*Miss G*

12 hours ago, sambamama said:

Airline MCT are down to 35 minutes in some airports. JetBlue changed my flight vivo bong me 59 minutes to connect in Fort Lauderdale from Hartford to a Cozumel flight. My flight has a 20% record of being 30 minutes late, and the connecting later flight was already 75% full. That was the only flight to Consume later that day. I

The issue with YVR, when flying into the US, is that the passenger must go through US Customs & Immigration pre-clearance prior to entering the gate area.  (Or re-entering, in the OP’s case.)  Connecting within the US is not even remotely comparable.

41 minutes ago, jinpasco said:

When thinking of putting down a FCD here is something we learned. It was not just 100.00 for all. We booked a 25 day and the FCD was 300.00 per person. I was hesitant but its refundable up to final payment. I am not sure what the rule would have been if we put down a 100.00 future cruise deposit and after getting home booked the longer cruise. Only gain was getting an extra 75.00 PP added to the perk for booking onboard.   We did not do the HIA and I believe being more than a year away we may have gotten  free gratuities. Maybe Miss G can post the backside. 

Longer cruises require the larger deposit.  Here is the flip side of the form:

On 3/20/2024 at 8:49 AM, debfed65 said:

We are flying AC Vancouver-Sydney for a TP on Celebrity. We are flying on a 777-200 and have chosen a pair of seats at the back for just the 2 of us so we get the window & aisle. There are four rows of just two seats on each side of the plane.   Anyone have experience sitting in these seats? 

Just in case you are relying on a window, I specifically took a look at that row on my last flight as I was curious as to the layout.  My favoured seat is a window but I don’t enjoy having to disturb my neighbours in the middle and aisle if I have to get up.  There is considerable space between the “window” seat and the actual window which, if I recall correctly, is a bit forward of that seat, so more towards the row in front of you than beside you.  For me, it just won’t work because I like to lean against the wall to get away from my neighbour and to try and get some rest.  (Impossible, of course, but I do try.)  On the bright side, there is room to put your under seat carryon beside you for easy access during the flight.  My sister likes these seats because there is only one person beside you when you are flying solo.  If you don’t mind the bathroom traffic next to the aisle seat you should be fine.

I did a walk-in at the Service Canada office last Friday.  Boy, was that a mistake!  Stood in line for 1.5 hours just to get to the registration desk!  It turns out that it was March break and everyone who was not out of town was taking care of Service Canada related stuff.  I no longer pay attention to when March break is so mea culpa.  

Since I had a lot of time to listen to the goings-on around me, I learned that the office only took regular passport applications.  Those who were coming in requesting expedited service were referred to the passport office in Hamilton for the fastest service.  (This was in Oakville.)  The registration desk person (who was excellent, I might add; definitely knew his stuff) was telling people they don’t do expedited passports at Service Canada offices.  Whether this is across the board or specific to certain locations, I don’t know.

6 hours ago, LAX said:

No discount or additional OBC for booking a future cruise onboard?

 

LAX

 

Here is the last future cruise flyer I received.  (The other side of this page is the future cruise deposit form.)  I have not purchased a cruise onboard so I can’t recall if there are additional benefits tied to a specific cruise.

2 hours ago, POA1 said:

Standby is NOT the same as waitlist. Similar, but not the same.

Yes, very true.  I was responding in the context that the question was referencing a previous post where HAL had said their standby request was on the wait list.  Perhaps I interpreted it wrong.  My humble apologies.  I will send myself to timeout now.

Oh NO!!!  This is absolutely horrible.  I am so so sad and so very sorry for the victims, their families, and all the crew onboard who will be devastated.  Such a terrible terrible situation.  😭 💔

55 minutes ago, Lauren Spray said:

What is the difference between the stand by program and the new wait list program for $49 pp/per day + port fees?

 

Please explain.

 

Thank you!

It is one and the same.

24 minutes ago, terrydtx said:

And when very few booked at those prices, the price dropped to $25 pp per day.

Yes, that is correct.  I was one of many who posted that I would not book at the initial offering price.  Following my experience as a NS perq on Pinnacle-class, I did start booking at the lower price because I felt that the CO dining was well worth it.  (I am not as interested in the upgrade benefits as I am in the smaller dining room.)  I will need to revisit whether CO dining (on Pinnacle-class) will be worth it at a price increase.  I may decide that it is not as high on my priority list as it currently is.

15 minutes ago, bajae said:

Hotels generally don’t charge per guest so there isn’t a need to “fill” each room. I would imagine hotels will rather have all rooms booked with a single guest than have all beds full. 

My point was in reference to room size, (based on @3rdGenCunarder’s post) but I’ll bite.

The way I look at ship stateroom pricing is that the price isn’t so much “per person” as it is per room.  It just happens to be broken down into a pp cost (based on double occupancy) so it appears more affordable.  (Appearances are everything.)  This is reinforced by the single occupancy surcharge in order to have their base costs covered.

”Kids Sail Free” and “3rd/4th Person in a Cabin Sail Free” promos also reinforce that the price is per room.  However, a camping-style budget has repercussions on crew AND on what that budget will allow for onboard expenditures.

5 minutes ago, terrydtx said:

My fear is that as more and more book this way with CO, HAL will take it away as a CO benefit. 

What I believe will happen — now that the prolific posting about it has done their marketing for them — is that they will raise the prices to their original pricing when it was new on the market.  The introductory pricing was $50/day for pinnacle ships and $35/day for non-pinnacle ships.

13 minutes ago, 3rdGenCunarder said:

A lot of hotel rooms have a king bed and a sofa bed with room to spare. I wonder how many people have booked a triple or quad thinking it would be like that, not the condensed version that a ship offers. 

Isn’t that funny.  I am sitting in my hotel room and actually did take a look around, for comparison purposes, while I was writing my previous post.  I have a King bed, but I am not a King.  Luckily, hotels haven’t moved to the HAL occupancy model or I wouldn’t have been able to book this room. 

I, personally, stay away from any quads or triples, so it’s unlikely I will be warned off or relocated.  So far, I have been lucky with my strategy of avoiding high season crowds, but if I start encountering them in the shoulder season then my cruising days are numbered.

I do not like this style of revenue generation and am curious, now, of the team leading the charge.  Changing the model may increase revenue, but it will have a direct and negative impact for both passengers and crew.  (Unless you are a passenger who is new to cruising, or are used to something less refined… at which point you will be oblivious.)  I would hate to see the HAL cruising experience cheapened. 

We did the Canaries in December, over Christmas.  The Bay of Biscay was a crazy ride!!  It was amazing to sit in the pub and watch the waves go over us!  I think most people were experiencing Mal de Mer so it was pretty quiet around the ship for a few days.  I got some great pictures and videos!  Funchal had a great Christmas market in the town centre.  The weather was beautiful in all ports.  I highly recommend!

It was super easy to download the app, purchase the tickets, and then jump on the ferry.  We could see our ship from Pier 11/Wall Street!  That made it more exciting.  Since we had already purchased our tickets on the app, all we had to do was get in the South Brooklyn (SB) line at the pier.  One, two, three stops and we are at Red Hook!  I would say 15 minutes, tops.  We got off the ferry and the Brooklyn Cruise Terminal was right in front of us.  I wouldn’t hesitate to do this again.

Our ferry.  You can see the “SB” identifier in red.

44 minutes ago, singleflyer said:

I'm curious why Oosterdam is in last.  I have a sailing on the Oosterdam coming up... is it really the worst ship?

You are reading too much into an unofficial survey of only CC’ers and no actual guidelines.  It is an unofficial poll!  We sailed the Oosterdam, recently, and have no complaints.  We totally enjoyed our cruise!  There are just preferences but you will find that every HAL ship is wonderful.  Enjoy your cruise!

Editing to add:  The Vista-Class ships cut through marine conditions like a hot knife through butter.  If you are going to encounter rough water, a Vista-Class ship is a great ship to be on.

Pre-COVID:

Post-COVID, it’s just the first two pics.  (The third pic has the aforementioned bath salts behind the cotton balls.)  Oddly, I don’t have any pics of the amenities post-COVID.  But, I believe, only the cotton balls/q-tips, and loofah pads remain.  And a shower cap.

Speaking of class…. the Pinnacle Class is the overwhelming favourite, so far.  Signature leads the rest of the classes, but not by much.  Interestingly, I would put them in this same order.

18 minutes ago, Scrapnana said:

Which Canadian city is considered the “Hollywood of the north”?

Toronto would have won that question also.

I have to say that I have had a total of one time (one time!) to be seated near a window in the MDR in all the years that I have cruised with HAL.  In every meal in Club Orange I have been able to see the sea.  In fact, we were able to see a number of whales bubbling in Alaska and we didn’t even have to leave our seats!

I forgot about the trivia questions!  Thank you.  I have missed these.

@Scrapnana, I can feel the struggle you are going through, so kudos to you for powering through.  What I am hoping is that you will gain strength on this journey and that you’ll be an old pro by the time the cruise ends.  You can do this!

3 minutes ago, Crew News said:

Yes.  Here is a table of internet costs that I created based on tables that I received from Ship Services:  Internet Pricing Plans 2024

Oh, great!  So a savings of $52 if I buy it now, which breaks down to $15/day for a 14 day cruise.  Thank you, Roger!

My parents love the Lanais, also, for the same reasons as @albingirl.  If we are on a ship with the old teak proms, that’s where I’ll always find her.

So, for clarity, these are the choices when you don’t have the HIA package.  Basically, it’s either Stream or Premium.  Surf is not an option.  

From the posts in this thread, it seems that Premium will suit my needs.  Do the plans actually cost 20% more if you wait until you board?

32 minutes ago, Solent Richard said:

Terrorist precautions?

Hmm.  Possibly a result of 9/11 if, as you say, you sailed from there years ago.  I don’t recall seeing any on my sailings but I will pay attention next trip.