dopey1200

Thank you @Crew News and @Nelsj099 - I have booked the Bennett Lake excursion! 

A few more questions about the HAL excursion to Bennett Lake. On the bus portion, do they stop for photo opportunities along the way? Are you in the dining car for the entirety of the train ride? Thanks! @Crew News

Are taxis readily available if you wanted to hire one to do the Klondike Summit Drive? 

37 minutes ago, 3rdGenCunarder said:

 

That is a great resource for checking all ports on an Alaska cruise. They really have their info organized well. I'm on QE out of Vancouver this summer and somehow, the cruise gods have smiled on me and she's the only one in port that day! 

 

Two years ago, coming out of Covid, check-in at Vancouver was a nightmare. Probably 90% of passengers didn't know they had to do ArriveCAN to prepare for our arrival at Victoria near the end of the cruise. They thought, I'm in Canda, I've arrived, so I don't need to do the app. They got to the head of the queue unprepared and held up the process. The people working at the convention center made everyone stay in the ArriveCAN queue, even if some of us (including me) HAD done it properly and could have been sent to a separate desk. On top of that, they weren't reading the QR codes. Instead, they were checking people off lists. And then there was show the Covid test results, passport (twice), boarding pass, all at separate stations along the route. 

 

Not to tempt the cruise gods, but I figure if I survived that $*** show, I can get through a regular check-in at Vancouver. 

I'm glad you mentioned this about ArriveCan - is that still a thing? I'm sure we don't need the test results, but do you still need to use ArriveCan for any other reason? It was 2 years ago for me when we last sailed to Canada on the east coast.

Just saw this in the latest brochure 

I'm looking at the $50 Klondike Summit excursion that is 1.5 hours long and starts at either 10:30am or 1:15pm. Does anybody know where this tour starts? I'm trying to do it before or after another excursion and I want to make sure I have time to get from one to another. TIA

Do the HAL ships cruising the inside passage get fresh salmon at any of the ports to serve in the dining room? While the salmon bake excursions sound delicious, I'd hate to pay $80 per person for one of them when I could possibly have it for dinner that night or the next day for free on the ship. TIA

I've got the same dilemma. I see that you can book the basic 2.75 hour train ride directly thru the railroad and they have a few more time options, plus it's cheaper. If booking w/HAL, we can only choose 8am (too early for me) or 12pm, which then conflicts with other tours we want to do. Has anybody booked directly thru the railroad? They do have this on their website:

For passengers arriving via cruise ship, this tour is available from your ship’s Shore Excursion Department. By booking through the cruise line, you will be able to take advantage of the dockside service and board the train on the pier alongside your ship. Contact your cruise line’s Shore Excursion Department for more details.

Is it really easier to get to the station if you book thru HAL?

Sorry, I'm sure this has been asked before, but I searched and couldn't find an answer. What airport do you all fly into if sailing from Whittier? I'll be coming from Cincinnati, if that matters or helps. The HAL cruise I'm looking at leaves Whittier on 6/23/24 and doesn't depart until 7:30pm. With that late departure, I'm hoping it will be easier to find flights. There is a possibility for us to do a northbound cruise ending in Whittier, if you think that makes more sense for flights. TIA

On 5/4/2023 at 7:45 PM, njsmom said:

Did you check out of Louisville? It was only $350 one-way to Vancouver in July on Delta. I looked again and it's still affordable even for rt, just $750. 

Thank you, I will check flights from Louisville next time too!

On 4/24/2023 at 1:25 PM, Buffalobills said:

Did you look at Alaska Airlines? I was debating too because of the airfare from Orlando but Alaska Airlines was a lot cheaper than $1000.00 and I booked it 3 weeks ago. 

16 hours ago, Buckeye10640 said:

Check Alaska Air out of Columbus. Generally  decent prices to Seattle and a direct flight. We have flown RT for far less than 1k pp.  I just looked and there are June flights under $200 pp one way. 

Thank you both so much for these suggestions! We will definitely look into flying out of Columbus in the future. With the 2 hour drive to Columbus it may require an overnight stay, which adds another day to the trip (we're not retired yet😔), and more money for a hotel room, but it does make it a possibility. We just booked a non-cruise vacation to Providence RI (Thanks to cheap fares from Breeze Airways👍), but maybe next vacation we can work something out.  Thanks again!

Thank you all for your responses. Even with the lower rate for an inside cabin, it's just not going to happen right now. Unfortunately the airfare from Cincinnati to the west coast is at least $1000 per person right now. That's more than the cruise fare itself. We'll get to Alaska some day though and now I know that we'll be able to do an inside cabin!☹️

We usually have no problems staying in an inside cabin to save money (we don't have unlimited funds), but we're really wanting to cruise to Alaska and I feel like we at least need a window. It seems like you'd miss a lot by being inside for Alaska, but obviously plenty of people do it. The only time we are ever in our cabin is for sleeping and showering, but I still feel like I'd be missing out on something. So, who has stayed inside and did you regret it? 

We just did the HAL from Boston to Montreal on the Zaandam. It's a very small ship with a more "mature" crowd. I think there were only 2 kids on the ship! It was also our first time doing the New England/Canada itinerary and really enjoyed it. 

1 hour ago, boulders said:

NAAT is not a type of PCR. PCR is a type of NAAT. Both are types of a molecular test. You need a molecular test within 72 hours of boarding time or an antigen test within 2 days. Both need to be professionally administered, i.e. can't be self- administered. If you are boarding on Saturday, any time after 2 pm on Wednesday should be safe for a molecular test (PCR or NAAT). Or you can book a rapid antigen test for anytime Thursday or Friday. 

 

 

Thank you @boulders! I was able to confirm this with somebody from HAL also. Got us both scheduled for rapid tests tomorrow afternoon. I couldn't imagine waiting up to 2 days for the results. 

9 minutes ago, Native Floridian 26 said:

NAAT is not an antigen test. It's a type of PCR. The results are generally rapid.

I was going to say the same thing - I don't think the one I'm talking about is an antigen. So this Rapid NAAT can be done within 72 hours of boarding time? But I haven't been assigned a boarding time yet & we leave this Saturday. This is very stressful!

This link says the NAAT are acceptable, but does that include rapid? (Or are they all rapid?) Has anyone used one recently? TIA

https://travel.gc.ca/travel-covid/travel-restrictions/cruise

According to the ArriveCAN app, you're considered fully vaccinated if you have 2 shots. Doesn't sound like you need a booster. I went thru the motions of completing the required information and that's what the app tells you. But I sure would like to know for sure! My husband is not boosted, so it's a deal breaker. I think this starts Sept 5th. 

Thank you all for your kind comments 🤗

The Edge lit up at night in Cozumel. March 2020.

On 3/24/2020 at 6:36 PM, mafig said:

Thank you for your review.  I enjoyed reading it.

 

Very nice pictures, too.😱😃

Thank you. I'm glad somebody appreciated it! I thought a review would be a welcome change from all of the corona virus and cancellation posts, but apparently not. 🥺

Pictures from first post didn't show up right...trying again....

Behind the scenes tour: This was very interesting. We got to see the kitchen, the engine control room, the provisions area on Deck 1 (or maybe Deck zero?), the laundry room, one of the areas where the crew gets to chill, and the bridge. As soon as our group entered the bridge, Captain Kate saw us and quickly came over to greet us. She is so nice & personable and of course she had her cat with her, so we were greeted by Bug Naked with a friendly meow, LOL. We also went to Capt. Kate’s Q&A later in the week and I highly recommend it. She is smart, funny, personable, and has some great stories to tell. Her daily announcements, complete with a word puzzle of the day and a quote of the day, are also worth a listen to.

Miscellaneous: We did attend some of the activities, such as trivia and game shows, which were all fun. The comedian Dan Grueter was extremely funny. I think he was a special guest (we picked him up in Cozumel). We only saw one of the production shows – they just aren’t really our thing. It was good and the singers are very talented. We did see the acrobatic show that happens in the Club every night and it was enjoyable.

Key West: We did the conch train tour which was nice. It’s hop on and hop off, so you can do your own thing. We of course had to get our picture taken at the Southernmost Point. There was a short line, it took less than 10 minutes. We had lunch at Two Friends, visited the Hemingway Distillery, had a beer at the Southernmost brewery (First Flight), and walked around town.

Costa Maya: We were not able to dock here due to bad weather. We’d had booked YaYa Beach & got a refund from them.

Cozumel: We actually docked here at 7pm the night before our expected arrival due to not being able to dock at Costa Maya. We had hoped to walk around San Miguel, but we weren’t at the right pier to be able to just walk there – we would’ve had to take a taxi. We just didn’t feel like doing that. We did get off the ship and the few restaurants in the area were open along with a few of the shops, but a lot of things were closed. It was a good opportunity to see the Edge from the pier while it was lit up at night (see pics). The next day we’d had a reservation at Chankanaab (booked on our own, not a ship excursion). Taxi was $12 each way. We did the buffet lunch & snorkel package (I think it was only $37 a person, and I’m pretty sure the snorkel alone was $25). I won’t go into a lot of detail, but if you have any questions, I’ll be happy to try to answer. Snorkeling & lunch were both pretty good.

Grand Cayman: We did the Dolphin Encounter & Seven Mile Beach Break (booked thru the ship with OBC). It was a cool experience. We got to kiss and be kissed by the dolphin, dance with it, pet it, etc. They took pics for you but man the photo packages were pricey. We had done a sea lion encounter at Coral World before & their photos were much better & a lot cheaper. There is a little restaurant on site (not included) and the pork tacos & fried fish we had were both really good. We did not have a lot of time at Seven Mile Beach (we were at the Coral Beach Club), but it was nice & they did have food/drink available for purchase there.

In Summary: We loved the Edge & definitely hope to cruise on it again. I’m sure I’ve forgotten many things that I wanted to say, but I will add any as I think of them. I hope all of you that had your cruises cancelled get to reschedule soon. I will be happy to try to answer any questions.

Ship in general: We loved the Edge! Very beautiful and well laid out. Not too big but yet not too small. The Magic Carpet seems to be a waste. We were sitting on it on Deck 14 as we were getting ready to sail away from Key West. We had great seats on a comfy couch looking directly outward. Then we were told we had to leave. I guess they were getting ready to move it down to Deck 5. And I thought it was supposed to be used for better tendering, but it was not used for that purpose when we tendered in Grand Cayman. The Rooftop Garden is a great space but needs some shade during the day. Eden is very unique. I loved the whole garden feel and all of the different levels and nooks and crannies. The drink menu there is very weird and pricey (see pic). We were not ever at Eden to catch the Revelation show, but the acoustic acts were good. The Grand Plaza is very nice with plenty of seating in and around it. The martini bar does not have much seating at all – only about 10 seats and some room for standing at it. The martini menu is extensive – something for everyone. But do be sure to catch the flair bartenders when they put on their show. It was so much fun to watch them because they have so much fun doing it. There are not enough seats in the shade around the upper decks & pool areas. I burn easily & have had some skin damage from the sun, so it’s important for me to be in the shade. I guess we always did manage to find seats, but on some days it took a lot of walking around. Loungers in the solarium pool area were my favorite, but sometimes it got too hot in the heat of the afternoon. The shops are all ridiculously expensive and I can’t believe that enough people buy from them to make them profitable. The casino was nice. We had a bunch of OBC to use so we gambled a little every night. The first few nights we weren’t winning much at all, but things got better later in the cruise.

Food/Restaurants: Everything we had was anywhere from very good to excellent, except the buffet. I would say it’s pretty darn good for a buffet with a really good variety, but I’m sorry, a buffet will always be a buffet. It was arranged in such a way that it was never obnoxiously crowded. We had breakfast at the buffet every day & we sat at the same table every day. It was a high-top bar-like table facing the windows, so you could always have a nice view over the people sitting at the regular tables. The treats at Café al Bacio were always quite tasty and they have a good variety of drinks that varied from day to evening. I love the idea of the 4 different main dining rooms. We were Select Dining & we never made reservations, but there was almost never a wait. We ate at 3 of the 4 restaurants but ended up at Cosmopolitan the most for no real reason. Even though we were select dining they managed to seat us in the same section every night so we had the same wait staff. The wait staff always greeted us by name. The BBQ short rib starter in the Cosmopolitan restaurant was to die for. We never ate at any of the specialty restaurants.  

The Crew: I have to say this ship has the friendliest crew I’ve ever come across. We were greeted by every single crew member with a “hello, good morning (afternoon or evening)” We actually joked about how we wished they would stop because it almost overkill! As I said above, the wait staff always greeted us by name.

To be continued...