fatcat04

Good day Dailyites!! Thank you Rich and all who contribute to this thread. I so enjoy the cartoons especially. Woke up on NS about 8am to a little fog but not enough for the whistle. We are cruising at around 10 knots due to Right Whale activity. Pretty much right north of Gaspe on the map atm. 5 ft swells tops according to Capt O'Driscoll, almost smooth as glass from our perspective. About 52F with some sun. Dressy night tonight. Hope everyone has a great day.

A beautiful Saguenay sunrise for all our Dailyites. Dh and I are enjoying coffee on our chilly balcony all bundled up. Such a lovely place.

Just announced on NS we will be going to Saguenay (8am - 6pm) tomorrow and skipping both Charlottetown and Sydney. Totally understandable. Still praying for our Maritime friends.

We used the eMed service via the Navica app with the Abbott at home proctored antigen tests this past Thursday to get on the ship yesterday(Saturday) and it was easy. Once you get the negative result via the proctored process and recieve the QR code via email or the Navica app, just upload that to Verifly. You can either scan the QR code into Verifly or just upload the whole document. Dh could upload the QR code direct and his acceptance was immediate. I had to take a screen shot of my negative test result with the QR code to be individually reviewed and I had my acceptance in 30 mins. Oh and we were on the ship within 30 mins of the cab dropping us off.

Thanks Rich. On NS now. Our sail time was adjusted to 2pm today. I think there is some sizable whale migration in the St Lawrence River and estuary so that requires us to slow down, hence the extra couple hours. Ship is lovely. The crew are as precious as ever. We have eaten ourselves silly. Fantastic musicians this cruise. All the music walk venues were hopping last night and even quite a bit of dancing. We are having another short adventure in Quebec today before we say goodbye. She has to be one of Canada's most beautiful cities. Such a treasure!!

Thank you all.

I have bought the same HAL multiple flower arrangement many times and it has never looked the same in floral selection or even size as the florist seem to use the best seasonal selection for these types of arrangements. I prefer this honestly as they are always fresh, large and really lovely. Here is the one I got onboard yesterday.

Unless things have changed in the last couple years, HAL has used Elemis products. The shower gel at least was Elemis Sharp Shower Gel. I have bought it many times onboard in the spa as I love the smell.

I have talked to Steve at Trip Insurance Store .com many times and he is great. He knows his insurance products and has saved me money several times. Real good guy. And I have dealt with many folks at his brokerage and all have been knowledgeable and helpful. I just tell them what coverage I need and they find me a policy.

Yeah, dh rented on our first 2 cruises many many years ago but then he bought his present one after renting it for some formal event at home. He just asked the rental company if they ever sold their tuxes and how much. Since then he has had to replace the coat but the pants are still great and have that lovely adjustable waistband. I wish my dresses had an adjustable waist, especially on cruises!!

Thanks for the thread. We are on her next week and can't wait. Question: "Dressy night" is on which port day?

Very similar here. We started HAL cruising as a family when dh and I were in our 30's. We are mid 40's now and 3 star with 3 week long cruises to 4 star. Ds who is a 20 something just got his 3rd star on our last cruise before Covid in January 2020. Dd who is 4 years old is 2 star.

Besides used cooking oil, what organic matter is used to make biodiesel? I looked a bit and could find maybe commercial animal fats (though animal biproducts have many many other uses) but could find no other info on crop biproduct/waste utilized for this fuel. The only other solution would be to actually grow crops like canola, corn, or soybeans and use those to manufacture the fuel. But that again means we have to use land (prepared/planted/harvested with heavy equipment) + fertilizer (made from FF's) + water (processed/pumped using electricity) to get the crops to make into biodiesel.

Have you considered buying a Lotto ticket? I'd say now your luck is pretty darn good Gratz on just about the best free upgrade I have ever seen!! Enjoy your corner suite. We had one of those beauties for our 10th wedding anniversary cruise to Alaska, also on Zuiderdam many moons ago. Sheer perfection as the aft views on the Inside Passage are beyond compare.

I'm so sorry @*Miss G* I have avoided like the plague calling HAL of late. The waits are stupid insane. And my PCC has been on extended leave I am assuming for quite some time, I haven't been able to talk to her the last 4 times I have called. I know I am going to have to call about some stuff should we decide to stick with our next April cruise but man of man, I am dreading it.

Thank you for the clarification of ArriveCan applications specific to cruises that START in Canada but disembark in the US, like the Canada/NE cruises. That was my understanding as well.

Their older ships with wide Promenade decks still do. Their newer Pinnacle ships have very little space on the Promenade deck plus the life boats obstruct quite a bit so no.

I have thick thick medium long wavy hair. At home I use a powerful dryer with defuser to help in drying. I have found the HAL hairdryers like most hotel dryers to be okay. That said, I prefer to shower at night, condition well, wrap my head in a towel, and sleep on it to dry it to be honest. There might be a bit of wetness left in the AM but the dryer HAL provides can definitely handle that.

I know when we have preordered full bottles of liquor, there was a set menu of offerings but others have said that onboard full bottle offerings available from the bars may be more varied so it is possible the in suite liquor options might be larger once onboard. Check our Roger Jett's extensive list of beverage details here, the Spirits and Beers for Stateroom has a good list. https://rogerjett-photography.com/specialty-2/hal-regular-and-specialty-restaurants/hal-beverage-menus/

Thank you to HAL for putting this together and to you for posting it OP. This is helpful. Now we know our 4 year old does not need to be tested. Canada didn't require it even on cruise ships so that previous requirement puzzled us.

When we took our 2 year old daughter with us and we had purchased onboard the Elite Beverage Package, dd was not required to get a drink package which was good as she did not drink anything but water, milk, and apple juice. To this day, and she is almost 5, she has only branched out to chocolate milk (also included free, get it at the Lido ice cream station, we stocked up a few in our mini fridge from there) and pineapple juice if she is feeling adventurous. She hates soft drinks, doesn't like the carbonation, fine with us as we don't care for them either. She has the HIA package on our cruise this month just like us simply because that is how the cruise was sold but the Quench pkg would be a total waste for her even now. If I had a child that only ever drank the "free" included beverages, I would specifically ask that they not be required to buy a package as they simply will not use it and health wise, soft drinks are bad for kids.

Another recommendation is to research your luggage choices. Youtube some vids by people who travel a lot to get pointers on luggage choices and packing tips, like packing cubes. I know when we splurged on some new luggage (it was my Bday present actually) we went with stuff that was compact, wearable/stackable, and easy to get through airports/ on to trains.

We sailed her twice and would have sailed her many more times. Perfect sized ship. My favorite promenade deck, wide and spacious with REAL deck chairs. Dh and I enjoyed a cocktail and a stroll on her deck every night we could. And her crew were just wonderful. I wish her life with HAL as a larger excursion vessel could have been longer.

Show of hands who had not figured that out. (yep, none, I thought so) The suits... who may or may have never even been on a cruise ship.. need to study their market a heck of a lot better. I would sooner the cost of the specialties be raised AND the QUALITY be maintained with the unlimited starter options etc than this nickely dimey stuff. Who likes that? Interesting info about the Westerdam/Testerdam though. I love the "Have It All and More" drink package excess upcharge for drinks over the pkg $$ limit though. I would so do that for wines. Makes it easier for me to give them more of my money.. which should be the Cardinal rule of all retail and service industry businesses. Thanks for the heads up! I will send them my thoughts.

Wear your heaviest shoes and outerwear on the plane ride (it can always be removed and stuffed in the overhead or hung up. Get the unlimited laundry once on the ship. Have an outer water proof shell with hood and layer with things that can be reworn without worry for a couple days. Other than undies and socks, we (adults, kids are a whole other ball of wax) can get buy on 3 changes of clothes just about indefinitely as long as laundry is a possibility every couple of days. We have just travelled with those big "carry on" size backpacks before though now we usually take one large roller due to the kiddos.