USA West Coast Cruising....

[scielerep]

If anybody is planning a cruise on the West Coast of the US any time between December and April, DON'T do it.  Trade winds, rain, high waves will make your cruise miserable.  I recently did the LA to Hawaii cruise and except for the few days we were in Hawaii, the seas were rough, cold, wet, and very windy.  There was no sitting on the balcony sipping a drink, because it was just too cold.  The balcony doors stayed covered in salt from the spray, and we were on the 12th deck.  We were on the Crown Princess, which is an ok ship, but not luxurious at all.  The only good thing was we had the premium drink package, so we could literally drink the miserableness away.

[Host Kat]

1 hour ago, scielerep said:

If anybody is planning a cruise on the West Coast of the US any time between December and April, DON'T do it.  Trade winds, rain, high waves will make your cruise miserable.  I recently did the LA to Hawaii cruise and except for the few days we were in Hawaii, the seas were rough, cold, wet, and very windy.  There was no sitting on the balcony sipping a drink, because it was just too cold.  The balcony doors stayed covered in salt from the spray, and we were on the 12th deck.  We were on the Crown Princess, which is an ok ship, but not luxurious at all.  The only good thing was we had the premium drink package, so we could literally drink the miserableness away.

 

Howdy @scielerep

 

Thank you for your new thread on the Cruise Blogs & Websites forum! However, it is off topic there since the forum is for our members to post their personal travelogue-type of cruise-related blogs or websites. To help you out I have moved your thread to the West Coast Departures forum where it will be on topic. 

 

Happy sails,

 

Host Kat

[CruiserBruce]

1 hour ago, scielerep said:

If anybody is planning a cruise on the West Coast of the US any time between December and April, DON'T do it.  Trade winds, rain, high waves will make your cruise miserable.  I recently did the LA to Hawaii cruise and except for the few days we were in Hawaii, the seas were rough, cold, wet, and very windy.  There was no sitting on the balcony sipping a drink, because it was just too cold.  The balcony doors stayed covered in salt from the spray, and we were on the 12th deck.  We were on the Crown Princess, which is an ok ship, but not luxurious at all.  The only good thing was we had the premium drink package, so we could literally drink the miserableness away.

Well...a little over done, but of course, that time of year is winter, and we have had a pretty wet winter this year, so...

[Bruin Steve]

We often cruise out of LA in December/January...and we've, generally, had great experiences.  In fact, we just did the Mexican Riviera on Navigator of the Seas one month ago--January 20-27.  Weather was great in all three Mexican ports--in the 80s and sunny in all three.  Seas were calm.  Couldn't ask for better.

 

Cruising ANYWHERE, one can always run into rough seas or bad weather.  That being said, this has been an extremely unusual winter here in SoCal.  Rainfall this season is up to 14 inches for the season--Well above our average...but would still be extremely low compared to most other places in the world...  And, if you've booked a cruise out of California for next winter orr the one after, the odds are you will NOT see a repeat of this season's weather.

 

IOW, DO NOT cancel any West Coast cruise based on the OP's alarm...

Edited February 25, 2023 by Bruin Steve

[CruiserBruce]

17 minutes ago, Bruin Steve said:

 

 

Cruising ANYWHERE, one can always run into rough seas or bad weather.  Absolutely. Not sure why this is such a mystery to people!

 

IOW, DO NOT cancel any West Coast cruise based on the OP's alarm...

Dead on...

 

And Crown Princess is an "OK ship". I am not saying its a great ship, but I wonder how much the rough seas is dampening one's perceptions...

[KeepCalmBearOn]

11 hours ago, scielerep said:

If anybody is......

 

How many cruises from the West Coast have you done?

[travelin.sisters]

I have cruised LA-Hawai'i in both January & April & enjoyed it so much we are heading out on that itinerary on the Crown in March (4-5 days from now) & expect it to be another great cruise...cruising anytime can have weather issues, but my personal least favorite time to sail from here is late Sept/October when we have lost port calls due to tropical storm activity...still enjoyed our cruises though. 

[ruready]

Sounds like you got a bit of unlucky weather.  We did the Hawaii trip from LA last Nov-Dec and we were okay.  It did rock a bit, particularly on our way out to Hawaii but we never had issues going onto the balcony. The Pacific Ocean is not the calmest, but I was born and raised out here, going in the ocean often as my father passionately loved the sea. So I know it can be a bit rough.  

[Dobby36]

Ditto to many of the above - i've cruised out of San Diego twice in Jan, and had sunny 70's and smooth travels both times. This year is just an anomoly.