LeDemonBlond

 Our embarkation on June 1st with the Koningsdam went really well.  The embarkation note from HAL a couple of days before read:

As a reminder, check-in for your Holland America Line cruise will begin at 10:00 AM at the Port of Vancouver. In order to minimize congestion and wait times, we suggest arriving earlier than 11:30 AM or after 1:30 PM as there will be other ships in port sharing the cruise terminal, and all guests will proceed through shared security and U.S. Customs and Border Protection screening. We appreciate your patience during this process. Boarding will begin at 11:30 AM and those who arrive early may wait in the terminal until boarding begins. All guests must be in the terminal by 2:00 PM.

We arrived about 10:20 at the port along with hundreds of our fellow travelers who took to heart arriving before 11:30. Our party was split up as some were dropped off on P2 where we  dropped our luggage off and those who were dropped off on the street. That group walked directly to Hall D where they were accepting luggage. I was on P2 and needed to take an elevator up to I think was the Concourse level from where it was a short walk to Hall D. Met up with the rest of our party of 6. From there we were in a long line up to get our picture taken and scan our cruise boarding pass. The line moved fast as I think there were at least a dozen cameras and importantly a person to help at each camera station. From there we went into another hall where we were seated with a few hundred others. However, that went fast as each line of seated passenger's were escorted off to U.S. customs. I think we only sat for maybe 10 minutes. As mentioned, they verify your picture at customs and then your off to be seated in a much smaller seating area. My picture did not verify so I had to talk with a customs agent but there was no line up and was quickly able to sit with my party. Less than a 2 minute wait and then escorted to where we could walk up 2 gang planks to the ship. We were in the lido at 11:20   The rooms were ready by Noon

We stayed at the Hotel Max. A boutique type hotel. Price was best for us at the time which was 6 years ago. Would stay there again.  Walkable (10 mins ?)  from the train that we took from the airport to downtown. Cant recall the station we got off on. Very close to a Monorail station. Lots of restaurants.  Literally a 3-5 minute uber ride to the pier. 

19 minutes ago, Crew News said:

With the expanded luggage drop off opportunity, one Vancouver bottleneck has been eliminated. Pausing only momentarly for facial recognition instead of queing to speak to a HAL rep also contibuted to a better process.

 

Sorry, have to ask this. I have checked into my cruise but I didn't see anything where I need to download a picture of myself beforehand so it could be used when confirming my identity.  I thought that facial recognition was only used during covid by holland america?

I was curious as we have an upcoming cruise on the Koningsdam.  According to the port schedule as per below, the ship should be docked but starting May 30th and then every 2nd week, the ship is anchored in Ketchikan. 

This does not answer your question but is your sailing before May 30th?

https://claalaska.com/?page_id=1551

12 hours ago, rj59 said:

The best way to see Mendenhall is to buy a ticket for the Blue Bus when you get off the ship, where there are tour kiosks. It will take you to a park where you can go on a short hike to see Mendenhall, as well as a waterfall. Mendenhall is at the end of a lake and is receding quite a bit, so the best option, I'd say, is to just visit the park and see it that way, with the added beauty of the lake in front of it and the waterfall and hiking in the woods. The advantage of the Blue Bus is that it runs every 15 minutes or so, so you can just return when you want and not be tied to a schedule. They also have a tourist center in the park, different offshoots of the trail to get different views, and if it's later in the summer, there's a creek by the parking lot where you can see salmon returning. 

Just so people are aware, one has to pre-book the Blue Bus now. They no longer operate the 15 minute service. Because of the issue with limited passes to the Park, they have had to go this way.  The price for this is now $79 U.S. and is the same price as the ship excursion. Only positive is you get a guaranteed seat but you have designated times for drop off and pick up. 

5 hours ago, Kingsmom said:

I just double booked both the YMCA and the Blue Horizon for early July. The YMCA ended being $1 more. Is there any reason to choose one over the other?  

I have not stayed at either before but  will be staying at the YWCA for an upcoming cruise. People we know say its really good. Walkable but its not close either to the cruise port.  With that said, they also offer a 10% off for seniors (60 plus) just in case you fall into that range. We had to ask about that when we booked as they included that price difference when they sent back the confirmation. 

Good to know about the Taxi's. That is a very reasonable. We know about the train to downtown but not everyone in our party may want to walk the few blocks to the Hotel from the City Centre Station.  

Flying into Vancouver the day before our cruise. Looking for transportation from the Airport to our Hotel Downtown (YWCA).  There is six in our party plus of course suit cases, back packs.  What would you recommend? 

Thank You

We used in Seattle. We had a late afternoon flight after debarkation so we could spend the day in Seattle without luggage. Fantastic Service.  We flew Air Alaska home to Canada as its not available for  Westjet or Air Canada. 

Its been a few years but we used the "wehatetourismtours" tour company and custom did our Lisbon tour with them. That included going to Sintra. I would recommend them however, their transportation options were "different" and I think it still  may be. In our case, it was a old german police van which still had the decals on it. It was enjoyable and not that expensive compared to other european tours.They picked us up and dropped off at the dock where the ship was.

I noticed that as well just now. Have not been on cruise critic for a couple of months. Somebody will answer or it could just be maintenance on the site that is doing this and its temporary. 

I agree, besides recommending cruise critic to newbee cruisers I know, I also recommend the canadian thread as it is most helpful.

Just to fully understand this. If I am arriving from the United States at Pearson but I will be continuing to fly on to Edmonton , I do not have to collect my luggage before I see Canada customs? My luggage will  be transferred onto the  plane to Edmonton, I won't have to recheck it through?

I was so used to flying directly from Edmonton or changing over in the U.S. that I did have an issue at Pearson a few years ago.  Flying in From New York to Pearson on Westjet. I wrongly assumed  the luggage would be transferred.  When I went to customs, they waived us through and thought nothing of it. We noticed that people were re-checking their luggage and realized we should of brought ours with us. Talked with someone  and had to do the walk of shame to get our luggage from security and then be scolded by Customs as they checked over our luggage. 

If that is no longer a requirement, good to hear. 

Captain Kirk: "Scotty, I need more"

Scotty: "That is all I can give Cap'n, the ship won't be able to take it"

Captain Kirk: "Damn it Scotty, We need 1 more"

Scotty: "Ok, 1 more slide but 6 is the max"

Captain Kirk: "Scotty, Lets discuss pools, we don't have enough"...

The walk through renderings of the ship are the best yet to show detail's of something new  let alone a new cruise ship. RCL has set that bar really high going forward for others IMHO.

First impression of the ship is that it's over the top colourfully loud. 

22 hours ago, LouCoop said:

Hi, couldn't help noticing your ID and photo on this sad day. We are all sad of the passing of Guy Lafleur I can only guess you were a great fan also. 

Hope your better half will recover soon. We are also booked on an Alaskan cruise but only for May 2023.

Thanks all for the well wishes concerning my wife. She is doing better and we think on the mend.  Yes, I agree, not just a sad day but a sad week with Mike Bossy and Guy Lafleur passing away. Brings back all the good memories of 1970/80's hockey. Favourite player was Lafleur growing up.

Had an Alaskan cruise from Vancouver this summer but recently cancelled before final payment due.  Unfortunately an unexpected illness with my better half and uncertainly as to what is happening and  if she would be able to recover fully before the cruise.  Very happy to see that cruising in Canada is a go and certainly hope that its smooth sailing for the 2022 Canadian Cruise Season. 

Just before this last Christmas, I extended my WS credit from April this year to April 2023.  It was an odd price to do it. $21. I was told it was a 1 time thing only which is ridiculous.  I wrote them a  e-mail soon after telling them so and what they should do. I am sure they will give it the same attention and consideration that WestJet and Air Canada provide to all its loyal customers. 😉

I am sure the Govt is looking at places like Great Britain to see how allowing Vaccinated Travelers in without a test has been going. Not enough data as its only been 3 weeks but I would think sometime in April is realistic that at least vaccinated travelers ( air and land at least ) will not require a test if all has gone well in Britain. I hope that would be true for Cruise ship passengers as well but I am not as optimistic as its not as politically sensitive.

I get to Vancouver to disembark from the ship however I  test positive. If I lived in Vancouver or drove to where I live in Canada, I would be allowed to go but expectation would be that I  head directly home and quarantine. I think I have to update my status with Arrivecan or the website when I test negative. 

In my case, I would be taking a domestic flight to get home from Vancouver.  If I test positive, the expectation is that the Cruise line has to put me in quarantine ( not sure if its a hotel of my choosing or not) and I cant leave until I test negative. Even though domestic flights do not require a PCR or Antigen test to fly for vaccinated passengers, the expectation is that I cant do this in this scenario.   Of course, I could leave anytime I wanted but I could ( and I think probably would) be fined $5000 as the Feds know I left as I assume the cruiseline would have to report that I left quarantine before testing negative.  

Am I interpreting how the rules are as they are today.?

Growing up in Alberta as I did, never heard of Poutine until my early 20's (1980's). I think its fair to say it was more of a eastern Canada/Quebec food. Gravy on Fries, of course. Cheese curds, what is that? Now, I would say its more common and popular out west. My wife likes the poutine from Costco. Personally, I like my french fries with Chipotle mayonnaise. 

Heard on the local news about a new wordle like game that is 1 word a day and supposedly will end on July 1st. 

Its called Canuckle.  You don't have to be a HOSER to play but it probably would help if you think like one!

 https://canucklegame.github.io/canuckle/

I have been playing for about a month. Me and my wife alternate what the starting word should be each day. Last week I chose ROBIN as the first word which turned out to be the word. I should of bought a lottery ticket!

Thank you for the insight and pictures. Much appreciated!

I am wanting to  use a Chromecast Dongle on the TV in our cabin to stream downloaded content (I.E. Netflix show)  from an Ipad. Its obviously possible to do on a regular tv that you would have in your home or hotel room. In my case, it will be for a tv in a Koningsdam Inside Room. Have not done before on a cruise ship tv. I think one problem will be physically getting to the back of the tv to get to an open HDMI port as I don't think the TV's can move much from the wall .  Another problem is the  hdmi port is either not active or the input source is not possible to be changed.  

I am just wondering if someone has done this.

I am jealous. Have a great trip.

I was looking at the Canada website on covid border testing that they do.  Definitely an increase in Dec and early January  but the numbers starting to drop in late January.  Like to see the Feb numbers. If they are like last year , I would hope that would compel the dropping of the antigen test all together as the percentile of travelers with Covid was extremly low before omicron.  I would think the random testing when you get back into the country would be enough.   If not all travelers  into  Canada, at least with travel to and from from the U.S.

https://www.canada.ca/en/public-health/services/diseases/coronavirus-disease-covid-19/testing-screening-contact-tracing/summary-data-travellers.html