BeachBum47

I’ve done it twice! It’s really fun. The first time was last year on an Alaskan cruise and I ran most of it. It was so funny because I was worried about keeping track of my laps (being all official) but it was quite cold and at some point I realized I was the only one left! Hah! All the walkers had quit early and gone inside. Too funny. The nice thing is it’s not a serious thing - just to raise money and have fun. On a side note, I did see a lot of seals and other animals in the water so that was very cool. Afterwards, they had hot chocolate and snacks. The staff was fabulous.

I had to laugh when I saw the part about “cocktails featuring authentic glacier ice”! I had a vision of some poor staff member taking a zodiac out to the glacier with an ice pick and a cooler to transport it in. A bit silly if you ask me!

Have you flown lately? Every flight I’ve been on in the last 6 months has been delayed. On one flight, I was stuck on the tarmac for 12 hours! Not sure if that’s just bad luck for me but I just don’t trust the airlines to be on time anymore. Personally, for a cruise, I ALWAYS go the day before. I would be so upset if the plane was delayed and ruined my trip.

I think my sail away drink on June 28th is going to be an Aperol Spritz. Refreshing and not too sweet.

My husband and I got a massage on the Koningsdam last month and I would never do it again. It cost $422 USD including tax and tip and it was just mediocre. If I wanted somebody to rub their hands willy nilly on my back without any rhyme or reason, I could have asked my husband and saved 400 bucks! 😆 Really, it’s was just blah. And the lady kept accidentally dropping the massage oil bottle on the floor and it would make a loud BAM! sound when it landed and kind of jolt me out of my relaxed state that I was trying desperately to achieve. She dropped it FOUR times. They just didn’t even try to make it relaxing and it wasn’t worth it at all. Save your money.

How can you tell if you are under the galley? I just impulsively booked room 3300 on the Volendam (because it was such a good deal) and now I'm worried it might not be in a good spot...

I am so glad to hear that you're leaning towards HAL. I am a bit biased though. One thing that I did not see mentioned yet... and it is the main reason I love HAL, is because it's DUTCH! And "if you're not Dutch, you're not much!" haha, that's what the Dutch say anyway. 😁 I love the history of Holland America and I just love the Dutch theme on the ships. I am going on my 3rd HAL cruise to Alaska on Saturday. 🙂 One thing I am looking forward to is enjoying traditional Dutch pea soup on the deck, watching the gorgeous scenery in the drizzling rain. Bliss. The Dutch artwork and the Dutch staff (and all the non-Dutch staff, too, of course) are fantastic. The specialty Dutch food in The Grand Dutch café is amazing (only on Pinnacle ships) and you just can't get it as good outside of Holland. It's really authentic. I can't wait to have the herring and the kroketten and all the other goodies. Needless to say, my vote goes to HAL!

OK awesome, thanks! I'm not going to bother with it. I'll just make sure everyone in our party brings their proof of vaccine in case anyone asks. Verifly seems like such a pain!

I agree but the interesting thing is that her final total bill was $300,000 but I had already negotiated it down to $16,000. I literally signed a contract saying I would pay $16,000 and then saw the "real" bill going up, up, up every day. CRAZY. As a Canadian, I had NO IDEA that Americans can negotiate hospital bills.

Just so you know, Generali insurance covers up to $250,000 for medical evacuation (i.e. getting you home) and it seems like a lot but my mom was flown home first class with a nurse (the nurse had to be hired and fly to San Diego from wherever she was and then pick my mom up at the hospital) with oxygen on the flight (which you can only imagine the paperwork for that!). Then, I was not allowed to pick her up at the airport. They had a car & driver meet her and the nurse at the airport and drive her straight to her house. I should also mention that we live a ferry ride away so they had to drive to the ferry, wait in line, do the ferry ride, etc. It must have cost them a FORTUNE.

Check with Generali Insurance. That's who we used and it was much cheaper. Just be aware that their maximum payout for medical is $50,000.

Yes, we have been reimbursed by the insurance company. We bought our insurance through *****, which is who we booked our cruise with. The insurance company is called Generali. They were excellent!! Because I was all alone in a hotel dealing with this (and did not want my mom to have any stress at all so I didn't tell her anything about the financial situation) I was on the phone with them quite a bit and they were SO kind to me. It brings tears to my eyes just thinking about it. I spent quite a bit of money living in a hotel for 10 days (and Uber back and forth to the hospital) plus my flight home (which was $700 one way because it was last minute) and their max payout was $2000 so I'm out quite a bit for my own expenses but that's the way the ball bounces sometimes. So, to answer your questions, it was a very easy process to get reimbursed. Organizing all the paperwork was a hassle! lol But they were great to deal with.

Thank you! Yes, she's very young at heart and we have so much fun together.

I often hear people say that it's wonderful there's basically a hospital onboard for any emergencies. This is true. But it's not free, obviously. My mom got pneumonia on our Mexican Riveria cruise last December onboard the Koningsdam. On our last night onboard, she called 911 from our room (I was out of the room for 15 minutes when she did this!) and a nurse and attendant came and assessed her, then took her to the medical clinic. I came back to the room and she was gone. I was so worried. I looked all over the ship and couldn't find her. Finally, getting more and more worried, I went to the front desk and told them "I can't find my mom" (for reference, I am 54 and she is 82 years old) and they JUMPED to attention and immediately had an officer take me to another area and sat down with me and explained that my mom had been taken to the clinic. She was so nice and very caring. Then she walked me down there to the clinic. The care she received was top notch, although they didn't seem to realize she had pneumonia, but diagnosed her with influenza. There was one doctor and 2 or 3 nurses. They put mom on an IV and started antibiotics and very high levels of oxygen. They also had her on a heart monitor and hooked up to other machines I know nothing about. She had a very high fever and they were very worried, I could tell. At some point, I went to our room to pack up all our bags, then tried to get an hour's sleep, but they called me down and said you need to be with her NOW. It was really awful, to say the least. I was very worried she wasn't going to make it. As soon as we docked, firefighters and paramedics boarded the ship and took her to Sharp Coronado Hospital where she stayed for 19 days and they saved her life. She received excellent care. We are Canadian so we had no family, no support. I stayed in a hotel, knowing full well that insurance wasn't going to cover that. They only cover one day for a "companion." I was so worried about the costs. On the second day of her hospital stay, the bill was already $18,000. I got to know the Accounting lady really well. Anyways, long story short, we had travel insurance - thank GOD I always buy travel insurance! - but I didn't really look at the fine print when I bought it so I didn't realize it was "Pay and Submit". The onboard clinic cost $6400 USD for one night! Of course Holland America had my credit card on file for onboard purchases so they charged my credit card, which maxed it out. Ugh. The bottom line is that my mom is alive and well 🙂❤️ Always, always, always buy travel insurance!

I'm so sorry you are sick and hope you feel better soon. Luckily you are young so you've got that going for you. I'm sure you and your doctors will make the right decision when the time comes. As an aside, my mom caught pneumonia on our Koningsdam cruise to Mexico last December and she spent a night in the clinic onboard (which cost $6400 USD in case anyone is wondering!! Charged directly to my credit card which they had on file.) And then when we docked on San Diego we were met by firefighters and an ambulance and she was taken to Sharp Coronado Hospital where she received excellent care for the next 19 days. The bill was $300,000. We are Canadian. It was hell. But she is alive and it's all behind us now. We are very grateful for the care she received in San Diego. Absolute angels. People were so kind everywhere I went.

On my Alaskan cruise last May, I participated in a 5km walk around the deck to raise money for the Ukraine. It was really fun! I ran some of it and walked some of it. The staff were great. I noticed there is another one on my upcoming Mexican cruise too so I’ll likely join again. Just wanted to let you all know in case you’re interested so you can bring your running/walking shoes.

My mom and I were on Alaskan cruise last June and she brought a walker. Similar to you, she really only needs it for long distance but she found it quite nice to hold onto when the ship was rocky. So she did end up using it more than she thought she would. We found that it did not get in the way in the cabin at all. We just squeezed it together (compact) and kept it upright and either put it between the bed and the wall or right outside the bathroom door. We had a veranda cabin as well.

My mom and I were on an Alaskan cruise on the Zuiderdam in June and were so pleasantly surprised to find a GORGEOUS bouquet of flowers in our room, which had been prearranged by a dear friend. Every single day of our cruise we kept exclaiming at how beautiful they were. We couldn’t even believe how they lasted all seven days and looked just as beautiful on the seventh day. Maybe the pictures online are not very good because these flowers were stunning.

Thank you @Sandiego1!! That's a great picture. I love using kettlebells and those medicine balls look great, too. That was really kind of you to post that.

Thank you Matthew. These are kettlebells, below.

Does anyone know if the gym on Zuiderdam has kettlebells? Does it have any foam rollers? Thanks! Suzanne

The Skytrain in Vancouver is unbelievably clean. Mind you, the only time I take it is when I go to the airport 😉 But I am always amazed at how clean it is.

Yes, this is a great idea too. I didn't realize they had one there. I always use the one at YVR right before flying. Thanks for sharing.

Three hours should be ok, but I've heard that the lineups at YVR security are crazy right now so you might even consider going 3.5 hours ahead. Since you have to wait 30 minutes for your results, that would only leave you 2.5 hours to get through security. They are short staffed, apparently. If you have Nexus, it'll be faster.

Hi everyone! I'm a Canadian and I live in Vancouver, BC. I often travel to the USA so I always get a rapid test at the airport. I am booked on Holland America's June 8 cruise to Alaska and I just got the notification about them not doing Covid tests anymore and I saw a lot of people asking questions and feeling frustrated. I thought it might be helpful to let you know about Covid testing at the Vancouver airport. Personally I found the YVR website confusing, with several different outlets offering the tests, and wildly different prices. I go to the one called CVM Medical, which is located at the very end of the US check-in area at counter 298. It's basically a pop-up shop where airline counters used to be. I always make an appointment but they say they can do walk-ins too. The cost for a rapid test is $79 CAD. (This is cheap! Especially for Americans, lol. In contrast, my local pharmacy charges $125. I know it's frustrating when you can get a rapid test for free, don't get me started. We have to have an official letter to travel so you have to do it this way.) You can book your appointment and pay for it online, then when you get there, you just check in and they tell you to go stand in line. The line moves quickly. Then an attendant takes you to a little cubicle, where they give you the test and then send you to go sit down and wait for the results. That whole process takes 5-10 minutes. Then you have to wait. They send the results within 30 minutes so you can go for a coffee or just sit there if you like, but you can't go through security yet. They will send you the results by email so be sure to check your phone (hopefully you can receive email on your phone.) Once I see the negative result, I just screenshot it so I can easily show it to whomever asks. Is it ok to put the link here? Hopefully it is. https://covid-medical.ca/yvr-rapid-testing/ Anyways, I'm excited about my cruise and I hope this helps you! Let me know if you have any questions and I'll try to help.