If you live on the west coast, a repositioning cruises from Southern California to Vancouver may be just thing after a long, wet winter. For a few hundred dollar apiece, you can enjoy a mini-vacation with good food, beautiful scenery, and smiling staff ready to answer to your every whim.

You can drive to San Pedro or San Diego, cruise for three, four, or seven nights and then fly back from Vancouver to Los Angeles. At press time, one-way fares were around $150.

So why not celebrate the start of spring with a little getaway.

NCL west coat repositioning cruises.

Norwegian Star

The 2,376-passenger Norwegian Pearl sails from Los Angeles on Saturday, April 24, 2010. Passengers on this cruise can eat in a different restaurant every night of their cruise. There’s a steakhouse, an Italian restaurant, a tapas bar, an Asian restaurant, and more. With a dozen bars and lounges, there are also plenty of places to wet your whistle, including Maltings which has the largest beer and single-malt Scotch menu at sea. Norwegian Pearl was the first cruise ship to have a bowling alley, and it has a rock-climbing wall and thalassotherapy pool. In the evening, comedy shows by the Second City improv group are hysterical.

After a day at sea, you’ll arrive in San Francisco, where you can explore Fisherman’s wharf, visit Chinatown, or tour Sausalito or Sonoma. After another day at sea, you’ll spend a day each in Astoria, Victoria, and Nanaimo, where you can take a trip on a 1929 steam train, or visit a grove of 800-year old Douglas fires. The cruise ends in Vancouver on Saturday, May 1. With four port calls, there’s lots to see and do on this voyage. Fares start at $599.

Victoria, BC

Similar to Norwegian Pearl, the 2,240-passenger Norwegian Star sails from Los Angeles on Saturday, May 1, 2010. With 12 restaurants and as many bars, there’s plenty of variety at meal time. And the 24-hour fitness center helps burn off the calories. This itinerary is perfect for those who also want to see some of the spectacular scenery of Alaska, because after three days at sea, she calls at Juneau and Ketchikan, and cruises the Inside Passage before arriving in Vancouver on May 8. Passengers can take a helicopter flight onto a glacier, take a whale-watching cruise, go fishing, enjoy a salmon bake, or take a wildlife-spotting excursion. Fares start at $599.

Princess Cruises west coast repositioning cruises.

Princess has three cruises to choose from. The 1,970-passenger Coral Princess is one of the line’s roomiest vessels. Ninety percent of her cabins are ocean view, and most of those have balconies. In addition to the main dining rooms, there’s Sabatini’s Italian restaurant and the Bayou Café steakhouse. The huge, poolside LCD screen is a passenger favorite. She sails from Los Angeles on Thursday, May 6, 2010, and calls at Victoria after two days at sea. Passengers leave the ship in Vancouver on Monday, May 10. Fares start at $399.

Golden Princess

The 2,006-passenger Golden Princess sails from Los Angeles on Sunday, May 9, 2010. With three showrooms and Movies Under the Stars out on deck, there’s plenty to do at night. And with four pools and nine whirlpools, you can soak up the sun on the day at sea. Golden Princess arrives in Catalina Island the first morning and overnights there, sailing at one the next afternoon. You can tour the island, go for a kayaking or rafting trip, play a round of golf, snorkel, SCUBA dive, or go for a glass-bottom boat ride. That evening, you can have dinner ashore, or pop into town for a night cap. The next day, you’ll arrive in San Francisco. You’ll have a full day there and in Victoria before arriving in Vancouver on Friday, May 14. Fares start at $449.

A sister ship to Coral Princess, the 1,970-passenger Island Princess sails from Los Angeles on Friday May 14, 2010 and arrives in Vancouver on Monday, May 17. There are no port calls, so this itinerary is a great choice for cruisers who love life at sea. Enjoy the shows at night, sleep in in the morning, and then have a relaxing day at the spa, pool, or art auction. Fares start at $349.

Find more west coast repositioning cruises here.

Norwegian Star Image Flickr: Tom Mascardo 1
Victoria BC Image Flickr: Dustin and Jenae
Golden Princess Image Flickr: anthony_goto

No comments »

Repositioning cruises on Royal Princess.

Another one of the former Renaissance Cruises “R Class ships, Royal Princess is a sister ship to Pacific Princess.  It carries 710 passengers in style in 355 spacious and well-designed staterooms, 75% of which have balconies.

The beautiful, wood-paneled library with leather wing chairs is one of the largest at sea with over 4,000 titles.  And Sabatini’s Italian Restaurant and Sterling Steakhouse provide passengers with additional dining options.

Royal Princess spends the summer in Alaska and the fall in Tahiti, so she offers a couple trans-Pacific repositioning cruises.

On April 30, 2010, Royal Princess sails from Fort Lauderdale and calls at Aruba before transiting the Panama Canal.  After leaving the canal, she visits Costa Rica and four ports in Mexico before heading up the Pacific coast for San Francisco.  She’s in port until 10PM, which lets passengers spend the evening ashore in San Francisco.  Then she sails for Seattle, arriving two days later.  With a total of ten sea days, there’s plenty of time to relax and enjoy the ship’s amenities.

Once the Alaska season is over, Royal Princess heads to the South Pacific.  She leaves on September 14, 2010 from Vancouver, British Columbia and arrives in Hilo, Hawaii six days later.  She calls at Kona, Lahaina, and Kauai in the Hawaiian islands before arriving in Honolulu.  Passengers who embarked in Vancouver can stay aboard and sail all the way to Papeete, or disembark in Honolulu on September 24.

Those with less time can board in Honolulu instead of Vancouver.  They’ll visit Kauai, Lahaina, and Hilo before crossing the South Pacific.  After five days at sea, they’ll arrive in Bora Bora, where they’ll spend a full day before sailing at 3AM.  En route to Papeete, Royal Princess will call at Raiatea, and Moorea.  Passengers overnight aboard ship in Papeete and disembark the next morning.

After spending several months sailing the brilliant turquoise waters of the Society Islands, Royal Princess returns to Hawaii.  Passengers board in Papeete on December 5, 2010, overnight on board, and sail the next morning, calling at Moorea, Raiatea, and Bora Bora before beginning the Pacific crossing.  After five sea days, she arrives in Hilo, and visits Kona, and Maui before ending the voyage in Honolulu.  Cruisers who love being at sea will enjoy there voyages a lot.

Repositioning cruises on Ocean Princess.

The third of the old Renaissance ships, Ocean Princess was formerly the Tahitian Princess.  She offers some of the longest and most exotic repositioning cruises in the Princess repertoire.  And travelers with the time and money can enjoy an unforgettable experience both on board and ashore.

On March 20, 2010, Ocean Princess begins a 48-day voyage from Shanghai to Capetown.  Passengers can embark or disembark in several places along the way, creating the voyage that best suits their needs.

Cruising the Mediterranean

After leaving Shanghai, Ocean Princess visits Japan, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Vietnam, Thailand, Singapore, Malaysia, Myanmar, India, Oman, Dubai, the Seychelles, Madagascar, Durban, and East London before arriving in Capetown.  Of the 48 days, 25 are at sea, so there’s a nice balance of port calls and days off.   And it’s hard to imagine so many diverse travel experiences rolled into one journey.

Her next voyage calls at some very exotic African ports, and this is a great way to visit some places you might be hesitate to travel to independently.  Ocean Princess leaves Capetown on May 7, 2010 for the North Atlantic and calls at ports in Namibia, Benin, Togo, Ghana, Gambia, and Senegal before arriving in the Canary Islands.  From there, she sails to Funchal, Casablanca, Ceuta, Seville, Lisbon, and Le Havre before disembarking passengers in Dover.  If you want to see lots of Africa but still enjoy the comforts of home, this is a wonderful option.

At the end of the European season, Ocean Princess returns to Capetown, sailing from Rome on October 20, 2010.  Passengers will visit Sorrento, Barcelona, Nice, Portofino, Livorno, Rome, Livorno, Cannes, Barcelona, Tangier, Casablanca, Senegal, Ghana, Togo, Benin, and Namibia before arriving in Capetown.

From Capetown, she does the Singapore voyage in reverse, calling at Mozambique, Reunion Island, Mauritius, the Seychelles, Oman, Dubai, India, and Malaysia along the way.  From Singapore, she stops in the Phillipines, China, Hong Kong, and Vietnam before ending the voyage in Bangkok.

Find more Princess repositioning cruises here.

No comments »

During the late 1990s, boutique cruise line Renaissance Cruises launched eight 684-passenger “R Class” ships that featured spacious cabins – many with balconies – old-world ambience, and intimate public areas.

Unable to survive the after-effects of 9/11, Renaissance ceased operations in 2001.  And today, three of their R Class ships have joined the Princess fleet as Pacific Princess, Royal Princess, and Ocean Princess.

For Princess cruisers who’ve only sailed on their 2,500+ passenger ships, these smaller ships will come as a revelation.  And many will find that less really is more.

First of all, the smaller ships can visit ports the big ship can’t – places like Kotor, Montenegro, and Ravenna, Italy.  And once you’re in port, you won’t find the town overwhelmed by cruisers.

On board, the service is really attentive, and the food is absolutely first-rate.  There’s a big difference between serving 350 diners at a time and serving twice that number.  And the difference shows in the quality, variety, and presentation of the food.

Avoid cabins at the front of the ship where you be awakened each morning by the anchor chain or the bow thrusters.

Repositioning cruises on Pacific Princess.

Sunset at Sea

If you have the time and the money, Pacific Princess will take you pretty much around the world in 2010.  She sails in the Caribbean, through the Panama Canal, along the coast of Mexico, across the Pacific, throughout New Zealand, Australia, and Asia, in the Mediterranean, and across the Atlantic.

In some ways, the entire circumnavigation is one big repositioning cruise, with countless places to embark and disembark along the way.

She sails on January 27, 2010 from Fort Lauderdale and arrives in Rome 107 days later.  There are plenty of ports – and days at sea – in between.  And you can enjoy as many or as few as you can afford.

After leaving Fort Lauderdale, she calls at Aruba and Cartagena, Columbia before transiting the Panama Canal.  She then visits Costa Rica, Guatemala, an Mexico, before arriving in Los Angeles.

From Los Angeles, she sails for Honolulu, spending five days at sea.  There’s another six days at sea before she reaches Fiji.  She calls at Vanuatu and three ports in New Zealand, before arriving in Sydney, where passengers can embark or disembark.

Pacific Princess calls at Cairns, Australia, Papua New Guinea, Truk, Micronesia, and Guam en route to Japan, Korea, and Beijing, China.  From there, she spends three days at sea before making port calls in Hong Kong, Vietnam, Malaysia, Brunei, Singapore, Thailand, the Maldives, Mumbai, Dubai, Muscat, and Luxor.

On the last leg before arriving in Rome for the summer Mediterranean season, she sails through the Suez Canal and calls at Athens and Sorrento before arriving in Civitavecchia.

By November, she’s ready to head back to the Caribbean.  Passengers can board in Athens on November 23, 2010 and visit Santorini, Patmos, Kusadasi, Nazareath, Jerusalem, Port Said, Alexandria, and Sorrento before arriving in Rome.

Those who have less time or have already sailed in the Mediterranean, can board in Rome on November 5 and call at Livorno, Monte Carlo, Barcelona, Ceuta, Casablanca, and the Azores, before crossing the Atlantic.  They’ll call in Hamilton, Bermuda, and then spend two more days at sea before arriving in Fort Lauderdale.

Find more Princess repositioning cruises here.

No comments »