3rdGenCunarder

Holland America does a great job on Alaska cruises. It may be a smaller ship than Celebrity, so fewer bells and whistles, but their service is excellent.

There will be taxis. On our first visit to Sitka, we were at the "old dock," and the line for the shuttle was very long. We spotted a taxi and it wasn't terribly expensive for the ride back to the ship. She said she could have taken us around the places we had visited on our tour (raptor center, bears, etc). So you can probably arrange something with a taxi. Of the various places you can see, I would recommend the Raptor Center as first choice. They do great work and it's an interesting place to visit.

What is it about United and the Pacific Northwest??? Every time I've flown from the east coast to Seattle or Portland, the flight I chose for its convenient time was changed to a less convenient time. It's frustrating. My flight home is 8:45 AM, so I have to stay the night before. After hearing how long the lines are at the airport, I've changed from a nearby airport hotel to the Fairmont. Much more expensive than I want for one night's sleep, but the hotel I had booked doesn't start its shuttle until 6 AM, which could be too tight. I'm thinking of booking my test at the airport. So after the cruise, I'll go to the hotel, check in and store bags if my room isn't ready, and then go to the airport for the test. Then I'll have the rest of the day for sightseeing.

I have sailed solo twice on Cunard and once on HAL, and would have done more but for Covid shutdown. I've found that with fixed dining, the people who don't want to socialize get 2-tops. The people who do want to socialize ask for large tables. So if you go as a solo, you're likely to be added to a group that enjoys meeting other people. Cunard trips were one TA and one cruise. Of course, this was in the Before Times, so things could be different now. But it's always been a tradition on Cunard to welcome anyone at tea or the buffet or the pub who asks "may I join you?" On the TA, I was at a table with 3 other passengers sailing solo and we enjoyed discussing our various travels. One man was on a trip around the world with NO flying. On the Cunard cruise, I was at a table with couples. I remember one silly evening on the cruise, the dessert was lemon meringue pie. It turned out to be little lemon tarts with tiny meringues on top. We went all Paul Hollywood--the meringues weren't evenly sized, some browner than others, not all placed in the center, etc. You know people have bonded when they join into a group joke. Solo on HAL was good because I was at a large table with pleasant people. Socializing around the ship was less than on Cunard, although on Canal day (partial transit of Panama Canal), everyone on deck chats with other people. I wouldn't go solo on NCL if you gave it to me. One evening, my DH and I were sat with another couple who would not even respond to "good evening." They were at their main course when we were seated. Awkward in so many ways. I suppose I shouldn't condemn them based on one cruise, but I have no desire to sail with them again.

A friend had one of those deck 3 singles. I loved the big windows. In one of the ports, I was able to take her picture lounging in her window. If you look at the deck plans for QA and HAL's NS, you'll see the same narrow promenade will all those turns. Not at all the sort of deck I'd call a "promenade deck."

When HAL changed their website it was very buggy. Gradually, they got it working better. A while later, maybe 6 months, Cunard used the same system, but it was HAL's original with all the bugs, instead of the "new and improved" version. Sometimes I wonder if anyone in Carnival Corp IT talks to anyone else.

Has Cunard said when more price information will be available? Right now the website has only "from" prices, but there are several price points within a category, so it would be nice to know what the options are before booking opens.

You can talk to three different reps and get three different answers. So much is in flux these days, nobody knows for sure what's going to happen.

That's an improvement! I always wondered if they limited it to 10 so people would think the cruise was almost sold out.

I've never been on a waitlist, but I've seen comments here that they don't always follow it. So keep calling. Like you, I don't travel in the Grills often, but I had the same thought about the PG staterooms being midships. Glad I upgraded. If they are shifting passengers around, it will take a few days for them to contact people, wait to see who accepts the move and who doesn't. It will be interesting to see what happens after that. It's hard to know what availability is like, as the cabin search function on the website is terrible. It shows 10 cabins at most, so you never know what's really available.

Sitka is a lovely town, and it's real--no Diamonds International or Del Sol or other cruise stores. Real locals own the shops and restaurants. Local food trucks set up on days when ships are in. The pharmacy has an old-fashioned soda fountain with yummy ice cream concoctions.

Don't wait for them to call you. Keep calling them to check on your status. Cunard can be sloppy about waitlists.

After a long telephone conversation with a Cunard rep, she confirmed that staterooms are being used for Covid isolation and as we need an accessible room, there is nothing available for us. We explained that we had booked this cruise to meet up with friends who were joining us for the New England segment, said that we had booked our hotel in New York prior to the cruise, had a concert booked in New York that we would miss, all to no avail. We had already been cancelled and our refund was being processed. We are Diamond members, we have cruised exclusively with Cunard since our first cruise in 2008 and recommended the cruiseline to friends and relatives. We have always defended Cunard when people have said standards are slipping, and remained loyal to them. That is now at an end. We have completely lost confidence in booking a cruise, how can we ever book again, knowing that it could be cancelled at any time. Of course we understand about covid but surely they must have known which staterooms would be needed to be shut off when we paid our final balance. My husband has MS, he has to use a mobility scooter as he can no longer walk. We understand that we need an accessible room, we book it well in advance and we know we will never get an upgrade. We know that most of the excursions are inaccessible to us and we may have difficulty even getting ashore at some ports but I think this is now the final straw and regretfully concede that our cruising days may be over. I feel very strongly that people with disabilities are discriminated against and I am completely disillusioned with Cunard. That's terrible! So is this because there are no accessible rooms in the block that are being held for isolation? (In which case, they would have to cancel all accessible bookings?) Or is the one you booked in that block and they need it empty just in case? Very poor planning on Cunard's part.

I think the list on HAL is generated from member input. HAL books a lot of groups, or at least they did in the "before time," and people know to check those groups' websites. CC members have reported that some were large enough to take over the dining room for an entire sitting, leaving those who wished a late time forced to eat early (or vice versa). They will also book a full charter, which means cancelling/moving a lot of reservations. My winter Caribbean cruise is usually HAL and I will not book a 7-night or a 14-night that is really two 7-nighters because I don't trust them to charter it out from under me. A way to check to see if there's a group on your cruise is to google the date and ship name. In all my Cunard voyages, I've never seen a group have such a large impact on public spaces as the one described on this thread. That's unacceptable.

Cunard has stopped the priority disembarkation lounge, which was a nice quiet way to end a voyage. So what's the procedure now? Deck by deck or QG, PG, Club...?

Good to know, thanks!

Martincath, thanks for the info! I'll have to get to the airport 5-5:30, but thought of Timmies will keep me going! Thanks for the reminder about the GE card. There's so much to juggle now--passport, GE card, vaccine card (just in case someone asks), test results, ticket.. Last time, I flew Air Canada. Do they still make you drag your own luggage to the drop after you check in? I remember an uphill carpeted hallway and my suitcase NOT liking that terrain.

Perhaps they've stopped booking while they look at how full they are and try to project how many cabins they have to keep open as quarantine spaces? Or the website is a mess.

I keep getting reminders to update my emergency contact info. The first time, I checked the website, and it wasn't there, although I thought I'd done it a while before. Couldn't get it to accept the info online in 2 tries. So I called Cunard and had an agent put it in. I checked later and it was there. A month later, another reminder. Checked the website and the info was there. Just got another reminder last week. Sigh...

Last time I did an Alaska cruise, Victoria was our last port and getting off and out in Vancouver was easy. Same itinerary this time, so I'm hoping for the same Border Control situation you had. But what about Covid tests? Did you need one to enter Canada at Victoria?

The Amtrak bus departs Vancouver from the train station. I know this because I sent yet another email to Amtrak asking where the bus location is in Seattle, as I have no recollection of ever seeing it when I went to the train station. They told me where the bus location is in Vancouver. "The bus bay for the Vancouver, BC station is located at the rear of the station. The address to the station in Vancouver, BC is at:Pacific Central Station1150 Station Street Vancouver, BC V6A4C7"

Weeks ago, I emailed Amtrak to ask when the train would run to Vancouver. Today I received a totally useless answer from customer support. I particularly enjoyed the boast about downtown-to-downtown service--But I can't get that on the TRAIN! "Thank you for contacting us.We apologize for the delay in our response. Currently we are experiencing a higher than normal volume. Your patience is greatly appreciated.Due to the ever-changing nature of our product, Amtrak does not quote schedules for reservation via email. We recommend contacting an Amtrak representative directly for assistance with booking reservations. An Amtrak representative will be happy to locate the best available options for your itinerary. Our office is staffed 24 hours a day at 1-800-872-7245. Simply press "0" to by-pass the main menu to reach a live agent. As a reminder, Amtrak travel includes an array of amenities – including downtown-to-downtown service, no middle seat, ample legroom, the ability to earn Amtrak Guest Rewards points, and one of the most generous baggage policies in travel.Once again, thank you for contacting us. We strive at Amtrak to deliver a comfortable and enjoyable travel experience for all our customers. Our guiding principles are to provide a safer, greener, healthier and better-connected passenger rail system."

Remembering that QM2 was stalled in the Caribbean waiting for "essential personnel" (I think that's how they phrased it), I wonder if ships are carrying extra bridge staff to make sure they're covered in case of some cases or positive tests among officers.

I check every day, but no luck so far. I did book one of the train/bus combinations just to have something. We're halfway through spring and Amtrak hasn't said anything. I don't think they'll get the through train running until summer.

When I flew Air Canada from Vancouver to Newark 3 years ago, it was a wide-body jet. I checked in asap and got a good offer to upgrade to Frist, with the individual lie-flat seats. Now the flight is a narrow-body jet with ordinary seats. So I guess demand is less now.