!4 Day Round Trip Los Angeles to Alaska

[caribill]

You waste sea days cruising from LA and then you waste sea days cruising back along the Washington, Oregon and California coast back to LA.

 

What is the point of the trip? If you want to go to Alaska, you do not want to spend sea days getting there.

 

 

 

Many people who are not fond of sea days hate something else even more -- flying these days with airlines who have no regard for customer service and TSA agents who would be arrested if they touched anyone anywhere but at an airport.

 

These people willingly would accept relaxing days at sea instead of having to take an airplane flight.

[mndctrl]

I'd like to see this itinerary also but with over 1000 views to this thread and 43 responses I don't think its going to sway Princess.

Maybe those other 1000 people live on the east coast and don't care about us in Southern Calif and the southwest region. They have the Carribean. I hope everyone on this thread will notigy Princess that they would like this trip and when you cruise make sure you drop the suggestion to everyone you can and in the drop box. Thanks all for supporting my idea.

[donaldsc]

My DS cant stand sea days.She is currently on a 21 day with 3 sea days.

 

My kind of cruise.

 

By the way - I don't understand why people will jump through hoops to avoid flying. True - the airplane is uncomfortable and crowded. True they treat you like a criminal at the airport. True the food on the plane is either non-existent or lousy. However, most flights are only a few hours long and the longest to Asian countries or to Australia are only maybe 13 hours long. Certainly better than multiple boring days at sea with no place to go or nothing to look at. Just my opinion.

 

DON

Edited June 22, 2012 by donaldsc

[mndctrl]

My kind of cruise.

 

By the way - I don't understand why people will jump through hoops to avoid flying. True - the airplane is uncomfortable and crowded. True they treat you like a criminal at the airport. True the food on the plane is either non-existent or lousy. However, most flights are only a few hours long and the longest to Asian countries or to Australia are only maybe 13 hours long. Certainly better than multiple boring days at sea with no place to go or nothing to look at. Just my opinion.

 

DON

Flying is a pain in the beehind. It is inconvient and a nusiance. You have to pay extra for luggage. You have to worry about cancelled or overbooked flights. You might have to go a day ahead and rent a room so you don't have to worry about missing the cruise. You don't have to pay extra to get to the ship. Sea day are fun with all the things they have to do on board. You can go to a lecture, art auction,read , play cards, lounge around the pool, go to the spa, eat, eat some more, take a dance class, meet new people, play bingo ( win money), go to the casino, join a gaame, play trivia, or do nothing. Why go on a cruise? You could just fly to the port.

[HBINLA]

Is there anyone besides me who would like a 14 day round trip from Los Angeles to Alaska? I have told someone at Princess at least 20 times, but it is not getting through to them.

I think this is a GREAT idea!!!

[Pamster]

Flying is a pain in the beehind. It is inconvient and a nusiance. You have to pay extra for luggage. You have to worry about cancelled or overbooked flights. You might have to go a day ahead and rent a room so you don't have to worry about missing the cruise. You don't have to pay extra to get to the ship. Sea day are fun with all the things they have to do on board. You can go to a lecture, art auction,read , play cards, lounge around the pool, go to the spa, eat, eat some more, take a dance class, meet new people, play bingo ( win money), go to the casino, join a gaame, play trivia, or do nothing. Why go on a cruise? You could just fly to the port.

 

And napping and reading and relaxing. I love the sea days for the opportunity to relax and read especially, since I just get little time for either otherwise.

[Kamloops50]

Living on the west coast I feel slightly neglected by Princess :confused: when compared to the cruises leaving from the east coast. Flying has become a pain in the a..s and we avoid it as much as possible. Here on the west coast we are "greatfull" to get the older ships to take us on longer cruises to Hawaii or shorter ones to Alaska and Mexico. Why can't we get one of the newer ships which cruise the caribbean waters i.e. Ruby,Emerald,or Crown?? There a ton of people living along the west coast who would love longer trips to Alaska and also newer ships. As an elite princess cruiser who has traveled to Hawaii 6 times during my 25 cruises with Princess I am starting to feel like the not very loved stepchild of the cruise industry. Not all of us want to fly overseas for the priveledge of cruising on one of the newer ships (have been there and done every port in Europe and far east) It is time the industry pays more respect to the west coast and offering more options. I am sure we would fill up their ships and coffers.:D

 

I agree with flying part .

Well said.

 

Mexico is boring. Either the ports are not served by Princess any longer or the ports that are, don't interest us. After 6 RT to Hawai we long for another no-fly destination and Alaska would be great.

 

As being close to Vancouver I would love to see cruises that do Hawaii that pass thru Vancouver on the way there back .

Form a loop from LA to SF to Vancouver to Hawaii to LA. This way people can board in La or SF or Vancouver and not have to fly.

 

I would like to see Princess do a Alaska cruise that start in LA stops for a full day in Vancouver (to board passengers) continue to Alaska and return to LA . Do this cruise during the Alaska Season.

[tarheelmjfan]

Maybe those other 1000 people live on the east coast and don't care about us in Southern Calif and the southwest region. They have the Carribean. I hope everyone on this thread will notigy Princess that they would like this trip and when you cruise make sure you drop the suggestion to everyone you can and in the drop box. Thanks all for supporting my idea.

 

I can't speak for most East Coasters, but I'd be more enthusiastic about this type of itinerary, if it started in Seattle & stopped at more ports in Alaska. If we're going to fly anyway, we might as well fly to Seattle to see more of Alaska. I would prefer to see San Francisco & other West Coast stops on a land vacation. There's too much to see to make a short stop in those ports worthwhile. We once spent 3 days pre-cruise in SF & only scratched the surface.

 

As far as East Coast sailings, how many times can one enjoy the same Caribbean ports? We've sailed from the West Coast three times & will again. The fact that we have the Caribbean doesn't mean we have the whole world open to us w/o flying.

 

I wouldn't say Princess favors the East Coast. There aren't any ships here in the summer. At least, the West Coast has the cruises to Alaska. It's about even in the fall. There are more ships here in the winter, but you can't sail to Alaska in the winter. They may feel there aren't enough warm destinations from the West Coast to fill more ships that time of year. As I so frequently tell my son, the grass isn't always greener. It just seems that way.

 

I'm not saying I have a problem with them sailing to Alaska roundtrip out of LA. It doesn't really matter to me either way. For all of your sake, I hope it works out. I'm just saying it's not that desirable of an itinerary, unless you live in that area. They would have to decide, if there's enough people in that area to fill the ship. Since I have to fly, leaving from Seattle on a 14 day Alaska r/t would be much more desirable. I love sea days, but I also want to see more of Alaska.

[Kamloops50]

14 Day Alaska cruises are very hard to arrange . There are only so many

places the ships the size that Princess can go. Next year HAL has dropped there 14 day cruise to Alaska due to lack of demand and the cost of operating the cruise (they are using a smaller ship).

[mndctrl]

In the Carribean there is the East and West route. With that there are different stops from different cruise lines. The east coast has more ships that leave from there. The Panama Canal offers round trips out of Florida that don't go all the way through, called partial transit. Not that this has anything to do with a round trip to Alaska. We get people from Las Vegas and Arizona that would prefer to leave from Los Angeles than go Vancouver or Seattle to leave.

[caribill]

By the way - I don't understand why people will jump through hoops to avoid flying. True - the airplane is uncomfortable and crowded. True they treat you like a criminal at the airport. True the food on the plane is either non-existent or lousy. However, most flights are only a few hours long and the longest to Asian countries or to Australia are only maybe 13 hours long. Certainly better than multiple boring days at sea with no place to go or nothing to look at. Just my opinion.

 

DON

 

The flying we avoided, Houston to Manaus:

o Fly to Miami

o Fly overnight from Miami to Sao Paulo, arriving at 5 AM

o 9 hours later fly from Sao Paulo to Manaus, arriving early evening (exhausted)

 

The hoop we jumped through to avoid this:

o Fly to Fort Lauderdale 12 days earlier

o Get on the cruise ship for 12 days to Manaus. Arrive relaxed.

 

Ended up with a B2B back to Fort Lauderdale.

 

12 days on a cruise ship was a much better experience than overnight to Sao Paulo.

[caribill]

However, most flights are only a few hours long and the longest to Asian countries or to Australia are only maybe 13 hours long.

 

Houston to Bangkok -- three planes with 24 hours of flying time in addition to connecting times

[sonnenschein]

My kind of cruise.

 

By the way - I don't understand why people will jump through hoops to avoid flying. True - the airplane is uncomfortable and crowded. True they treat you like a criminal at the airport. True the food on the plane is either non-existent or lousy. However, most flights are only a few hours long and the longest to Asian countries or to Australia are only maybe 13 hours long. Certainly better than multiple boring days at sea with no place to go or nothing to look at. Just my opinion.

 

DON

13 hours to Australia?? I don't know what kind of rocket plane you were on :eek: We were on Quantas out of San Francisco,left at midnight and arrived 22 hours later in Sidney..our brain was feeling like "mush" upon arrival. As we get older we just can't put our body's through this kind of stress anymore. I take sea days on a cruise any day over long flights.:p

[pamwinn]

I honestly don't think I would survive a 22 hour flight. Atlanta to Anchorage almost killed me and that was over 10 years ago. I live in Georgia and the flights to east coast cruiseports, especially those to ports Princess uses, are not significantly less expensive than those to the west coast. I vote Princess moves to Charleston, SC.

:D

[caribill]

13 hours to Australia?? I don't know what kind of rocket plane you were on :eek: We were on Quantas out of San Francisco,left at midnight and arrived 22 hours later in Sidney.

 

LAX to SYD was 14 hours 30 minutes for us. It should not take 7.5 more hours from San Francisco.

Edited June 23, 2012 by caribill

[Kamloops50]

13 hours to Australia?? I don't know what kind of rocket plane you were on :eek: We were on Quantas out of San Francisco,left at midnight and arrived 22 hours later in Sidney..our brain was feeling like "mush" upon arrival. As we get older we just can't put our body's through this kind of stress anymore. I take sea days on a cruise any day over long flights.:p

It's 13 hrs flying time , with time change and international date line it becomes 22 hrs clock time.

[waltd]

Hey when you are 6 ft 8 in tall even 4 hours is horrible. And no I can't afford business class.

[iluvcruzin]

Maybe those other 1000 people live on the east coast and don't care about us in Southern Calif and the southwest region. They have the Carribean.

 

I don't think that's the case that people don't care about those in Southern CA. That's making the assumption it's Southern CA and the rest of the market is East Coasters. Actually there is a large market group out of the midwest.

 

14 day out of LA may seem ideal. But, the market segment would be primarily those from CA or surrounding areas. It's not that large of a cruise market. Historically, cruiselines have deep-discounted cruises out of CA to lure others from other parts of the country. Some have pulled out of the market when the numbers didn't add up.

 

It doesn't hurt to ask for this itenerary if it hasn't been done before. But keep in mind people will post their throughts - positive or negative. After all it is Cruise "Critics".:)

[Gigi and Papa]

I would love a round trip cruise from L.A. to Alaska!

 

Hate spending money and time at airports.

 

The more cruise days the better!!!

[Suitedreamer]

I support the idea of LA to Alaska as well. Princess please think about this and make it happen.

 

Sally

[mndctrl]

Thanks all, I love reading that other people would enjoy the cruise from LA to Alaska. I hope Princess see that. It would not have to be all the time but at least a couple of cruises for the season. They should at least try it like they did for the Calif. Coastal. They sure add more of those cruises and took away the Mexico cruises. Now if people wanted to they could combine the Mexico wth the Calif coastal or a Hawaii and make a 14, 21, or even a 28 day trip. I'm just talking as I'm not sure if they have all 3 destinations all in a row. I do know that at least 2 different destinations in a row is possible.

[SJSULIBRARIAN]

How about Princess brigning back their 14 day Alaska out of Seattle now that HAL is dropping theirs?

[caribill]

How about Princess brigning back their 14 day Alaska out of Seattle now that HAL is dropping theirs?

 

I suspect HAL found it unprofitable or they would have stayed.

[Fargo55]

We have pretty much decided that we would rather do round trip cruises from the US tired of the hassle of flying

Edited June 23, 2012 by Fargo55

[donaldsc]

My kind of cruise.

 

By the way - I don't understand why people will jump through hoops to avoid flying. True - the airplane is uncomfortable and crowded. True they treat you like a criminal at the airport. True the food on the plane is either non-existent or lousy. However, most flights are only a few hours long and the longest to Asian countries or to Australia are only maybe 13 hours long. Certainly better than multiple boring days at sea with no place to go or nothing to look at. Just my opinion.

 

DON

 

So I was off by 2 hours -

 

"LAX 10:55p → SYD 6:55a 15h 00m nonstop"

 

It does take less time coming the other way. I still feel that this beats staring at the ocean for 10 days on this cruise -

 

"13 day Crystal Crystal Symphony Los Angeles 6"

 

Again, just my opinion.

 

DON