Princess Cruises Leaving on Wednesday?

[GrammieMame]

I think that almost all cruises sail from Sat. to Sat. or Sun. to Sun. On Princess Alaska cruises, I see that Coral Princess sails from Vancouver Wed. to Wed. Does anyone know if there is some special advantage or disadvantage to this schedule? My travel buddies might prefer not to be away for 2 weekends (for business reasons) but I don't want to suggest something that might not be as desirable as weekend departures. The itineraries are the same as weekend.

[mapleleaves]

The advantage might be fewer ships in port at the same time, therefore several thousand fewer people milling around town.

Check the port schedules to see.

[Budget Queen]

There are various departure days. Off hand I know there are ships sailing M-W-and F.

 

This evens out the ports, can be fewer in port depending on the day.

 

A benefit, I often hear- is lower cost flights. The single weekend, as mentioned can also be of benefit to some.

[BruceMuzz]

Ships leaving Wednesday to Alaska frequently have the ports all to themselves.

No crowds, no tendering, no delays getting into or out of port.

Ships get cleared faster.

Friendlier shopkeepers and tour guides everywhere.

No lines to get into restaurants on shore.

Fewer children onboard.

Fewer first-timers onboard.

Better hotel rates before and after the cruise.

Better airline fares in both directions.

[Coral]

The Wednesday cruises are great! It is so nice to just have 1 or 2 ships in port as opposed to 5.

[Gregory67]

In the year 2015 Princess Cruise Line will have 4 ships to and from Whittier, AK.

There will be a ship in port every Saturday, either the Star Princess or the Grand Princess. And the Coral Princess every other Wednesday. And every other Monday the ship will be the smaller Pacific Princess, at up to 680 passengers.

[Putterdude]

Well its Wednesday and we just watched the Island Princess and the Volendam sail by our front window on the way to Alaska. There are one or two sailing out of Vancouver every day of the week. In checking Alaskan port schedules there were extremely few dates this year that any port had only one ship in port so that explanation is incorrect. It really just comes down to scheduling....if Wednesday works for you then by all means go for it.

[lucky cal]

Ships leaving Wednesday to Alaska frequently have the ports all to themselves.

No crowds, no tendering, no delays getting into or out of port.

Ships get cleared faster.

Friendlier shopkeepers and tour guides everywhere.

No lines to get into restaurants on shore.

Fewer children onboard.

Fewer first-timers onboard.

Better hotel rates before and after the cruise.

Better airline fares in both directions.

 

I wish this was true, but I'm not sure it is. I'm booked on the July 29, 2015 Coral Princess departure out of Whittier and we will be one of five ships in port in Ketchikan and one of four ships in port in Juneau. Sounds pretty crowded to me.

[peety3]

Ever heard of a one-traffic-light town? Whittier is absolutely a one-cruise-ship town. There's one dock only (and the cruise ship is WAY bigger than the dock), and there's only one tunnel. Therefore, only one train can come/go, full of happy cruisetour passengers etc. Logistically, there's a need to spread four weekly departures across four days; if there was even room to do two ships in a day, the locals would only have cruise work three days a week, and Princess would have to bus in an entire second crew from Anchorage and/or Seward to get the job done, which is not efficient or good for the local economy.

 

Wednesday departures also work well with 3-4 day cruisetours, as those finish/start on the weekends, helping to randomize flights with 3-4 day cruisetours from Sat-Sat and Sun-Sun cruises.