CruiserBruce

AT&T also offers Canada and Mexico free, and, I believe, have added Central America for free as well.

The number of slots at the two ports are very similar...3 per day. I don't think Vancouver is using that other dock across the bay any more.

I doubt the affected government agency would frown on a scheme to defraud or deceive that agency. This problem is not new. I know other cruise lines have had similar problems, although not this late in the process.

The reports here have been no affect.

That would be a pretty low percentage problem. Not sure that alone is appropriate reason for the port change. But sailing out of Vancouver is definitely the more scenic.

It's called a "Freestyle" machine. It allows you to select perhaps 100 combos of coke products. It requires a special cup and the soft drink package.

Undeveloped? What use is it to the cruise line if there isn't some development? The cruise line is going to want to feed you, sell drinks, excursions and activities. A dock for the ship or the ships tenders is required. Perhaps define what you call "undeveloped"

The issue is a ship cannot transport a passenger from one US port (Seattle) to another ( Honolulu) without a stop in a DISTANT ( Canada is not "distant") foreign port. So, everyone doing this B2B ( curious how many people are impacted by this) MUST get off the ship for a day, and MUST board in Vancouver on a different day from the one they got off the ship. That is the rule. If the first cruise of the B2B had been a roundtrip Vancouver, they would be fine. But starting in Seattle is tripping them up. If the Hawaii cruise was a 15 day roundtrip out of Seattle, they wouldn't have a problem. The fact the Hawaii cruise is ending in Hawaii is another tripping point.

The itinerary varies a little, and the number of sailings each Alaska season has dropped this year, but HAL is still doing the 14 day cruise. In 2019, the previous Rotterdam did 14 day routes continuously, roundtrip from Seattle. They have been scheduled for Vancouver since 2020. Ours didn't include Valdez, it had Whittier instead. It is the favorite of our 4 Alaska cruises.

The far better place to ask is on the Princess board.

Totally agree with @Hlitner. Contact less payment in Europe has been around far, far longer in Europe, than in the US, maybe over a decade longer. Chips in credit cards also arrived in Europe before the US. PIN and chip has been widely accepted in Europe for over a decade....its just starting to get popular here in the last 2 or 3 years. This was true on our trip to Europe in July, and long before that.

Allure, or it's sister mega ships are almost always the first ships into port, usually ready to disembark well before 7am. Getting off asap and grabbing a cab will solve the problem pretty easily.

California doesn't tax anything on Cruise ships.

As sailing on Princess doesn't help with your status on HAL, it wouldn't help if CCL had a river cruise. But, as mentioned, CCL doesn't have a river cruising family member.

Didn't when we were there in March. We were using landbased cell towers.

There is no entry fee for Pearl Harbor. There are fees for certain activities...like tours of the Missouri, and booking Arizona tickets in advance. IIRC, there is a fee to tour the sub.

I didn't memorize any names, but as I recall, standing in front of the hotel and looking one block either way, without trying, you can see a dozen restaurants. I sense they were all casual.

If you don't have to pay any money up front, why not book now? You can always re-book if the price goes down. Done that a number of times.

Sounds like a travel agent from their website. We are not allowed to discuss travel agents on Cruise Critic.

Orlando is much more frequently called MCO, even on your tickets and at booking sites. I didn't know, I had to look it up, as I didn't recognize OIA, had never seen it before, even tho In have flown into MCO, and its frequently called MCO here on this board. Anyway, if you look around the board, you will see dozens of threads on transport (private shuttles are the typical first choice, followed by Uber and rental cars). Keep in mind the drive airport to port is about an hour. There are about half a dozen or so recommended hotels in the port area, most, if not all, have shuttles to the port.

Making a profit (which HAL is not doing right now, and hasn't since at least March of 2020) is not against the law, unethical or immoral. Not making a profit, however, is frequently fatal to a business. Not sure why people have a problem with that. I am sure there are cruise lines out there that don't charge corkage.

Yep, it is.

Disembarking at the vast majority of ports HAL sails out of start around 7:15-7:30,and try very hard to be done by 9:30, to allow them to prepare for the next cruise. When you can actually get off depends on the needs of you and the other pax for flights and other transport needs. Never seen a disembark time on a boarding pass...

There are always going to be differing opinions, that's normal. It sounds like the OP wants what HAL was in the past. While it retains some features, it has also evolved some. Just a fact. If that doesn't work for the OP, then they have the choice of evolving, or seeking a cruise line that meets their needs. Making that choice can be very difficult.

@Dutch_Travelgirl thank you for that, such a well stated position. "What are the must sees" is always so subjective, so personal. I spend lots of time researching what the DW and I might be interested in...including for our upcoming Amsterdam trip.