SilvertoGold

At a condominium seminar with a law company the idea was broached that they would take any case: maybe the judge would side with the condominium, maybe not. They would be happy to "give it a try". Nothing about the precedents, how strong a case they would be able to make, just that if you are willing to try (pay), they would try. I can see that the tour companies involved might think they need to cut corners (safety pre-flight items, for one) to be able compress the trips and fit in more trips the timespan they have within the ships' schedules. A very bad thing to even consider, but.......

Excellent! Sounds like a good decision. The Koningsdam is so nice, hope you have a wonderful time and are happy with what you booked.

We sail northbound from Vancouver for 7 days and then 7 days southbound to Vancouver. This is booked as two 7 day cruises, but we will be in transit in Whittier on the ship, not disembarking. When do we fill out the ArriveCan app? 72 hours before we leave Vancouver, with our arrival back in Canada 14 days from that date? I know from past experience that HAL wants to see the ArriveCan receipt at embarkation, so this makes sense, but I want to make sure :) Thanks for any insight!

Generally on longer cruises pax tend to go more formal. I've seen this for years (as well as post-pandemic) on Hawaii, Australia, Asia, Europe, Tahiti and South America cruises. Over about 28 days and you get even more formal wear.

Congrats on your 40th anniversary! Please let us know how it goes with any upsell or upgrade. have a fantastic time!

Thanks. This sounds the way HAL used to do it. Enjoy!

OP: excellent. Congrats on this good upgrade. Always nice to hear about upgrades!!! At how many days out did you get this? Have a great cruise!

Have a great time and if you want to post a bit about the ship, there are lots here who like to read it!

Haha! Actually anytime we have been docked at the Ore Dock it has been very windy (common in Skagway!) and it is not the nicest walk in to town especially when cold and-or rainy. Broadway Dock is easy and close. Really have enjoyed the walk in from the Railway Dock, very pleasant.

I am wondering who in what department your TA talked to and if she asked to speak to a supervisor. Some on this board have mentioned an Accounting department at 1- 888-663-5384. A Resolution Manager might work or if not that department, they could possibly guide you to an appropriate one.

I really wonder what HAL is thinking. HAL wants their "guests" to come back, to fill their ships, to make them some profit. So, no, HAL doesn't have to do anything for their guests, nor show any flexibility. I am actually surprised that HAL took the time to explain the options. Given the circumstances outlined in post #1, HAL could break a "rule", please the guests, keep them happy, impress them with some flexibility. A bit of graciousness, some "thanks for booking with us, for having some faith in HAL being able to put on a good cruise at this time". Honestly, what would it take for HAL to learn some cheap public relations?

Loved the three we have taken! Open ocean, long days at sea, relaxing time! We take Collectors TAs of + 28 days and really loved the European ports. A straight TA is much too short for us. Nevertheless as Europeans you have possibly been to a lot of the cruise ports in the Med and Baltic, so this is just a suggestion from my own point of view.

WHAT??

As noted in my reply to the original poster, our TA says she can see the VPN promo on our account, so I don't even have to ask. We are Canadians and in the past did not always receive the emailed notification of this promo (old one was ZPM/ZPN). There have been times where the cruise I was booking was "not eligible".

Have used 4 in the past couple of months. They are now called VPM/ VPN and seem to be valid for 2 months after the date sent to you. It took about 2 weeks after the cruises for HAL to send them out to us. TA says they are booked to your Mariner numbers so easy for the TA to see as available.

On the Pinnacle ships the Dutch Cafe is our undoing: those beyond-excellent huge cream puff things! And the hot, hot fries!

We remember the vegetarian lasagna on HAL from years ago. Lots of bechamel! It was quite good, lighter, of course, but very tasty.

Pinnacle burger is massive!

My experience on Koningsdam and Zuiderdam lately: The burgers are a bit different in the MDR. I liked them better as they were hotter, as were the fries. The lasagna in the MDR can be a bit watery. Canaletto is probably better. Depends on the ship, the day, the cook...............

We don't use USD in Canada (unless going on a US cruise!). Please, get some CND before leaving home. Do yourself a favour, make it easy :) It would be better to tip with USD over nothing at all. The cruiseships use USD exclusively. Have a lovely cruise and enjoy your short time in Vancouver!

No first night special pricing, no special pricing any night. The Manager made this sounds like a wild ride every sea day on the Alaska run.

In June on the Zuiderdam the first day at sea found a LOT of pax to the Pinnacle. When we arrived for our 5 pm dinner, there was a line-up of 20 couples. Never seen anything like this before. The restaurant was packed solid. Manager told us he had 120 reservations for that evening: the two sea days on Alaska cruises are often packed. Other nights we dined there (first, Juneau, Ketchikan) were normal to sparsely populated.

Yes, the 4 cruises we are looking at are exactly the same pricing with this "promo". I note that taxes have increased on 2 of the 4 lately.

We have done this with 2 carry-ons, one large backpack and one medium one. As long as you don't want to take formal clothing and can wear any jacket or other bulky article (or not have to actually pack such items), it works!

Thank you, Lisa, for the personal and expert info. Way past final payment date and we are paid in total, so maybe we are clear. BTW: thanks so much for the Rotterdam posts: most enjoyable!