One night cruise Seattle to Vancouver. What's it like?

[grg]

I've been on many cruises but never a one nighter. 

How different is it in terms of entertainment, dinning, and activities, movies under the stars?

 

  

Edited August 16, 2019 by grg

[neverbeenhere]

I can't remember as there is always a lot of alcohol consumption. (Pretty sure it is anytime dining for all passengers)

[gvre]

We have done this one before.

Not much like a cruise at all. The service seems less attentive since your getting off in the morning.

No perks even if your elite. Wouldn't do it again.

[neverbeenhere]

Useful way to get to Vancouver for a day or two prior to additional cruises. Also useful to pick up one to three cruise credits, if you have the “need”. 

[Colo Cruiser]

I heard they felt short.

[neverbeenhere]

2 and one half stars. 

[gvre]

10 minutes ago, neverbeenhere said:

Useful way to get to Vancouver for a day or two prior to additional cruises. Also useful to pick up one to three cruise credits, if you have the “need”. 

Thats why we did it!

[martincath]

Biggest factor is which night of the week is it on? Fri or Sat = booze cruise, packed ship, many folks on board hammered and rolling around until the wee small hours (but dining room breakfast next morning is near-empty due to all the hungover peeps who are spending every last possible second asleep before they get kicked out of their room). The 'full cruise credit' Princess offers makes Fri/Sat night sailings packed to the gills though as no time off work needed and you get the same amount of status as a long cruise!

 

OTOH a Sunday or weeknight - empty ship, very relaxed, as who is going to take a day off work for just a one-night cruise? Potential audience therefore is much reduced and what there is skews heavily toward retired folks and those connecting the one-day to the next/prior longer cruise, i.e. way fewer boozehounds.

 

We actually really quite enjoyed Northbound Sunday nighters and would absolutely do them again if we weren't otherwise engaged on the available dates - cross the border a day early, have a nice night in Seattle, an easy embarkation then on arrival in Vancouver Monday morning we walk off, head to the wife's office where I bid her adieu and continue walking home. A relaxing weekend basically, and even if Seattle hotels run pricey Bolt or Amtrak to Seattl is dirt cheap booked in advance and the <$50pp cruise rate really drags the total spend down - we've always booked an Inside, and always been upgraded to Balcony because the ship is so dang empty (and this was even before we had any status at all...) - and of course Americans from many States might think cruise drinks run pricey, but compared to Vancouver bars they're a total bargain.

 

Just too much hassle though for us to ever do another Southbound 1 nighter since they always seem to happen on busy days at Canada Place with lots of ships (as each end of the season always has these repos on top of whatever AK cruises are still running they're inevitably 3/4 ship days) so you either have to choose to waste a ton of time boarding or show up very late which means only having ~15 hours on board... and boarding at 3pm when folks have been boozing since they boarded is like visiting a frat house sober midway through a party - unless you get your drink on hard & fast, you'll never catch up so every person drunker than you is annoying as heck and that's most everyone onboard 😉

 

Regardless of direction staff were definitely surlier than any other cruise - full turnaround of the rooms from the prior one but then they have to do it all over again the very next day so even on the half-full Sunday nighters the room stewards especially have a heavier workload across two days then they ever do at any other time... so understandably they're not wasting much energy on being extra-nice to pax or learning your names.

 

Entertainment was the same very old show (Brit Invasion) every single one of these we did, including when two different ships did it on consecutive days, and ditto the menus which were also identical ship-to-ship and year-to-year.

 

If you have a few pals you can cruise with, they're more fun - and like with cruise credits Princess make no differentiation between introducing new pax on one of these or on a 10 day cruise, so you still get your $25 credit for bringing a n00b along, which can actually make these one-nighters *free* on occasion!

[dweeb]

3 hours ago, gvre said:

We have done this one before.

Not much like a cruise at all. The service seems less attentive since your getting off in the morning.

No perks even if your elite. Wouldn't do it again.

We have had every elite perk  that is advertised on all of our one nighters.  Could you please explain which perk you did not recieve?   We've don several one nighter's and never missed out on the elite perks.

 

Thank you.

[cruisequeen4ever]

It’s just like a regular cruise, full of fun, just packed into less than 24 hours. There are a few less options like sometimes the Casino is closed, one time the comedian didn’t show up, the Elite benefits are inconsistent, and the drink packages are not usually offered. It can be a fun getaway between regular, longer cruises.

[dustin90]

If you're planning on extending your stay on either side, it can make for a short vacation.

I've only done them as single occ. bookings in the pursuit of Elite. It's a pain having to transit to/from. 

Better value booking a longer repo (i.e.: LAX<>YVR).

[HappyCruiserettu]

On 8/16/2019 at 8:29 PM, dweeb said:

We have had every elite perk  that is advertised on all of our one nighters.  Could you please explain which perk you did not recieve?   We've don several one nighter's and never missed out on the elite perks.

 

Thank you.

I suspect you wouldn't get laundry, or preference for tendering. Do you get the minibar setup? The value of that might be equal to or greater than the cruise fare. Nor for me, though. We're not drinkers. Just the occasional beer.

[Fisherwoman]

4 hours ago, HappyCruiserettu said:

I suspect you wouldn't get laundry, or preference for tendering. Do you get the minibar setup? The value of that might be equal to or greater than the cruise fare. Nor for me, though. We're not drinkers. Just the occasional beer.

I've done four of these.  I got my elite perks.  I had a party in my room and my friends helped me drink the mini bar.  I also got bag of goodies in the bathroom. Not enough time for laundry turn around.   It's on and off.  No tendering and you carry off your luggage.  The only hold up can be Canada Customs and Immigration in Vancouver but on my last cruise it was much better.  I agree with the British Invasion show, it is stale.  I am not doing the Oct 5 Star Princess, but I know someone who is.  I am driving them to Seattle to make it easier to get on the ship.  Last time we used Quick Shuttle from Campbell River store and it was so disorganized!  The driver had no idea who was to be on his bus, we got turned back at the border!  We left at 8 AM and got to Seattle at 2 PM!  Dining room is open for lunch but they don't tell you.  If you go, enjoy and if you book a single room you get 2 cruise credits.  Lots of people do it.

[thegoaliegirl]

I have done two of them from Seattle. The first was the Ruby from Seattle to Vancouver fall 2017, as hubby and I needed a night away without the kids (and grandma lives in Seattle). Second time was on the Emerald fall 2018 with the kids to see how cramped 4 in a cabin felt before booking Alaska for this past summer. They were totally different cruises. On the Ruby, casino and shops opened not long after leaving and production show was pretty good. It was a Saturday night. On the Emerald, a Sunday night, casino and shops opened very late (after 10pm, or maybe the casino didn't open at all but the shops did?), production show wasn't as good. Boarded early enough both times to eat lunch in the MDR, dinner was anytime dining. They are a bit of hassle. Great if you want to have a quick getaway, work up to a higher status level or purchase future cruise credits.

[memoak]

6 hours ago, Fisherwoman said:

I've done four of these.  I got my elite perks.  I had a party in my room and my friends helped me drink the mini bar.  I also got bag of goodies in the bathroom. Not enough time for laundry turn around.   It's on and off.  No tendering and you carry off your luggage.  The only hold up can be Canada Customs and Immigration in Vancouver but on my last cruise it was much better.  I agree with the British Invasion show, it is stale.  I am not doing the Oct 5 Star Princess, but I know someone who is.  I am driving them to Seattle to make it easier to get on the ship.  Last time we used Quick Shuttle from Campbell River store and it was so disorganized!  The driver had no idea who was to be on his bus, we got turned back at the border!  We left at 8 AM and got to Seattle at 2 PM!  Dining room is open for lunch but they don't tell you.  If you go, enjoy and if you book a single room you get 2 cruise credits.  Lots of people do it.

If you show up on October 5 you will be a day early. That 1 nighter is on October 6

[lstone19]

I just finished my latest one-nighter to make Elite so can't comment on Elite-only benefits. But having been on three, two Vancouver to Seattle on Ruby Princess and one Seattle to Vancouver on Emerald Princess, things were inconsistent.

 

SB #1 on Ruby Princess: Free drink coupon (in lieu of CC reception), P/E/S cocktail hour in Skywalker's, P/E/S disembarkation lounge, and I heard Elites received a full mini-bar

NB on Emerald Princess: NO drink coupon, NO P/E/S cocktail hour, NO P/E/S disembarkation lounge, and I heard Elites received a partial mini-bar

SB #2 on Ruby Princess: Free drink coupon, P/E/S cocktail hour in Skywalker's, NO P/E/S disembarkation lounge, and I did not hear about Elite mini-bars

 

On all, I did receive my CCL stockholder OBC which more than covered everything I wanted to spend on-board.

 

 

Edited August 20, 2019 by lstone19

[jennybenny]

I had fun, it a was a fun excursion.  Left the kids at home, and DH and I did a day in Seattle, the one day cruise and a day in Vancouver.  We mostly can only get away for short periods of time so are used to one day trips to other places.  We had fun but probably wouldn't do it again. 

[Donald]

These one-nighters are a nightmare for ship employees.

The bulk of the clientele takes the word "frugal" to new heights.

Walk into the Lido and see the eating contest; how much can we eat to get our money's worth??

We see people carrying away entire trays of shrimp cocktails to their cabins.

 

In the morning, we have to go through each cabin to count missing towels, pillows, sheets, blankets, robes.

At the gangway, we post extra security to chase passengers who try to run down the gangway before paying their bar bills.

The number one question at the reception desk is, "What is the cheapest way to get to the bus station?"

 

Its like spending 24 hours at Walmart.

[pioneer girl]

On 8/16/2019 at 1:34 PM, grg said:

I've been on many cruises but never a one nighter. 

How different is it in terms of entertainment, dinning, and activities, movies under the stars?

 

  

Dining:   Anytime dining or buffet or Specialty Restaurant (with cover charge)

Ditto the other persons who posted about credits for voyage

Nice opportunity to add to your Future Cruise Deposit inventory yours are running low

Some beautiful scenery northbound Puget Sound

MOTS is offered in the evening.

I recall that football was shown during the day on the MOTS screen.

Rec'd 1/2 Elite mini-bar set up only once.   Full elite mini-bar setup on other one-night sailings.

 

[Lucky TGO]

30 minutes ago, pioneer girl said:

Dining:   Anytime dining or buffet or Specialty Restaurant (with cover charge)

Ditto the other persons who posted about credits for voyage

Nice opportunity to add to your Future Cruise Deposit inventory yours are running low

Some beautiful scenery northbound Puget Sound

MOTS is offered in the evening.

I recall that football was shown during the day on the MOTS screen.

Rec'd 1/2 Elite mini-bar set up only once.   Full elite mini-bar setup on other one-night sailings.

 

Thank for the info. One question is it a big hassle getting on and off the ship? 

Tony

 

[lstone19]

7 hours ago, Lucky TGO said:

Thank for the info. One question is it a big hassle getting on and off the ship? 

Tony

 

 

No more than any other cruise. But considering how short the cruise is, it ends up being a greater percentage of your cruise time.

 

Of the three I did, two were essentially walk-ons; the most recent, with a mid-May departure from Vancouver with two other ships in port, took longer to board and unexpectedly did have us pre-clear with CBP and instead handled that the next morning in Seattle.

 

For disembarkation, they will not be asking about your post-cruise plans. Instead, you will be assigned to a walk-off disembarkation group based on your cabin. Feel free to ignore that. If you need to be off early, go join Walk-off group 1 and get off early. On that most recent, CBP did not start processing us until 8:00am and despite that, I was on the 8:17 city bus into downtown (out on the bridge by Pier 91 so a five minute walk from the cruise passenger terminal). For all three, I easily made it to the airport in time to stand by for flights much earlier than the Princess recommended times. 

[4x4bob]

We tied this one day cruise to our Alaska Cruise.  Ours was from Vancouver down to Seattle.  What made it nice for us was the fact we were able to maintain the same cabin on the ship for both cruises. 

We just had to leave the ship when we arrived at Seattle for customs clearance and then went right back on.

On our one day cruise there was a large group of special children  with several adults working with them.  The kids had a great time.  We saw them all over the ship participating in several events. 

Also, there were lots of locals taking advantage of the short cruise. 

Bob

Edited August 24, 2019 by 4x4bob