1 day cruise,is it worth it?

[calikak]

I realized that because I am a scrapbooking nerd, I saved my patter from last year's one-nighter, and some of you might be interested in what activities they had onboard last year. Club Fusion had a lot of different activities, including a singles get-together, karaoke, and a country hoedown. In the Princess Theater, they did Piano Man (2 shows), and in Explorer's Lounge, they had a comedian who did two shows. Most other venues had dancing. Other activities included the children's areas (Fun Zone/Off Limits), the spa (noon-9PM, bookable online too, same as this year), virtual reality golf (6-9PM), Princess Links (noon to 6), the Internet Cafe, and the Library. For those unfamiliar with the ship, they did a tour of the ship at 2:30 PM. They didn't do an art auction, but the art director was available in the gallery. The future cruise sales desk was open from 5-7. Casino opened 4 hours after sailing. Laundry facilities were open too, for those who can't think of something better to do than laundry! :D Captain's Circle desk was not open, but the Platinum embarkation lounge was in Club Fusion. Boutiques onboard were also open, from sailing until 11PM.

 

About food, lunch was buffet, grill and pizza only (no dining room service). Traditional seating was at 6/8:15. Anytime dining was open 5:30-10. Dress code for the evening was smart casual ("shorts and t-shirts are not permitted in the dining room"). Sabatini's was open as well (we ate there, it was packed so make your reservations as soon as you get on the ship). You could also make reservations for the anytime dining room in front of Sabatini's. Drink of the day was rum punch, and they were doing a beer special (5 for the price of 4).

 

Last year, Muster Drill was at 4:15, all aboard was at 4:20, sail-away was at 5 (same as this year), and there was a Sailaway party at 4:45 on "all open decks." 2nd muster for late-comers was at 5:45.

 

I just tried to talk DH into doing the Zaandam. He's not biting. :( I would like to try out a HAL ship, we've never sailed with them before. Oh, well.

[West Coast]

Boutiques onboard were also open, from sailing until 11PM.

 

Beth, did this include the duty free (booze) store? Did they allow you to take bottles back to your cabin (as normally they are delivered on the last day)?!?

[kryos]

If I lived near enough to a port, I'd take these cruises in a heartbeat!!

Frankly I don't think I'd take a one-day cruise ... even if I lived nextdoor to the port ... especially if it was terminating at another port which would require me to travel to get back home.

 

Now, a three-day cruise ... that's a possibility ... if it either started or terminated in my home city.

 

Blue skies ...

 

--rita

[Bill B]

I agree with kyros. It's not worth the effort of traveling to Seattle (and going through customs), going through embarkation, going through disembarkation and going through customs again just to basically sleep on the ship.

 

It would however count as a cruise on your Captain's Circle... but so what? Once you're a member, the perks between the different 'levels' are trivial. Holland America has a much better system where the number of days cruised are what counts - not the number of cruises where an one-day, overnight is 'equal' to a 109-day, around-the-world.

[susancruzs]

If I lived very near the port, I might consider it. Living in the midwest, I've never been a short cruise person. Short to me is 7 days, 17 cruises and I've never done the shorter variety. I realize time/financial constraints make short cruises nice for people that can't get away but if I'm spending the money to fly I want to be gone longer!

 

I will break that rule next year, when I ring in the New Year on the Century but a large group is going, alot of people I haven't seen for a year or two. It is 5 days, which is a little better!

 

Susie

[WeBeGone]

Some travel agents have a flash special going on for this sailing at $49 per person for an inside cabin, although I've seen some other websites that are still showing much higher prices than that, so be sure to shop around before you buy. Obviously, I can't talk about where we booked, since that would break the rules of the board. If you do decide to go, we have a roll call for it going on, come on over and say hi! I think there are about 10 of us so far.

 

Did you mean $149 or $49? I can't find a $49 rate anywhere but can find $149.

[West Coast]

Did you mean $149 or $49? I can't find a $49 rate anywhere but can find $149.

 

It's $49 per person - that's the price for an inside cabin. In total, for two, it comes to about $130, all in.

[calikak]

Yep, $49 per person for an inside cabin. A lot of the big online TAs aren't advertising that price but if you shop around, you can find that price. I'm guessing that Princess will be advertising it on their website soon in the Specials section, if they're not already, at least, that's what they did last year when the price went down.

 

West Coast, yes, the duty free was open and if I remember right, they just gave you the bottles of booze right then. Probably too complicated to deal with having them delivered to your room before disembarkation when it's only one night.

 

For us, it's really not a hassle at all. We can just hop the train home (there's an Amtrak station 5 minutes from our house), and it's only a half-hour drive to the pier in Seattle, so it's really not too much of a hassle for us. Like I said, we had a great time last year, so I'm really looking forward to this year's cruise.

[beautifulbc2]

now there is 6 of us going, and more to come. Next year's 1 day is may 5 from YVR to seattle on friday pm. Definitely I will go on that as it will give us a weekend in Seattle to shop .

[WeBeGone]

Calikak-would you email me info re Amtrak? We'll be on the Sapphire Sept 18-25 so we're considering the one day. We'll be parking our car at the parking garage by the pier but I know it would only be a short taxi ride from the main Seattle station. Please send to ritalou@tnni.net. Many thanks for your help.

[calikak]

WeBeGone, I just sent you an e-mail with some details. For others wondering about the train from Vancouver to Seattle, the website for that route is www.amtrakcascades.com.

[WeBeGone]

Thanks so much for the info. I found out that Princess has a shuttle bus from Vancouver to Pier 30 for $22pp. Princess' price for an inside cat I is $59. still trying to decide if we want to do this or not.

[beautifulbc2]

now there are 10 of us going!!!

[calikak]

WeBeGone, you should be able to find an inside for closer to $50 if you shop around. We wish we'd waited another couple of weeks, it would have saved us some money, but I didn't think the price would go down more than it had when we booked. Still, it's a pretty darn good deal and maybe we'll get a free upgrade because we paid more than people are paying now. Still not holding my breath, though. :D

[West Coast]

The lowest priced fare (for the higest cat. inside) is showing at $17.10 plus taxes/fees... the breakout is shown below. Note: in previous years, the lowest price I saw was $9 plus port... so there is still some room for improvement, PLUS - the ship is presently booked less than half full. Princess will want to fill the ship so their employees can make some tips. Lots of drinking on these one-nighters, plus $10 per person for shipboard gratuities.

[kryos]

It would however count as a cruise on your Captain's Circle... but so what? Once you're a member, the perks between the different 'levels' are trivial. Holland America has a much better system where the number of days cruised are what counts - not the number of cruises where an one-day, overnight is 'equal' to a 109-day, around-the-world.

I agree with you, as well ... 110%. Princess doesn't do their Captain's Circle program very fairly. I even asked the Captain's Circle hostess about this on my last cruise. She claims that Princess feels that everytime you book a Princess cruise, you make a conscious decision to travel on Princess as opposed to some other line, and thus they reward that decision by counting it as a cruise. In my humble opinion, that's a load of crap. It should be by days sailed, not by voyages. According to the Captain's Circle hostess' logic, I could then book a whole bunch of these "shorty" cruises over the course of a year or so ... which would be very doable if I lived near one of the ports from which they sailed. I'd actually spend very little money with Princess (when compared to what someone would spend taking regular "full-sized" voyages) and I'd be Elite or Platinum before I knew it. Not a bad deal when you consider what Princess gives to their Elite and Platinum members. The free internet alone would be worth it.

 

Just as a side note ... in 2005 I took two Princess cruises ... my first and second ... for a total of 25 sailing days. I'm nowhere even close to Elite or Platinum status. Then I come to find out that there were people sitting around me in the internet cafe ... working on their Ebay sites ... on Princess' nickle, while I'm paying top dollar to check my email ... and these people haven't got that many more days on Princess than I do. Not fair.

 

No, I think this is one program Princess really needs to give some more thought to.

 

Blue skies ...

 

--rita

[froggy333]

Thanks so much for the info. I found out that Princess has a shuttle bus from Vancouver to Pier 30 for $22pp. Princess' price for an inside cat I is $59. still trying to decide if we want to do this or not.

 

Where can I find this info? Is it on Princess' website or do we need to call?

Do you know where the bus leaves from?

 

Does this bus leave on the day of the cruise (Sunday) to shuttle people to the ship or does it only do the return home on Monday morning?

 

Any info will help.

Thanx

[calikak]

rita, I think you're absolutely right, it's a totally stupid system. I'm one of the people who benefits from it, because I live on the west coast and I can take short cruises easily. This one will be our 7th Princess cruise (and our 4th short coastal), so we're platinum, but at the end of this cruise we'll have just 31 days at sea. While the system remains the way it is, I'm going to milk it for all it's worth and take these short cruises, but I still think it's really ridiculous to reward people based on the fact that they live on the west coast. I don't think I'm a more valuable customer than you are just because I've taken a bunch of very very short cruises.

[KINGBOBOFTHENORTH]

For those of you who want to plan ahead, here is a listing of spring Pacific Coast sailings as the ships return north. I've only included those of 5 nights or less. There are some great prices.

 

27APR NORWEGIAN WIND 3NTS SFO-DAY AT SEA-VICTORIA-YVR

 

04MAY NORWEGIAN STAR 3NTS LAX-DAY AT SEA-ASTORIA-YVR

 

05MAY SAPPHIRE PRINCESS 1NT YVR-SEA

 

07MAY VISION OF THE SEAS 5NTS LAX-DAY AT SEA-SFO-DAY AT SEA-VICTORIA-YVR

 

10MAY NORWEGIAN SUN 3NTS SFO-DAY AT SEA-VICTORIA-YVR

 

12MAY SUN PRINCESS 3NTS LAX-2 DAYS AT SEA-YVR

 

18MAY CORAL PRINCESS 2NTS SFO-DAY AT SEA-YVR

 

19MAY DAWN PRINCESS 3NTS SFO-DAY AT SEA-VICTORIA-YVR

 

BobK/Orlando

[KINGBOBOFTHENORTH]

For those of you on the EAST coast, we also have some short sailings available over the coming months. Unfortunately I think the higher populations over here keep the prices higher but they do allow a sampling of ships and cruise lines that you might not otherwise take:

 

05NOV NORWEGIAN JEWEL 1NT MIAMI-MIAMI

 

10NOV CARNIVAL LIBERTY 2NTS FTL-NASSAU-FTL

 

16DEC COSTA MAGICA 3NTS FTL-FREEPORT-DAY AT SEA-FTL

 

06JAN COSTA MEDITERRANEA 2NTS FTL-NASSAU-FTL

 

12JAN CELEBRITY CENTURY 2NTS FTL-COCO CAY-FTL

 

There are also some "Cruises to Nowhere" being offered in 2006 from NYC and Norfolk.

 

BobK/Orlando

[snie]

The lowest priced fare (for the higest cat. inside) is showing at $17.10 plus taxes/fees... the breakout is shown below. Note: in previous years, the lowest price I saw was $9 plus port... so there is still some room for improvement, PLUS - the ship is presently booked less than half full. Princess will want to fill the ship so their employees can make some tips. Lots of drinking on these one-nighters, plus $10 per person for shipboard gratuities.

 

Can you email me some tips on where to find this cruise cheap?

snie777@yahoo.com

[LARGIN]

Remember that the lunches with the Captain and Captains Circle awards during the cruise are based on number of days not number of cruises..

[beautifulbc2]

BobK

could you also email me the website for the spring coastal cruises lffong@shaw.ca?

Thanks

[Canadiankaratemom]

Thanks to everyone for sharing their views and thoughts on 1 day coastal cruises. We are joining BeatifulBC2.. and our list of interested parties continue. We are going to have a blast. We will be going on Sapphire again - this time 1 week Mexican Riveria cruise with our teenage kids and another family. Any suggestions or tips for our upcoming Mexican cruise during our Cdn. Spring break in March..

 

 

Celebrity Mercury Alaska August 2003.

Upcoming : 1 day coastal cruise - Princess Sapphire

7 day Mexican- Princess Sapphire

[KreinKrunker]

kryos---It doesn't make much difference how they count your cruises, some one gets the short stick. An example is that on Celebrity you get credit for two cruises on a 12 day or more. We've been on three 11 day sailings for 33 days and credit for three cruises. Some one could take two 12 day cruises and have credit for four. They also give double credit for suites, but that is another story.