Pacific Coastal Cruises
mkat...@sirius.com
I was thinking the other day about:
- how congested the Alaska ports must be these days with all the lines
putting their newest megaships on the itinerary,
- the popularity of New England criuises
- the increasing popularity of "Mexican Riviera" cruises
- the sad effect of the PSA to my home town, San Francisco
(everybody's fave travel destination -- gee, am I biased?)
I was wondering why some line hasn't tried doing a non-repo Pacific Coast
itinerary. I believe the following would be possible
Day 1 - Depart Vancouver
Day 2 - Victoria
Day 3 - at sea
Day 4 - San Francisco
Day 5 - at sea
Day 6 - LA (San Pedro)
Day 7 - San Diego
(return in reverse)
Victoria could be eliminated or shortened to a half-day if necessary, and
since San Pedro is out-of-the-way, it could be shortened as well
(I acknowledge that shortchanging LA might be my SF bias showing).
This gives the opportunity for visits to some of the most popular
destinations, and except for LA, the docks are right in the city for added
convenience. Since the travel would be between SD and Vancouver, the PSA
shouldn't be a barrier (similar to the Anchorage-Vancouver runs). Granted,
the Pacific wouldn't be exactly balmy for most of the year, but this
itinerary, like Alaska and New England, wouldn't be marketed as a fun-in-the-
sun trip. I'd see the season as late April - early November.
I could see one of HAL's dam ships or a smaller NCL ship
(Crown/Majesty/Dynasty) doing this quite nicely.
Am I missing anythng here? Do others think this would be popular?
Mark <-- would love to see more cruise ships out his window at work!
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SsOriana
This is a brilliant idea and think it would do very weel, I just did a sold out
coastal cruise last week from LA to SF to Seattle to Victoria to Vancouver,
SOLD OUT on the Norwegian Wind. The ship stayed overnight in SF too.
Any liner selling coastal space in recent years has done very well doing it.
AND, contrary to popular views, it was perfectly smooth sailing off the coast
the entire trip.
Chrisopher
Pete Mazurek
I was aboard too, and agree that it would make a fantastic itinerary for
more regular cruises--the closeness of the piers in SF and Seattle (and
in Vancouver too, if we had used Canada Place), makes one really able to
see these cities well. San Diego's pier is of course right downtown too
and would be a good addition.
I'd also think it would be neat to anchor off a few smaller ports along
the cost--maybe Monterey or somewhere on the Central coast, or possibly
anchor off Avalon.
I did have a problem with some of the scheduling though. We should have
stayed longer in Seattle--long enough so that I could have gotten a real
dinner. It's not like it was going to take us any time to get up to
Victoria. I can't believe it would be that much more expensive in port
fees--not in a city that just built a new cruiseship pier which is
woefully underutilized and is trying to attract new business.
As far as being sold out, well yes, but that just proves that NCL's
yield management is working. There were an awful lot of travel agents
aboard, as well as quite a few who got good last minute deals--even a
few who did a 2-day from Seattle who got off in Vancouver.
Hmm, too bad we didn't get to compare notes aboard the ship--now our
reviews better square or we'll both look silly...
I'll get a review out in a few days, once I get done with the washing
machine...
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Pete Mazurek pmaz...@sprintmail.com
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"Making the World Safe Through Transit"
DENISE PAIGE
We are considering the return trip on this line in September as it follows
the same intinerary and stopping in Seattle and San Francisco would be
great. Not familiar with NCL though, how is the ship and service?
Denise Paige