BlueMoon3669

2 minutes ago, Colo Cruiser said:

What were the times and what were they changed to?

The sail time was moved up to 3:30 (originally 4:30), all aboard time is now 3:00. The recommended latest flight arrival time was changed (to 12:30 I think). Times have not been changed in the itinerary or travel summary document, but a pop-up notice appeared when I logged in, and I had to click to acknowledge I received the notification. There was no mention of earlier check-in or boarding times.

12 hours ago, Sam.Seattle said:

 We were just notified yesterday that out Aug 3 sailing date is now departing early due to tides.  

We are on the same sailing. Were you notified via email or phone call? I only just saw it now when I logged in to manage our booking.

Any suggestions where to buy wine near the port?

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Was here today too.

 

I had to go there and meet a person on board.

 

They preparing the turnover day for tomorrow.

 

All the PAX actually on board were leaving (except B2B) and tomorrow will be another story.

 

 

 

Enjoy your stay in Quebec ! Lady Gaga tonight for the summer festival. So Hot !

 

 

 

Holacanada from Quebec City

My daughters were thrilled to learn about Lady Gaga when we arrived. We climbed to the Citadel and sat on the grass to listen to the concert. A very nice evening to be out enjoying this beautiful city.

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Lucky you in Quebec City. One of my favorite places in North America......

 

Enjoy. :)

It is my first time here and it is indeed a beautiful city! Wishing we had more time. Will have to return for a longer visit. I have a feeling I might be saying the same thing about a few more places before the week is out.

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We are wandering around Old Quebec City and were surprised to see the Veendam already in port. I was not expecting to see her until tomorrow morning. Did she come in early to get ahead of Arthur?

Excited to board tomorrow!

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We also had a change email from Delta - and it broke our connection so that our first leg arrived after the second leg departed. When we called they tried to reroute us on a 12 hour multi-stop itinerary. We said that's not acceptable and they refunded our trip. We found a decent trip on United for the same price, I think a slightly shorter overall trip time. Now we just have to hope that connecting through ORD won't be an issue!

Am I the only one who cannot get the tomsportguides site to load? I've seen the links from several forums, and none seem to work for me.

Anyway, thank you all for the great tips for Charlottetown. Can't wait to see it next week!

I called insure my trip a few months ago for my 80 yo mom joining me on a Disney Caribbean cruise, she is Canadian. I was told that medical & cancel coverage for her would be very expensive (about 1/3 cost of her trip). She ended up buying medical coverage for the year through CAA (Canadian version of AAA). It was less expensive and she has other out-of-country trips planned through the year anyway. And she decided to risk the cancelation for that one trip because it wouldn't break the bank if she had to forfeit. Insure my trip, IIRC, only sold medical combined with cancel/interrupt.

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I will try to be here. That's my ride, come July! I

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I recently convinced DH to call the online travel agency he used to book our cruise, for which we originally booked an FF at a "distressed inventory" sale price. The new sale does not offer a lower price for the first two passengers, but offers "3rd person sails free". In fact, the current price is actually $50pp more for the first two psgrs than what we paid. Anyway, he called, and was told no, they would not do OBC for that. But about 10 minutes later the agent called me (I was at home and that was the number she had on file) to say that she had since spoken with a HAL supervisor and asked me would it be OK to refund the fare we paid for the 3rd person?

So not an upgrade/upsell or OBC, but outright $$$ refund. I'll take it :D. HAL will likely get that money back as we will feel we can splurge a little more while on board.

And still more than 2 months out...if they should happen to offer a decent up-sell, well, that would be great too. But if not, we are more than happy to go with what we've booked and paid for.

Still curious if anyone has any details. Not that I will notice because I've never sailed her before. But my kids are starting to wonder whether it will have the new Dive In (they are jonesing for the cheese fries).

Does anyone know if this is a dry-dock upgrade we can expect for the Veendam this week?

We were disappointed when we learned the robes are Concierge perk and not routinely available in all cabins. But my sister had sailed DCL before and assured us we could request them anyway. So when we met our host the first day, we asked if we could borrow robes for the duration. He said he'd have to ask his supervisor, but when we returned to our stateroom after dinner, they were hanging on the hooks :D. Nothing better than the cozy robe while enjoying room service coffee on the balcony in the morning.:cool:

So nice to read this review, we will be on the Veendam for Quebec City-Boston in July. We first decided we wanted to visit this region, then found and booked the HAL cruise to take us there. DH almost planned it as a driving vacation but our DDs were much relieved when we "came to our senses" and decided to cruise instead this time.

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I got told by my travel agent's temporary replacement the last time that there was something reduced that it would require us to cancel and rebook, but if someone snuck in while we were cancelling and took our cabin that we'd be out of luck.

 

Has anyone had this experience? Anything that they can do to make that less of a risk?

I'm not an expert, but I think the TA needs to call HAL to see what they can do. Our TA had HAL on the phone when she called me to check on the refund (as if I would say no thanks???). She also said that the first HAL rep she spoke with said there was no price drop. Luckily for us she persisted and spoke with a supervisor who agreed to refunding for the "3rd person free" offer.

Hi Fellow Cruisers !

 

Today I saw the 3 days sale on Holland America web site. So...

I took my cell and called HA Reservations center...

Although I had no right to 50$ Beverage Card offered as a bonus for this specific sale (May/June departures), I got it..!

In addition, I received a price break of $240.00. :)

 

Finally, a good decision from my part.

It always pays to follow the prices fluctuation for your next cuise booked. And ASK for a correction of the booking price.

 

Holacanada from Quebec City

Thank you, Holacanada! I hadn't noticed, and CC price drop didn't catch it because the actual fares for 1st and 2nd passenger did not change for our booking. But I saw the 3rd person free promo, so DH called our online TA without much hope. He was told "no can do", but apparently the TA managed to get a HAL supervisor after he had hung up already, and she called me back at home to say they are refunding the $599 3rd cruiser fare. To think I almost didn't answer the phone because the TA call showed as a toll-free number which I normally don't pick up. :eek:

I would not have noticed this sale if you hadn't posted (I know you're on the same cruise we are on so it caught my attention). :D

But I was so thrilled with the refund that I didn't think to ask about the beverage card. Oh well.

V is behind an X so you can't see her :D

thanks, I guessed that might be the case. The V will my first HAL experience. Curious to explore her, especially post dry dock by a couple of months.

Like being the Maytag Repairman in here today.:confused:

 

Lonely.

You are not alone. But I'm only half paying attention. To be honest, I can't see the V in any of the views, so was wondering if I missed it.

What a wonderful, and flexible, itinerary! Some of you are leaving in San Diego, some in Vancouver ... and some are even tacking on Alaska. No matter where you end your cruise, have an absolutely perfect one!

 

RJ2002 - Zuiderdam - 18-Apr-14 - 18 day Panama Canal

stki - Zuiderdam - 18-Apr-14 - 18 day Panama Canal (Fll to San Diego)

NanaLiz - Zuiderdam - 18-Apr-14 - 22 night Panama Canal - B2B with May 11th Oosterdam Alaska Northbound & May 18th Alaska Southbound

sapper1 - Zuiderdam - 18-Apr-14 - 22 nights Panama Canal - B2B with 10 May

startwin - Zuiderdam - 18-Apr-14 - 22 nights Panama Canal

Nanaimo Gal - Zuiderdam - 18-Apr-14 - 22 night Panama Canal

seaside sally - Zuiderdam - 18-Apr-14 - 22 night Panama Canal

Katie333 - N Amsterdam - 20-Apr-14 - 12 day Mediterranean Tapestry

 

 

BON VOYAGE !!!

Bon Voyage! To all! So jealous of that Mediterranean itinerary, Katie333!!

I was on the 3/29 Fantasy sailing. I registered for the 5K at the port adventures desk one evening. It took about 30 seconds and I was given a ticket just like the adventures that cost $.

We were told that we set a record for the most 5K runners (260+). We were given our medals as we crossed the finish line (as discussed in the pre-run meet before disembarking for the run). I dont know if they ran out, I wan't last but Probably near the back of the pack. We were also able to purchase the tshirt at the shop next to the finish line.

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And just to add, on Fantasy, the fridges kept our beverages very cold, but not frozen.

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I just returned from my DCL cruise. They sell soft sided personal coolers packed with 6 bottles of water ($20 IIRC) before your excutsions, so I don't think a small lunch size soft cooler would be a problem.

But as others have mentioned above, the water on the ship is very good. I took a reusable water bottle with a wide opening ($6 at Publix, in an insulated carrier) and filled it with ice & water from the lido deck.

We carried beer and wine on board in our carry on roll bags. We removed the beer from the boxes and it fit better. We were also able to restock the beer supply in port (i.e. Coronas for $1/ bottle in Cozumel).

Our biggest challenge was hunting down wine glasses every day. We sometimes ordered them from room service (had to order a corkscrew the first day) other times ran down to a bar and asked for them if we didn't want to wait. Also, we forgot bottle opener but the bartender on the lido gave me one when I asked.

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Thanks all! And Bon Voyage to Sackman! Spring is springing here in Texas, but still looking forward to some fun in the sun. Joining some family from Canada and they are definitely in need of some warmth after the long winter they've had.

This is merely a practice run before our summer sailing on the Veendam :D

Brenda

Chose this cabin as opposed to accepting a guaranteed cabin. Looks as though there is a cabin on one side and no cabin on the other. Is this a pretty good area of the ship as we're hoping for a peaceful cruise? We can put up with mechanical noise from the engines and thrusters. No problem. Have a problem with excessive people noise, though, especially at night.

We are booked in 834 and 840 in July. I've been wondering also. They were sold as "distressed" inventory. But we're not too fussy, glad to be trying HAL for the first time, and hoping to enjoy the rest of the ship as much as possible :D