Tango99

I haven’t. Going to the cruise line direct I found I had an immediate point of contact for assistance with price drops, anything newsworthy that needed attention like their cancellation, changes in ports, etc. I’d much rather check out my own options than through a consolidator or a group or TA that might offer some deals….knowing the scope is limited to their own best interests. And that may include better offers to some, but not all in their quest to garner loyalty. That does come at a cost to one of bookings.

If you’re heading to US ports and need cell service to call anyone who isn’t on WA, your cellular provider will have daily rates for US around 12-14/day that’s charged only if you use it. So keep your phone in airplane mode when in port in the US or you’ll incur charges if, for example your furnace people call you to schedule annual cleaning, or the Diabetes association wants donations, or your dentist calls you to change an appointment months away….etc. Enjoy!

You’re right. Mea culpa! Just have to look at Vancouver for evidence of that. But in the case of the OP the rules that come into effect October 1 were only announced this week. To their credit the OP is doing whatever they can for the requirements to be met. The cruise line could offer some sort of reprieve…like you said in some words, the Canadian contingent is comparatively small …in which case compensation might be minor. And I’m sure that the cruise line wouldn’t be affected by Egypt doing anything bigger in retaliation….. here’s hoping that those affected are all able to get things sorted. And that they’re all aware of what is now required.

I just arrived at this thread. While I would normally agree that it’s a small problem for the cruise line, it could be catastrophic for any Canadians travelling without essential documents. Especially as they’d be considered foreign nationals in a country where documentation and approvals are now being demanded in retaliation for some real or imagined political misdemeanour. The authorities are not exactly the same as we’d know of at home. There are times when I’ve travelled to some iffy countries in the Middle East and Asia, alone and on business and have had no issues. It’s pretty telling that the Embassy here isn’t replying calls or messages. It would be hoped that they would be busy trying to find a way to offer assurances to the few cruisers caught up in the political dilemma …. In this case, I wouldn’t even want to get off the ship in Egypt, in case I couldn’t get back on. But I would plan to cruise to all the other countries destinations unless Azamara won’t let me on…then I’m guessing it might on their dime.

You might want to check out the very few direct flights from Halifax via Ottawa to Tampa. Unless you can get to Tampa direct from Halifax by then. Most airline flight schedules change at least every 3 months. They’re synced but far from what we had. Have you thought of a layover in Philadelphia or Newark? You’d have to book a couple of days out anyway as the weather is still not predictable at end of March. If you’re able to do an overnite and add a booking you may still be ahead. Love TAs. They’re worth the extra $ for one way. Or you could even look at a “multi city” option to get you to Tampa and back to Halifax from wherever in Europe you want to leave from. Yes. It’s a lot of planning. I like to have bookings done but I wait till around the 3 month mark as new routes are opening up all the time. Sometimes planning is part of the fun. You can find flights on Expedia and make notes of the flight details and play with that closer to time with the airline sites. Make lots of notes. You can save $$$ and/or at least Mel informed decisions.

Thank you for checking and sharing. If I remember correctly, the “to” works because we like to have 2-3 days safety net to get there. The “from” schedule would mean a 1-2 night stay at the end. That’s the frustration of our capital city - still with only one or two direct flights to FLL a week. And nothing to MIA. Fingers crossed in a week this might change and I’ll be jumping on it! 😎

We haven’t booked ours yet for December. Still looking for direct flights. Anything to avoid YYZ. The schedules might improve in September.

Gotcha!

Unlimited wifi is only going to cover you for excess minutes. It’s not a guarantee of quality or uninterrupted or hi speed service for work. Chances are your days at sea are the days that (not quite) everyone else is on line catching up. Your at home roaming plan is not a guarantee. I live in Ottawa and my home cell tower is in Quebec. Other times I’ve been in Cornwall and picking up signals and roaming on the US side of the St Lawrence river. That was Bell and Telus. I don’t want to be a downer but I’m thinking you might best upgrade to top tier service if there is one….or take a couple of days off an enjoy yourself. Just my 2CW

FLL is definitely less $ and there are direct flights from Ottawa. I’ll start with the return. The advantage direct with elderly parents is the ease and short transit from the plane through customs on the return trip. Mind you direct flight days are limited. And yes Tuesday is less expensive but I don’t think there’s a direct that day. Make a note of what you see on line so you can look it up again. Montreal has been a zoo and is improving. Toronto no fun at all. You definitely need to prebook wheelchair assistance both ways regardless of airport selection…. for both mum and dad. Even if they object. They will be pretty tired as it’s a long day if you plan to return same day from the cruise. And when you start your journey it’s nice if it’s easy. On that note… always try to fly in a day or two early. It avoids snow delays and worries and enables getting acclimatized to the heat and sun. Well worth the extra days to relax before embarking if you can enjoy that. We’re looking for pre Christmas. Hope you find a good option.

That’s best way.

You may not be able to connect even with a US daily rate plan if your phone is 3G. Att and t mobile are not supporting 3G technology on cell service. So if you can set your cell service choice to another US cell phone carrier with LTE you may be okay. 5G phone no problem.

Might have been a Casinos at Sea offer. NCL do not issue promo codes. I know that Carnival do, but rarely. Ive read quite a few times that in the US there is a way to buy a gift card at a discounted cost and the gift card can be applied to the cost of cruise fare and/or used for OBC once on board. One of the organizations I see most often that offers this occasionally is AARP. And you don’t have to be 60 to join. Though I looked into that for a Carnival cruise on the CARP site and couldn’t find it. I did find one on a broker type site called Raise that was recommended but the cost of the deal was to get 500 value for 450 …admin fees made up the other 50. A lot of it is smoke and mirrors.

It’s been my experience that the only time our exchange is affected is for on board purchases…. the cost of those is shown in USD on the on line account. We switched our NCL account to Canadian a long time ago. What you see when you set up your cruise and on your confirmation is what you pay for your fare, taxes, port fees, gratuities on the FAS etc. And OBC issued at the time of booking, and any FCC credits are issued at same value you originally paid (even though they could be up to a year old). Cruise Next are issued at the rate you buy them and last 3 years. On board purchases are itemized in USD and converted to CDN for you to pay any balance. We always set up and prepay the service charge as it’s not worth the hassle of checking rates. NCL Montreal is where the banking is done so we pay an extra day or two before pay in full date to to be sure our payment reaches them.

Looks like lots of small print. Here’s my take after a quick glance. Your final payment date is some time in July/August so at 120 days to your cruise there’ll be no benefit on that one. Looks like there’s $XX purchases to be made to qualify for the increments of 250.00. The credits will be available on the statement 90 days after August 19 2023. They can only be used for on-line bookings at NCL.com. (Mind you, they do have an excellent chat line if you have questions about your new booking and may also refer you to an NCL PCC (personal cruise consultant). They are great but they may not be able to help with questions if you were to need to change the new booking, etc.

That’s awful for you but happy you made it to your cruise on time. Hope you had a great time with everyone. As someone said rules are provincial as Greyhound is dropping off the map in other provinces. No harm in trying for compensation and make a formal claim for all out of pocket expenses through Greyhound and then the ministry in Quebec. Though they’ll push you to travel insurance, maybe through your credit card. That may have a timeline for claims so take that into account as well. And there may need to be individual claims made for the cost of air as well.

Preferred seats are 5-6 rows directly behind the first 10-11 rows. They’re roomier and can be separated by the half curtain or bulkhead. I don’t recommend those if you’ve mobility issues. But for the price you also have choices of beverage incl wine and beer, snack, and lunch which is not part of the economy fare. They’re really worth in on the shorter haul flights. Happy landings!

‘For now’, the new process applies only to Canada’s 4 ‘international’ airports ie: Montreal, Toronto, Calgary and Vancouver. So from my Ottawa perspective, it’s not a convenience at all for anyone from the Maritimes, Manitoba, and a greater chunk of Ontario and Quebec who are currently routed through Montreal or Toronto, sometimes both…. And yay, in July Ottawa gets its first international flight, Air France, once a week. It’s a start I suppose…..

We use 3 cruise lines. All offered a competitive rate in Canadian compared to current exchange. Our last 2 cruises were at 1.35 and 1.37. We booked them in November 2022. The rates are reviewed periodically. When you’re contemplating setting your account to Canadian or US ask how easy it is to flip to the other. It can affect how you feel about a future booking you may make while you have one still active. Cruise lines closed quite a few loopholes during the pandemic as many switched to ‘new accounting system’. If you have free time try booking in CDN and in USD using a different ip address. You’ll be able to compare rates. Even with GBP if you’re there.

Not sure about Fido, but there are some occasional glitches on board when using the ships network hub, in some phones that enable text messages from home to get through ….and replies don’t. There’s nothing reliable with Canadian service (and sometimes US service) while on board in a US port. Go higher up on the ship, or hang around in the Internet cafe on board for best chances. Any of the full on cell and data plans have a daily rate ~ 12 and 14 $Canadian and shares with local providers if you’re in another country, Same in the US if you don’t have a a can/Us plan. On your device you can go to network and the list of what’s available, usually in the most favoured order eg ATT and Verizon show up first, not in the same order. If one doesn’t work, switch it to another. In the USVI its US rates. Other Caribbean I look for Digicell. Always keep your phone on airplane mode as you leave port. And follow the instructions if you buy ship wifi packages, and disconnect when you’re done your session.

I think it’s around 1.34. Though my shareholder benefit was applied at 136.56. I find NCL rate better than my bank credit card so I’m okay with the cost in USD. We did have it switched to Canadian for a couple of cruises and went back to US.

Well worth the cost for the annual and the extended coverage. And now a trip back to Canadian soil after the first 40 days is no longer required so the coverage is seamless.

We’re expecting snow again before Friday, and around -16 to -19C overnight. The warm weather may cause fog delays, and the snow… so far so good. Flight Aware is a useful tool as it tracks not only where your plane is currently, but also shows where its flight path originated. Bon voyage.

If there’s any delay in flights ever caused by weather always contact your hotel directly and alert them before their no pay deadline. Most will extend it. You could call the hotel itself. Sometimes they can help. Another thing you can try is make a claim for the cost through your credit card company. Or trip interruption on your travel insurance. Or the airline itself. I gather you had to pay to sleep in Toronto. I’d definitely submit claim to the airline. It cost us 465.00 ovegnight at yyz when this happened to us last February and the storm wasn’t nearly as bad. We were compensated with 25% off flights. But at their posted rate. Crazy 🤣

You don’t say what the airline said had happened to others in Toronto that caused what you say is the family being bumped. I’m sure there would be good reason for the airline not to bring a family to Toronto only to have them all in limbo. As for cruises, and missed transit….that’s what we insure ourselves for. And if travelling on points those are revenue for the airlines as much as cash. Your family may be able to have points reinstated.