Getting an understanding of embarkation process and questions about life onboard the ship.

[steve4031]

There a several first for this cruise.  My first HAL cruise, my first cruise in a suite, and my first cruise out of Vancouver. I just made the final payment and its is 91 days away. I am excited!!!!  I would really like for the embarkation to go smoothly as possible, so the parts that I can control I want to make sure I understand ahead of time.  

 

1st question:   I know that I need to have my cruise documents printed out, and the luggage tags printed out.  We both need to have our passports out.  We need to have ArriveCan completed for the cruise and for the flight from the United States to Canada.  We need to show are vaccine cards and are test results.  My first question:  Can I use my phone to show pictures and PDFs of both of our vaccine cards and test results, or do we need to have the paper copies out?  Am I missing something here?

 

2nd question.  We have anytime dining in the club orange dining room on the Koningsdam because we are in a Neptune Suite.  If we usually like to eat between 5 and 6 p.m., is it easy to just show up and be seated, or do we need to make reservations?  

 

3rd question:  On the first night out of Vancouver we cruise between Vancouver Island and the mainland.  Then the next day we cross a larger body of water which is a sea day.  On the last sea day we cross this same body of water.  I am wondering if we cruise between Vancouver Island and the mainland on the return?  Also, is this the area that we would most likely experience rougher seas?  I am thinking on other days we are pretty much among islands and the waters would be calmer.

 

Thank you for your patience.  

 

 

[CruiserBruce]

No, you don't need to print luggage tags. 

 

Yes, digital copies of your phone are fine.

 

Every cruise demographic is different. Hard to say what the demand at Club Orange will be in any time frame.  I think you will make it work.

 

Seas can be rough any time, anywhere.  They aren't predictable more than a few days out....you shouldn't try to predict them, and just accept you are on a ship... the sea moves, the ship moves. If calm seas are required for your survival on a ship...maybe cruising isn't good for you.

[steve4031]

Thank you.  I wasn't really worried about rough seas. Just more curious as to what we would experience. 

[The-Inside-Cabin]

32 minutes ago, steve4031 said:

There a several first for this cruise.  My first HAL cruise, my first cruise in a suite, and my first cruise out of Vancouver. I just made the final payment and its is 91 days away. I am excited!!!!  I would really like for the embarkation to go smoothly as possible, so the parts that I can control I want to make sure I understand ahead of time.  

 

1st question:   I know that I need to have my cruise documents printed out, and the luggage tags printed out.  We both need to have our passports out.  We need to have ArriveCan completed for the cruise and for the flight from the United States to Canada.  We need to show are vaccine cards and are test results.  My first question:  Can I use my phone to show pictures and PDFs of both of our vaccine cards and test results, or do we need to have the paper copies out?  Am I missing something here?

 

2nd question.  We have anytime dining in the club orange dining room on the Koningsdam because we are in a Neptune Suite.  If we usually like to eat between 5 and 6 p.m., is it easy to just show up and be seated, or do we need to make reservations?  

 

3rd question:  On the first night out of Vancouver we cruise between Vancouver Island and the mainland.  Then the next day we cross a larger body of water which is a sea day.  On the last sea day we cross this same body of water.  I am wondering if we cruise between Vancouver Island and the mainland on the return?  Also, is this the area that we would most likely experience rougher seas?  I am thinking on other days we are pretty much among islands and the waters would be calmer.

 

Thank you for your patience.  

 

 

While you don't need to print out the stuff on your phone, I usually do since I find it easier to hand the agents the paper and let them scan it or type it in or whatever.   

 

Sometimes your phone will go to screen saver, they "touch something" and it moves off the screen you want or a variety of other fiddly stuff.   Plus if you hand them your phone they might drop it - unlikely - sure - but I find it easier to hand them a few pieces of paper and stand back.  

 

 

[Sharon in AZ]

1.  I always print out our covid test results and have always shown my vaccine card so can’t answer this one. 
 

2.  Club Orange— I’m not sure if it opens at 5:00 or 5:30, it depends on your particular sailing. Anyway, if you arrive when they first open there will probably be a line but it should clear quickly. No reservations. But they do get to know you and your routine, likes, dislikes, etc. 

 

3.  We have sailed this area 3 times.  On two you could feel the motion of the ocean and one was rough, I almost missed our meet & greet, and even my DH got seasick which is unusual. 
 

Enjoy your cruise and Alaska and HAL and your Neptune Suite!

[Laminator]

31 minutes ago, CruiserBruce said:

No, you don't need to print luggage tags. 

 

You don't need to print your luggage tags?

Edited May 8, 2022 by Laminator

[CruiserBruce]

9 minutes ago, Laminator said:

You don't need to print your luggage tags?

Nope. Porters will have them at the pier. Haven't printed them in our last 8 or 10 cruises going back at least a dozen years.

[Laminator]

2 minutes ago, CruiserBruce said:

Nope. Porters will have them at the pier. Haven't printed them in our last 8 or 10 cruises going back at least a dozen years.

Ok...Now I got it. The poster seemed to want to expedite the process. I think printing your luggage tags in advance would be more beneficial. 

[12cruise2]

2 hours ago, The-Inside-Cabin said:

While you don't need to print out the stuff on your phone, I usually do since I find it easier to hand the agents the paper and let them scan it or type it in or whatever.   

 

Sometimes your phone will go to screen saver, they "touch something" and it moves off the screen you want or a variety of other fiddly stuff.   Plus if you hand them your phone they might drop it - unlikely - sure - but I find it easier to hand them a few pieces of paper and stand back.  

 

 

I completely agree with your suggestion to be ready to hand it all over in paper form.  Just for getting to the cruise port to check in, I put the four documents in a neck pouch--the passport, the covid vaccination record card, the covid test result form and the boarding pass.  I've had a situation where the lady at the entrance door to the terminal said hold up your four documents before you come in!  Then as you work through the checkin process, each step requires different documents, so I am able to put away the docs quickly that are not needed at that station.  And of course, they put going through security in the middle of the check-in process so that you end up having to show a selection of docs before and after security, so you don't want your passport and docs in your hand, or your phone in your hand, during the time you're going through security.  All in all, it goes quickly.  Depending on a phone takes forever while scrolling through trying to find the right doc.

[12cruise2]

2 hours ago, Laminator said:

Ok...Now I got it. The poster seemed to want to expedite the process. I think printing your luggage tags in advance would be more beneficial. 

I agree, print your luggage tags--much easier.  I have a very small stapler that stays in my suitcase between trips and that I use to attach the luggage tags in the hotel room after the flight and before boarding; takes just a minute.  Less to fiddle with at the port.

[HappyInVan]

Just got back on the Koningsdam to Alaska. 

 

The sea was exceptional calm, even in open waters. Just a little turbulence for short periods of time. In the Straits of Georgia and Queen Charlotte Straits (between Vancouver Island and the mainland), the sea was calm northbound and southbound.

 

My advise is to use the Verify app. I did not and I spend half an hour in a queue before reaching the first processing station. The pax with Verify confirmation were able to bypass the queue.

 

It took another half hour to finish processing, USA immigration, and boarding. This was @1pm.

 

[Caribbean Chris]

Be sure to look for a suite check-in line or area. In my experience, being a Neptune passenger often will move you through the embarkation process more quickly, 

[Florida_gal_50]

I’m another on that prints up my luggage tags.  I put them in a pouch and attach with a pipe cleaner.  No way I’m bringing a stapler or trying to find one.

[deliver42]

We bring a roll of scotch tape in our carry on, and switch tags when we get off the plane.

[ChinaShrek]

I also never print luggage tags. You cabin assignment can change between when you print them out and when you sail on the ship. This happened on my cruise in February. I had a cabin on deck 4 of the Rotterdam selected and then two days before my cruise I was put on decl 8. If I printed stuff ahead of time and never looked at the app again, who knows where my luggage would be? I just show them my phone.

Edited May 8, 2022 by ChinaShrek

[SJSULIBRARIAN]

You can also eat breakfast in the Club Orange Dining Room on the Konigsdam. When I was on it in February, the staff gets to know everyone very quickly, and if you have a table you particularly like, it is yours for the duration of the cruise if you get there early. Breakfast hours are the same as the main dining room, usually 8AM on sea days, earlier on port days. Dinner time was 5:00 or 5:15 when I was on the K.

 

I agree with carrying all the documents you need for embarkation in a pouch around your neck. So many times, I have seen passengers searching through multiple carry-on bags, trying to find their passport or whatever. When the embarkation staff see me and my documents around my neck,, they have me bypass those in front of me who are fumbling.

 

Enjoy your cruise. It was my first time on the Konigsdam in a Neptune Suite and I loved it.

[Florida_gal_50]

29 minutes ago, ChinaShrek said:

I also never print luggage tags. You cabin assignment can change between when you print them out and when you sail on the ship. This happened on my cruise in February. I had a cabin on deck 4 of the Rotterdam selected and then two days before my cruise I was put on decl 8. If I printed stuff ahead of time and never looked at the app again, who knows where my luggage would be? I just show them my phone.

I’m pretty sure it would still be on the ship 😉.

[Florida_gal_50]

26 minutes ago, SJSULIBRARIAN said:

You can also eat breakfast in the Club Orange Dining Room on the Konigsdam. When I was on it in February, the staff gets to know everyone very quickly, and if you have a table you particularly like, it is yours for the duration of the cruise if you get there early. Breakfast hours are the same as the main dining room, usually 8AM on sea days, earlier on port days. Dinner time was 5:00 or 5:15 when I was on the K.

 

I agree with carrying all the documents you need for embarkation in a pouch around your neck. So many times, I have seen passengers searching through multiple carry-on bags, trying to find their passport or whatever. When the embarkation staff see me and my documents around my neck,, they have me bypass those in front of me who are fumbling.

 

Enjoy your cruise. It was my first time on the Konigsdam in a Neptune Suite and I loved it.

Yes people can be very disorganized but you don’t have to have a pouch to be organized.  If I had that pouch I’d feel like I was 5 years old.  I have an old document holder hal gave out years ago and have my passport at the ready. I have everything right at the front that I know that I’ll need so when I get to the door I can easily have them in hand.  It doesn’t seem a lot of people are like that.  I’ve heard some people say they’ve packed their passport in their suitcase.  When I was horrified they thought it was not a big deal.  Whatever works.  It’s important to have everything at the ready no matter how you hold it.

Edited May 8, 2022 by Florida_gal_50

[Dismomx5]

I typically print everything off and have it all in one, easily accessible spot. I have a document folder in which to keep them all together.

 

One of the best purchase I made years ago we’re plastic luggage tags holders for the ship. I prepare them, toss them in my suitcase and then add them after I remove the airline tags. Very handy! 

[Florida_gal_50]

22 minutes ago, Dismomx5 said:

I typically print everything off and have it all in one, easily accessible spot. I have a document folder in which to keep them all together.

 

One of the best purchase I made years ago we’re plastic luggage tags holders for the ship. I prepare them, toss them in my suitcase and then add them after I remove the airline tags. Very handy! 

I have those tags too.  Very handy except they seem to go into hiding when I look for them for the next cruise.

[1025cruise]

I just cruised another line to Bermuda, which also has special requirements.

I printed my luggage tag, but didn't have a way to attach it. When I got to the port, the porter just filled out their own tag.

While I'm a fan of having digital everything, I think having all of my paper ready to go (boarding pass, Covid card, test result, Bermuda authorization form) sped things up versus having to get everything up on my phone.

[molly2kit]

Just boarded Koningsdam yesterday in Vancouver.  I live in Vancouver. I had printed boarding tags and did have a room change but just printed new ones.  
 

The whole checkin was a ton of walking to different levels and areas. We were very late because of horrible traffic and ended up getting dropped at a Canada Line station to take the train in.   Having luggage tags already on the cases really helped. 
 

I had paper copies of test and boarding pass but the number one tip I could give anyone is to have the Verifly app on your phone and load all your information on it ahead of time.  We literally had not one person ahead of us in the check in line, the staff scanned passport, took a picture of me and I walked on.   There were hundreds of people waiting in the other lines and no one in the Verifly line

 

I was asked for the paper boarding pass a couple of times to enter a couple of areas, never for test.   Of course the test was already loaded into Verifly

 

 

 

 

 

 

[albingirl]

I tend to be very organized.  I just keep everything together, after I've checked at least three times that I have everything, and check in goes very smoothly.  Never, ever would I pack a passport in my suitcase.  Can you imagine if your luggage is lost? There's a fellow on the NCL boards who had his luggage lost on an airline and he went the entire cruise without his luggage.  Imagine that.  Luckily for him, one stop was in San Juan, and he was able to go to Marshall's there.  

[Dismomx5]

6 hours ago, Florida_gal_50 said:

I have those tags too.  Very handy except they seem to go into hiding when I look for them for the next cruise.

 I keep them in the suitcases themselves because otherwise I’d never find them. 😂

[steve4031]

I thank all of you for your replies.  They were reassuring.  

I am having difficulty with the Verifly app.  I've successfully added the HAL booking to the app and taken my photo and added the other person’s photo.   But i am unable to add the vaccination status for either one of us.  The words are grayed out and nothing happens when I press on them.  

 

What's frustrating is that I successfully entered my information a few weeks ago   But when I went back was unable to add her vaccination status.  I deleted the trip and started over.  Now I can’t even enter my vaccination status, which I had successfully done earlier.  I deleted the app from my phone and tried again with no luck. 

 

I've read some other threads and saw that others had difficulty too.  

 

I prefer to use the app to shorten our wait in line.  
 

My question:   Will being in a Neptune suite still shorten the wait of I Am unable to get verifly to work?
 

Thank you.