Appygirl

The way I read the subject line was what if you went to the port without a cabin assignment only to discover you're not on the manifest at all and are turned away. Say you went to a travel agent and booked a guarantee and paid by cash or check. The travel agent does not pay the cruise line. You show up at the port expecting to get your cabin assignment from the baggage porter only to discover you're not going to hoard that ship. Does that ever happen? When I worked fir a travel operator, mainly charter flights to Reno and Las Vegas, sometimes I'd phone the travel agent many times looking for payment. They phoned in a check number to guarantee payment but never sent in check. At the one week before departure mark I'd warn them if the check didn't show up on departure day the vacation would be cancelled. And I had to do that a few times so sure there were times travelers would show up at the airport and go to the hostess for their tickets and hotel assignment only to be told they were out of luck. Sometimes if seats were still available they could purchase them and figure out a hotel once they landed in town. That's how I translated this topic. What if the travel agent doesn't pay the cruise ship and you show up at the port expecting to get your cabin assignment only to be told you're not cruising.

One thing I've figured out is I'm no more blogger. I've been on the Zuiderdam to Alaska in May, June, and August (not in the same year!) but I've only documented the June journey and I have some photos of the inside and outside pools plus the nice hot tub inside the spa that costs the extra bucks. Actually the photos I've taken in subsequent years are much better but I just can't be bothered to blog and post anymore.

http://appytales.blogspot.ca/2009/08/photos-taken-around-holland-americas.html

No the pools don't get used much except when I was on the August cruise. Some kids were using the outside pool before leaving Vancouver and on the last sea day when it was hot enough, nice sunny days.

It doesn't matter what the weather is, the outside pool is warmer than the inside pool.

Woo hoo! You go girl! And maybe you'll even find some new friends on board who'll be happy to share car rental costs with you and see the island.

I booked with Discount Hawaii Car Rentals but you can book any car rental independently. Just make sure you book in advance otherwise you might not get a car if you just show up. We used Thrifty on most of the islands including Kauai. Whoever you choose they all send free shuttles back and forth to the port. Its a very easy procedure, just wait in the parking lot until your car rental's shuttle shows up. We also rented a GPS from them for around $13. They were kind of neat because it picked up where you were on the island, gave us a little musical interlude, and then told us where we were and anything of historical or tourist interest. Already preset with tourist destinations and the return rental location. Or you could preset your GPS for the places you want to go. http://www.discounthawaiicarrental.com/

The first thing you want to do when you get inside your rental car is drive to the Waimea Canyon because that will be your farthest destination from the port, about an hour or so drive and then you'll spend another hour or so driving and stopping at the lookouts. Its also known as the Grand Canyon of the Pacific. The drive up the mountain is fun - you'll feel like you're on a roller coaster. Park at the first major scenic outlook and take photos. You'll see some chickens roaming loose up here and maybe you'll see a couple of locals dressed up in native gear playing a conch shell. You want to drive as far as you can on this drive, Kalalau Lookout, where the cliffs drop off into the ocean. Breathtaking! Definitely take your camera! Bus tours can't get up this far but no problem for cars. The road is paved, the problem is the overhang trees that buses would whack out, and maybe the road is too narrow on the curves for a bus.

Did you see the show Dirty Jobs? If you saw the episode about the Red Dirt Shirt Factory you'll want to stop there on your drive back. Its in Eleele, you'll drive through it on your way up to Waimea Canyon so keep an eye out for your return drive. As you're driving back you'll want to turn right on Waialo Road, as if you're heading back to the ocean. The store's a couple of blocks down on the left side and you can buy a couple of nice souvenir red shirts there. But what you also really want is on the other side of the street and its called the Kauai Chocolate Company. They sell their signature Opihi chocolate there and they're sold by weight. I bought 3 pieces for about $4. Its shortbread, caramel, macadamia nut dipped in chocolate. Yum! I also bought the dark chocolate macadamia fudge but I wouldn't recommend it. Wasn't that good.

Then there's the Kauai Coffee Plantation that's about a 10 minute drive from the Red Dirt Shirt place. If you like coffee they have several urns out with different flavors you can sample for free. There's a walking tour around their gardens. They call it a maze. Nope. Its just a path that twists a bit. Its good for a stop and photo opportunities.

Then you drive back to Poipu and stop at the Poipu Shopping mall to have a Puka Dog and lemonade. I'm not a hot dog person but I did try their veggie dog. I wouldn't want to have it every day or anything but when on Kauai..... I mean where else are you going to say you had a Puka Dog with tropical sauces inside a huge honking bun. We got there and there was a couple in front of us who took forever to choose what they wanted inside their bun. While we were eating more people showed up and the line up was out to the sidewalk. Its a little pricey but what isn't in Hawaii. http://www.pukadog.com/

After you've eaten your Puka Dog get back in your car and go to the Spouting Horn Blowhole, maybe 10 minutes or so drive away. Good sized parking lot, beautiful ocean views. More loose hens walking around. Good photo opportunities.

Then head back to Lihue and check out Hilo Hattie or wherever else you want to shop before returning your rental car. Total time? Depends on how long your stay at each place - 5 or 6 hours maybe.

And you'll probably have a much better day than your husband! Have fun!

That's too bad your first experience with HAL is on the Zaandam but the good part is the cruising experience and cruising to Alaska is amazing and is port extensive and you'll have a great time. With the Zaandam its all about the destination not the journey.

The Zaandam has about the best entertainment and activities out of the HAL fleet so if you enjoy evening shows and various activities throughout the day you picked the right HAL ship.

If you enjoy fine dining and getting your meals served at the correct temperature - you picked the wrong HAL ship. And its not really the Zaandam staff's fault. They work hard and are very friendly and provide as good service as they can under the conditions. Cutbacks (assistants) are very noticeable in the food service. The food is decent enough. I'd even say its pretty good if it didn't arrive cold. If you see your waiter getting stuck at an adjacent table taking forever to deal with their needs you can be pretty sure your meal is sitting in the kitchen getting colder until he can get back there to pick it up.

Lots of good viewing areas on the Zaandam to enjoy the scenery. Check the Alaska ports of call board or more information and activities in each town.

I used to until one morning on the Zuiderdam I was sitting on the bed when a crew member opened the balcony door of the adjacent cabin walked across our balcony dragging a water hose, opened the balcony door of the cabin on our other side and kept on going dragging his hose. 10 minutes earlier he would have had a peep show! I'd just got dressed for breakfast and was waiting for my husband to finish up in the bathroom. Since then I always close the curtains at night and don't open them again unless I'm dressed.

Book the Pinnacle every night on the Zaandam. The food in the MDR is decent enough, it would actually be pretty good if they served it while its still hot. Too many cutbacks in food service in the MDR. Poor waiter is doing everything and food ends up sitting in the galley too long before they can get back and serve it.

They don't hand out blankets but they are stacked where the towels are normally kept near the swimming pools and deck chairs. Help yourself. The hot chocolate is made from a dry mix and kept in coffee urns. A little watery but maybe that depends on the person mixing it. Glad to hear they've brought the salmon bake back. They had it the first time I sailed HAl to Alaska but not a couple of years ago which was a little disappointing. I love salmon!

When we were on the Island Princess through the Panama Canal there were only about 10 kids on board so can't say as I noticed any of them in the bars. I did notice 2 of them frequently in the adult only pool and complaints by several passengers to the staff went nowhere so it might be the same situation in the bars. If someone complains about the kids being in the bar its unlikely that the staff will do anything about it. It might be kind of boring for the kids in the bars anyway.

Take the Zuiderdam. Out of Vancouver its more scenic because you go up and back between Vancouver Island and the mainland. Less chance of rough seas. The Zuiderdam was built for scenic cruising and has more balconies than the Zaandam and the Volendam and there is a better chance of getting a better sale price on a balcony on this ship than the others due to supply and demand. For example last May I got a VA balcony for $899 Canadian including taxes plus $75 each on board credit. The Zuiderdam has about the best food on the HAL fleet but their entertainment sucks.

If the air fare is too expensive to Vancouver You can fly into Seattle or Bellingham and take either the Quick Shuttle or Amtrak the rest of the way to Vancouver, up to 3 more hours traveling time depends which city. Bellingham Airport is about 20 minutes away from the border crossing and then another 45 minutes or so to the port of Vancouver. Add an hour and a half to 2 hours travel time from Seattle.

If you really want to cruise out of Seattle the Zaandam's food and dining room service isn't great. If you don't mind getting your food served cold to lukewarm then that won't be an issue for you, food and service is subjective after all. Cutbacks, servers are rushed due to lack of assistants, they can only be in so many places at one time. Food sits too long in the kitchen getting cold. The entertainment on the Zaandam is really good. Cruising out of Seattle you cruise on the west side of Vancouver Island, open to the ocean. Could be rougher seas.

I think its already fully booked for the early seating. The Zaandam is the absolute worst for dining room nightmares. On our Zaandam cruise the cruise director told us that 80% of the passengers were over 70 years old. By looking around the ship I'm guessing that might have been a lowball. The majority of passengers were older than 80. And good on them still cruising. Older passengers prefer early sitting, or at least they did on the Zaandam. Early sitting in the MDR was fully booked I don't know how far out in advance but the problem came for anytime dining when all the passengers who couldn't get the early seating clogged the anytime from the time it opened until about 7:30 so it was really difficult for anyone to get a seat unless it was later on. The Zaandam crowd wants to go to bed early which means they have to eat at the first sitting so they can catch the early show so that's why the big rush for early dining. Bedtime is 9pm on the Zaandam. Crazy like I've never seen on any other cruise. The place is a ghost ship after 9pm. We'd go up the Crows Nest to hear the Halcats around 10:30 or 11 and the people in the band outnumbered the audience. So mystery solved. The older demographics on the Zaandam already beat you to reserving the early sitting for dinner in the MDR.

I would say good service starts at the maitee d station and to be greeted in a pleasant manner.

Upon being seated i'd say water and bread served within minutes and order taken within 10 minutes. Are you listening HAL? Being ignored by your waiter for 25 to 30 minutes after being seated is not acceptable.

Receiving food while it is still warm is also considered good service. Some would say receiving food while its still hot would be good service.

And yes breakfast and lunch are better chances in the MDR to be served in a timely manner with food that is not cold to lukewarm.

Good service would also be consistent with regards to time and temperature of food.

Thanks. That's what I thought when I couldn't readily find it. Oddly enough I found our check in documents in a file and the passport number isn't there either. The last time we flew it was different number. But thanks. Back to the hunt. Maybe its hiding with my missing security deposit box key.

Not panicking yet, no trip planned, but passport is missing. We last booked 2 HAL cruises last year. I've been peeking around my account trying to find my missing passport # but I can't seem to figure out where this info might be. I can get to the online booking of our last cruise Sept 2012 which would have our current passport numbers and tried to go to the online check in and used the last booking number but I get this error message

"The data you submitted is not enough to serve your request. Please correct them, and click "Start Check-in" button. Invalid Booking Number"

Does anyone have any suggestions on where else I can check to find the info?

Thanks!

I'm not sure but I think when the local car rental has a one day rental for pick up 9am and drop off at 4pm and they see there's a cruise ship in town they figure it out. I don't remember if there was a tab on the discount Hawaii car rentals web page for cruisers or if I put a note in the special comments section or if I did nothing. All I know is at every port all the car rental companies were sending shuttles. When we got on in Hilo the driver did have a list of names and checked us off. They were full so the driver wasn't letting on anyone who didn't have a reservation. They don't want to give someone a free ride only to rent from the competitor.

In Honolulu I don't know that there is anywhere for a car to be dropped off at the port. Most likely you drop off at the airport's rental location and they shuttle you back to the cruise ship. We rented with Thrifty in Honolulu and the last shuttle back to the ship was 9pm.

I think your first task would be to narrow down a cruise ship that allows 5 passengers in one cabin - that is if you want your husband and kids all in the one room. I think Carnival and Disney have family cabins that can accommodate you but I'm not positive. You most likely will have to book 2 rooms to accommodate your family of 5. Unless you can talk one of the grandparents into taking a child in their cabin. Once you've figured out a cruise ship and departure date then start checking out the land portion and whether you'll take a structured tour or do it yourself.

Yeah, I can see why you'd be a little overwhelmed taking over the planning for this group. I like Donald's suggestions!

I'd rather spend more time in Ketchikan than Princess offers.

You didn't mention specific ships. Food is subjective but generally speaking I prefer the food on HAL over Princess. Unless its the Zaandam where the food would actually be pretty good except its usually served cold to lukewarm. Zuiderdam gets a lot of complaints about the air conditioning not working and toilets not working. However people cruising to Alaska generally don't complain about the lack of air conditioning. I like the Zuiderdam but then I've never dealt with toilet issues on it - knock on wood. The Zuiderdam's show lounge the air conditioning usually is working a little too well for Alaska weather. Princess has better entertainment than HAL, except oddly enough the Zaandam makes up for the lacklustre food by offering very good entertainment on par with Princess. On Princess the Horizon Court (lido buffet restaurants) has longer operating hours than HAL's Lido buffets, could make a difference if you're hungry at 9pm and don't want to wait for room service. HAL shuts the Lido buffet down at 8pm and they mean right on the dot. They do open again for an hour for appetizers around 10:30pm. Also depending on the Princess ship you will likely have the International Café which a lot of people like for casual eating. Princess has longer operating hours for their swimming pools and hot tubs, close to midnight, but that might change depends on the ship. HAL closes them down around 7pm depending on the ship. I don't think you can go wrong with either Princess or HAL to Alaska. You just have to figure out which itinerary you prefer or is more convenient and how important a role you place on food, entertainment, hot tubs, and working toilets and AC to narrow down the choices.

Book car rentals as soon as you can. With a cruise ship in town they might run out of cars and if they don't the price goes up for renting last minute as some other posters here found out and reported their inflated prices. Book with this company http://discounthawaiicarrental.com/ They don't ask for a credit card so you're not on the hook if you cancel. Plus they have the best rates around. I would say the same story with any tours. If there's a tour you really want to go on book it ASAP, for example Pearl Harbor. It might be hard to find space the day of if you choose to wing it.

I checked my patters and as IECalCruiser said it was called the Captain's welcome dinner but the dress code said formal and they were taking formal photos that night too so no longer being formal is great news. One less outfit to pack! I am now seriously considering booking this just for the fun party atmosphere so thanks for the heads up! I really need to go on a fun wild cruise after my most recent cruise on HAL's Zaandam and 9pm bedtime! The problem is my father has been bugging me to go on more cruises with him this year and if he finds out I booked without him I won't hear the end of it. He's now in a wheelchair and needs a pusher. Princess is his favorite, in the past he's done 2 or 3 Princess cruises a year, and one or two on other lines. The problem is he will hate the party atmosphere on this route so there's no point on taking him on a cruise I know he'll find disappointing and possibly distressing. The Island staff said this LA-Vancouver route is always a party but none of them had ever seen passengers acting as wild as they were on our cruise where security was kept hopping. May 10 is a weekend. Lot of young people can take a day off work and fly to LA on Thursday night. Maybe me too if I can slip this past my father! Really got me thinking now!

Oooh. You are on the party boat. We were on the Island Princess a couple of years ago from Fort Lauderdale through the Panama Canal. In Los Angeles about 1200 elderly, quiet, well-behaved passengers disembarked and the party crowd got on. The 3 days back to Vancouver were the craziest I've ever seen on a cruise ship. I think this might be an annual thing for these partiers. The travel agencies around BC are selling this cruise plus air starting at less than $500 so that's a pretty good price for the 20 something party crowd. Also a lot of young families take advantage of the low price, maybe partnered with what a lot of these travel agencies are also selling 3 or 4 nights beforehand at Disneyland for around $600 or so. Great prices! Princess is trying to fill the ship for the last 3 days of repositioning and make it very affordable for young people who couldn't normally take a cruise. There was even a party of 60 partaking in a bridal shower. They were nuts. They were so funny. They all wore feather boas the entire cruise and were drinking and whooping it up and having a great time. The cruise ship made more on liquor sales those last 3 days than the first 15! Departing Los Angeles there is a sailaway party by the Lido deck swimming pool. The young crowd are out with their buckets of beer enjoying the departure so that's where the party is and where you want to be. Great entertainment! Really funny stuff but after awhile they get loud and obnoxious and they're not so funny anymore.

Formal night is the 2nd night. For those of us who got on in Fort Lauderdale the menu was the exact same as our first formal night at sea, so we didn't go. The entertainment was also duplicate of what we had earlier in the cruise. Yes, the Island Princess has very good entertainment. Evening shows and daytime activities such as trivia and bingo and dance classes. I don't recall there being any port lecturers during those last 3 days.

The real entertainment is watching all the drunken revelers. Karaoke nights were a little slow during the Panama Canal portion of the cruise but once the party crowd got on board in LA and fueled with liquid courage they took over the karaoke and it was hilarious. Another couple who'd been on the entire cruise got together with us and we were just enjoying the people watching. The only time on the whole cruise that this boat came alive was the last 3 nights from LA to Vancouver so we were enjoying the action. Around 2am the drunken revelers decided to whoop it up in the hallways pounding on doors, screaming, and running with security in hot pursuit. So that's a little annoying when you want to sleep but we still came out to watch security in action. We had become friends with one of the security staff and she said their brig was full of drunks. One of the drunks stole some of the balloons off my door that had been on since the start of the cruise.

Anyway, take it for what it is. Those 3 days on the Island Princess will be a loud, crazy party boat and the best entertainment is watching the other passengers. Have fun. Enjoy your cruise!