rodndonna

I am one of those who becomes uncomfortable when staff starts mentioning reviews or surveys. We just came off the Zaandam and it seemed more toned down (thankfully), but not sure of that is ship specific. Surveys/reviews were mentioned a few times, but only to give us a quick reminder that they appreciate people taking the time to complete their survey. On this cruise it was never stated, implied or felt like a personal request to to get their name in a review, which it had in our previous experiences.

We fly in "day of" for cruises which many consider too risky, but not sure I would be confident with a car trip cutting that close (even when I know the available route(s) and contingency options well). If your friends are knowledgable of the route and confident (and you trust them...) maybe ??? 🤔

just coming back to my original post to update our experience - we checked in at the 3 weeks before the cruise - and did not appear to expedite getting our room assigned as we received it yesterday evening (Wednesday night) for a Saturday sailing on the Zaandam. We were GTY inside (Casino "free" cabin) and were assigned J2554 (an Accessible stateroom) so I think they were down to the slim pickings of the rooms to assign us (maybe that is a Casino room thing?). Anything would have been deemed and upgrade from the original GTY "N" but this one looks quite large so pretty happy, although I still wouldn't be surprised to be bumped from it before we board since it is an accessible cabin.

Although I have never ordered over the $11 limit, on previous cruises over the last 12 months, it was my understanding that gratuity would be charged on the full price not just the difference. What surprises me is the poster is now finding that on the Zandaam, there are account charges for an $11 drink (as the total with grats is over $11). We did test that scenario (a few times!) and have never had an account charge for $11 drinks.

They need to update their website detailing how the drink package works - because it still reflects the a policy of $11 menu price being the limit. In the past, I "believe" if you went over the $11 (say a $12 drink), you paid the difference and then gratuities on the entire price ($1 + 0.18*$12) and that caused some confusion.

You are right, definitely not the case in the past.

When living in Niagara we did a flight from Buffalo in "December" (AA connection through Charlotte) for a San Juan cruise instead of a Pearson (AC direct flight) for a small financial savings. Long story short (and there is a long story) - was not worth it . Maybe for a direct flight ..but not with a connection especially in the winter. Great Buffalo "airport" experience though 😀

You might want to consider Skytrain as an option- from the airport very convenient and inexpensive https://www.translink.ca/ https://www.translink.ca/schedules-and-maps/skytrain.aspx/

Is your cruise an option for the current sale with 25$ deposits ? Edit: I do see NS cruises in December with $25 deposits - might be worth looking at those.

I haven't checked with any Canadian TA's lately but is your TA giving you the current HAL rate at 77cents to the US dollar? It's a great deal based on the current exchange rate. The previous poster said their TA was unable to match that rate, but maybe some TA's will. I was surprised as had I assumed that whatever exchange rate HAL used to price cruises into Canadian was then extended as Canadian pricing through TA's. Maybe they were booking a US based agent that also books in Canadian dollars?

Do we have to get in a line at those kiosks on embarkation day to purchase or can any server in the MDR or dining room sell it to us? We just purchased one but would consider cancelling and repurchasing on board if there is a credit to a crew member IF it is hassle free. FWIW - we're not big wine people so not that concerned about what we are picking from (less selection probably better for us!)

There is only one other potential factor with regards to fares which is currency rate offered (non-US bookings). Someone else posted on here on another thread, that they were unable to get the current very favourable Canadian currency conversion rate HAL was using with their TA, so they booked direct with HAL. Not sure how common it is for those who book non-US currency, but worth considering for non-US folks. The difference in conversion rate last week in that discussion in the vicinity of 5%.

Do you mean you book direct yourself on HAL to help ensure you get upsells direct or do you mean you get them through direct via a PCC but not necessarily a TA?

If that is the case, it sounds like it would be up tp the ship to verify his eligibility to enter Canada before taking him/her on board, so that should at least simplify things.

PURELY my speculation - I cannot imagine why the Canadian police would want to come on to a ship and arrest you? To arrest and then what - have a trial for for you for something that happened and was dealt with in another country? Canada's only involvement (I "believe") is whether you are entitled to enter Canada or not. If you don't leave the ship, you are not entering Canada.

Sydney will generally be the coolest of the ports that we visit. As others have stated, layers are good as we (Eastern and Atlantic Canada) are just getting into our early summer season the first week of June so weather can vary quite a bit. Another good reference is to look at Environment Canada 7 day forecast for Montreal and Sydney for potential swings in the Canadian ports during the cruise - https://weather.gc.ca/city/pages/qc-147_metric_e.html https://weather.gc.ca/city/pages/ns-31_metric_e.html Looking at those forecasts in the leasing days before the cruise (we are on your sailing as well) should help with packing.

Maybe it works well earlier scheduled times than later ones. We have done 4 HAL cruises since Covid - 2 FLL, Rotterdam and Vancouver all with later check-ins assignments (2pm or later) which we have always arrive at, and have then always had to wait in groups until our assigned group was called (which inevitably has always ended up being later than our scheduled check-in time). We have similar timings to you this time (will be at the port between 10:30- 11:00 with 1:00 check in) but just plan on dropping our bags and touring around until some time past 1:00 - in hopes we can then just breeze through. For us, not willing to risk being held back 2 hours or more at the port when we could be wondering around the city (in this case Montreal) during that time. We are just lowly 2 stars if that matter (although becoming 3 on this cruise 🙂)

Was there any chance your booking number changed when you changed categories?

I didn't realize that (although we have never changed category) but good to know in case we ever try for an upgrade.

Great - thanks!

I always book with whichever seems to be giving me the better rate (based on the exchange rate at time of booking). I just made a booking right now with HAL a couple of weeks ago in Canadian and they are now quoting almost 77 cents to the US dollar (1.30) which is much better than I could do so a no brainer for that one. Oddly, someone commented on the HAL board that they could not get their TA to match HAL's currency rate fr Canadian when booking direct which surprises me (we have only booked direct). Unfortunately with HAL everything onboard is always USD, so not option for some savings there.

We just received our embarkation time and for our first time with HAL we expect to be at the port (Montreal) early! 🥳 We will be likely be at the port by 11:00 and our boarding time is 1:00. We have little interest in trying to board early and would rather just drop off our luggage and come back around 2:00 or 2:30 to embark. Is it possible to drop our bags off with the porters and then leave to come back later. Also I assume it always acceptable to board later than actual embarkation time.

That's interesting that your TA could not match the exchange rate. We book direct with HAL anyway, but would have assumed the price (with exchange rate) would have been the same with a TA.

That was one that I read recently and had never actually occurred to me before that. It is common for us to skip MDR on the last night since it is a busy night and we know we always have a long day flying back home, but like you with just deal with getting any extra gratuities for dining out before or just drop in quickly that night. We are also not ones to tip our room stewart in person even though they seem to linger the evening before and/or in the morning and that seems to be the expected norm. As much I guess he/she thinks we are avoiding tipping, we always the gratuity in the room with a thank you note with his name card. Edit: ironically enough one cruise where we unexpectedly did not go the MDR the final evening, we just went to Guest Services (yikes!) that final evening to ask for an envelop to leave our MDR servers their tip. In the end it was just a plain envelop and I was a bit dubious, but I expect it worked.

That brings to mind one of my pet peeves - resulting in my fear of ever having to go to guest services because there always seems to be a presumption by many on CC that people at guest services are having gratuities removed. My only experience at guest services took quite awhile (resolving gift card issue), and while there of the guests that came and went, no one was removing or asking about autograts. I do expect there are always people that do, but I like to think the majority of people at guest services are dealing with other issues or inquiries (even on the infamous last day of the cruise lineups)