Yes, I am TOTALLY Crazy, But Felt I had to be on the First Alaska Cruise July 24

[rkacruiser]

1 hour ago, zelker said:

 

Seattle shows up on the Alaska one but doesn't specify which pier.  Do we assume we'll be at Pier 91?

 

 

The only time that a HAL ship docked at Pier 66 was during a port call many years ago.  Pier 91 will be the pier from which the ship will sail.  

 

The NCLH family brands of ships are the ones that seem to use Pier 66 from my most recent experiences.  

[zelker]

Just now, rkacruiser said:

 

The only time that a HAL ship docked at Pier 66 was during a port call many years ago.  Pier 91 will be the pier from which the ship will sail.  

 

The NCLH family brands of ships are the ones that seem to use Pier 66 from my most recent experiences.  

Thanks.  Actually since I posted the question, I called HAL about something else and inquired - she confirmed still using Pier 91.

[emya]

1 hour ago, Cruise Suzy said:

 

Those under 12 will not be allowed on HAL ships this summer. Here is part of the e-mail received about our 7/25 Oosterdam cruise moving to Nieuw Amsterdam on 7/24:

 

Due to CDC guidance, these cruises to Alaska are available for guests who have received their final dose of an approved COVID-19 vaccine at least 14 days prior to the beginning of the cruise and have proof of vaccination. We will be communicating more information to you regarding health and safety protocols and requirements in the coming weeks.

 

...

 

Due to current guidance regarding vaccination age requirements, if your booking includes children who are younger than 12 years of age, we will be transferring your booking to the comparable 2022 voyage.

 

I had a sinking feeling this would be the case. I was willing to leave my husband and dad (who don't want to be forced to vaccinate for traveling) and take my 8-year-old son in August, but I guess that can't happen, either. 2020 was the 4th Alaskan cruise I had booked and had to cancel due to various reasons over the past 10 years. It's starting to feel like it will never happen. I have half a mind to go alone but I think it was around $2,400 for one person and $2,600 for two, and that's just an outrageous price for one person. Still, thinking longingly of going anyway...

[atexsix]

12 hours ago, LAFFNVEGAS said:

I had read many months ago from HAL and Princess that Life Boat Drill would be conducted in your cabin. Same time as before but you just checked in on your phone or your TV.

I think there are going to be a lot of changes that people will require a smart phone or tablet that connects to wifi. It was mentioned by Seth Wayne I believe that the we will have updated information in the upcoming weeks about uploading via our phones our CDC Vaccination Cards and our Passports. They plan to roll out check in at the pier via our phone. I am sure there will be accommodations made for those that do not have a smart phone or are tech savy.

My last Norwegian Cruise they were experimenting with pre pier check in on your phone. This was in 2018. I uploaded our passports and of course they had credit card info. Check in was extremely quick. Basically verified who we were and handed us our on board cruise cards.

Princess already has been doing the pre check in with the Medallion Class which is basically the same  and does work quite smoothly. No need to stand in line to check in. Unfortunately I think Holland America is still a bit behind the times and will not be as sophisticated as the medallions but I suspect that they are making huge improvements with the Navigator App. I checked it last night, it allowed me to sign on but it shows my upcoming cruises as the recently canceled Nieuw Statendam for July 11th and does show my September 4th Nieuw Amsterdam Alaska cruise but does not show the July 24th Alaska cruise. But Seth Wayne made comment this was being worked on. I would guess in the next 4 to 5 weeks a lot of things will be made known.  FUN TIMES AHEAD   😄  Kind of like waiting for Christmas Morning 😉

Lisa, that's great information, thanks!  They should already have our passports, but how would you go about uploading vaccination cards to our phones when it's basically just a postcard? Take a picture of it?

 

I don't mind using my phone for checking in, but the HAL app is not 100% reliable, I finally got it loaded on my last cruise but not via HAL wifi, I had to go up on deck at Vancouver Place and use my cell phone signal to get the app loaded. It was ridiculous, and good thing we were in port.

 

I hope HAL has a plan b for not just the tech savvy deprived but the reliability of their own system. But I'd like to think they had plenty of time to work on it.

[Suzanne123]

Something odd on the HAL app - Dining Room on the Lido?

 

[kazu]

6 hours ago, atexsix said:

They should already have our passports, but how would you go about uploading vaccination cards to our phones when it's basically just a postcard? Take a picture of it?

 

Just my thought if I need to do it (and will happily).  I’ll take pic of it, convert it to PDF and then upload it.  I am sure a pic will do, though.

[curtdesilets]

On 5/20/2021 at 4:35 PM, LAFFNVEGAS said:

Well, I did it 😃 I just felt we absolutely needed to be on the first Alaska Cruise for July 24th on the Nieuw Amsterdam, we are already booked for September 4th and have that almost paid in full. We are not canceling that cruise but felt we also had to be on this cruise. And why not, our Nieuw Statendam Amsterdam cruise for July 11th got canceled last week.

I even got really emotional booking this,  I booked the air and transfers from HAL, air prices were actually really good.

If anyone is interested I think I will do one of my Live From threads here on CC. I think it should be lots of fun. 

Not crazy at all.  We will be on the August 7th one.  Looking forward to your review.  As the Aussies say: "Good on you mate".  Awesome choice. 

 

Edited May 23, 2021 by curtdesilets
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[anaco_angler]

It's wonderful to be discussing actual cruises again after the too-long hiatus. Does anyone know whether passengers will be restricted to ship-sponsored shore excursions, or will independent or self-guided tours be allowed? HAL bubble or free range?

[quack2]

18 hours ago, LAFFNVEGAS said:

Bill Fletcher with Holland America stated yesterday on Facebook with Seth Wayne they would be adjusting and giving more time in Ketchikan. I am thinking probably 3pm instead of 1pm, they did not give an exact time.

Just going by the itinerary on Holland website.  Ketchikan is 7am to 1 pm

[curtdesilets]

6 minutes ago, quack2 said:

Just going by the itinerary on Holland website.  Ketchikan is 7am to 1 pm

It's awesome to be the 1st ship in Ketchikan. Last time this happened: I am typically up by 5am and like to be the 1st one off the ship @ 7am.  You can watch the whole town wake up.  I have headed straight to the nature trail just East of the town. You can catch it at the end of Canal Street.   Then when you are done with your hike, you can see all the shops opening up and the hoards of tourists getting off while you get back on the boat to meet your wife for Breakfast. // Give it a shot. 

 

[quack2]

Just now, curtdesilets said:

It's awesome to be the 1st ship in Ketchikan. Last time this happened: I am typically up by 5am and like to be the 1st one off the ship @ 7am.  You can watch the whole town wake up.  I have headed straight to the nature trail just East of the town. You can catch it at the end of Canal Street.   Then when you are done with your hike, you can see all the shops opening up and the hoards of tourists getting off while you get back on the boat to meet your wife for Breakfast. // Give it a shot. 

 

No cruises this year.  I am doing a 12 day photography tour in Alaska in July.  Denali to Katmai.

[curtdesilets]

3 minutes ago, quack2 said:

No cruises this year.  I am doing a 12 day photography tour in Alaska in July.  Denali to Katmai.

That sounds just as good if not better.  Have fun.  Share some photos on the HAL pages. 

Edited May 23, 2021 by curtdesilets
spelling

[atexsix]

2 hours ago, Suzanne123 said:

Something odd on the HAL app - Dining Room on the Lido?

 

A new way of marketing it?  

 

The Lido doesn't work for us, too crowded for us, we much prefer to be pampered in the MDR.

[Suzanne123]

Well, they show the Lido Market on the Lido deck, too, so probably just a typo on the web site.  Unless they would do something like Princess used to do with nice tablecloths and place settings at night in the Horizon Court. 

 

[atexsix]

1 minute ago, Suzanne123 said:

Well, they show the Lido Market on the Lido deck, too, so probably just a typo on the web site.  Unless they would do something like Princess used to do with nice tablecloths and place settings at night in the Horizon Court. 

 

I don't see nice tablecloths in the picture, LOL, nor did they have them on our last cruise.  The food was good as there were times we HAD to dine there or we popped in for a snack.  I've never been in there at night though.  

[zelker]

56 minutes ago, curtdesilets said:

It's awesome to be the 1st ship in Ketchikan. Last time this happened: I am typically up by 5am and like to be the 1st one off the ship @ 7am.  You can watch the whole town wake up.  I have headed straight to the nature trail just East of the town. You can catch it at the end of Canal Street.   Then when you are done with your hike, you can see all the shops opening up and the hoards of tourists getting off while you get back on the boat to meet your wife for Breakfast. // Give it a shot. 

 

By any chance, do you mean the trail at the end of Creek Street, the goes to the Cape Fox Lodge?  (I don't believe there's a Canal Street in Ketchikan)

 

[atexsix]

1 minute ago, atexsix said:

I don't see nice tablecloths in the picture, LOL, nor did they have them on our last cruise.  The food was good as there were times we HAD to dine there or we popped in for a snack.  I've never been in there at night though.  

A few family members did a Panama Canal a couple of years ago and had every meal there.  I was flabbergasted!  3 meals a day for 23 days in the LIDO? 😲 Can't imagine anything more horrifying, but I guess some people like it.

[zelker]

5 minutes ago, Suzanne123 said:

Well, they show the Lido Market on the Lido deck, too, so probably just a typo on the web site.  

Once you're on a specific cruise, I'm guessing the proper decks for each one will be correct.  For now, it's just generic (pick a deck, any deck) ... unless you have a Lido Deck in your house.  🤭

[atexsix]

9 minutes ago, zelker said:

Once you're on a specific cruise, I'm guessing the proper decks for each one will be correct.  For now, it's just generic (pick a deck, any deck) ... unless you have a Lido Deck in your house.  🤭

All during the lockdowns I would do things like that.  I didn't call the patio the Lido, but I'd refer to dinner as first or second seating depending on what time we ate.  Silly I know.  But those were dark depressing times, all we had were our memories because we didn't know when we'd be able to cruise again.

 

Lisa said it was emotional booking her Alaska cruise in July, I completely get that!

[kazu]

14 minutes ago, atexsix said:

I don't see nice tablecloths in the picture, LOL, nor did they have them on our last cruise.  The food was good as there were times we HAD to dine there or we popped in for a snack.  I've never been in there at night though.  

 

We don’t usually eat in the Lido at night but I have seen it prepared.  And when DH didn’t feel like dressing up one time I said ok, we’ll eat in the Lido and we went.  He changed his mind and dressed up.  There were definitely tablecloths there in the evening.  Cruises where I saw it (noticed) were old Rotterdam and Prinsendam.

[atexsix]

12 minutes ago, kazu said:

 

We don’t usually eat in the Lido at night but I have seen it prepared.  And when DH didn’t feel like dressing up one time I said ok, we’ll eat in the Lido and we went.  He changed his mind and dressed up.  There were definitely tablecloths there in the evening.  Cruises where I saw it (noticed) were old Rotterdam and Prinsendam.

I really don't think I've ever gone up there for dinner, I did the late night buffet thing once and it reminded me of Denny's at around 2 in the morning, an eclectic mix of ages/lifestyles in there at that hour 🙂

Edited May 23, 2021 by atexsix

[LAFFNVEGAS]

11 hours ago, atexsix said:

Lisa, that's great information, thanks!  They should already have our passports, but how would you go about uploading vaccination cards to our phones when it's basically just a postcard? Take a picture of it?

 

I don't mind using my phone for checking in, but the HAL app is not 100% reliable, I finally got it loaded on my last cruise but not via HAL wifi, I had to go up on deck at Vancouver Place and use my cell phone signal to get the app loaded. It was ridiculous, and good thing we were in port.

 

I hope HAL has a plan b for not just the tech savvy deprived but the reliability of their own system. But I'd like to think they had plenty of time to work on it.

If HAL does like NCL has done Pre pandemic, also Princess has the same, their app had a function with you camera that would scan you passport. Then I am sure with the Vaccine cards you would scan that as well. Although not sure if they have a way to prove if they are legit or not. I do not know if the codes that show with my vaccine actually mean something that can be verified or not. Or is there a data base verifying type of vaccine with date, name and age. I am thinking that is the case and they may actually be able to verify. It was mentioned they will want this in advance of sailing. 

[atexsix]

5 minutes ago, LAFFNVEGAS said:

If HAL does like NCL has done Pre pandemic, also Princess has the same, their app had a function with you camera that would scan you passport. Then I am sure with the Vaccine cards you would scan that as well. Although not sure if they have a way to prove if they are legit or not. I do not know if the codes that show with my vaccine actually mean something that can be verified or not. Or is there a data base verifying type of vaccine with date, name and age. I am thinking that is the case and they may actually be able to verify. It was mentioned they will want this in advance of sailing. 

Hmmm, that could get interesting.  If that is the case that they will be utilizing a database then I'd want to verify on my own in some way before the sailing so if there's a problem it can be worked out ahead of time.  That's a lot of record keeping, being reported in by a lot of people, a lot of room for error.  

[kazu]

8 minutes ago, LAFFNVEGAS said:

If HAL does like NCL has done Pre pandemic, also Princess has the same, their app had a function with you camera that would scan you passport. Then I am sure with the Vaccine cards you would scan that as well. Although not sure if they have a way to prove if they are legit or not. I do not know if the codes that show with my vaccine actually mean something that can be verified or not. Or is there a data base verifying type of vaccine with date, name and age. I am thinking that is the case and they may actually be able to verify. It was mentioned they will want this in advance of sailing. 

 

Our vaccine proof is not like yours but it has our actual batch on it that we received of Pfizer along with the date, etc.

 

[atexsix]

2 minutes ago, kazu said:

 

Our vaccine proof is not like yours but it has our actual batch on it that we received of Pfizer along with the date, etc.

 

I just looked at mine, the American ones have vaccine type, lot number, and the place that administered it, and date of course