When a ship has a long time to cover a short distance...

[SnowshoeCat]

I'm looking at an NCL 3-night cruise out of Vancouver, stopping in Nanaimo, Victoria, and ending in Seattle. The distances between these ports is maybe 20-40 miles (I didn't measure exactly), a distance easily covered by ferries, cars, and even by bike if there were direct roads. So what does the ship do to kill time? Will we get a sightseeing voyage along the Inside Passage? Or will the captain take us for a joyride and do doughnuts all night long? I don't want to just go park somewhere, I'd like to sail around and hopefully see things with the long daylight hours.

[sail7seas]

It does BIG circles all night. :D

 

[Keith1010]

Interesting cruise.

 

Keith

[Capt_BJ]

usually people don't care as long as the ship goes far enough off shore that the casino and shops can open

 

can they open here? I'm not familiar with these waters from that angle. when I sailed 'em it was on a CG Cutter so opening the casino was not a concern!

[boogs]

We were on a cruise with the last leg from Koper, Slovenia to Venice, Italy. Driving time between the two places is four hours. We left Koper at 6:00 pm and even though we were scheduled to arrive at 6:45 am (where we had a chance of watching the approach to Venice) we actually arrived around 2:30 am and sat at the dock until disembarkation time. We were cruising at about 9 knots until I went to bed. So they may arrive earlier than the published itinerary suggests.

[paul929207]

They go slowly, very slowly.

[KirkNC]

They go slowly, very slowly.

 

Yes very very very slowly. :p

[Doug R.]

We were on a Princess cruise that called on Tortola followed by St Thomas the next day. The distance is about 20 miles. It appears that we sailed south around St Croix before heading to St Thomas.

[SnowshoeCat]

We were on a Princess cruise that called on Tortola followed by St Thomas the next day. The distance is about 20 miles. It appears that we sailed south around St Croix before heading to St Thomas.

 

I was going to use this as my own example. There was a chart hanging somewhere on the ship and it showed our route from Tortola, out to sea, made a big 270 degree turn, then continued to St Thomas. But the cruise I mentioned above is confined to a smaller area - harbor, strait, I'm not sure what it is, but it seems more limited.

[lamchops]

I'm looking at an NCL 3-night cruise out of Vancouver, stopping in Nanaimo, Victoria, and ending in Seattle. The distances between these ports is maybe 20-40 miles (I didn't measure exactly), a distance easily covered by ferries, cars, and even by bike if there were direct roads. So what does the ship do to kill time? Will we get a sightseeing voyage along the Inside Passage? Or will the captain take us for a joyride and do doughnuts all night long? I don't want to just go park somewhere, I'd like to sail around and hopefully see things with the long daylight hours.

 

I've done 3 pacific coastals with 1 of them stopping in Nanaimo and Victoria. On the 1st night they head out to sea so that the casino will open and do a slow loop so that you end up in Nanaimo the next morning.

When they leave Nanaimo in the late afternoon they do the same and you end up in Victoria the next morning. From there we headed to Astoria, Oregon on the 3rd day but I would think they'll loop again to end up in Seattle.

It's a cheap fun cruise for Pacific Northwesterners to try cruising or have a quick getaway. I'm thinking of doing one also to get me closer to the next rewards level.

[SnowshoeCat]

Thanks lamchops. I'd be flying in from the east coast to combine it with a couple of days in Vancouver. I've never been there! It's actually not that cheap (as cruises go) but I think the overall value is still there.

[mapsmith]

We had a cruise leave St. Thomas at 5PM and arrive at St Croix at 10AM the next day. 17 hours to go 35 miles.

 

(almost missed the ship as it left St. Thomas. I was literally the last person on board. But would have easily gotten on the ferry to St. Croix)

[Krazy Kruizers]

The ship will have to head out to the ocean inorder for the casino and shops to open. Staying in the inside passage near the ports doesn't count.

[paul929207]

In October, we were on the Crown Princess. We sailed from Civitevecchia (Rome) to Livorno (Florence). It is a few hour trip. Due to a schedule change (they dropped our visit to Monte Carlo) we had a sea day in between. We sailed all over the place just to kill time.

[BruceMuzz]

In October, we were on the Crown Princess. We sailed from Civitevecchia (Rome) to Livorno (Florence). It is a few hour trip. Due to a schedule change (they dropped our visit to Monte Carlo) we had a sea day in between. We sailed all over the place just to kill time.

 

It is not just killing time.

 

The ship must sail in clear, clean ocean water - usually faster than 12 knots - in order to produce fresh water. Every day we use the equivalent of one ton of fresh water for every person onboard.

 

In most cases, the ship must be more than 12 miles offshore, moving faster than 6 knots, in order to legally dump treated waste water. Every ton of fresh water we make must very soon be treated and pumped overboard after use.

[Putterdude]

It is a very slow cruise, I live on the other side of Georgia Strait looking into Nanaimo harbour and watch these "sampler" type cruises at the beginning and end of each Alaska cruise season. You will likely leave Vancouver and proceed to Nanaimo and that will take 3 to 4 hours, the ships used anchor in the harbour but they have brand new cruise ship pier there. The trip from Nanaimo to Victoria will take about 5 hours and will be very pretty through the Gulf Islands and the Strait of Juan de Fuca. Victoria to Seattle will be in the range of 5 to 6 hours and again it will be very picturesque going through the San Juan Islands and Puget Sound however I rather suspect most of that leg will done in the night hours.

[SadieN]

0.2 knots going from Long Beach to Catalina.

 

Takes the Catalina Express only two hours.

[printingchick]

Something to remember when delays are experienced. Our 4PM departure from Galveston, Texas was fog delayed (familiar story). We ended up departing the dock (yes, we slept on the ship...while docked) around 10Am the following morning. The ship was a sea-day heavy itinerary including only three ports and three sea days. The first two sea days were - fortunately in this case - up front. That gave us almost 48 hours to get to our first port. We arrived only one hour later than scheduled. (The captain managed to buy us another hour in port, so we lost NO port-of-call time!) Even having lost 18 hours out of our schedule, we docked only ONE hour late.

 

In another instance, our ship was cruising back to Tampa, Florida when the captain announced a storm was expected in the area so we would be cruising more quickly to try to beat the storm. We cruised under the Skyway Bridge at about 9PM. Our scheduled arrival was at 7 or 8 the following morning.

 

Ships allow TONS of time to go SHORT distances, but that's a really GOOD thing when issues crop up!!

[printingchick]

We had a cruise leave St. Thomas at 5PM and arrive at St Croix at 10AM the next day. 17 hours to go 35 miles.

 

(almost missed the ship as it left St. Thomas. I was literally the last person on board. But would have easily gotten on the ferry to St. Croix)

 

Wow...what a revelation!! I always ferry from St. Thomas to St. John on cruises that stop there. I typically plan to catch a ferry EARLIER than absolutely necessary to catch the ship, just in case. It's always a little stressful. If I have this itinerary again, I'll be sure to take my passport, credit card and extra cash with me, knowing that if something bad happens and I miss the ship, I don't have to panic! I can go back to Red Hook and ferry to St. Croix! BRILLIANT!!!:D

[Shmoo here]

It's not a great picture, but I took this of the TV in the room the morning after we cruised from St. Maarten to Tortola, it the route the ship sailed overnight:

 

:)

[mapsmith]

Wow...what a revelation!! I always ferry from St. Thomas to St. John on cruises that stop there. I typically plan to catch a ferry EARLIER than absolutely necessary to catch the ship, just in case. It's always a little stressful. If I have this itinerary again, I'll be sure to take my passport, credit card and extra cash with me, knowing that if something bad happens and I miss the ship, I don't have to panic! I can go back to Red Hook and ferry to St. Croix! BRILLIANT!!!:D

 

Don't have to go back to Red Hook. The St. Croix ferry leaves from downtown Charlottetown. (or did a few years ago).

[jocap]

Thanks for that information about the water, Bruce Muzz.....we often watch ship movements on AIS, and have noticed strange patterns of cruise ships overnight, especially on cruises round the British Isles, where ships are pretty hemmed in near the coastline.......naughtily, we thought the ships were trying to stay over the 12 mile limit so they could open the casino...:rolleyes: Yours is a better explanation...;)