Now that's what I call a "Quickie" cruise...

There is a 1-day cruise on the Zaandam, 9/24/05 - Vancouver to Seattle.

I'm sorry, but 1-day??? Are there actually people that would bother taking a 1-day cruise?

Has anyone ever taken one of these short "quickie" cruises? It looks like the 4 and 6-day cruises are selling...

Do you mean that it leaves and arrives on the same day? Not even 1 night? I think that anything less than 7 days would be too short for me.

Do you mean that it leaves and arrives on the same day? Not even 1 night? I think that anything less than 7 days would be too short for me.

I think it leaves at 5:00pm and arrives at 8:00am the next day - pretty expensive dinner, if you ask me! I wonder if it's formal night? hehehe

I think it leaves at 5:00pm and arrives at 8:00am the next day - pretty expensive dinner, if you ask me! I wonder if it's formal night? hehehe

In Florida they have several hour gambling cruises that are popular down there. I guess it may not be bad if you look at it as a night out, as opposed to a cruise.

Being a native, more or less, of the Pacific Northwest I can tell you they must cruise really, really slow. However, and I can't remember where on this board, but several months ago somebody mentioned doing a very similar cruise....something like overnight San Diego to San Francisco....and that he and his wife did it just to have a super evening. The poster equated it to checking into a nice hotel for a night away from home....something like Marriott and a lot of the higher end hotels advertise now for Friday and Saturday nights just to bridge the gap on their business customers who are normally Sunday/Monday through Thursday nights. He made it sound very romantic and they apparently really enjoyed it. Just something different I guess that one could try if it were convenient and not too terribly expensive.

Hmmmm... I'm booked on the Zaandam to arrive in Vancouver Sept 25. But I live in Seattle. How can I book this one day cruise so that I can be dropped off at my front door on Sept 26?

Hmmmm... I'm booked on the Zaandam to arrive in Vancouver Sept 25. But I live in Seattle. How can I book this one day cruise so that I can be dropped off at my front door on Sept 26?

Call: A) your TA; B)HAL directly. Or, head over to the HAL office and do it in person :rolleyes:

Our 21 repo cruise in Spring arrived in Vancouver on May 12th. The Alaska season started May 15th out of Seattle. They had a 3 night cruise between the 2 ports and it was booked solid with TAs. I think they do this a lot so TAs can get a feel for the cruise line....jean :cool:

Interesting this topic should come up today. I just booked a one day cruise on the Sapphire Princess for DW and myself. The Sapphire is finishing the Alaska cruise season here in Seattle on Sunday, Sept 19. It departs at 1700 Sunday and runs on a "slow bell" all evening and night, arriving in Vancouver ( 132 miles) at 7:00 Monday morning. They sail from Vancouver for San Francisco & the Mexican Riviera Monday evening. It is perfect for us. We live just North of Seattle. Take cab to terminal, ship to Vancouver, spend the day in Vancouver & return home in the evening on 4 hour Amtrak run - Edmonds station is 5 minutes from our home. I happen to have Monday off that weekend & what better way to spend two days than on an 18 hour cruise, a day in Vancouver & a train ride home ! It also will give us an idea of what a mega-cruise ship is like. Five different restaurants for dinner. Wow - Tough decision -which one to try. We are totally happy with HA and their size ships, but this is an opportunity to try a different class of ship and cruise line. If we like it - great. If we don't like it, so what ? It's only a day & I am not taking a vacation day and we don't have to fly ! This is one of the advantages of living in the Northwest, and very near Vancouver. There are many chances in the spring and fall for repositioning cruises for 1-4 days. Great for long weekends or if we need a "cruise fix". We are booked on the Maasdam this November, but that is a long way off ! This one nighter will help tide us over until November !

A lot of those 1 - 3 day cruises are usually booked by TA's.

They give them a great deal.

Never taken a one nighter, but have several two nighters and three nighters under my belt, both Princess and HAL, all along the Left Coast.

Great "weekend getaway".

Michael

If I lived near a port, I would do a 1-day cruise in order to spend time in the city that in ends in. Sounds kind of nice to me. I obviously wouldn't fly somewhere just to do a 1-day cruise.

ekerr19.

Please provided SPECIFICS backing up your original post. My TA cannot find any info on one day cruises on the Zaandam out of Vancouver. Furthermore, this ship arrives in Vancouver on Sept 25, not Sept 24. From where did you obtain your information to the effect that the Zaandam travels from Vancouver to Seattle on Sept 24?

Thanks.

It actually sounds like a fun getaway , if you live close enough to the dock like the previous poster said.

I have done several little day cruises out of Fla to the Bahamas and they were a nice day out. :)

ekerr19.

Please provided SPECIFICS backing up your original post. My TA cannot find any info on one day cruises on the Zaandam out of Vancouver. Furthermore, this ship arrives in Vancouver on Sept 25, not Sept 24. From where did you obtain your information to the effect that the Zaandam travels from Vancouver to Seattle on Sept 24?

Thanks.

I believe there's a bit of confusion here. Its the Oosterdam that's doing that 1-day. The Zaandam doesn't stop in Seattle. Here's the lineup:

Ship Date Days Route

Oosterdam 9/25/04 1 day Seattle to Vancouver

Oosterdam 9/26/04 3 day Vancouver to Los Angeles

Volendam 9/29/04 3 day Vancouver to San Francisco

Statendam 9/26/04 4 day Vancouver to San Diego

Zaandam 9/25/04 5 day Vancouver to San Diego

-dave

I always considered the riverboat cruises and gulf fishing cruises the "quickies." We spent many wonderful hours on those as well as some dolphin and whale watch ones, several dinner cruises and those are what really turned me on to cruising. For many years I wanted to do an ocean cruise, and two years ago I got my first chance - on my honeymoon, 12 days in the Mediterranean. It was heavenly. No need for quickie cruises now that we're both retired.

Slinkie

I'm on the NCL Sun 9-26. I had AMTRAK tickets from Seattle to VAN on the 25th. I happened to see the one day cruise on the Oosterdam & decided to go for it. By the time I added the train fare, a (really) nice dinner, a hotel room (tho I could have used my points... but hey I have to justify this), cab fare between the SEA hotel/Amtrak... Amtrak to VAN hotel .. VAN hotel to terminal, lunch, breakfast, entertainment, yada, yada, yada... I splurged & booked a suite. Also, never sailed HAL, so it's a mini taste.

So, I'm having a pre-cruise rather than a pre-stay at a hotel. Should be interesting....

I went on a one night cruise Vancouver to Seattle several years ago on one of the HAL ships. The ship was going in for some repairs, and was staying in Seattle. We left Vancouver on a Friday, and HAL gave us a choice of a bus back to Vancouver on either the Saturday or Sunday. We went down in a group, the ship was totally booked with lots of different groups - couples, singles, etc., all having a great night out. Our group stayed at a hotel in Seattle on the Saturday, and bussed back to Vancouver on the Sunday. We had a super time, great dinner in the dining room on board ship, and there was evening entertainment. It was a short trip though, the ship sailed very slowly, and docked very early in the morning in Seattle.

luvcruisn'

thanks for the positive reply... I was a little nervous about this.. would there be a lack of service, entertainment on the first night, not quite stellar, let alone would there be any? the typical first night jitters for both the crew & cruisers. Pax "finding their way aboard" on the first night, etc, etc, etc.

For your sailing... did HAL "suggest" you disembark as early as the arrival? or did you have a some extra time to stay aboard & take your time getting off? I would think to most of the pax, it was a port day. My "SUN" cruise sails out of Canada Place at 5 pm....but we want to visit in Vancouver for the day. Any suggestions would be appreciated!!!

Thanks

I looked into that cruise as well. It worked out to be $690.00 CDN for two in an veranda (A to BB) cabin. We still had to get to Seattle (from Vancouver) It was the taxes that really put it over the top. I think the actually cabin was about $197.00 each. The total was just too much to justify for one night.

I was trying to get some friends of mine interested in an Oosterdam Mexican Riviera Cruise next year and thought this would be a good way to introduce them to the idea of cruising. I managed to get them hooked anyway so on to the TA's tomorrow to book. Wooo Hooo! :D

So, I'm having a pre-cruise rather than a pre-stay at a hotel. Should be interesting....

That does sound like fun!

I have seen one day cruises on another line. they did a one day Mother's day cruise out of NY(it was great btw) and I see another one day Mothers day cruise in 2006(!) on the same line(this time on the west coast-too short for a plane ride). The ship was full. They had to limit the threes and fours...it was cheaper than a dinner and a show :), and a hotel :)

Back from the one dayer......

In Seattle 1100 boarded & 800 got off. Yes it was full of TA's AAA had a huge presence.

We arrived about 11:30. Within 30 minutes of drop off we were at the Lido deck. Basically painless.

Ship is beautiful, Pinnacle Grill was nice (not to die for, but nice), SS/Balcony fabulous, but the bad thing is: I can't remember most of it. Too many memories/images/details of the Sun are still with me. Maybe too tired from traveling, excitment, middle aged, etc, etc, etc.

For the amount spent, just not sure we would do it again.