Transpacific Number of Nights

[jagoffee]

2 minutes ago, Tedferg said:

Our feeling is to have Sydney at the start, that is part of the bucket list and doing it first seems better. We have been to Hawaii many times so no big deal there. In fact we are comparing Celebrity with a Princess Trans Pacific. Princess is 28 days and ends in SFO. Our thought is we might have had enough by the time we got to Hawaii and so five more sea days is too much.

I posted before I read this comment.  I see you are already considering starting in Sydney.  Great point about having so much to do in Sydney as it is also awesome, especially since you have never been there.

We have done the 28 day Princess cruise to the FP round trip from San Pedro.  We agree that the San Pedro to Hawaii and back portion was not our favorite. (The weather was iffy near CA, but in the fall)    We would use the extra days for Sydney or other parts of Australia.  A ten day land visit followed by an 18 day cruise would certainly be nice, but obviously more expensive.

 

Good luck.

 

 

[Tedferg]

2 minutes ago, deadzone1003 said:

  As a retiree, I find it better to recover from jetlag at home.   

Great comment had not thought of that.

[Tedferg]

1 minute ago, jagoffee said:

We would use the extra days for Sydney or other parts of Australia.  A ten day land visit followed by an 18 day cruise would certainly be nice, but obviously more expensive.

 

Good luck.

 

 

There was another thread asking Australia or New Zealand and hands down New Zealand won, which surprised me.

[deadzone1003]

Forgot to warn you, it should say also, mud crab may be the some of the most expensive crab you will ever eat.  Last time that I had mud crab in Sydney was late 2014 so I wouldn't even recommend a restaurant.    

[hawkesbaynz]

17 hours ago, Tedferg said:

There was another thread asking Australia or New Zealand and hands down New Zealand won, which surprised me.

We have lived and travelled in NZ and visited Australia a few times. For a ten day visit New Zealand would be more bang-for-the-buck. Amazing country. Fly straight out of Auckland (just a city) to Christchurch and drive around the South Island in a rental booking motels as you go. If you have two weeks add in North Island - Wellington/Napier/Lake Taupo/Roturua.

 

We found Australia a great place for regional holidays as the distances are massive. Still to do Western Australia. You can go a few times and still have a unique experience.

 

We were looking for a Transpacific Fall 2022 for special birthdays and retirement post a Vancouver and Alasak trip. As few sea days as possible. Silver Muse won hands down but the price.....! NCL do a good cruise from Seattle to Tokyo although I have no knowledge of the line.

 

 

[deadzone1003]

5 hours ago, hawkesbaynz said:

We have lived and travelled in NZ and visited Australia a few times. For a ten day visit New Zealand would be more bang-for-the-buck. Amazing country. Fly straight out of Auckland (just a city) to Christchurch and drive around the South Island in a rental booking motels as you go. If you have two weeks add in North Island - Wellington/Napier/Lake Taupo/Roturua.

 

We found Australia a great place for regional holidays as the distances are massive. Still to do Western Australia. You can go a few times and still have a unique experience.

 

We were looking for a Transpacific Fall 2022 for special birthdays and retirement post a Vancouver and Alasak trip. As few sea days as possible. Silver Muse won hands down but the price.....! NCL do a good cruise from Seattle to Tokyo although I have no knowledge of the line.

 

 

If you are looking at that type of cruise in the Fall, please beware that the weather is cool, even rainy at times, almost the entire way.  If you are lucky, maybe 2-3 days where it is warm enough to sun on the Lido deck for a few hours.  Most of time you will be below deck.  The NCL will have a large ship sailing which is great for entertainment, good or acceptable food if you are willing to pay, the ship will not be entirely full - these repositioning cruise rarely gets filled up that's why they can be so inexpensive, and there are many activities that you can enjoy vs a smaller ship.  If you think you will be sunning yourself on your sea days, get that out of your mind, it will those 1st 2 days or last 3 days of your cruise most likely.   If you want warm sunny days on a transpacific, you pretty much have to find a ship that goes through the tropics.  Just so you know what to expect before you attempt this itinerary.      

[Tedferg]

Deadzone, would you elaborate please. Our aim is to do Sidney, Bora Bora /  Morea / Papeete. Are you saying April is better weather than September ?

 

Adding to the above bucket list items NZ is and obvious addition and then it makes sense to sail on to Hawaii or even SFO. Partially to have extra cruise time complemented by a shorter flight home.

 

Interesting comment about NCL I had dismissed them because large ship / theme park does not interest us, but might be worth considering with a lot of sea days. BTW currently no South Pacific on NCL site - possibly due to Covid uncertainty.

Edited January 23, 2021 by Tedferg

[deadzone1003]

I was replying to hawkesbaynz interest in a repositioning cruise from Seattle/Vancouver to Tokyo in Oct. 2022.  For those months you just referred to, it is a tad cooler and drier in September than in April because Bora Bora is coming out of their wet season in March while Bora Bora is coming out of their dry/winter season in September.  For most people, it will be more comfortable in September due to the lower humidity.  Map out your flights and transfers on both cruises to see which you think will be less taxing on you.  Also, check out what is happening in Sydney at those times in question, you may simply want to be there at that time period and it will dictate which cruise you will chose.     

[emmas gran]

I have done Sydney to USA twice and Hawaii to Sydney no real difference in the weather. April is Fall in Australia and September/October is.Spring .

We had the worse sea between LA or San Fran to Hawaii.

[Tedferg]

Edited January 23, 2021 by Tedferg

[Tedferg]

Thanks for comments on weather. I don't think the above upload works sorry. Also sorry but I still have trouble with number of days and accept that Date Line is playing tricks with me. They list Day 6 twice once Cruising and once Dateline - both are Friday Apr 22 - maybe that day happens twice, if so I don't see why they call it Day 6 both times. Maybe that is my confusion because they end up in Honolulu on 'Day 18' and there is no 'Night' for that day. Yet they list it as '18 Nights' I was calculating cost-per-day to compare with Princess cruise. X is $497 Princess is $399 and I think Princess Drinks package is better. X is just Classic package, though that would be adequate for us.

[cl.klink]

8 hours ago, deadzone1003 said:

If you are looking at that type of cruise in the Fall, please beware that the weather is cool, even rainy at times, almost the entire way.  If you are lucky, maybe 2-3 days where it is warm enough to sun on the Lido deck for a few hours.  Most of time you will be below deck.  The NCL will have a large ship sailing which is great for entertainment, good or acceptable food if you are willing to pay, the ship will not be entirely full - these repositioning cruise rarely gets filled up that's why they can be so inexpensive, and there are many activities that you can enjoy vs a smaller ship.  If you think you will be sunning yourself on your sea days, get that out of your mind, it will those 1st 2 days or last 3 days of your cruise most likely.   If you want warm sunny days on a transpacific, you pretty much have to find a ship that goes through the tropics.  Just so you know what to expect before you attempt this itinerary.      

 

Cool or cold?  Is it still tolerable to be outside on the veranda?

 

- Joel

[deadzone1003]

11 minutes ago, cl.klink said:

 

Cool or cold?  Is it still tolerable to be outside on the veranda?

 

- Joel

It wouldn't be so cold that you have to be inside.  Just don't expect to stay outside for a long period of time without some warm clothes.  I'm assuming you are referring to the Oct. Seattle to Tokyo cruise.  Don't forget, it can be quite rainy too during that period of time.  People do this cruise primarily because 1) it's cheap 2) it's way of getting to Japan/Korea/No. China without a long plane flight.  The cruise line only do this because they have to get the ship from North America to Asia, not because there is a great demand for this route.  

[cl.klink]

1 minute ago, deadzone1003 said:

It wouldn't be so cold that you have to be inside.  Just don't expect to stay outside for a long period of time without some warm clothes.  I'm assuming you are referring to the Oct. Seattle to Tokyo cruise.  Don't forget, it can be quite rainy too during that period of time.  People do this cruise primarily because 1) it's cheap 2) it's way of getting to Japan/Korea/No. China without a long plane flight.  The cruise line only do this because they have to get the ship from North America to Asia, not because there is a great demand for this route.  

 

Thanks

 

- Joel

[deadzone1003]

3 hours ago, Tedferg said:

Thanks for comments on weather. I don't think the above upload works sorry. Also sorry but I still have trouble with number of days and accept that Date Line is playing tricks with me. They list Day 6 twice once Cruising and once Dateline - both are Friday Apr 22 - maybe that day happens twice, if so I don't see why they call it Day 6 both times. Maybe that is my confusion because they end up in Honolulu on 'Day 18' and there is no 'Night' for that day. Yet they list it as '18 Nights' I was calculating cost-per-day to compare with Princess cruise. X is $497 Princess is $399 and I think Princess Drinks package is better. X is just Classic package, though that would be adequate for us.

You may want to re-read entry 11 about Groundhog Day.  I sail primarily Oceania these days and I am elite on Princess, but I haven't sailed with them since 2014.  I'm only on this Celebrity forum because I wanted to check out people's opinion on the virus and vaccine.  I noticed your entry and decided to help you out.  When you cross the International Dateline, you basically lose or gain 24 hours (equivalent to a day, that's why people say they gain or lose a day) depending on direction of travel, but the Captain usually decrees the change to occur at 2am in the morning even if you had cross the Dateline before you even went to bed.  It is quite arbitrary and when you think about it, it doesn't affect you at all.  Actually, the only thing that you have to do is change the date and day of the week on your watch.  You are thinking too much for something that really doesn't matter.  You should be asking yourself, when will my plane arrive in Sydney, in the evening or early morning?  Will I be exhausted after a 15 hour non-stop flight?  What will be playing in the Sydney Opera House when I'm there? (If you are into opera)

[Tedferg]

16 hours ago, deadzone1003 said:

You may want to re-read entry 11 about Groundhog Day.  I sail primarily Oceania these days and I am elite on Princess, but I haven't sailed with them since 2014.  I'm only on this Celebrity forum because I wanted to check out people's opinion on the virus and vaccine.  I noticed your entry and decided to help you out.  When you cross the International Dateline, you basically lose or gain 24 hours (equivalent to a day, that's why people say they gain or lose a day) depending on direction of travel, but the Captain usually decrees the change to occur at 2am in the morning even if you had cross the Dateline before you even went to bed.  It is quite arbitrary and when you think about it, it doesn't affect you at all.  Actually, the only thing that you have to do is change the date and day of the week on your watch.  You are thinking too much for something that really doesn't matter.  You should be asking yourself, when will my plane arrive in Sydney, in the evening or early morning?  Will I be exhausted after a 15 hour non-stop flight?  What will be playing in the Sydney Opera House when I'm there? (If you are into opera)

Thanks for the comments and good advice, sometimes I get lost in the details, like wondering why Celebrity calls the Groundhog day 'Day 6' twice.

 

I have been intrigued by Oceania and get a brochure in the mail seemingly every day. I just find them to be too expensive. I will drop in on Oceania board to complete my education.

Edited January 24, 2021 by Tedferg

[deadzone1003]

2 hours ago, Tedferg said:

Thanks for the comments and good advice, sometimes I get lost in the details, like wondering why Celebrity calls the Groundhog day 'Day 6' twice.

 

I have been intrigued by Oceania and get a brochure in the mail seemingly every day. I just find them to be too expensive. I will drop in on Oceania board to complete my education.

I find them a tad expensive, but when the only people who offer a similiar itinerary are much more expensive, you really don't have many options.  Right now, because we are itinerary-driven, Oceania is generally our first choice.  When we get even older and are not as mobile, we will visit Princess and, maybe, Celebrity again where it will be cruising for the sake of not staying at home. 

[hawkesbaynz]

16 hours ago, deadzone1003 said:

 When we get even older and are not as mobile, we will visit Princess and, maybe, Celebrity again where it will be cruising for the sake of not staying at home. 

Ha Ha! Living in Southampton I can see us booking short notice trips Winter Trips to the Canaries/caribbean/Med cruises when we are old too! Too many sea days involved whilst we are still working and happy to fly. Shared a table on a P&O cruise with an elderly couple who lived on a canal boat who cruised short notice as it was so cold on their wooden boat. The short notice P&O deals can be very cheap.

[deadzone1003]

2 hours ago, hawkesbaynz said:

Ha Ha! Living in Southampton I can see us booking short notice trips Winter Trips to the Canaries/caribbean/Med cruises when we are old too! Too many sea days involved whilst we are still working and happy to fly. Shared a table on a P&O cruise with an elderly couple who lived on a canal boat who cruised short notice as it was so cold on their wooden boat. The short notice P&O deals can be very cheap.

I have friends who usually don't book until 35-50 days from departure in order to get those special fares to fill up a ship.  They may pay a tad more for airfare, but they are not itinerary driven and are more price driven.  Really not much different than couples who go to a hotel to indulge themselves for a weekend so they don't have to cook and clean and make their own beds, LOL.