*Miss G*

I made an appointment to renew my passport in November. I was a bit concerned at the line when I arrived, but that turned out to be full of people who didn’t have appointments. Went to the officer on the appointments side and was let straight in.

No bad experiences with Westjet and haven’t flown Easyjet. It’s just the stories you read of delays and cancellations directly related to the epidemic. One good thing about Easyjet is that they have multiple flights per day, so if you miss your connection there are always more. Fingers crossed for you here too!

Would love if you could come back to share your experience with those connections and airlines. I have to admit I am a bit nervous for you.

Apologies. For some reason I interpreted that you were flying back to the US; not that you were boarding the ship. If you are unable to get one done prior to departing the airport then do click on the link in my first post to save you from having to travel back to the airport. I will be happy when covid testing is dispensed with for boostered passengers as all these hoops we are jumping through are tiring.

I realize you are venting but the testing is a requirement of the US gov’t and nothing to do with Vancouver. If anyone should be providing the testing it should be Holland America. Have you tried Align Travel Clinic? They have appointments for Saturdays. I also agree with @cccoleto check with your hotel.

Yes, the Club Orange menu follows the MDR menu with an additional entrée.

I was trying to find old emails to refresh my memory on timelines but finally had to resort to pulling an old post. My experience was pre-pandemic (March - June 2019) so things are definitely much worse now. Back then they were only doing one-year extensions.

Thank you so much @notamermaid and @vada_9! I really appreciate the info. Oh! And I am going to read that thread, @notamermaid! I didn’t know it existed so I appreciate that. I’ve found very little information on Frankfurt in the River Ports board. Once we’re onboard/done, I’ll make a point of contributing.

Wow. My renewal sat at “Wait for Conditional Approval” for 3 months and I thought that was long. I wonder if anyone else has the same timelines? I guess they really do need that two year extension. If it was me, I wouldn’t push it because I’d enjoy the free years I was getting. 😂

Thank you so much, @notamermaid! This is very helpful information. Yes, we will be visiting in Frankfurt for a few days prior to embarkation. I was trying to find a nice hotel and it seems the Altstadt district is a good area but wanted to get an idea of where the cruise port is. Finding information is like pulling teeth so your post is very helpful! Thank you.

Does anyone know the location of the river cruise terminal for Avalon in Frankfurt? Google is not my friend with this one. Thank you.

I was surprised to see this Live-From thread due to the fact that we had no internet on the Sky in March. They kept telling us we had not watched the safety video, either, even though we had and they’d registered it at the muster station. Possibly a problem with the TV registering to the app as that didn’t work for anyone either. I am sorry to hear about the staff shortages. I hope they are able to get it sorted soon before they burn out their crew.

You already completed your ArriveCAN submission prior to boarding the ship. That covers your disembarkation in Vancouver.

I don’t think they feel they can “control” it so much as reduce the risk. @Dismomx5, I am sorry to hear your plans went askew and you have missed your cruise. I hope your husband is soon on the mend.

“Tip” is British slang meaning to “give” or to “pass”. The acronym for TIPS (which is an urban legend) would be TEPS: To Ensure Prompt Service.

Ah. Well, if it helps at all, you should be receiving your room assignment any moment so you won’t have long to wait. Maybe you’re going to get an upgrade!

I have never heard of such a rule. Perhaps it’s specific to the available rooms your TA has access to. I book with a PCC so I am assigned a room immediately if I book a guarantee. Perhaps do a mock booking directly on the HAL website to see what rooms are currently available and then request it from your TA.

If you were speaking directly with a Personal Cruise Consultant (PCC) at HAL then I would take it up with a Concierge in the Neptune Lounge. There will be a recording of the conversation and those Concierges can work miracles. I hope you are at least enjoying other aspects of your cruise. It would be a shame to let this mar your experience.

It doesn’t matter whether you use your passport or your NEXUS ID for the app as they’re linked. (FWIW, I’ve only ever used NEXUS.) Having said that, however, YYZ now has the eGates so you’ll scan your NEXUS card and then be prompted to scan your passport for facial recognition verification as it will be your first time using the gate. Here is a pic of the new eGates:

I took a test on a Wednesday, flew to the port on the Thursday, boarded the ship on the Saturday. I used the same test taken on the Wednesday; within 3 days of embarkation. Assuming you are flying out of LHR, I would use the ExpressTest at the airport for £35.00.

I may have missed it… what port are they requesting this for?

Depending on which cruise line you are sailing with and whether or not you’ve had a booster shot, the antigen test you take to fly to Miami could cover your embarkation.

I flew AC into YYZ the day they changed the rules where you didn’t have to have a negative test in order to fly. HOWEVER, you did have to complete an attestation saying you weren’t covid-positive and you didn’t have any symptoms. Anyone flying into Canada, knowing they are positive, are lying on the form. Basically, it’s an honour system which the dishonourable are going to ignore.

It’s the official policy until a ship reaches a specific threshold of positive cases and then it becomes a mask mandatory policy.

Guessing it’s a staging ship and embarking crew go directly into quarantine for a specific number of days. (Used to be 10, I believe.) That would keep spread to an absolute minimum.