How far from the land does the cruise ships go when doing a repositioning cruise nort

[Gingee]

Does anyone know how far out the cruise ships go when cruising up north. Specifically from San Diego to Vancouver. If it is a clear day, can you see the land easily or what? Should we bring binoculars or is it too far away?

[CruiserBruce]

It is unlikely you will see land, but not absolutely impossible. Land will be far away if you do see it. There is a channel in several locations where ships are required to be for safety, just like lanes on a freeway.

 

Then there is fog, weather, etc...

[Deb in Cali]

You will be close enough to see the beacon from the lighthouses at night, but won't be close enough to see land during the day.

[Gingee]

I wonder how many miles out the shipping lanes are?

[riverside]

I wonder how many miles out the shipping lanes are?

 

http://www.marinetraffic.com/ais/#

 

Gingee, click on the green squares, and that area will open in your browser....you can scroll right in to each individual ship if you wish, and right-click, and 'drag' the page to move the map - the same as 'mapquest' or 'google-maps'. 'Click' on a ship/boat, and the information for that vessel, including it's course, destination, eta., etc will come up.

 

It appears that the 'lanes' along the West Coast run around 40 - 50 miles off-shore.

[sapete]

Last year on the Oosterdam from San Diego to Vancouver we were between 60-80 miles out.

[Gingee]

Wow. That is a long way to go out of the way. Seems like they would just go straight up (well not onto the land-LOL).

[CruiserBruce]

Wow. That is a long way to go out of the way. Seems like they would just go straight up (well not onto the land-LOL).

 

Except it isn't a due north sailing. First of all San Diego is quite a bit east of Seattle, or even San Francisco. Secondly there are these things called islands in certain locations- off LA, Santa Barbara, San Francisco. Around many of those island are Marine Sanctuaries (and in some other locations as well) that require ships to stay west of them. Lastly, the closer to shore, the rougher it will be, due to currents and the continental shelf. And it is apparent rough is not a word you wish to use to describe your cruise.:D

[Gingee]

Dear Cruiserbruce - you are right. Rough is not good. LOL

[kenish]

Reno is west of LA (and north of course).

 

Other things that push routes far out to sea are staying clear of whale migration routes, pleasure boats, and traffic in and out of areas like LA/Long Beach harbor, one of the world's busiest. Also they stay in international waters to keep the casinos and duty-free open.

[above sea level cruiser]

Dear Cruiserbruce - you are right. Rough is not good. LOL

 

 

Dear Gingee

 

I am sensing that you are scared to travel by ship. Don't be. You WILL be fine. The first time we cruised, we were ( I was ) freaked out. No worries whatsoever. You WILL be fine. You will be on a floating hotel worth almost a half a billion dollars..............you are safe and you will be fine.

[Gingee]

I know about the worries. As you can see, we have traveled on cruise ships before. I just hear people say how strong or high the waves are on this destination that kind of freaks me out. LOL

[Happy ks]

We've only done one repo cruise so far. I don't remember rough water at all, but you never know with the Pacific Ocean! Just take along your seasick meds to be on the safe side.

 

We'll be on a repo next Saturday (:)) and now I'm wishing we would have selected port side cabins instead of starboard. On the way back from Mexico a few years back, we had some wonderful sunsets to watch. Just didn't think about it in advance this time.

 

You will be cruising with Lois, right? She's a sweetie!

 

Have a wonderful cruise.

[Gingee]

We are on the starboard side. I was hoping we could see land as we went up north. Probably not. Yes we are on the same cruise at Lois.

[BruceMuzz]

My ship repositioned from Mexico to Alaska last week.

 

After leaving San Diego, air temperature dropped to the 40s and 50s and stayed there.

From San Francisco, winds were over 80 mph. We had to close all the outside decks for 2 days, and drain swimming pools.

The majority of pax were seasick for 2 days. Waves were 20 to 25 feet.

We saved big money in the dining rooms. Many were too sick to eat.

We were lucky that the seas were running straight down from the North. The ship was pitching quite a bit, but rolling was minimal.

It rained non-stop from San Francisco to Victoria (2 days).

The heavy seas caused us to arrive 4 hours late into Victoria.

We had occasional glimpses of the tops of California mountains, through the fog, rain, and marine haze.

 

This was one of the best California Coastals I have seen.

[Gingee]

Bruce - it sounded like a awful trip. What ports did you go to?

[above sea level cruiser]

Bruce - it sounded like a awful trip. What ports did you go to?

 

 

I think Bruce works on the ship.

[Lois R]

We've only done one repo cruise so far. I don't remember rough water at all, but you never know with the Pacific Ocean! Just take along your seasick meds to be on the safe side.

 

We'll be on a repo next Saturday (:)) and now I'm wishing we would have selected port side cabins instead of starboard. On the way back from Mexico a few years back, we had some wonderful sunsets to watch. Just didn't think about it in advance this time.

 

You will be cruising with Lois, right? She's a sweetie!

 

Have a wonderful cruise.

 

Hi Kathy, thanks so much..and so are you:):D:) wish you were

going to be home! But I know you are cruising too so its all good!

[Lois R]

I think Bruce works on the ship.

 

Hi, I believe you are correct. Reading some of his postings they definitely

sound like he works on board.

[Gingee]

Well we got home a few nights ago from our cruise. We went to a information meeting from one of the officers. He said they have to go about twenty miles or so out in the ocean. Something to do with the type of fuel and such (California law?). If they don't, it could cost a million dollars in gas.

[SadieN]

We've done two west coast northbound repo cruises and one PNW roundtrip cruise.

Two out of three cruises have been very smooth, considering that going northbound the ship is going against the Pacific Current and onto the Columbia River.

The first northbound cruise we hit a huge storm. Kids first cruise and it is still their favorite. All of the kids spent two whole days bobbing in the pool. :D (It was all, only 12 kids were on this cruise.)

[ronrythm]

In the zone extending 24 miles from the shoreline, California requires that cruise ships use low emissions fuel. As this is more expenive, they go further out, where they can use the less expensive stuff. Please note each ship has several different fuel tanks, so they can have different types of fuel. If caught burning the wrong fuel inside the 24 mile zone, the ship can be fined heavily.

Enjoy

Ron

[Gingee]

We were told by one of the officers the same thing as the previous poster said about having to go twenty-four miles out because of the fuel thing.

 

We probably had ten children on our cruise. Unfortunately our ship only had a outside pool and it was a little cold.

[Happy ks]

We could sorta kinda see land, like the outline of mountains. Who knows, maybe they were low lying clouds ;)

 

If we do a northbound repo again, we will definitely go for the port side balcony for the sunsets. We're looking into a short 3 night repo southbound in Sept. 2012 and will get a port side balcony for just the same reason.