Anyone done a Pacific Crossing?

[Cruise Junky]

Our 10 year anniversary is September 2007 and we're starting to think about what we'd like to do. Has anyone done one of the 28 day Pacific Crossings? Were you bored? That's an awful lot of sea days.

[Druke I]

Love those trans-Pacifics, and those sea days.

 

Never been bored - always find something to do.

 

Our best was on last voyage of Sky Princess as a Princess ship, 9-00, 28 nights San Francisco to Sydney, with many ports of call at World War II battlesites. Fascinating for WW2 history buffs.

 

The trip across the top of the Pacific, with stops at Vladivostock and the Aleutians is a good trip also, but somewhat colder.

[Druke I]

Love those trans-Pacifics, and those sea days.

 

Never been bored - always find something to do.

 

Our best was on last voyage of Sky Princess as a Princess ship, 9-00, 28 nights San Francisco to Sydney, with many ports of call at World War II battlesites. Fascinating for WW2 history buffs.

 

The trip across the top of the Pacific, with stops at Vladivostock and the Aleutians is a good trip also, but somewhat colder. That was 19 nights.

 

Of the two,I preferred the former.

[Druke I]

Don't know how I managed to get that message printed twice - tried to eliminate one - no luck.

[track2traveler]

We just completed a North Pacific crossing last month and would recommend it to anyone who would like a different experience. This was a 19 day cruise from Osaka to Seattle with 12 sea days. There was plenty to do on the sea days, but 28 days sounds a little too long to me. We called at several interesting off-beat ports, such as Vladivostok ands Mururan, which see very few western tourists or cruise ships. We only had two rough sea days, and because of the size of the ship, the motion was barely noticeable. The weather is cold up in that part of the world, however. We had several days with the temperature in the 30's F. Balconies were useless except in Alaska where we had some fine weather and beautiful views.

 

If you want something out-of-the-ordinary, and shorter than 28 or 30 days, try the northern crossing. It was a great adventure.

[Richard Stein]

We did a SF to Sydney crossing in 96. Hawaii, Tahati, N.Z. and Australia with plently of sea days what more could you ask for. Had good weather too.

[NorcalGuy]

We just completed a North Pacific crossing last month and would recommend it to anyone who would like a different experience. This was a 19 day cruise from Osaka to Seattle with 12 sea days. There was plenty to do on the sea days, but 28 days sounds a little too long to me. We called at several interesting off-beat ports, such as Vladivostok ands Mururan, which see very few western tourists or cruise ships. We only had two rough sea days, and because of the size of the ship, the motion was barely noticeable. The weather is cold up in that part of the world, however. We had several days with the temperature in the 30's F. Balconies were useless except in Alaska where we had some fine weather and beautiful views.

If you want something out-of-the-ordinary, and shorter than 28 or 30 days, try the northern crossing. It was a great adventure.

Hey Track2traveler,

Was a Visa required for Vladivostok? Even if not on an excursion?

[kryos]

We did a SF to Sydney crossing in 96. Hawaii, Tahati, N.Z. and Australia with plently of sea days what more could you ask for. Had good weather too.

I did a circle Hawaii ... 15 day cruise with about nine days at sea. I will be doing a 30-day hawaii/south pacific in January with googles of sea days.

 

How could you possibly get bored on a ship? Especially on sea days, there is just so much going on all the time. If you wanted to, you could easily be running from sun up to sun down.

 

God, give me those days at sea and I'm a happy and fulfilled woman! :)

 

Blue skies ...

 

--rita

[Cruise Junky]

Don't get me wrong, I love sea days, but with 15 of them, I thought we might get a bit bored. It's a big jump going from the longest we've done 14 to 30 days.

 

We'll have to wait and see what's available in September 07. I think we'll either do the 30 day San Fran - Sydney or possibly a B2B Tahitian Princess.

[Druke I]

NorCalGuy

 

When we stopped at Vladivostock, the ship (Sky Princess) arranged Visas. I don't recall at this late date whether or not there was a charge. Our trip across the top was 4-97, when they were bringing the ship back for the Alaska season.

[track2traveler]

NorcalGuy:

No, you do not need a visa to go ashore in Vlad. You must, however, have your passport with you at all times. The Russian immigration officials come aboard early AM and review all the passports, which we surrendered to the passenger services desk at embarkation. Your room steward will then deliver your passport to your cabin and you can go ashore.

 

You can wander around town on your own without any problem, although there isn't much to see unless you're on a ship's excursion. Taxis are scarce -we didn't see any - and there are no rental cars. Very few of the locals speak English. For shopping, forget US dollars, travelers checks or credit cards; just have plenty of rubles on hand. The shops carry shawls, fur hats, Matryoshka and stacking dolls, and, of course, vodka. We were not impressed.

[NorcalGuy]

Thanks Druke1 and track2traveler,

 

Isn't it amazing how we can always get the answers we need here at CC? I usually just ask here rather than go the call center route for anything. Information is usually more acurate! I was guessing they would take US dollars in Russia. I thought their economy wasn't so good. Thanks for that extra info.

 

BTW, CC didn't email notification of this response. As others have stated, it's getting rather hit and miss.

[zalusky]

What did the 28 day crossing do your waistline???

 

I am looking forward to doing this but will probably wait a few years closer to retirement or at least some sort of sabbitical.

[Druke I]

28 days didn't do a thing to my waistline - thin as a rail (and my daughters hate me for it).

 

Been trying for many years to gain some weight - tired of being "lanky".

[minke]

We did 23 nights Sydney to San Diego in 2000 just after the Olympics. Had a great time untill we left Hawaii when weather turned nasty, Nov 1st onwards for 5 days. enjoyed Noumea & Western Samoa. Lautoka Fiji...forget it! Fanning Island...interesting. Hawaii was Hawaii I will go back anytime.