Short jaunts tall on fun
It may sound counterintuitive, but my favourite cruises aren’t long, multi-week journeys to exotic destinations.
Instead, one of my favourite cruise destinations is the Pacific Coast. Pacific Coastal repositioning cruises are regularly offered in the spring and fall as ships transit to and from Alaska for the season. They’re typically a week or less and they can come at a substantial savings. Now is a great time to book these voyages for the coming year.
Take for instance Holland America Line (cruise.center/ holland), which offers plenty of these coastal repositioning cruises each year. Volendam sails a great three-day voyage round trip from Vancouver on Sept. 30, 2020, calling on Seattle and Victoria. For something longer, the line’s modern Eurodam has a six-night voyage on April 5, 2020 that sails from San Diego to Vancouver by way of Santa Barbara, San Francisco and Victoria.
Norwegian Cruise Line (cruise. center/norwegian) gets into the act as well, with a five-night voyage between Los Angeles and Vancouver onboard Norwegian Joy on April 19, 2020. This one includes a unique overnight in Vancouver — a real boon for cruisers who want to explore British Columbia’s glittering metropolis without paying those high hotel prices.
Royal Caribbean (cruise.center/ royalcaribbean), after an absence of short Pacific Coastals for many years, returns in 2020 with the May 19 departure of Ovation of the Seas, which sails to Victoria and Seattle from Vancouver on a quick three-day jaunt.
You can even catch the Cunard Line (cruise.center/cunard) Queen Elizabeth on a three-day cruise up from San Francisco and ending in Victoria on July 5, 2020.
This one includes one sea day and a call on Astoria, Ore. — one of my favourite stops on the Pacific Northwest runs. You can also extend this one to stay onboard until Vancouver the following day.
Finally, if you want to get your feet wet (no pun intended), there are one-night journeys between Vancouver and Seattle (or vice-versa) offered in the spring and fall as ships reposition to their Alaskan home ports.
A travel agent once sent me a scathing letter for recommending these one-day voyages. And to be sure, they’re not for everyone. They’ve got a touch of the “booze cruise” about them. But I still contend that they’re a great choice if you’re curious about a particular line or ship — especially when prices are so good that a night travelling from Vancouver to Seattle on a modern cruise ship often costs less than an evening at the local Best Western.
These are just some of the Pacific Coastal itineraries available. Almost any cruise line sailing to Alaska offers a handful of these, and while you may not want to fly across the country for a three-day cruise, they pair excellently with an extended stay on-land — either in British Columbia or in the United States.
For those who are really motivated, a Pacific Coastal voyage can sometimes be combined with a cruise to Alaska to create a longer voyage that offers more unique ports of call.
In the last two decades, I’ve probably taken more than a dozen of these cruises. I haven’t found a single one that wasn’t rewarding in some way, despite the relatively short length of these voyages. They’re also a great choice for a quick getaway with friends, family and co-workers.
Happy cruising.
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