Cruise to Los Angeles

[latebuyer]

It seems like Princess has a number of cruises that go from los angeles to vancouver (i assume seattle too) Are these cruises always rough? Would it make a difference if you cruised the other direction from vancouver/seattle in terms of choppiness instead of the other way round.

[skynight]

2 minutes ago, christinand said:

It seems like Princess has a number of cruises that go from los angeles to vancouver (i assume seattle too) Are these cruises always rough? Would it make a difference if you cruised the other direction from vancouver/seattle in terms of choppiness instead of the other way round.

They have a few repositioning cruises between L.A. and Vancouver, and yes they can be choppy at times. The cruises between Vancouver and Seattle are 1 overnight, not really time to get too rough.

[nukesubsailor]

3 hours ago, christinand said:

It seems like Princess has a number of cruises that go from los angeles to vancouver (i assume seattle too) Are these cruises always rough? Would it make a difference if you cruised the other direction from vancouver/seattle in terms of choppiness instead of the other way round.

If the sea is rough, it will be rough in both the north and the south bound lanes.

[Jezabel2924]

We have done 4 cruises north and 2 south.  We have only experienced one cruise with water that I would call rough.  We have gone in May,. September and November.

[Near PDX]

The prevailing ocean currents (Aleutian Current) along the coast of WA, OR, & CA is south bound.  It is generally a little smoother sailing in the direction of the current rather than bucking the current and going in the opposite way. 

[Outerdog]

18 minutes ago, Near PDX said:

The prevailing ocean currents (Aleutian Current) along the coast of WA, OR, & CA is south bound.  It is generally a little smoother sailing in the direction of the current rather than bucking the current and going in the opposite way. 

 

This right here is the correct answer.

 

Anyone who has cruised up and down the West Coast should be able to say that southbound is noticeably smoother.

 

Edited April 22, 2019 by Outerdog

[jeromep]

Over the past few years I've watched Princess increase the number of "California Coastal" cruises.  Most of them are not repositioning cruises, but RT Vancouver or RT Los Angeles.  I'm starting to see a couple RT Seattle versions, also.  They are often shoulder season cruises where the ship is being positioned to do Alaska, or Hawaii, or Mexican Riviera, but the season hasn't officially started yet.  Note the 10-day California Coastal RT Vancouver.  That particular sailing occurs at the end of the "winter" Hawiian season but just before Alaska cruises start up and vice versa as fall approaches.  You'll notice only two sailing a year for a particular vessel, usually April and late September, early October.  We were on the 10-day RT Vancouver California Coastal a couple of years back and we found that waters were mostly smooth southbound, but got a little choppy going northbound, especially along the Oregon and Washington coasts.  The California Coastal cruises are a simple, low stress cruising option for anyone just wanting to get away, but not wanting to leave North America.  I'd recommend taking one any time.

 

 

[DrivesLikeMario]

We've done a lot of them in both directions and generally speaking, southbound is smoother.  The roughest weather heading north seems to be once you leave Astoria, Oregon and head up to the Seattle area.

[Lucky TGO]

11 minutes ago, DrivesLikeMario said:

We've done a lot of them in both directions and generally speaking, southbound is smoother.  The roughest weather heading north seems to be once you leave Astoria, Oregon and head up to the Seattle area.

Thanks for sharing. Good to know.

Tony

[ShyannDay]

Have done both northbound and southbound and actually never noticed any difference.  Doing another northbound on May 5.  I certainly wouldn't hesitate to book it if you're concerned about poor travel conditions. 

[polmcs]

I’m going Northbound in May and Southbound in November, so I’ll get to form my own opinion to LA/Vancouver . I’ve done the LA/MR round trip several times and the Northbound is  definitely a little rougher than the Southbound leg. We were lucky on our last trip and both North and South were mill pond like.

[Outerdog]

I've even heard the captain mention it once or twice during his announcements.

 

Fair winds and following seas. 
 

[Colo Cruiser]

We have done cruise in both directions.

We have had bad weather and good weather, waves and no waves.

There is no way to tell.

[latebuyer]

Thanks for the responses. I'm still not sure i want to do this cruise if its rough. I'm doing alaska for my first cruise and i'll see how it goes.