SaguaroGal

Thank you JTL!!

Where can I find out which ports have Luggage Direct?

We will be on the first half of this cruise next year--following along with great interest.

Thanks for pointing that out--we were of course at Lahaina. Missed that in OP's question.

We found it easily walkable from the tender dock and only one of us is in good walking condition. The show, food and drinks were wonderful!

I am going to appoint myself to a major post too--since the Prime Minister of Canada is taken I will have to give it a think.

Hubs and I bought Scottevests for our Baltic cruise. We felt pretty secure with them in all the ports we visited and it was nice for me not to have to tote a purse around. The only problem was remembering which pockets we'd packed things in for the first couple of days.

I am Viking Ocean Cruise and DH is Cunard. But we are true blue HAL never-the-less.

Fun post!

HAL booked us into the Scandic Palace last August. It is very convenient to the shopping street, Tivoli and tour buses. We enjoyed the included self-serve European breakfast and used the restaurant one evening. Bakeries and many restaurants are very close by.

A downside to the Scandic is that it only has two elevators and getting aboard one is slow when guests are checking in/out. There is a large Double staircase if your knees can handle it!:)

Ask for a room that doesn't face out to the City Hall clock if you are a light sleeper.

On a previous visit we did the Grouse Mountain/Capilano tours but it was early in the season and too foggy to see anything! Will try again this year.

I can recommend Mink--the chocolates are good (and expensive) but the chocolate drinks are out of this world rich and delicious!

We also recommend a Vancouver Food Tour--walking tour of great good trucks. Exercise and food!:)

We were there in August 2015 and I pre-hired Insider Tours for our two days. The manager, Alexandra, responded promptly and was very responsive to our wishes in planning the day. We were toured in a minivan (Hyundai) by an excellent, calm driver and our guide Natalya was very pleasant and knowledgeable.and had very good English. Going private for just the two of us allowed us to set our own pace and our driver was almost magical about bringing his vehicle as close to our pick-up places as possible.

However you decide to tour, be sure to pre-book. This is not a port where you can join a tour on the spur of the moment.

BTW the tour company you contract with will arrange your visa for you. No worries.

What island was that and what was the tour called?

Thanks

 

 

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I booked Lele's Feast on my own using their own website. Actually I think I ended up phoning them after running into a glitch on their site. The cost then was $ 125. Per person. It was in easy walking distance of the tender drop-off

:)

We went to Lele's Feast last year on our Circle Hawaii cruise. It is a Polynesian show with private tables and table service. The dancers do sets from about 5 areas and the meal is served in courses that mirror the area the dance demonstrated. There is a lot of food and it helps to be a bit of an adventurous eater! Drinks and a gorgeous orchid lei are included. The show is performed outside closely overlooking a beach. We had a view of the sunset and our ship, the Veendam, at anchor. We will probably do it again when we repeat the cruise in 2017. It is pricey but we didn't want to do a buffet.

We took each of the tours Land/Sea offered and enjoyed them all. Comfortable sprinter-type bus, small groups and excellent guides. Our TA set us up with one and we booked the others on our own.

We did a walking Foodie Tour of food trucks after an Alaska cruise and really enjoyed that as well. Saw the downtown sights by foot and had some really wild tastings along the way.

Keep them coming!

We were on this same cruise--enjoying the memories as I scroll through your pictures.

Our personal highlight was the transit through Prince Christian Sound.

Thank you Rob for explaining that. Makes good sense.

Emmtee--glad I got you thinking!

We have chipped cards both US and CDN. It will be interesting to see how they work.

Thanks for sharing the credit card link. Will save that one.

I checked with our TA in the meantime and she said that we would check in through HA's FlightEase site.

Ok then I hope it works! :rolleyes:

Thank you for the prompt and succinct replies. We're doing the Baltic/TA on Eurodam this month. So many different currencies. I've ordered the main ones from our bank but wasn't sure how to go about obtaining others or more of the same.

I expect we will mostly pay by credit card when ashore but since I like to haunt farmers markets and vintage shops it helps to have some cash on hand.

If we wish to change USD for local currency while onboard, do we hand over actual USD or is it somehow charged to our onboard account?

Thanks for your help!

This will be our first trip on a flight that HAL booked for us (SAS airline). Will we get the standard email notice from SAS when it's time to check in?

We learned this the hard way in January--coughed up full payment to obtain a very good airfare for our cruise in late Aug. Now I wonder how much the air fare might have risen if I had let it ride for a couple of months. However it was a very good air fare price, so I need to put the aggravation behind me.

The coffee machine (you make your own, one cup at time) is available from the moment the Lounge opens in the morning. I take my first cup straight back to my room. Yum. It is good, strong coffee and you have the option to make the milked up stuff (cappuccino or whatever) or espresso or regular (strong!) coffee. You also have the choice of brewing decaf. But that is not what you're after, is it? ;)

1. Driving in old Quebec city is not for the faint hearted but a drive out to Ile d'Orleans via Montmorency Falls and St Anne de Beaupre is a gourmand's dream--artisanl chocolate, ciders, cassis, breads await. We hired a private driver to get us out of town. The rest of the old town is very walkable--shopper's paradise and once again a gourmand's delight. Be sure to try some poutine (great bar food)

2. In Sydney we booked the Fiddler's concert which is held right in the visitor's center at the pier. It was an easy and thoroughly enjoyable experience. Afterwards there was plenty of time to walk into town for a look-see

The concierge has never printed our boarding passes for us on our 4 cruises, but it is easy to do in the library as long as you have a few paid minutes of wifi time.

We fly AC, AA, Southwest and Delta--when staying in hotels with shared (not secure) computers we just do the check in online on our phone or iPad 24 hours ahead and then print the boarding passes at the airport. The two actions don't necessarily have to be done at the same time.