Broon

Thanks very much for your enjoyable postings. We are booked on the NOORDAM in Sept. 

I have seen this also, the same mini-screen, that a neg test may be required. We are Canadians, with Cdn passports, living in Canada, and have an Air Canada flight booked from Pearson to Fll, for a cruise, then a return flight FLL to Pearson. 
 

On the Air Canada hub,,where this wording appears, it is clear that, for the return flight to Pearson, a  neg test is not required. But, for the original flight from Pearson the wording is not as clear and seems to indicate that a neg test may be required. And the wording seems to indicate that this is due to flying out of one of a few designated airports, in this case Toronto Pearson. 
 

is anyone else seeing this, and coming to the same uncertain conclusion about a neg test that may be required? Or maybe I am reading the words incorrectly?
 

Or maybe there is clear wording somewhere, and I have not yet found it.

It happened to us, too. After 2 1/2 years of non travel, we booked onto the Nieuw Statendam in Sept, b2b Que Bos Que. Typically, I don’t check the price after final payment, but, for this cruise, I was checking everything, especially due to the extra Covid requirements. I found a large price drop and went through our TA to HAL. They wouldn’t budge on the price paid, but we did get the Have it All promo and crew appreciation provided to us. This covered a large part of the price drop,  but not all of it. We were very pleased to be back travelling, and back on board, and did not let the price factor become a factor in our enjoyment. Not having spent anything on travel for 2 1/2 years….it was all worth it. 

28 minutes ago, Damcruiser said:

We sailed on Nieuw Statendam B2B Quebec to Boston in September, our first HAL cruise since 2008.  The friendliness of the crew and the quality of the food was better than we expected.

Three trivias a day, excellent live music and actual dance floors were all better than our Celebrity cruises in each class (From Zenith to Edge).

As a result, we booked 7 weeks on NS starting next month.

I bought a 100 shares of CCL stock, sent in my Bank statement, our three B2B booking numbers yesterday and received confirmation before the day was out.

This morning I received an email that our immigration details of where we were staying after our cruise was not complete.  I checked our boarding info and there was no place to add that info.  I called HAL, got a busy signal, and hung up.  I tried again three minutes later and was connected without delay.

The agent filled in the info: "at the pier" and the task was done.

 

The experience on NS was not perfect, I caught a cold and tested positive for covid when I returned home and coughed for weeks.

 

I found my home in the Crow's Nest and we are eager to go back.

We too were on the NS b2b Que Bos Que in Sept, and I echo your comments about friendliness of the crew, even more than that….almost always highly motivated, it was consistently obvious, and the quality of the food. We are experienced HAL cruisers, and we prefer sailing with them. Nothing against other lines, simply, we found HAL years ago, and have stayed with them. 

We prefer smaller ships and were most fortunate to sail on her three times, over 10 years. We started with a Christmas/ New Year’s cruise in the Caribbean, then looked for other sailings. We got onto a longer cruise on her for an itinerary from FLL, to Antarctica, to Buenos Aires. Finally, just before she left HAL, we sailed on her from Amsterdam around the British Isles. Yes, the newer, bigger ships have more features, but, we still prefer a smaller ship, and the PRINSENDAM remains our favourite.

11 hours ago, JohnDG said:

How do you print the results from Verifly?

It was with screen shots on my iPad, then print. 

I used VeriFLY, and arrivecan (supposedly necessary) to prepare for our recent N Statendam cruise out of Quebec. I am by no means techy, but, I managed to get both process to work successfully, and I printed the results, plus my our HAL boarding passes. 
 

On approach to the boarding process at the Quebec terminus, an attendant initially tried to send me/us to the long check in line because I had only Print-outs with my VeriFLY successful results, and no bar code phone screen to show. I prevailed, and a supervisor quickly allowed us to proceed. We avoided the long-ish check in line and walked onto the ship. 
 

Having a completed VeriFLY document in hand saved us waiting in a line… but, since I/we didn’t go into the line, I don’t have a sense of how much time was saved. 

We just got off b2b N Statendam, which was our first cruise since Jan 2020. Yes, we always take a first aid kit, with many of the items mentioned already, with some emphasis on Covid…just in case. Yes, this involves some “worst case-ism” to pack Covid tests, and related med items. And, we were as prepared as we could be, if we became ill with Covid or something else…which has happened, more than once on other cruises. Then, it is much more helpful to have supplies immediately available, rather than to struggle, scramble, to try to obtain med items, in challenging circumstances. But, and we are very thankful, we did not need any of out first aid kit items on the cruise just ended…last Saturday. That’s okay with us. I brought our kit home, untouched. The we I/we see it, better safe than sorry.

I am still going to pursue trying to get info about where to go, specifically, upon arrival at the port area.  We will be arriving at the Quebec airport and taking a taxi. What do I say to the driver? Maybe he/she will already know where the drop off location will be, or maybe she/he won’t. I am quite used to arriving at FLL. Get to the security check point, then see the BIG sign with ship names and pier #. Go to the designated pier.

Maybe it is that method, too, at Quebec. Go to 84 Dalhousie…..look for a sign. Or maybe there is some other method for pax arriving at the port. 
 

I am going to ask my CAA TA to ask HAL. I think there is also an email on the Port of Quebec site…I could ask there, too. 
 

Yes, there are some similarities with an airport gate change, and what seems to be involved in docking at pier is a distance of perhaps 2 km, from the Ross Gaudreault cruise terminal at pier 21/22. 

This is helpful info. Thank you. I have boarding passes indicating that we report to Ross Gaudreault Cruise Terminal, and I see on the Port of Quebec site that on Sept 7 the N Statendam will be docked not at pier 21/22, which is immediately adjacent to Ross Gaudreault; rather on Sept 7 N Statendam will be a pier/wharf/dock 30, which is separated from Ross G Term. I am trying to determine if there is a discrepancy, inconsistency, that needs to be pursued, or not. 

I also hope that wharf 30 is wrong or gets changed. Here is a screen shot taken Sat Aug 27 that shows N Statendam Sept 7 at dock 30. 

We have no experience with this port and will be boarding the N Statendam there on Sept 7. Does anyone have experience there from this year? Our boarding passes indicate that we are to go to Ross Gaudreault Cruise Terminal, 84 Dalhousie, Quebec. On a map, I see it clearly, the terminal, and piers 21 and 22 immediately adjacent to the terminal. 
 

I looked on the Port of Quebec website and see that our ship will be docked at pier/wharf 30, which is one or two kilometres distant from the Ross Gaudreault Terminal. It seems that using wharf 30 for cruise ships is new this year. 
 

Does anyone have experience to share about checking in and embarking, when the cruise ship is at pier/wharf 30? If we arrive at the cruise terminal and check in there, how do we get over to wharf 30?  Maybe there is a shuttle. 
 

We will be doing a back to back and will disembark in Quebec on Sept 24, again at wharf 30. We will need a taxi to get to the Quebec airport and I am trying to figure out how we will find one, and where. 
 

Yes, nitty gritty stuff. There seems to be a lot of it these days. 

We went to Magdalena Island and walked among many, many penguins. Highly recommended shorex.

Also, at the Falklands, we took the shorex to Bluff’s Cove….many penguins there, too.

We put ourselves onto the wait list for the shorex to L’Anse aux Meadows, we did that several weeks ago. A few days ago, I got an email from HAL indicating that I could move from waitlisted status and buy two places on the shorex. And that is what we did. There was no explanation, and none was expected, about the reason for the two places becoming available. 

I am interested in the answer to this question. We are booked on the same cruise and are considering the train to get to Quebec. 

Hello, we have booked this cruise during the past week and have started investigating shore excursions. L'Anse aux Meadows is of interest and have just discovered that HAL's shorex is already sold out. We are waitlisted. But, we are keen to pursue options to find a workable alternative. I like seeing the suggestions so far, thank you, and I am going to start making contact with local people. I would really like to find a solution that will get us to L'Anse aux Meadows on Sept 12. 

On 6/26/2021 at 5:38 PM, Mary229 said:

Two things to try, first, rotate your iPad if it appears the page has not fully loaded. 
 

close your other apps.  Here is how. Rapidly double click the home button and it will show all open apps (that you thought were closed). Up sweep the apps to disappear them and now it is really closed.   See if that doesn’t help

I just did the dbl click as suggested here and up sweep….a big help. Thank you. Had never seen this before. 

Koningsdam at Curaçao. 

We stayed at the Movenpick last June. Next door to the cruise terminal...just walked to there. 

Just got off the KONINGSDAM on Wed...first time ever on such a large ship. Many positive features, but, we are uncertain about whether or not to go on a Pinnacle class again...too large for us. We are booked on the VEENDAM later this year...have not been on it before and are looking forward to it. We have a lanai booked and will be travelling with some friends.  

Just got off the Koningsdam on Wed. Grand Dutch cafe was a favourite place...for the Dutch food: Apple pancake, croquettes, fries, other items. European beer is available, Heineken & some others. Wait staff were excellent and allowed me to practice some of my limited Dutch. 

Thanks for posting. We were fortunate to have sailed on the PRINSENDAM three times over 10 years. The last time was this past June, from Amsterdam, around the British Isles. We really liked that ship. 

We sailed on Prinsendam three times: Dec/Jan 2009 holiday in the Caribbean, Jan/Feb 2018 S America/Antarctica, and last month June 2019 14 days around the British Isles from and to Amsterdam. In all, 9 weeks on board - our favourite ship. The first and aerial photos were taken on June 3 from the Movenpick Hotel in Amsterdam. Prinsendam is arriving at the terminal in Amsterdam and we boarded her for our last cruise the same day. One of our favoured activities was to get out onto deck 7 for multiple laps. In the shot of the orange life preserver, in the distance, the coast of France along the English Channel. We were on our last full day on board, a sea day - also one of our favoured activities, regardless of ship. Alas, all good things must end somehow, and the next day, June 17, we bid our farewell. 

Thank you for your reports from this farewell cruise on Prinsendam, our favourite ship. We sailed on her three times, in total nine weeks, over the past 10 years. The last time was last month around the British Isles, ending June 17. We have many wonderful memories. 

Thanks for doing this reporting. We just got off the PRINSENDAM last Monday, after 14 days around the British Isles. We had a great cruise and we were sad to say good-bye to our favourite ship. We went to Nordkapp and back in 2013 on board the ROTTERDAM and are pleased to see your comments and photos from a favoured country to visit.