AV8rix

Ewww, that's an AWFUL one! I've been on a few as a preliminary segment to Hawaii, et al. They are booze cruises for the Seattle HAL office folk, who all get drunk and loud and make everyone else miserable. On the last couple of them, I just stayed in my stateroom 'til they all disembarked. It's only one night, so it's certainly tolerable (to me).

Unfortunately, you are correct for Vancouver. All other ports -- including San Diego, which can also be bad at times -- definitely honor the Mariner status/CO/suite priority boarding. But have a great cruise anyway. Once you're aboard, your suite status will be honored.

Actually the Vancouver train station is right across the park from the SkyTrain Expo Line station (with elevator for your luggage). I generally use that, although in bad weather I've taken a taxi -- about $12 Canadian to the port.

Hi, neighbor (I'm in Snohomish County)! I've driven up for cruises there. Canada Place parking is OUTRAGEOUSLY expensive. So what I have done in the past is stay one night at the Radisson. They have (or used to have) a "parking package" for folks on cruises. Nice indoor garage. And they're right across the street from a SkyTrain terminal (SkyTrain is Vancouver's excellent mass transit). However, I just checked their site and no longer see the parking package listed. So you might want to give them a call and see if it is still offered. (236) 305-5339. But more often, I just take the Amtrak Cascade train up and back. Business Class is just about $150 from SnoCo round trip. Probably a bit more from downtown. Train always full of cruisers.

Yeah, I was through the Vancouver misery on July 30. Four ships boarding. I'm a 4* and there was ABSOLUTELY NO priority boarding! The line for security snaked through for the better part of an hour, mixing pax of ALL ships. You see, Vancouver has only one terminal building/line for ALL ships. Unlike Fort Lauderdale with its multiple terminal buildings, each with its own customs/security line.

I had it on both Kdam and Vdam earlier this year in PG for lunch and Canaletto for dinner (both starters). But take a look at the NEW Canaletto menu. It's not included in the starters any more.☹️ Boarding NAdam tomorrow. That's one of the first things I'll check on -- or no Canaletto for me.

Yeah, in May Volendam stopped for just 4-5 hours -- I forget now exactly how long. But as long as it's sufficient time for me to walk the mile (and back) to my favorite sushi shop in the James Bay neighborhood, I'm good.

Jacqui @kazu, I'm going on a cruise tomorrow and always unplug when I'm on the ships. So could you give us an update on Ivan today? Even a brief one? I'm sure we're all curious. Thanks.

Yeah, they’ve moved to Rowena. But they no longer have an airstrip. So nobody’s gonna drive the 200+ miles (one way) from Dallas for a steak dinner, no matter how good. But we pilots, of course, use ANYTHING as an excuse to fly. So that’s why we happily flew the 200+ miles to Lowake for “just” a steak dinner, then turn right around again and fly home. BTW, been retired in the PacNW for >20 years now but will ALWAYS consider Texas my home. Jus' sayin’ 🙂. On another subject: Within a week I’ll be on a 2-week cruise so won’t be following. Well, actually I don’t follow the Daily much any more – just search for posts of certain individuals, of which you’re one. I’m not a praying person, but am HOPING that Steve gets the shunt procedure scheduled in a timely fashion. The love of my life refused the shunt (didn’t want people “poking around in his brain”), so watching the inexorable progression of the NPH up to his death in January of this year was heartbreaking. Hope to hear some good news from you when I return in mid August.

Y’all want to know something? I’m intending to pack up my copper and silver and mailing them (certified mail) back to the Mariner Society office. Why? Well, we no longer have ANY occasion to wear them. We never wear them around the ship except for the reception which has now been closed to us lowly folk. We certainly don’t wear them for any reason at all when we’re not on a ship. So I can’t see the point in awarding them at all below gold and platinum level. When I do send them back I will of course include a message containing the paragraph above. And why am I just talking about it and not doing it? Because Gerald Bernhoft, the Mariner Society Director has retired. He has not been replaced. I don’t see any point in making the gesture until a new Director has been appointed. The underlings would likely just shrug their shoulders and return the medallions back to inventory. ‘Nuff said. BTW, @Haljo1935, there is no 200-day medallion. The next level up from the 100-day copper is the silver for 300 days. And if I were you I definitely would contact them about your missing copper. Their email address is mariner_society@hollandamerica.com

Well, I can answer that one -- and it's a BUMMER!! The Mariner medallion reception on the last sea day of every cruise (right before the Mariner luncheon) was a wonderful tradition. ALL 4* and 5* Mariners were invited. It was held in either the theater or the Explorers Lounge (depending upon the ship) with snacks and wine provided. Each person receiving a medallion was called to the front, the ships Master himself placed the medallion on the recipient and a photo was taken with the Master and the Hotel Director. Well, that was discontinued at the startup after the pandemic, when we were all masked. Only a very few extremely high-status 5*s and PC members were invited. I've heard that some of the receptions had fewer than 12 attendees (other than the ones being awarded medallions). Medallions were unceremoniously dropped off in staterooms. Well, I could understand it back then. Wanting to limit the Masters and HDs contact to as few people as possible because covid was still pretty prevalent. But that's still the way the medallions are awarded now and IMO there's no excuse for it. I received my silver in my stateroom, went to the reception, and all they did was call out the names of all of the recipients, each of whom put their own medallion on. No individual contact with either the Master or the HD. Just another lovely HAL tradition that's gone, along with the Yum Yum Man, the crew show, the librarian, the officers hosting tables in the MDR, etc, etc. End of rant.

And we used to fly our planes from Dallas to the great Lowake Steak House back when it had it's own airstrip. Their steaks were the BEST! I was on the crew of an airshow B-17 so we were at Dyess for the arrival of the first B1 bomber.

Thanks. Been lucky, I guess. Now in my 80s, have decades of eating tartare, carpaccio and sashimi but have never (so far) ingested contaminated samples. FWIW, before a mid-life career change into aero engineering I was a clinical microbiologist. So perhaps constant exposure to those pathogens for 17 years conferred immunity on me 😉.

Yeah, but they subtracted the carpaccio. Not a good trade-off (for me, anyway).

Apples and oranges. The two "awards" (loyalty tiers and medallions) are calculated differently. Loyalty tiers (star levels) are calculated to include actual days aboard the ships + onboard spend. The medallions are calculated based number of days on board ONLY. Therefore the loyalty-tier bumps always come before the medallions. You can check your Mariner Society status on your account on the HAL site. It will tally up the days and the onboard spend separately so you can see how close you are to either next star status or medallion award. Hope this helps.

OK, thanks. Makes sense. From what I can see from his content history, this poster sails mostly on Carnival and this is the FIRST thread in which he has EVER participated on this board.

Huh? The "Behind The Scenes" tour has been discontinued since the shutdown in 2019. That fact has been verified by numerous folks on this board, plus I myself have been on six cruises since the restart and have not seen it offered. Would you mind sharing with us which ship you were on "last week" when you took this tour and which line (you're apparently not a HAL regular)? I'm hoping you were telling the truth because I haven't been on that tour since 2016 and I'd like to sign up for it again if HAL has really resumed it. TIA.

However, many (perhaps most) of your comments are not facts. They are your opinions. "What is important" is to differentiate between those two terms and to use them properly. JMO.

Rudi's steak tartare -- it is presented with a quail egg. The same dish in the PG lacks the quail egg. Jewels of the Sea soup in Tamarind. Just about anything freshly prepared to order at the Asian station in the Lido. Liver in Canaletto. Poke in Nami.

Wow! Talk about thread creep. I've only been trying to watch this one because I'm a lover of classical music and am hoping for news about what's happening now related to that topic.

Raw sugar used to be available in individual packets in all dining venues. Discontinued since resumption after the covid shutdown. I noticed it immediately on my first cruise in 2021 after the shutdown. Luckily the first stop (Alaska cruise departing from Seattle) was in Victoria BC, so I walked up to the grocery store in the James Bay area and bought a box of packets. And have brought a supply of my own on every cruise since then. Whoops, let me amend that. Raw sugar is still usually available in the Lido. However, it is in those awful dispensers. So I'm happy bringing my own.

Wow! Us in Canaletto on VDAM! Yum! Which reminds me, check your FB messages for something interesting.

Still look in on this thread occasionally, checking in today 'cause it's National Motorcycle Day! I've had three of them, here's a picture of my favorite. Her name was Brunnhilde and we went all over the US and Canada together. Umm, I probably can't post here WHY her name is Brunnhilde but some of you know me personally and are FB friends or FB messaging friends. So if you're curious about her name you can PM me on Facebook.

What?? Seriously??? I've been trying to get into the engine spaces for about 14 years now! Retired now, but was an engineer -- so I'd cut my right arm off at the ankle for the opportunity to see the big diesels. Every time I board a ship I plead with any Engineering officer (black stripes on the epaulets) that I encounter but the answer is always no. And yes, I've paid for the "Behind the Scenes" tours in the past on Eurodam but we only toured the engine control room. Guess I've just been on the wrong ships at the wrong time. 😢😢😢

Answers to first two questions is "yes". I guess that's because they're both under the umbrella of the OPC (Ocean Players Club), a CCL subsidiary. Can't provide specific offers -- they will vary for each persons level of play, so mine may not match yours. As to "kinds of offers", I would suspect that they are similar -- free or discounted staterooms, free drinks while playing, free play in varying amounts.