Laminator

We were on the NS in February out of FLL. On the ship in 20 minutes.

It was on a 4 day cruise this past week. It departed on the 6th. My friend, with priority boarding, took nearly 3 hours from arriving to boarding. I, as well as you I am sure, are seeing different experiences posted here. I am trying to figure out if there is something they missed. I haven't cruised out of Vancouver since 2016 so I don't remember.

I received my boarding time this past Saturday evening for the May 20th cruise. Seems like 2 weeks out is when they assign boarding times.

We are boarding on the 20th. Can you please explain the process. I have friends on the Volendam and NA now who boarded this past weekend. They had priority boarding also. Both took over 2 hours. Is the priority lane clearly marked? Do you check in first and then go thru customs? They are pretty seasoned cruisers and they had issues.

I have to add this. This is the conversation I am visualizing. "Honey can you get me a diet coke please." "Sorry Dear I can't because they will charge us 10% sales tax on the $2.50 drink. That is going to cost us an extra .25 cents." And the next thing out of my wife's mouth will be how much do you think a divorce will cost you. Anyone who frets over this should stay home.

As for the taxes on soft drinks. Who cares about 20 cents or whatever. Let the accounting department handle it.

I would be willing to bet that you don't have alot of expertise in crowd control. The best way for me to explain this would be on 294 which runs outside of Chicago. Speed limit is 55. In the morning during rush you better be going 70. The State Police pretty much just hide. If they make a traffic stop it will wind up backing up traffic for miles. Traffic will remain backed up long after the traffic stop is over. Once that initial back up starts you are pretty much screwed. That is exactly what is occurring here. Once the overflow starts things just get worse. Of course there will still be issues but they will not be as bad if pax would abide by their check in times.

What time was your boarding time? What time was your table mates boarding time?

Someone on our upcoming cruise has Group Charlie at 10:40 so every 20 minutes appear to be HAL's strategy.

Yes...but alot of the problem is pax showing up before their check-in time. HAL appears to be aware of the issue as they are attempting to spread out the times. I have never seen a 10am check in time before. I am sure it has happened though.

I just received my boarding time for my cruise out of Vancouver on the KDAM leaving May 20th. It's 10am!

Did they call priority boarding in front of the 500 seated pax? IMO that is one of the problems. PAX showing up well ahead of their boarding times. It's the reason companies in large metropolitan areas have staggered work times. If everyone worked 9 to 5 there would be no way the roads or public transportation would be able to handle everyone.

That is what time was on my friends boarding pass out of Vancouver today. I am sure HAL is aware of the issues boarding there and are trying to further spread out the pax.

Same here. We are on the that sailing also. We are in an NS with no boarding time yet. I am anticipating a 10am boarding time but we will see. My friends boarded out of Vancouver today with a 10am priority boarding time and it took them a little over an hour to get thru customs and security. Alot of the delay was 4 ships in port and many pax showing up an hour or 2 ahead of their boarding time.

Same thing my friend reported. 1 hour getting thru the security. He said boarding will begin shortly.

We had 2 NS SC guaranty's on the May 20th sailing. We got our cabin assignments this past Monday. I think the only reason they came that early is that they wanted to them to be adjoining which we were thrilled with. I am sure you will get your cabin assignment in the next few days.

Have you tried stopping by the Dutch Cafe for desserts. Much better sweets there than buffet offers.

If your offer includes the HIA package according to HAL policy it must include both guests in the cabin. They tried that only the invited guest on my last cruise and I called them out on it. Was escalated to the Food and Beverage MGR who agreed. If it includes drinks in the casino only it is for the invited guest only unless it states otherwise.

I assume you are recommending to upload your pic on the Verifly app?

Adjoining SA's so I am happy. As long as it wasn't those SQ's or whatever they are called on deck 10. I would have canceled.

Craps table is very comfy. I slept on it a few nights. The casino opens on the first night after they are far enough away from the port.

I think I may be stuck there. Still waiting for cabin assignments. All set on the Nov. sailing though.

The drink package covers drinks up to $11 so the upcharge on a $12 drink would only be $1 plus the 18% gratuity on that dollar. I think the issue is those who tend to overthink. Never been an issue for me as my highest level of education was high school. It was the 7 best years of my life.

Nancy used the words "package drinks". The way she phrased it she would be correct. Tips are included in all 'package" drinks.

Not really!