhere.

Yes, that’s a GTY. In most cases the fare is a little lower if they select the cabin for you.

Thank you for reporting on this. Nice to know things have settled down for Vancouver embarkations.

We have had our son pick us up across the street sort of outside or a bit down from the Fairmont Waterfront. It’s a little less congested there (but not much, lol) and there are so many pick ups/drop offs that you can usually get a spot.

Thank you. I was thinking more of instances where people are unable to book at all due to a shortage of spots. While most of us here are pre planners a lot of cruise passengers, especially new ones may not realize how important it is to prebook and get left with nothing.

We don’t drink so would never benefit from the HIA, but I wonder when I hear about being unable to use the excursion credit. Will HAL offer the credit in OBC if it can’t be used? Is there something in the terms and conditions? Otherwise people are essentially prepaying for something they are not being provided. I won’t even get into the numerous types of liquors they are reported as being out of.

Zaandam is my favourite. I’ll be following along for sure. I’m also interested in your comment of trying an OV for retirement cruises. We are also newly retired and realizing we could be sailing much more if we forego a balcony for some cruises particularly on Zaandam where they are at a premium. Enjoy your cruise!

We have been asked for our drivers licences when we boarded cruises on special residents rates before.

I haven’t seen that version. It looks like a hybrid of the old and the new. I was served the new gross red fluffy thing in January on the Royal Princess.

The itineraries are quite different, so not really comparing apples to apples. We are booked on the Royal a princess because we preferred the itinerary with more stops in Northern Japan and are arriving a week early to tour southern Japan on our own. I would much prefer a ship like the Westerdam with a nice promenade for a voyage with so many sea days, but other considerations won out. We are not pool people, but I am pretty sure the Royal Princess has the Retreat Pool which is indoors.

There may resident rates that will show. I know we get them for selected cruises here. The cancellation policies in the UK are also more restrictiveI believe, so maybe that is why the pricing is better? I’m sure someone in the UK can confirm that.

I don’t remember where it was.

It was fully obstructed, and I had bid for an obstructed balcony on a Royal Class ship so I would have accepted it rather than the inside we had for $120 cad pp! I like the “obstructed” cabins on the bump out deck 8 as they have larger balconies and no real obstruction (no lifeboat). I saw a few still open so asked my CVP to move us.

You probably could, but you wouldn’t get any money back I don’t think.

No, you can’t get your money back, but I won a bid and was able to have my CVP change the location to another cabin in the same category. I knew this was a possibility as my cruise was not selling well, but if your ship is near full, it may not be possible.

Your comments really hit the nail on the head with me. We’ve taken a number of cruises last year and this year on Celebrity, Princess, and one on HAL. I always think “hmm” when people say HAL has the best crew and wonder if they have cruised on other lines. While our room stewards are always wonderful on any line, we have noticed on Princess and especially Celebrity the officers presence everywhere. The restaurant hosts and maître ds remember us and are always so accommodating. In contrast on the Zuiderdam last summer the restaurant hosts seemed to do their best NOT to accommodate people. This was especially disappointing as most of our cruises in the past have been with HAL and our best ever was on the Zuiderdam some years ago. I would say the HAL cruise was the one we felt the least “welcome” on in the last 2 years. The tone starts at the top and I remember years ago the Zuiderdam captain was always everywhere greeting people, taking part in events, etc, and you could tell it was a “happy” ship. This was not our feeling last summer.

We always bought the coffee cards as good coffee is pretty much our only vice. We’ve noticed the coffee and espresso/lattes at IC to be pretty poor quality of late though. A few weeks ago we were on the Celebrity Solstice and drinking their regular coffee in the buffet (Lavazza) and it was fantastic! We then boarded the Discovery Princess 4 days later and planned to use our extra OBC to buy coffee, but after the first americanos we didn’t bother. Coffee in the MDR and buffet was also horrible. Luckily we also love our tea, so that’s what we drank for 4 days. I hope the new partnership with Lavazza helps. I did have some via with me but it’s not the same as good coffee.

New one is a disgusting mess. I was served it on the Royal back in January and the head waiter saw my horror (I was expecting my favourite old stand by). He brought me something else and a few days later they made a big production of serving me the original. I guess they found some in the freezer. It was very nice of him. More of us need to express our displeasure at this. Why get rid of such a classic favourite? Desserts don’t cost that much.

Day of the week, number of other ships, etc will affect that. Can you walk off with your bags? As long as you can be at YVR by 8am then yes. It is a 30 minute drive, or you can take skytrain which is a little faster, but about 10 minutes to walk over to the station. Living in Vancouver, we usually arrive at YVR 2.5 to 3 hrs hours early for US flights and we have Nexus. We usually have plenty of time, however, I am assuming your flight is an AC flight (the only non-stop I think) to Florida and I find their check in, bag check process to be very chaotic even if you are already “checked in”. They have self serve kiosks, which never seem to work for me and I have to line up anyway. I wouldn’t do it if you have bags to check. Getting to Florida from Vancouver and back is a pain for sure, and you’ll generally always arrive really late with the 3 hour time difference. For many years there were no no-stops.

Which date are you looking at? I looked at a random one on June 8, 2024 for you and I see the non-guarantee as refundable (and only $25 cad more). It may be the “offer” that is coming up when you search. I’ve been told my my CVP that there are numerous offers simultaneously but only the cheapest one for you will show on the website. It’s also possible that it’s a glitch. The website is full of those too!

Really enjoyed your very detailed reporting of your day in Guernsey. My dad was from Jersey (neighbour island) and lived through the German occupation from age 7-13 and it shaped him forever. I haven’t been to Guernsey but to Jersey many times and there are also the remnants of the German occupation from the underground “hospital” to the bunkers, etc, all built by imported slave labour. Very sobering reminders everywhere in such a very beautiful place.

Enjoy Sitka. We haven’t been in a few years, but it is one of our favourites. Very down to earth and real (ie, not taken over by jewellery shops). The raptor centre is great and there’s also a nice hike if I remember.

Coral, I just found this thread and I’ll certainly be following. I think you were on the Emerald Princess TA that we took last November. We are thinking of the Crown Alaska as the itinerary is a little different if we need a getaway late summer. Your pictures of Whistler were great! That is also one of our favorite getaways, and usually spring or early fall. Did you happen to go to Purebread? Amazing treats in there! Whistler is very expensive but of course it is a resort town, so priced accordingly. The Fairmont and the Four Seasons are both great if you can get a good price. We also really like the Westin up there. Great location. Enjoy your cruise!

Is it possible that there are a lot of new crew? I would imagine quite a few contracts ended at the end of the world cruise. I would speak to the head waiter or maître d rather than guest services myself.

We cruise on HAL, Princess and Celebrity, but mostly Princess lately. You didn’t really say in what way your Princess experience was different or better. I’d be interested to know. As far as the repetition in menus, entertainment, etc, we have only done one B2B which was on Princess and while it didn’t bother us there was certainly repetition. I am certainly not a defender of HAL (I have my own personal beef with them from our last cruise), but I don’t think the cruise lines are really designing their menus and entertainment with the idea that people will stay on for 3 cruises in a row. It seems to be much more common now to do this, but we should expect that there will be some sameness.