Our Statendam Embarkation & Disembarkation

[Krazy Kruizers]

As some of you know we flew out to Seattle for a few days rest before taking HAL's bus to Vancouver on June 16. We have done HAL's buses in the past here. We had a longgggg bus ride. We were picked up at our hotel, the Downtown Sheraton at 10:30 & if all had gone well we should have been in Vancouver between 2 and 2:30. But because of construction in Blaine, on the American side of the border & heavy traffic in Vancouver, we did not get to the ship until 3:30. We were fortunate that the bus the left the airport on time and picked us up by 10:30. Any later than that and we would have been caught in a traffic jam making us even later getting to the ship as that was the day that President Bush was flying into Seattle to meet with Bill Gates at his home. As we were traveling along the highway, the motorcycle cops were already getting into position. It took us 1/2 hour at Blaine to go 1/2 mile!!!

 

By the time we checked in and went through immigration to get on the ship, we were in our cabin by 3:45. A quick glance at the daily program and we saw that the life boat drill was scheduled for 4:15. We also noticed that there wasn't any air-conditioning in our suite - we couldn't even hear a motor running. And then DH went to use the toilet and the toilet seat fell off the commode! We dashed down to the Neptune Lounge and introduced ourselves to Mel and told her about our problems. We also grabbed a couple of cookies being as we had had nothing to eat or drink since we had breakfast at the hotel at 8 AM. We have done this bus transfer before and were always given a box lunch to eat on the bus. This time we got nothing! Not even a bottle of water! And no one had warned us about his situation or we would have gone prepared. After talking to Mel we went back to our cabin and got our life jacekts and went to the lifeboat drill. For some unknown reason they dragged it out and it wasn't over till nearly 4:45. Within a few minutes of getting back to our stateroom, our luggage began to arrive. So we spent the next 45 minutes unpacking and changing for our 5:30 dinner. Mel also stopped by and told us that earlier in the day a hose broke somewhere in the vacinity of our cabin and that several cabins were without air-conditioning. It was fixed by the time we returned from dinner and left for the 8:15 show. We were told that the toilet seat would be fixed the next day. I should add that after the show DH decided to take a shower - another problem - there were 3 holes in the hose and water was spraying everywhere - very little coming out of the shower head itself. So we reported that the next day and it was replaced as well.

 

Disembarkation

You can be certain that we were prepared for the bus ride from Vancouver back to Seattle. We took bottled water with us and sealed packages of crackers as you are not allowed to take any food like rolls, fruit, etc that is not sealed (not even candy) off the ship and into Canada. Our bus group was the last one to be called at 9:50. We had been told the previous evening that they wanted to get to Vancouver by 6 AM, start disembarking by 8 and have everyone off the ship by 9. That didn't happen - the ship didn't even get to Vancouver until 7 and colors and numbers weren't called until 8:20. The evening before everyone received a letter indicating that we all had to vacate our cabins by 8 AM. All the lounges except 2 were mobbed! Yes there probably were some people who did remain in their cabins until they called but we followed orders and left a couple minutes before 8. The area that could hold the largest number of people was the Van Gogh Lounge which was closed to all but about 50 people - even the balcony was closed. There were 8 HAL representatives working on boarding passes as these people had booked their air through HAL. The Wajang Theatre was also closed as this area was reserved for the wheel chair passengers. After leaving the ship we stood in line in the hall of the terminal until our bus got there and our luggage was loaded onto it. We were each given a bottle of water. And once again no box lunch as we had gotten in the past. We finally were able to board the bus at 10:20. We got to the border at 11:25 and for the first time in years we did not have to get off the bus, claim our luggage and have it taken by conveyer into the immigration building. This was something new for us - before we left Vancouver pier, a seal was put on the door of the bus. Because the seal was not broken by the time we got to the border, we zipped right through. The immigration person broke the seal, asked the bus driver how many people were board, took the form from the driver and waved us on. He didn't even bother to collect our customs forms. We were done in 30 second!!! Even our bus driver commented that that was the fastest he has gone through there in a long time. We had no traffic or construction problems and got to the airport at 1:45 to drop off those passengers. It used to be that the HAL buses would only drop off hotel people at the Airport Hilton. That wasn't the case on our bus. Our driver had a list of 4 hotels. Ours was the closest to the airport but our driver decided to start with the hotels furthest away which was Sleep Inn(?). He had never heard of it and had to get instructions from the those passengers staying as to where to go - and he got lost on the way. We finally got to our hotel, the Hilton at 2:45.

[Grumpy1]

Was this one of those trips where you ask each other... "OK, what's going to go wrong next?" I did that bus ride with RCCL in 1998. Long and boring... even though we had a "guide" that tried to keep us entertained. "See those black and white cows? Those are Holsteins. Do you know what the little ones are? Those are halfsteins.":rolleyes: The biggest difference was that they did not want to bring the bus downtown to pick us up. Everyone else was at the airport. They sent a limo to pick us up and take to the hotel by the airport.:D

 

It sounds like they were going to do a disinfecting/cleaning if they wanted everyone out of their cabins by 8a.

[Pudgesmom]

I am curious as to why you did not take your relaxation time in Vancouver? Or book a cruise from Seattle?

 

The bus rides sound terrible!!! I know that would make a rugged start to any vacation. We had a 2 1/2 hour bus trip turn into a 5 1/2 hour ordeal last January. Never again! I'm arranging my own transportation from now on!

 

Beth

[Krazy Kruizers]

Pudgesmom

 

We love being able to do back-to-back cruises with slightly different itineraries. Unfortunately Hal does not offer any Alaskan cruises out of Seattle that go to Seward and then return to Seatlle or we would book them.

 

To try and fly directly to Vancouver from Pittsburgh is a nightmare. It now reguires 2 layovers DH is no longer able to take 14 - 16 hour flight days. Nearly 10 hours going to Seattle was hard on him. Pittsburgh International isn't what it used to be. No direct flights to the west coast anymore. US Airways has gone from 570 flights a day down to 170 flights. And the other lines are not picking up the slack - they claim there is no demand. We do our own air. But we have to depend on HAL to get us to Vancouver as they will handle the luggage.

[Krazy Kruizers]

Grumpy 1

 

We are used to things happening on all cruises. Cruising with us is never boring!!

 

They claim that they were going to start to disemfect the ship right away. We sat in the Casino bar for an hour and watched 3 people we saw walking around and looking at things and not working. All of them appeared to be in their twenties and didn't seem to have a clue as to what to do. I got the impression that this was a summer job for them. Hopefully someone and more people came on later to do the work.

 

The year we got to Ft Lauderdale from the Amsterdam cruise, there were 200 workers waiting to get on the ship to start to sanitize when we got there. We had been informed of the number by the hotel manager. We were able to see all the workers waiting to board the ship from our verandah.

[amusea]

I realize that it is nice to have HAL handle your luggage but I found that the train service between Seattle and Vancouver was wonderful. For a lot of the time the train track hugs the coastline so it is scenic. The rail cars are fairly new - I think they are of Spanish manufacture. The cost of the ride is subsidized by the government. There is coach and first class - the latter includes a credit towards food in the dining car. I only took the train northbound because it leaves from Seattle in the morning but returns from Vancouver in the late afternoon and I did not want to have to hang around Vancouver with my luggage. After a long boring bus ride back to Seattle with the usual stop at the border where we all alighted and then reboarded, I really appreciated the train which avoids this problem. Customs was done in Vancouver after leaving the train and first class passengers were allowed off before coach passengers. Very simple. The best part is that first class is only about ten or fifteen dollars more than coach. Well worth the small

extra charge. I think it was about $45.00 but this was a few years ago.

I'm glad that at least they have found a way to eliminate the long delay at

the border for the bus ride.

[sail7seas]

Just in case I was wavering and thinking I might entertain the idea of an Alaska cruise.....You convinced me to not change my mind. No Alaska for me!!! Not worth (to me) all it takes to get there and home from the right coast...from Boston. I don't have near enough interest in that destination to put up with 10 hours + travel days.

 

If I'm going to travel that many hours, I'd rather go to Europe.

 

[RuthC]

It's not that hard from Boston, sail. I had a non-stop from Boston to Vancouver. It was six hours. Not a walk in the park, to be sure, but not horrible.

The airport is convenient to downtown. And downtown is convenient to Canada Place! :D

Alaska is indescribably beautiful.

[sail7seas]

There you go again, Ruth....being perfectly reasonable!!!! :)

 

I hope you have a grand time. Each time I hear about someone's fabulous Alaskan experience......there I go again, thinking....Hmmm, maybe I'll reconsider.

 

Let us know how smoothly the travel to and from goes. You know I wish you a flawless experience.

[Markandrews]

On past HAL cruises, as "S" category passengers we have been able to wait in the Neptune lounge for Disembarkation. You mentioned meeting with the conceirge in your post so I wondered if this was not an option for you? It is much better then a crowded public lounge on what is usually a frantic morning.

 

PS: Did you enjoy your actual cruise?

[cruznon]

Sail,

My DH didn't want to take an Alaskan cruise for 3 years because of the "cold", but he absolutely LOVED this cruise. Alaska is so breathtaking in its beauty and magnitude.

If you fly into Vancouver and take a B2B, travel isn't that difficult. You actually go through US Customs in the Vancouver airport!

[sail7seas]

Funny..........In our house, DH is the one who thinks he'd like to cruise Alaska and it's me that is not real interested.

 

I'll have to look into what the flights are to take us to Vancouver. I think I'd like to see Vancouver maybe as much as (more?) Alaska.

 

I see plenty of ice in Boston. Can drive twenty minutes and catch a whale watching boat....haven't gotten around to doing it though. I do love seeing everyone's photos though. Laffnvegas (Lisa's) pictures she posted were fabulous.

 

 

 

[Barocl]

They must have been trying to rid the ship of a virus because we just finished the back to back from Vancouver on the Veendam and everyone was allowed to stay in their cabin until their color and numbers were called. That was the 28 May cruise. Take care.

[Copper10-8]

To try and fly directly to Vancouver from Pittsburgh is a nightmare. It now reguires 2 layovers DH is no longer able to take 14 - 16 hour flight days. Nearly 10 hours going to Seattle was hard on him. Pittsburgh International isn't what it used to be. No direct flights to the west coast anymore.

 

Hi Yonnie:) thanks very much for your review. Your positive attitude is always very contagious! Just FYI if there's ever going to be a next time for you guys to beautiful Alaska. United has one-stop flights from Pittsburg (8:51 am departure) via Denver to Vancouver (1:09 pm arrival) in 7 hours and 18 minutes with 55 min. in between for an aircraft change at DEN. They also fly to YVR (Vancouver) via Toronto and, besides Denver, have return flights via Chicago or Washington, DC back to PIT.

[doowopbob]

You mentioned that the HA bus stopped at 4 hotels. Do you happen to remember which ones. We're trying to decide where to stay in Seattle overnight before our flight home after our Vancouver docking. I know they stop at the Sheridan (too expensive) and the Hilton Seatac (too far from town). I can't get a straight answer from HA. They also told us we couldn't buy transfers ahead of time if we're not leaving from Seatac that day. Said we would have to buy on the ship. Seems silly since I did buy transfers from Seattle to Vancouver even though we are flying in the previous day!!

[gwenmarie]

Now you might know how it is for all of us west coast cruisers who need to fly to the east coast to get 90% of all cruises. We did our 2nd Alaska cruise in May and it was sure nice to be able to take Amtrak to Seattle,5 min. taxi to the port, board the Westerdam by noon, cruise for 7 wonderful days on a beautiful ship,leave the ship by 9 am,another 5 min taxi to Amtrak in Seattle and back to Portland and home. The most stress free vacation I have ever had. Not one trip to the airport and hours of flying.

[Krazy Kruizers]

amusea

 

The train was not an option for us as DH presently is not allowed to lift any luggage - and we always go with 4 large pieces of luggage and 2 carryons.

[Krazy Kruizers]

Copper 10-8

 

John

 

We did check into United but didn't like their return flight. Also when we booked our airline last August, the 8:51 AM flight out of Pittsburgh didn't exist. We picked what was the best at that time.

[Krazy Kruizers]

Markandrews

 

sail7seas started a thread asking how our cruise was - which I answered - it has probably sunk down a couple of pages by now.

 

We could have stayed in the Neptune Lounge but they do make any announcements there so we would not have been able to hear when our color and number were called.

 

It was great.

[Krazy Kruizers]

doowopbob

 

The bus stopped at the Sleep Inn, Comfort Suites, Airport Marriot, and the Airport Hilton.

[gwenmarie]

We have used train porters in both PDX and Seattle stations,in pretty sure they all have them. The baggage is checked in and stored in the baggage compartment. The red cap service is also very interested in helping with any issues regarding seating and baggage. We plan on using Amtrak to LA or SanDiego on our next cruise to Mexico. HAL gives a discount for train travel to their ports,you just need to ask for the code when you book your cruise.