sunviking90

I tried to negotiate last time when I first called about the offer. I was following what @DaveOKC(I think) had said in an old thread about paying 1/3 of the current difference in price between what I had booked and the better cabin. They refused. This was about a month before sailing. I called a few more times in the next few weeks and just asked what upsells were available. 3 days before sailing I called and got my Vista for what I had originally offered. Interestingly every time I called I got different answers as to availability, etc. Some said I didn’t have a current offer, some didn’t even check if I did. When we boarded the stateroom keys, and various info sheets in the room had another person’s name on them. He must have cancelled last minute.

This is what we did also. Our TA forwarded us the email with the number to call.

Arrive at the time on your boarding pass, no earlier. We are 3 stars and unknowingly arrived 20 minutes before our boarding time for the Koningsdam a few weeks ago as it had changed at some point to a later time. I didn’t notice until I opened it again at the pier. We waited in the hot Sun for the 20 minutes, then our “group” was delayed another 15 minutes outside as so many 4,5 star, suite people etc were arriving and they had priority. I was glad I had filled my water bottle as there isn’t any. It was only around 63f that day, but where they make you wait is full sun, next to the building and SO hot.🥵 There were a lot of elderly in our line and I felt so bad. I’d call it the worst embarkation line I’ve experienced in over 25 years. I don’t know why they can’t erect some type of covering if they’re going to do this. On the Volendam in November we just walked right in, so the line ups with the times in the signs may be new? Or just because there are more people for a larger ship? Don’t worry about missing MDR lunch. It was the same lunch the served every sea day anyway. OP bring water and a hat for your mother. I know you’re in a suite, but just in case.

Well, I’ve been cruising since 1991 and I don’t know how many cruises, but a few weeks ago I accompanied my sister on a “free” cruise offer on the Koningsdam. We paid to upgrade to obstructed balcony and were given 4047 (we couldn’t choose). The music from decks below us was SO loud we could make out each song and lyrics! It was the first time I’ve been bothered by loud music on a cruise to that extent, and we’ve often had guarantees. We called down to the front desk and they were very nice and luckily able to move us to a nice quiet veranda aft on deck 8 the next day. I think they “knew”. The new Holland America?

Even among your table mates, political discussion should not be in the MDR or anywhere others can hear. On the Volendam a few months ago there was a fellow loudly telling his table mates all about what he’d seen on his “news” channel of choice, and spouting his opinions on the upcoming election in the US. Slowly the tables all around him cleared. We also left without dessert.

Yes, I agree. I don’t really consider forums as social media. I noticed you had cc handles only on our roll call spreadsheets. That’s how it should be done.

Awkward 😬

If OP wants to do a cruise tour, those are usually out of Vancouver or Whittier. As far as I know there aren’t 1 way itineraries from Seattle. We like Princess and HAL equally with Princess having an edge for food, both availability and quality. I know some of the HAL fans here may disagree, but that is our personal feeling having been on a number of cruises on both lines post pandemic. HAL has the edge on ship design. We love the classic ship look. You will also get a couch in all verandas on HAL, whereas only the deluxe verandas on Princess Royal class have them. Without going up to a minisuite you’ll find it tight with 2 children. If you are wanting a ship with less than 2000 people you won’t get that on Princess going to Alaska. The smallest is the Sapphire at 2600. Another poster mentioned Rotterdam, but as far as I know it is always the Koningsdam going to Alaska and she does the round trips YVR-YVR, plus larger than you want. The Vista class HAL (usually Noordam in Alaska) would be good for you. I would also recommend southbound so your tour portion would be first. You enjoy a beautiful last sea day/ evening through the lower inside passage and Seymour Narrows. We almost always see whales on the last day on this route. Northbound, you’ll go through overnight and miss a lot. HTH.

I think we are fine. Not a fan of Facebook and the over sharing with the risks involved. Unless we have met up at a meet and greet, no one would even know my name. I wouldn’t give my full name to put on roll call m&g spreadsheets either as is sometimes done. Those are often accessible by anyone who has a cc account and log in.

We remembered how much we love a smaller ship on our Volendam cruise this past November. No crowds, friendlier environment, just nicer. We had a number of cruises on Princess right after the restart and those were also great with 30% occupancy, but now with full ships, smaller is better.

I would get that too. That’s one that’s sticks in my mind and I remember where I was. 11 at the time and visiting relatives in England.

On our last 2 cruises there was a mix of Bigelow, Twinings for the black tea, and they have loose PG tips tea bags in a canister. We miss the HAL branded tea they used to have, but we like PG tips too.

From what my PVP says there are always multiple offers and prices on any given cruise and the website only shows the “best” one which may or not be the best for you. It sounds like it depends on whether the new pricing is an “offer” or just a price reduction. You’re right, it’s not consistent. Sorry it didn’t work out in your case.

I actually referred our cruise last week 2 days before final payment. I noticed it had gone down $260pp cad, BUT we had additional $300 USD OBC each with the original booking. We weighed our options and decided to refaire and lose the OBC as we had enough from other sources to cover what we’d need for the cruise. Called my PVP and she actually refared it to save us even more ($375 cad pp) AND we kept our OBC from the original booking. I was really pleasantly surprised, but it shows you never know. Doesn’t hurt to ask.

Our experience has been the lower the status the better the assignment. 😏. As we’ve gotten higher status our assignment will be what was booked while lower status friends will get better.

Looking forward to following along! Thank you for doing this. I hope you continue your report to include your Japan land portion. We are taking a North Pacific repositioning cruise with 8 days precruise in Japan. Our first visit, so I’ll be interested in your experiences.

I think this is exactly how it’ll go. When we prepay our ÇA to get the better exchange it has just shown up as a credit on our account and the daily fees eat away at it. I would think that those who booked under the free crew appreciation promo before Christmas as we did will be ok. If not, I’m not going worry about the small amount.

For sure this seems like a good option for solo cruisers who can cruise at the drop of a hat. For us though, standby would be out of Vancouver and I already see pricing almost as low or lower than that (lower for a 7 day Zaandam Alaska yvr-yvr loop) on my HAL “private fare” emails. Princess and Celebrity are almost as low. Plus we’d be able to use our ccl and aarp OBC for HAL. If we ended up in a balcony, THEN it would be a good deal, but since that’s not promised, I’ll pass.

Wow, that’s a really good point. We’ve seen this too. It would be really important in cases like these for the caregiving partner to make sure pertinent staff are aware of the partner’s illness.

Good point. I hadn’t thought about HIA promos. Best bet for OP in that case is to hope for an upsell offer.

I have done this as recently as this past November. No problem at all. I didn’t have HIA, but I don’t think that would make a difference as you’d just be paying the difference. You could also let your TA or PCC if you have one know you are interested in any “upsell” offers that may come up, but they are usually not until a month or less before sailing.

I think I remember that during last year’s world cruise a gentleman travelling alone had passed away while they were cruising around Africa. The grandson (or nephew) had come here for some advice as far as how to proceed repatriating the remains. It sounded like this man had left good instructions with his family but things were made more difficult because of the part of the world the ship was in at the time. I can’t find the thread right now, but I think things did work out. A very sad situation, but it highlights how important it is for a solo traveller in particular to have full information and instructions for loved ones at home.

Beautiful pictures. Thank you!

I feel the same way regarding the “meh”. We follow some of the WC blogs and that only confirms my opinion.

This reminds me: when we first signed up we got free first rides on both apps. Not sure if they still do that, but I would look for those.