chas

Thank you again for taking us along on your trip! On the morning that we leave the ship in Quebec, we need to be at the Quebec airport by 9AM. Looking at the transfer option offered by HAL ($24 pp) for the airport shuttle it does not specify departure times from the ship. Any opinions on using UBER, Taxi, or HAL's shuttle to get to the airport that early with 4 people? I see that you have mentioned that the ship is in a secure area in Quebec. Do they allow the transportation options to pick you up right at the ship, or do you need to walk out of the secure area to your shuttle, cab, etc?

We don't normally do an excursion in each port, and often like to just get off of the ship to walk around. Which ports would you say have good shopping and things to see within walking distance of the ship, and which have not much of anything and are better enjoyed by getting away from the port? Thanks again for all of the information and photos!

Perfect timing! We'll be onboard in a couple weeks and look forward to learning a lot from your posts. I'll be interested to hear about your overall impression of the ship, service, food, shows, etc.

I see that this veered off a bit, however, regarding the original question of how many tables are held for onboard reservations: Going on Zuiderdam Sept 9 and see that, for the most part, if you want to reserve at Pinnacle most days you have to wait until 8 pm. Have you had luck, once onboard, of getting a specialty dinning reservation for a time not offered in advance on the website or app?

Thank you very much Halijo1935 and POA1! I was able to use HAL's chat and they changed the boarding times for us. Safe travels everyone!

This will be our first HAL cruise and I too was shocked when the day after printing our boarding documents I get an email stating that we are in group "N" for 3:20 boarding. This is for the Zuiderdam out of Boston on 9/9/23. Even though I finished the online check-in many weeks ago, I didn't print our luggage tags and boarding passes until 2 days ago. On all of the cruises that we've ever taken, we have never been given such a late boarding time! What is the earliest that people are seeing embarkation for this cruise? We're traveling with my father, who has some issues that would make boarding earlier better for us. Should I bother to contact HAL and request a change in boarding time, to ideally around noon? Will they change it if asked? I'm worried about "rolling the dice" and just showing up early. Thanks, Chas.