Live from Konigsdam on a Pacific Coastal

[Cruising-along]

14 hours ago, DrKoob said:

The fraudulent scam that HAL pulled in Prince Rupert by buying out the only tram rides in the town and jacking up the price much higher than it would have been had you have been able to pay cash for a tour. It sounds like the entire Carnival Corp is doing this.

We also saw the tram and thought about taking it.  Changed our minds when we saw the price, and knowing there couldn't be that much to see.

So when I got home I looked into it.  Apparently that company is brand new.  If you look at their website https://ottco.ca/ it says they're "coming in May", and NO prices are listed.  That tells me that the whole reason they are there is for cruise ships.  No wonder HAL chose the price.

[HAL4NOW]

4 minutes ago, Cruising-along said:

We also saw the tram and thought about taking it.  Changed our minds when we saw the price, and knowing there couldn't be that much to see.

So when I got home I looked into it.  Apparently that company is brand new.  If you look at their website https://ottco.ca/ it says they're "coming in May", and NO prices are listed.  That tells me that the whole reason they are there is for cruise ships.  No wonder HAL chose the price.

We booked the Olde Town Trolley because we had some OBC to use. It was a good tour and will probably get better as the season progresses. They are new and I think a good addition to a port that is attempting to attract tourists. It did seem pricey, but so do a lot of the touristy tours other places. 
I also heard from a few local residents that they are trying to find a way to provide more public restrooms. The locals haven’t been burned out by cruisers yet and seemed happy to have the Koningsdam in port.

[oaktreerb]

14 hours ago, DrKoob said:

I guess that would mean asking for the Food and Beverage Manager. Talked to him. What is he supposed to do? Put us in front of other people. The problem was not him. It was HAL selling out the ship, understaffing it with people that were too new to be put in the situations they were put in.

No.  The person at the podium in the lower dining room (open dining) who is responsible for the stewards who escort you to your table.  He has the power to assign you a table.  If you choose to eat at a fixed time (when the dining room opens is easiest) your group of 8 can be assigned a table and you can eat at that table every evening.  Just walk in and sit down at your assigned table.  If someone doesn’t plan to join you one evening that’s ok.  If you are all planning to eat elsewhere you need to let him/her know so others can be seated.  Your responsibility is to be there on time, know your assigned table, walk in and sit down.  If your table is assigned you don’t wait to be seated.  

 

Do not expect him/her to hold a table for 8 for later dining.  Unless it is the “late fixed dining” hour, then maybe.  You need to be consistent and follow through with your choice.  

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Florida_gal_50]

5 hours ago, Ipeeinthepools said:

 

No, they should better train and better supervise new employees.

I'm more than fine if gelato scoopers are not trained for months and months. You probably won't find me there anyway. As a shareholder I want to see them decreasing debt not increasing it.  I assume you are joking.  I suspect some may be more comfortable dealing with much higher end cruise lines if they expect there won't be anyone in a line before them.  A lot of this is created by cruisers that are so befuddled about what they should have on their salad that it takes 10 minutes to decide. 

[Florida_gal_50]

6 hours ago, curtdesilets said:

We were on the same cruise last November.  You will enjoy!  This oddball "Pacific Coastal" on this review is not typical of HAL's product.  Several reasons as discussed.  You should have full staffing on the REAL Pacific Coastal in November, the R/T San Diego to SF one. Embarkation will still be a challenge as everyone shows up too early and creates chaos. San Diego embarkation rivals Vancouver.  Just be patient.  You will get on the ship! 

Its never taken me hours and hours to get on the ship in San Diego.  I cruised out of there in Nov 2021, Mar 2022 and Nov 2022.  That said, I follow the time on my boarding pass and they were enforcing it on all those cruises.  In recent history did it take you hours to get on the ship there?  If so was it a cruise a couple of months in duration?  That is going to make a difference.

[oaktreerb]

@DrKoob Thanks for the heads up re: Prince Rupert tourist bus.  We’ll be there again in 2024.

 

re: Seattle cruises stopping in Victoria.  Victoria is a lovely place to visit if you have 8 hours.  Many cruises have a short evening visit and it’s barely time to walk down to the beautiful inner harbor area.

[robotpony]

22 hours ago, Ipeeinthepools said:

After all of these horror stories, I'll never book a cruise from Vancouver.  

 

It's not any worse than Ft. Lauderdale, in our experience. We sailed in April and embarkation took 1.25 hours (12:30 to 1:45). Lines were long but moved quickly for us, and once through we walked on the ship. Disembarkation was < 15 minutes until we sat in an Uber. August embarkation was similar, about an hour.

[curtdesilets]

1 hour ago, Florida_gal_50 said:

Its never taken me hours and hours to get on the ship in San Diego.  I cruised out of there in Nov 2021, Mar 2022 and Nov 2022.  That said, I follow the time on my boarding pass and they were enforcing it on all those cruises.  In recent history did it take you hours to get on the ship there?  If so was it a cruise a couple of months in duration?  That is going to make a difference.

No but our November California Coastal was during Navy Week.  It did take some time.  My wife is disabled though so we got a little bump forward. Out friends were in line for quite sone time,  about 2 hours 

[visagrunt]

Embarkation is never a great experience.  It is a series of obstacles that stand in the way of you (and a few thousand close, personal acquaintances) and your cruise.  The very best embarkation experience is merely the least awful one.

So I always try to bring a few things:  my patience; my sense of humour; a fully charged electronic device; a carry-on with wheels.

Too many agencies have their hands on the processes to lay blame squarely on any one of them.  I have had bad and not-so-bad experiences on various lines--and luxury lines are no exception.  My embarkation on Crystal in Venice was poisonously awful it will always rank as the work travel experience of my not inconsiderable travel history.  My embarkation on Celebrity Edge in February was as painless as any I have ever had to wait through.  HAL has run the gamut.

So I never assume.  I just remind myself that the ship isn't sailing without me.

[reposado]

What would be the latest time to embark from Vancouver port? Im going in August and would like to avoid the crowd as much as possible. 

[xlxo]

18 minutes ago, visagrunt said:

It is a series of obstacles that stand in the way of you

As a frequent cruiser... I find the worst terminal in my trip is where they will be doing customs.

 

For the Northwest/California repo's, they will sometimes pull the US customs officers early in mid-September in Vancouver.  Boarding in Vancouver on those trips is incredibly quick like 30 minutes!  However debarkation in Seattle, San Francisco, Los Angeles, or San Diego becomes a sudden nightmare as a few officers are there to process a cruise ship load of travelers that can take hours.  Vancouver looks real nice as everyone swears never to travel through those US terminals ever again.

[xlxo]

3 minutes ago, reposado said:

What would be the latest time to embark from Vancouver port?

That depends on the ship...  In general, the worst of the crowds are gone by 2:45pm.

[ReneeFLL]

On 5/7/2023 at 1:12 AM, LeftcoastBC said:

I’m the Bob that the good doctor refers to….

I thought he was a TA?

[mcrcruiser]

1 hour ago, xlxo said:

That depends on the ship...  In general, the worst of the crowds are gone by 2:45pm.

Isn't  3 pm the last time to board in most cases? 

[adoris]

4 hours ago, oaktreerb said:

@DrKoob Thanks for the heads up re: Prince Rupert tourist bus.  We’ll be there again in 2024.

 

re: Seattle cruises stopping in Victoria.  Victoria is a lovely place to visit if you have 8 hours.  Many cruises have a short evening visit and it’s barely time to walk down to the beautiful inner harbor area.

 

[adoris]

Just now, adoris said:

 

My friends took the city bus $2 each for all day pass and had an excellent ‘unofficial tour’.  The bus driver pointed out points of interest.

[oaktreerb]

8 minutes ago, adoris said:

My friends took the city bus $2 each for all day pass and had an excellent ‘unofficial tour’.  The bus driver pointed out points of interest.

Thank you!  Good to know.

[DrKoob]

5 hours ago, oaktreerb said:

No.  The person at the podium in the lower dining room (open dining) who is responsible for the stewards who escort you to your table.  He has the power to assign you a table.  If you choose to eat at a fixed time (when the dining room opens is easiest) your group of 8 can be assigned a table and you can eat at that table every evening.  Just walk in and sit down at your assigned table.  If someone doesn’t plan to join you one evening that’s ok.  If you are all planning to eat elsewhere you need to let him/her know so others can be seated.  Your responsibility is to be there on time, know your assigned table, walk in and sit down.  If your table is assigned you don’t wait to be seated.  

 

Do not expect him/her to hold a table for 8 for later dining.  Unless it is the “late fixed dining” hour, then maybe.  You need to be consistent and follow through with your choice.  

That sounds like a great idea...if you can get to the guy at the podium. Didn't see a time he was there when it wasn't at least a 45-minute wait to talk to him. I think one of our problems may have been that we went to a specialty restaurant on the first night so we never even got close to him. 

[DrKoob]

38 minutes ago, adoris said:

My friends took the city bus $2 each for all day pass and had an excellent ‘unofficial tour’.  The bus driver pointed out points of interest.

Only place I saw that was downtown. Don't think it came down to the port. My bride could not walk up to downtown. Not a chance.

[DrKoob]

1 hour ago, ReneeFLL said:

I thought he was a TA?

No, that would be me. And I only do travel for friends and relatives.

Edited May 8, 2023 by DrKoob

[Cscomedygrl]

20 hours ago, DrKoob said:

 

Some of my long-time cruising friends think I should ask for a full refund. 

 

 

I have only been on a couple cruises myself but it is hard for me to understand why this would even be suggested. Yes your experience wasn't up to par to what you would like, but suggesting you should ask for a full refund blows my mind. You do have some positives listed so it wasn't a complete deal show. 

[Coolcruise02]

6 hours ago, Florida_gal_50 said:

Its never taken me hours and hours to get on the ship in San Diego.  I cruised out of there in Nov 2021, Mar 2022 and Nov 2022.  That said, I follow the time on my boarding pass and they were enforcing it on all those cruises.  In recent history did it take you hours to get on the ship there?  If so was it a cruise a couple of months in duration?  That is going to make a difference.

What difference does it make how long the cruise is? They are trying to board 2600-2700 people on every cruise.

[Florida_gal_50]

13 minutes ago, Coolcruise02 said:

What difference does it make how long the cruise is? They are trying to board 2600-2700 people on every cruise.

On a very long cruise the likelihood is that there are many, many 4 or 5 star Mariners.  They are allowed to board at any time.  Let’s just suppose 1500 show up at 11 wanting to board.  That won’t cause problems? Also the luggage for very long cruise has to be a lot. Never mind all the food they are probably loading.  All that is going to add to chaos. 

[Florida_gal_50]

I hope the op does ask for a full refund.  I’d be willing to bet my next paycheque that’s not going to end well. Certainly some of the issues suck. I can tell you I’ve had much worse problems than this.  I definitely never thought that was worth a full refund.

[Coolcruise02]

13 minutes ago, Florida_gal_50 said:

On a very long cruise the likelihood is that there are many, many 4 or 5 star Mariners.  They are allowed to board at any time.  Let’s just suppose 1500 show up at 11 wanting to board.  That won’t cause problems? Also the luggage for very long cruise has to be a lot. Never mind all the food they are probably loading.  All that is going to add to chaos. 

I will agree there were a lot of 4 & 5 star but they were the ones most upset that they were NOT allowed to board early as the HAL rep outside wasn't aware of that policy. 

 

I'm sorry but loading luggage and food has nothing to do with passenger embarkation.