rodndonna

Somewhere here in CC I found an old thread that stated the rule comes about in that if there is more than 1 bar per deck, they are viewed as selling alcohol in Canada and would thus be required to account for and pay taxes on the alcohol sales while in port, which would be a huge hassle and expense. Canada does love "sin" taxes and our alcohol is quite heavily taxed. 😑

We ad 2 HAL cruises booked before the AARP OBC thing came into play. One was past final payment (is in 2 weeks) but we have one for next December that is refundable. When I check pricing it appears the same, maybe $50 more but I think that is just the currency exchange for our Canadian rates. I figure I can call our PCC and have it cancelled and rebooked to get the AARP OBC applied, but was wondering if people are just calling in and having it applied rather put them through the hassle of rebooking it. We have a GTY inside so no issue with rooms 😄

Apologies .. posted to wrong forum ... 😊

EDIT: Oops .. meant to post on HAL forum....🫣 We ad 2 HAL cruises booked before the AARP OBC thing came into play. One was past final payment (is in 2 weeks) but we have one for next December that is refundable. When I check pricing it appears the same, maybe $50 more but I think that is just the currency exchange for our Canadian rates. I figure I can call our PCC and have it cancelled and rebooked to get the AARP OBC applied, but was wondering if people are just calling in and having it applied rather put them through the hassle of rebooking it. We have a GTY inside so no issue with rooms 😄

I just tried again to see where the discount happens and see if it mentioned "Private Fare" I get the display of all the categories and their prices .. but then when I pick a category (like inside), the price drops to my discounted fare, but no mention of "private fare" for my bookings.

I do go through the dummy booking ..which will eventually display the fare at the discounted Casino rate, but that is always how it worked for me. I never see mention of "Private Fare" or get to select Private fare, the price just drops as I go through the booking so I see what my fare is then.

Not that surprised they are make it refundable (It is only $1). If not, people would just let it go to final payment and then let it go without payment (foregoing that $1), so at least this way they have a shot of people cancelling earlier if/when they decided the aren't going.

I don't see it either - where do you "select Private Fare" option? I don't see it listed in either of the "Show results for" or the "sort by" pull downs. Would it be in there? I have casino discounts on cruises when I follow through the booking , but I still have to just go through the booking to see what my discount is.

I don't see that cruise available anywhere, and when I check cruisetimetables (thinking it was just sold out) - it has a similar gap for the Summit from Sept 13 (Vancouver) - to Sept 19th (LA). I guess it's got to get from Vancouver to L.A., but can't see a cruise for the journey. Very strange ....

I'm not sure why when you are using a TA, you are still calling HAL with and not just calling your TA with your questions regarding your booking?

We used to live in Niagara, and used Niagara airbus a few times while living there. The biggest (only?) con is the price, but like you say - maybe better than 36 days of parking . They were very reliable and fairly well run. It's a 'little' annoying that you have a couple of detours going out and back for pickups and drop-offs. Here in London, if doing a home pickup our airport bus service arranges a cab to bring you to the central station so no detours. The timing is always generous to avoid missing your flights. When the cost makes sense, if we still lived in Niagara I would consider them. It tended to work well if one of us had a flight. Another thing I liked about them is the return fare was discounted nicely from a one-way trip. Here in London, the equivalent service (RobertQ) just doubles it. Thankfully here in London we have a few super cheap express buses that run frequently so are now looking at those as options to avoid the drive/park (FlixBus, MegaBus and ONExbus). Good luck!

Would love to be on one that does the Canal after ... but out of our 14 day holiday maximum permitted by our dog 😐 We are on the Princess Discovery, round trip from LA.

I agree - although may be biased as it sounds like we are on your Princess eclipse cruise n April 🙃

Bummer - but thanks for that link! It will be our first NCL cruise in over 15 years. Looks like we will have a couple of other game shows anyway. Like many, always partial to Price is Right though. We did make it to the show with Drew Carey a few years ago. Guy beside was "called down" and made it to the showcase which he lost. Was great fun 😃

Does anyone know if they do Price is Right on the Viva also?

I really don't believe it is to encourage people to drink in port. I can't imagine - "Gee -I really would like to drink at bar X on deck 5 of the ship. Darn it - now I have to drink at bar Y on deck 5 instead - iI think it is just easier to go down 5 decks and probably pass bar Y and 3 more bars to disembark and get a drink!" I think people are really making it out to be more than it is. You still have a bar operating on ever deck that has a bar, It's not like all the bars are open all the time on ships.

we've only done 2 cruises with Canadian ports - Alaska (from Vancouver) and didn't notice anything or know it was a thing on that cruise. We did a Canada/NE with a few Canadian ports, but we still didn't really notice the closures - it was a small ship (HAL) and they keep the bar per deck open which is most popular for those hours in port (and generally where we would have been anyway). If it weren't for the signs .. I would never have known about the strange law even though we are Canadian! Hubby thinks perhaps the rule comes limiting bars on ferries.. but who knows.

I can see what you're saying if ALL the bars are closed. But the rule (strange i know) is there can only be 1 bar on each deck open, so I I guess I was thinking (depending on where your room is) it may be just as easy to find an open bar on the way to the entertainment.

When there is still a bar open on ever deck (that has bars) isn't it still easier to just to go the closest bar than back to your room whenever you want a drink? Not sure how stocking the room helps, unless you plan to stay in your room.

I am anxiously awaiting our first time flight assignments with NCL..just looking to clarify - when you say "to get seats" you are speaking of getting assigned seats is that correct? When they said "they no longer had seats" I'm hoping they just meant you couldn't pay to choose your seat without upgrading - is that right?

Like you we are new to Celebrity (1 cruise in last April). Really enjoyed it - no idea how it compared to what it might have been years earlier. At the end of the day for the price I paid, I thoroughly enjoyed the experience and have 2 more X cruises booked. HAL was the same for us, Had not sailed them pre Covid. Have now done 6 (and 2 booked) which we have enjoyed and a good feel for what they offer at a price point today, although many a thread to read telling me I don't know what I am missing and it sucks. I like it.... Is it different/worse than it was 5 years ago...?? Don't know and honestly don't really care, as long as I like what I get now for the price I pay now.

Thanks - called our PCC and had them removed this afternoon. 🙂

That's the way it was on our last HAL cruise. People stood waiting for the waiters to emerge. You would swear people had not had access to chocolate or any sweets for months ....as opposed to maybe .. like an hour ago... Not my cup of tea (not a sweets person) but it was quite a sight!

We were able to edit it electronically and submitted earlier today - no printing required 😄

Thanks! We were able to edit the forms and have now just sent it in 🙂 We're retired - the only thing we miss about work is that easy access to printing without having to buy ink cartridges 😄