Chinook Wind

Thank you for double checking what the “deal” is on the K’dam. We’ll be boarding your ship on Saturday so that info is helpful.  Have been following your wonderful thread and living vicariously through your posts.  Thanks for taking us all along with you! ☺️

Thanks for your responses!  It all makes sense now. 

Looks like we'll just have to choose a different restaurant.

Are the specialty restaurants open for dinner on embarkation day?

Prior to our October Noordam cruise we had made a reservation months ahead for Canaletto without a problem yet once on board we received a note and a follow-up telephone call from the restaurant that they were closing that night.

What are your recent experiences?  (I heard that this is the way to go to avoid the first night's MDR chaos.)

39 minutes ago, RD64 said:

150 th anniversary totes and tiles on my Noordam b2b in August

😳

We don't expect special treatment...we do however, expect to receive what we pay for.

I too just got off the Noordam on the Vancouver -- San Diego itinerary, with an upgrade to a Signature Suite.  We ran into a couple of rather interesting experiences:

1.  We always order room service without incident or complaint however, whoever is filling the orders on this ship needs a refresher.  Sugar for coffee for two was served in the small bowl that on other ships is used for jam or butter, which worked out to be about a tablespoon.  We usually are given the container with the spout (that is always clogged due to humidity 😏).  Jam was served in disposable plastic packaging 😳 and butter was one tiny pat -- not enough for the amount of pastries that come with the Continental Breakfast.  Cereal didn't include the milk.  Now this wasn't just a one off -- someone in the galley having a bad day -- but every morning something in the order was deficient no matter how many number servings we put in the little box on the order card.

2.  Okay, there is always a tote bag in the stateroom, right?  I was going to need one as we had the Thermal pass and deliberately didn't pack my own tote.  There was no tote to be found. When we asked our Stateroom Attendant to please get us one he told us that HAL wasn't giving them out this trip.  Say what?!  He suggested we go to Guest Services and ask for one.  I did, and was told the same thing, but the Clerk said that he'd ask his Manager.  The next morning our Stateroom Attendant knocked on our door and presented us with two tote bags!  Now these weren't the ordinary blue recycled bags but canvas 150-year anniversary commemorative canvas tote bags!  He also insisted that we keep two.  So, THAT was strange.  Hasn't the whole of 2023 been the 150-year anniversary?  We never got this canvas bag on our earlier-in-the-year cruise, why now?  (We got tiles but no bag.) Strange.  Oh, and during the rest of the week I never saw anyone else carrying an awesome canvas 150-year anniversary tote bag!

Despite these two weird things our Noordam trip was enjoyable.  Any trip is enjoyable!  We're lucky to be able to travel, cruise and have someone else cook, clean, make our bed and do laundry for us.  It's all in your perspective, I guess.

Yay!  Thank you RuthC.  That's the answer I was hoping for.

Considering purchasing the 7-day Thermal Suite passes for our upcoming Pacific Coastal on the Noordam.  If I buy now I don't imagine it would count towards the on-board spending would it?  (I am so close to 4* so it all helps.)  However, if I wait to purchase when I'm on board I then run the risk of spaces being sold out...but if spaces are available then I'd would get the credit towards 4*  Aaack 😜

Advice?

Erdufylla is correct.  We took the upgrade thinking that we'd get double points but no, it doesn't work that way.  So if this is one of the factors that you're thinking would make the upgrade worth it, then you might want to reconsider.

What?!  No more Beef Carpaccio!  😠

1 hour ago, OlsSalt said:

 

Turnaround day is very hard on the staff - they are deployed to so many other activities and do need to shut down venues for housekeeping and inventory duties as well.

 

All those prior crew who staffed the serving venues are now getting luggage loaded and off loaded, getting cabins ready by onboard time, and any other of the double duties that take place on turn around day.

 

Yes, it does feel empty when one first arrives, expecting a full serve operation. But delving deeper in to the daily demands of cruise ship operations, which run on a 24/7 basis with a fixed number crew, changes one's expectations.

 

Re-read my post that you quoted 3 times, lol.  The ship had arrived that morning and was spending that night and the following full day docked in Quebec City.  We were docked.  No one was loading luggage.  It was dead quiet.

I don't think that our expectations were too high nor should we "change our expectations".  This was our third HAL cruise of the year and we never experienced anything remotely like this on the other ships (Zuiderdam and Statendam).

We encountered two crew members:  the one who checked us in at Guest Services and the one who delivered our order from Room Service.  The fact that the bars were closed is not critical to me as I don't drink but the fact that our stateroom was lacking some of the basic items (towels, bath robes and the "Daily" itinerary) was disappointing and just had to wait until the morning to be addressed as there was no one around anywhere. (It was almost as if the stewards weren't expecting anyone to be booked into this room.)

All in all it was definitely a weird and crappy start to our cruise.  And yes, I mentioned all of this in our survey.

Last Fall we had a late flight/arrival into Quebec City for our New England cruise and embarked on the Nieuw Statendam at around 11:00 pm.  (The ship was overnight in port.) There was one person staffing Guest Services who checked us and 6 other pax in.  There was no one else around -- literally no one else.  After dropping off our luggage we went to find an open bar to hopefully have a cocktail and relax after a long trip from the West Coast.  Failing that, a place to grab a quick bite to eat but everything was closed.  Seriously -- everything was closed with not a soul in sight.  It was creepy.  Lido was empty and all set up for breakfast.  This was before midnight. We ended up just filling our water bottles and going back to the room where we ordered room service -- thankfully it was operating as we were hungry, thirsty and very cranky by this point.  Not impressed.

Do the Vista Suites have more outlets than the OV rooms?

After witnessing several incidents of supervisors dressing down front line crew in front of passengers is the main reason why I don't sail with Celebrity any more.  I have 28+ years of working in HR and can recognize a culture of bullying. Ironically my only truly negative experience on board HAL was an interaction with a Pinnacle Grill maitre d' who had just arrived on board after being hired from Celebrity.

It can be tricky when the bully is wearing a white shirt -- simply complain to someone higher up.

In my case I asked the MDR Head Maitre d' who to speak to and he contacted the Asst F&B Director for me who met with me and handled my complaint.

You're doing the company a favour by letting them know about this behaviour.  It's nasty and certainly unprofessional -- neither is a good look for HAL.

3 hours ago, MyTMo777 said:

That kind of coat sounds really good. I could work with that. 

CDNPolar refers to the same type of packable lightweight down jacket. You can buy them in lots of places now. 😊

Layering is your friend.  I find that it can get quite cool on the plane so I always wear jeans or joggers, runners with liner socks, and a t-shirt under a light sweater (cashmere if you got it.)  I wear one of those down jackets than can fold up into its own carrying bag to the airport and then use it as a pillow during the flight. I'm happy with this approach -- has worked for many winter trips! 😊

You can also get change at the Casino.

Nope. 

I remember a story told to me by our stateroom attendant about a couple of crew members who were mugged in Colon.  Besides their valuables their clothes were also stolen so they had to get back to their ship in their underwear!  😳

Yes, the Ocean Bar has a pretty good selection of non-alcoholic drinks that were available at any bar on the Nieuw Statendam last week.  My favourite was their cucumber concoction:  lots of ice, muddled cucumber and mint in a soda/lemonade base -- delish! 🍹

I had promised to report back about HAL enforcing the completion of ArriveCan at embarkation at the Quebec City pier.

We arrived very late so I'm not sure that everyone had the same experience but here's mine:

We were one of four couples arriving at the pier very late (11:30 pm).  Our arrival caused quite the flap as there were only port security guards at the gangway.  Eventually an Agent from Guest Services escorted us to Guest Services where she proceeded to check everyone in.

She did not want to even look at the ArriveCan QR code and actually never really looked closely at the antigen test results. Check in went smoothly and professionally although they used a photo of me taken on my last cruise in June.

In fact, the only official who was interested my ArriveCan QR code was the WestJet agent who checked me into my flight at Logan airport -- and that was a brand new code, appropriately completed because I was going to be entering Canada. 😉

So all that excitement for nothing.

Of course I will.  You all have been so helpful its the least I can do.

My travel buddy is going to try embarking without filling out the app...will let you all know how that one goes  😉

Leaving Wednesday for QC>Boston.  Just filled out the ArriveCan form using Quebec as my "point of arrival".  Received the "confirmation receipt" with the QR code in no time flat but there was no green check mark.  Can't remember when we get that...

Can anyone remember when they send the green check mark?

Thanks everyone for your help and input! 😊

I'll be on HAL's September 7-17 QC>Boston cruise.  What "fictitious Canadian port" are other folks using when filling out their ArriveCan form? 

And what will happen when we have to fill the form out for the bona fide Boston>Canada flight home?

😬

Yay! 🎉

I know that the casino usually opens half an hour after departure from a port but what about on the Canada/New England itineraries?

Thanks!

Another vote for Riverside on Olas Atlas.  It's a beautiful & well maintained property with a couple of in-house restaurants and close to many others (i.e. Cheesecake Factory).  Lots of shopping on the main street (Olas Atlas).  They're part of the "Stack" hotels Group that seems to specialize in smaller, boutique properties.  Plus -- as mentioned above -- it's only a $15 cab ride to the Port/airport.

Was so happy to find this place as I was fed up with the crappy hotels by the Cruise Port who charge an arm and a leg just because they're near the Port.