GwenA

Question:  need air info/suggestions...  We are finishing a Viking Cruise in Basel, heading to Germany to visit family - what is the best route airport-wise to get me back to Minnesota, USA with fewest stops, I'm older and don't want to be dashing through airports or stand in a 4hour line.

thinking our departing airport would be Frankfurt.

I do think this requirement is crazy.  As I say that, I am getting ready to go on my 2nd Viking cruise in 40+ days.....  I will say the whole reservation/air process just doesn't as welcoming (accommodating) as the prior one.  That all being said what other cruises are similar?  Not really looking for the giant ship feel - I'm older I don't need a water slide and all the entertainment.

Got back from a River Cruise with Viking. Thought we’d bee treated well on our HAL Alaska Cruise, Viking is hands down the BEST, the staff, the kitchen, Cruise director, the port stops and outings. The food was to die for. Took my mom who is experiencing early Alzheimer’s, and the staff was so super helpful & understanding.

We are getting close, and just received an email and I am looking for input here. We are sailing on the Westerdam. It will be my son & I. We currently are in a Verandah, Signature Suite & perfectly happy - they are offering Neptune Best Availiable - I don't know if that would be so great, for $199/PP USD, what if I get a bad location, and do we REALLY need all that space/ perks, as we are very casual folks. This is my "Bucket List" trip, so if seasoned travelers could chime in I would really appreciate it. We are doing Alaska Sea + Land :)

It was the same on the Westerdam. The tv was mounted across from th bed with no place tp put a DVD except on the floor with a fairly long cable. Even if that was possibe, you would run the risk of tripping on the DVD or stepping on it as there was not a lot of room between the bed and the wall.

Thanks this was EXTREMELY helpful, as we are sailing on the Westerdam in May ( Happy Mothers Day to Me ;p ), and were going to bring some DVDs. So now we will save space.

So since they are discouraging DVDs with the large TV mount, but still advertising, does that mean that they have On-Demand available for our sea days?

I have on board ship credits, and credits from paying my cruise with the HAL credit card. Is there a way I can use those credits to pre-pay for beverage cards, or massages?

Since this is our first cruise I have no idea. We will have our credit card with us, and plan on using that. But how much CASH USD and Canadian should we bring and in what denominations, I am thinking some small for tipping, and is that OK to be in USD?

Thanks for the help.

I am getting ready to depart on my very first cruise, and it happens to be on HAL. I am nervous & disappointed to read these kinds of posts. I was looking forward to being on a smaller ship, less intimidating :)

Here is a question for you more frequent cruisers - where you have cruised other than HAL - what other lines & why?

This will be our first cruise. I was just going to use my Samsung S7, but since it has my life on it, I don't want it to get wet, due to weather & excursions.

So do I get a P/S, or get a quality water-proof case for the phone.

I am a US citizen, will the Global Entry Card (Will have passport also) expedite embarkation or disembarkation?

Will I have a separate line, hopefully shorter🙄

HAL Alaska, departing from Vancouver, getting off Seward Alaska

Very minor corrections to above info - cabs to PP are exactly CAD$35 but only $31 to almost all downtown hotels except Fairmont Waterfront/Pacific Rim (also $35), Westin Bayshire and Sylvia ($37). Tips are discretionary - do as you would in the US.

 

As already mentioned, there are many cheaper alternatives that are quite walkable - and ANY downtown hotel to the pier should be ~$10 or less on the meter of a cab (although caveat, the bottleneck entering the pier area means that your meter keeps ticking away so on busy cruise mornings budget $15 in case). Living downtown I don't need to stay in hotels so can't give a good personal recco in terms of service/quality of bedding etc., but TripAdvisor has hundreds or thousands of reviews on all our hotels - and Google Maps will show you exactly where they are in relation to the pier (it's impossible to be much over a mile away from any downtown hotel though).

 

I see that you're visiting us on a 4 ship day OP - this will be best described as horrible. Early season so new staff learning the ropes, one of the very first ever 4 shippers too so even though one of them is VERY small I would still expect exceptionally long waits across the board. Ordinarily I'm a fan of arriving late, after queues die down - but this early in the season, that many ships I'd suggest that turning up VERY early will be the shortest total queue time. Officially you can drop your bags with porters from 10am - so I would be down at the pier no later than 10am. You will definitely wait an hour or so before boarding begins (have to zero out the ships before anyone is allowed on), but if you came at my usual 2pm or later slot there is a serious risk on this day that the queues will have been so bad you will end up spending even longer than an hour...

 

Please also be aware in advance that the single biggest factor in speed of processing you is the US government - CBP preclear you at the pier to enter the US, even if they have every possible officer working it's a bottleneck and often they do not fully-man the desks. Us locals cannot make them supply more staff, so if you see empty desks please complain to your own government representatives rather than complaining about Canadian ports!

Thanks for the heads up on arriving early. We'll do that. I was able to use PriceLine & get into the Pinnacle Harbourview for a reasonable price, which doesn't look too far away. We also have our Global Entry cards, so hopefully that will help with check in

First time cruiser, so I have lots of questions.

We are cruising May 13th with Holland America, Alaska. After reading out here, we decided to fly in the day before versus day of departure.

Now I need some hotel help.

We have made all of our travel arrangements thus far via HAL, and they want to book us into the Pan Pacific (Vancouver BC) it seems pricey for only 24 hours literally, and for the bellman to walk us to our ship.

Thoughts, do we take it, or does anyone else have other suggestions??

Thanks for the help!

Welcome to Cruise Critic.

 

I would also post this on the Ports Of Call Board for Canada/Alaska at:

 

https://boards.cruisecritic.com/forumdisplay.php?s=&daysprune=-1&f=70

 

Keith

Thanks Keith.

I am so new to this. ;p

I have used Queasy Beads bracelets for my past three cruises...ordered from etsy, custom-made....I had to send them my wrist measurements! They worked great, and were certainly prettier than the gray sweatband type that my husband wears. They look like jewelry...I was complimented on them several times.

They look so CUTE!!!

I jut ordered mine.

I have been using the SeaBands for years, and despite being a doubter, they have always worked for me. Now I am looking forward to having something pretty to wear.

We are cruising May 13th with Holland America, Alaska. After reading out here, we decided to fly in the day before versus day of departure.

Now I need some hotel help.

We have made all of our travel arrangements thus far via HAL, and they want to book us into the Pan Pacific (Vancouver BC) it seems pricey for only 24 hours literally, and for the bellman to walk us to our ship.

Thoughts, do we take it, or does anyone else have other suggestions??:confused:

Thanks for the help!