KiwiGal117

4 minutes ago, rover16 said:

KiwiGal117 -

We were in 5191, after Neptune and DW and I  both recall outlets on both sides of the bed. Hope this helps.

It does!  We are in 5186 on the 21 September sailing.  Thanks for replying.

Were you in a balcony cabin?  If so, did you have electric sockets on both sides of the bed?  Hubby and I both have CPAP machines.  I've ordered an extension cord through HAL, but they say it is first come first served, so we might want to bring our own.  

💯😍

Delicious!  Amazing sandwich.  At least it was pre-pandemic.  Not sure if they have lowered the quality lately.

This is just a guess, but perhaps Door Dash doesn't deliver to hotels?  Or, at least that hotel?  We have had that issue before, but have worked our way around it by meeting the delivery person in the lobby.  The hotel might be able to enlighten you as perhaps it is due to their policy, rather than Door Dash.

2 hours ago, martincath said:

There has been a GE/NEXUS lane in the past - and there's one thread from May indicating that it came back this year.

 

Head left - and it might be a pretty small sign, with 'Priority', 'Crew' or similar wording as well as GE/NEXUS so hard to spot across a crowded room!

 

In general, be either very early, definitely before 10am (and expect to wait around until everything begins, but then speed through once everything does open) or else be as late as you possibly can (but never less than 90mins pre-departure time). For shortest possible 'street to cabin time' the latter plan wins as there's no wait time - and gives the bonus of extra time in an awesome city. But if you've visited us before and just want to get onboard as early as possible, I'd say roll in about 9:30am with your bags (it's literally across the street and down a ramp, and then you know 100% you have given your bag to the correct longshoremen for your ship with no possiblity of error by the bellhops if e.g. there are 2 ships of the same line in port...)

 

Excellent, thanks for the advice.  I am actually going to YVR in a couple of weeks just to visit (cruise is September).  I have a good friend who lives there, so spend quite a bit of time there (or at least I did pre-pandemic) so it's not totally necessary for us to maximize our time in the city.  We are going on HAL and the departure time has been moved up to 4pm, so I expect it's going to be a bit of a zoo as it will be compacting the embarkation slightly.  It appears there are two ships embarking that day, and one there on a port stop, so maybe the mayhem will be slightly less.  Fingers crossed.

Hello!  

I searched the forum, but did not find an answer.  Does Canada Place have Global Entry/NEXUS for clearing US immigration before embarking; and likewise for disembarking and reentering Canada at the end of a cruise?

Also, any tips for managing the mayhem at Canada Place?  We are staying at the Fairmont Waterfront the night before, so hope to hand off our luggage to the bellhops there who apparently will deliver it directly to the longshoremen at Canada Place.  

TIA...

18 hours ago, taylor_99b said:

Just an FYI....Unfortunately, most of the drug store chains in BC do not offer testing for travel purposes - they do in eastern Canada (aka Ontario, but not BC).  There are a couple of Shopper Drug Mart locations that offer the more expensive PCR test (~$150 CAD).  So please make sure to check before hand and don't count on finding an easy drug store options.  Here is a list from the BC CDC website of some of the private companies that provide travel testing  http://www.bccdc.ca/health-info/diseases-conditions/covid-19/testing/where-to-get-a-covid-19-test-in-bc

 

 

Doh!  Thanks for providing correct information!!

On 5/30/2022 at 3:09 PM, martincath said:

If you don't all have free data/calls in Canada, the citywide official WiFi network works perfectly well for messaging or even VOIP calls - some folks reported they even manged a video-proctored Covid test using it - so if you connect any WiFi enabled devices to #VanWiFi you can easily stay in touch while separated; makes it trivial to do different touristy things and meet back up for lunch etc.

I nominate this for the Best Tip of the Week Award!  Thank you!

All of the drug store chains in Canada offer tests for travel purposes.  You need to book an appointment though.  So if these other places don't pan out, try Shoppers Drug Mart, Rexall, or possibly London Drugs (this latter one is a local BC chain, so I'm not sure if they offer testing). You can choose a location close to your hotel and book a time.  These aren't that scary in that they only offer testing for travel purposes, so not hordes of infected people hanging around.  It's C$40 last time I checked.

5 minutes ago, stag said:

 You should take a taxi to pier that will take 45 minutes. 

Traffic can be brutal in Vancouver - no highways into the City - it's all surface roads.  Honestly the train is more consistent, depending on traffic and time of day.

I can't answer all of your questions, but:

You'll need to show your US passport to get into Canada, and have completed the ArriveCan info which will be attached to your reservation.  Unless you carry a different passport you don't need a visa. 

From my experience, and what has been reported here, you don't actually have to show it, as it will be in their computers as you fill in your passport information on the ArriveCan app.  Once through, you can take the train from the airport to Canada Place (last stop so you can't miss it).  It does take about 36 minutes, and you may need to wait a bit for a train - not long - maybe 5 to 10 minutes.

One more thing- there is a pause on random covid testing at the airports now.  Hopefully that will still the case when you travel.  That should help the flow of travellers through Immigration.

Sorry I haven't yet checked in for an Alaska cruise at Canada Place, so I don't know what the passport line is like.  It may depend on how many ships are sailing that day.  What time is your all aboard time?

On 6/9/2022 at 7:02 PM, loman said:

I was ... that guy ...  that typically flew in the day of the cruise . 

Always a direct flight , and never had any issues.

For my next cruise i booked a room in FLL and am flying in the day before.

Wife was getting nervous watching the fiasco at the Toronto Airport YYZ .

Booked a room at the Riverside to experience Las Olas Blvd.

 

What time is your flight out of Toronto?  It has been my recent experience, and those of friends, that the early morning is a big problem, but later in the day - no worries.  You sail right through...  I'd still arrive early and be happy to belly up to a bar or have some lunch if you have time to kill.

5 hours ago, janetb12345 said:

We live near Spokane, Washington. As far as flights from Quebec, we are looking at all day travel to get home.

 

Yes, I think you would either have to take the train to Montreal, then connect through Vancouver.  Or, fly Quebec City to Toronto and then a direct flight to Seattle.  While Toronto Pearson is a nightmare at times, the upside is you will clear US customs in Toronto through a dedicated in-transit passenger line, and remain "airside" at all times.  Your luggage will be checked all the way through to Seattle.

Now - Porter (mentioned above) does fly to Midway in Chicago, so that could be an option if you can get flights from Midway to Seattle (I assume so, but never tried, so I'm not sure).  But you would have to connect at the Toronto Island airport - so two connections - and would clear US customs in Chicago.  I haven't done that post-Covid, but it is a fairly straightforward process as there are few international flights into Midway.

 I too am new to HAL.  We recently booked an Alaskan cruise and chose the "Have it all" package which includes the signature drinks package, Wifi, a $100 shorex credit, a dinner at a specialty dining restaurant.  We also got a $50 OBC as that was an incentive at the time of booking.  It ended up being about $1200 extra for the two of us (so $600 pp) over the cost of the basic cruise.  I always prefer not having to fuss with signing receipts and seeing surprises on the onboard account at the end.  Not sure if this is useful for you, but thought I'd mention it!

22 hours ago, jeh10641 said:

I was thinking of using RCI's flight program next year for Sothampton to Bayonne cruise. Now, I am having second thoughts.

 

Jim

I was just over on the RCI boards, and they don't seem to be having the same issues.  Or at least there doesn't seem to be reports of issues in the first few pages of the boards.

Hi everyone:

I'm new to HAL - having only cruised on Royal before (a number of times, so not new to cruising, just to HAL).

I have some questions I am hoping can be answered (I have done a ton of research on here, and YouTube, but not finding the answers I am looking for):

1) how many electrical outlets are there in a VB cabin?

2) are there USB ports, if so where?

3) how is the WIFI - I will need to work a bit each day, is it better to go to the business centre?  We have booked 5186 aft cabin.

4) for the day that the ship is at Tracey Arm/Juneau - has anyone successfully done the Tracey Arm excursion, then made it back to Juneau to do a whale watching excursion?  Is that too much in one day?

5) Does HAL assign boarding times or is it a matter of showing up when you want?

6) any other tips or observations that you feel would be helpful to a first timer??

Thanks in advance.

3 hours ago, Rodinglane said:

I have to say I’m disappointed that even if it were safe for HAL to go to Russia, since the country is now under heavy economic sanctions, it seems highly inappropriate for us to spend our dollars there.   But I guess that’s business…

 

 

This is a good point.  I guess because the ships are flagged outside of the US they wouldn't be required to abide by economic sanctions, unless their home countries set sanctions as well?

And September 7 for rest of world

We have dined at both. I liked both, but the Giovannir’s experience was more up market.

Ooo.., way to build the tension!!!

Sounds like not enough people buying on board. I can see the benefits to logging in after the cruise. Once you are home, have some time and are missing the on-board experience.

9 minutes ago, Boblovespikachu said:

 

Random question... is your straw a regular sized straw or the taller version? We have straws on our packing list. 

 

And another random question...  do the cups only come in one color per sailing? Or can you get different colors so that I know which drink is mine and not mine. 

 

Thanks!

I can’t answer the straw question. But there are a variety of cup designs. We are a family of three and have always been given a different design for each person.

Our experience so far is that it is easy to book dining in the ship (if you have done a package) - the only one that fills up is the teppanyaki at Izumi as it has limited seating

23 minutes ago, taglovestocruise said:

Not a must eat but MDR Tutti salad bar on sea days is great.

And included.

I’m not sure where the OP

is coming from, but if at all possible spend time in Florence before or after your cruise. We did a Harmony cruise in 2016 and because of the cost of airfare (from Canada) we wanted to make it worthwhile, so we spent a few days in Each of Venice and Florence before the cruise. This allowed us the most spectacular day in Cinque Terre. I am so glad we did it this way as we were able to really get to see lots of Florence and then our day in Cinque Terre was a huge highlight for us.