One Day Cruise on the Oosterdam

[clarkg]

It seems almost silly to go on a one day cruise, but we enjoy them. It makes for a fun weekend. I did a short blog post on it too.

 

http://clarkanddeb.blogspot.com/2019/10/fall-one-day-cruise-2019.html

 

It was the third time we've been on the ship. We also go on a lot of three to five day cruises up and down the coast. We live right between Seattle and Vancouver Canada, so it makes it easy to get to the cruise port. We take the Amtrak because Seattle's roads are insane.

[canadianbear]

The shortest cruise I’ve taken was 4 days.  Not sure I’d bother with a 1 day but it sounds like you enjoy them!   We used to do the Pacific Coastal cruises a lot.  Will be on the Oosterdam soon for 2 weeks and looking forward to it.  

 

Thanks for posting with the link to your blog too.  

Neptune suites are lovely aren’t they!

[Krazy Kruizers]

Enjoyed your blog on your 1 day cruise.  No way would I do a 1 day cruise.

 

The shorest cruise we have done is 14 days.

[Roz]

Sounds like a lot of fun.  I've done several Coastal cruises and enjoyed them all.  People are surprised I would fly from TN to do a cruise under 7 days, but there are good ports on either end - San Diego, Seattle, and Vancouver - so I extend the cruise by a day or two and it makes for a nice getaway.

 

Not to mention that's how I met Canadianbear and Mr. Bear. 🐻

[MoyCoy]

We were on that cruise too! We wanted to give Holland a try. We are now booked to sail her on a 7 day in December.  We used the 1 day to connect to a 6 day on the Bliss.

 

Our Bliss cruise was intresting😑.  (Im being nice here) Wished we had stayed on the Oosterdam! Especially since we were in a Neptune Suite.

 

Edited October 12, 2019 by MoyCoy

[cat shepard]

Thank you for sharing! I board her on the 20th. Can not wait.

[DaveOKC]

1 hour ago, Roz said:

Sounds like a lot of fun.  I've done several Coastal cruises and enjoyed them all.  People are surprised I would fly from TN to do a cruise under 7 days, but there are good ports on either end - San Diego, Seattle, and Vancouver - so I extend the cruise by a day or two and it makes for a nice getaway.

 

Not to mention that's how I met Canadianbear and Mr. Bear. 🐻

Same here - we have done several coastals and generally add a couple of days to the beginning or ends to make flying out worthwhile.

[clarkg]

Thank you for your comments. A one day cruise is a fun weekend for us. We get three meals, a train ride, entertainment, all for one low price.

[Dulciana8]

Sounds like a fun weekend! I enjoyed your blog with pictures. Thanks for sharing! 

[clarkg]

4 hours ago, MoyCoy said:

We were on that cruise too! We wanted to give Holland a try. We are now booked to sail her on a 7 day in December.  We used the 1 day to connect to a 6 day on the Bliss.

 

Our Bliss cruise was intresting😑.  (Im being nice here) Wished we had stayed on the Oosterdam! Especially since we were in a Neptune Suite.

 

We've done that three times, sailed one ship into Vancouver and another one back to Seattle or down the coast. Great fun. Had one cruise that started in Seattle and went up to Alaska, then ended in Vancouver. It worked out great for us.

[lindaler]

I have thought about taking Amtrak but wasn't sure how hard it was to get from the train to the ship. What does a taxi cost and how hard is it to find one willing to take you there? In San Diego you just walk three blocks and you are there, we loved the train for cruises from there. Took a three day from San Diego to Vancouver and then connected up with our 14 day Alaska cruise. That was my shortest.

[Lido deck main]

4 hours ago, MoyCoy said:

We were on that cruise too! We wanted to give Holland a try. We are now booked to sail her on a 7 day in December.  We used the 1 day to connect to a 6 day on the Bliss.

 

Our Bliss cruise was intresting😑.  (Im being nice here) Wished we had stayed on the Oosterdam! Especially since we were in a Neptune Suite.

 

I’m curious about your Bliss experience.  Personally I don’t like that large of a ship, I am right in Vancouver and prices last minute for that cruise was for inside $400.00 CDN and port charges.  I did like all the ports that cruise went too.  So I did think about it.   I heard it was a travel agents cruise.  Did you happen to do review on the NCL site?

[clarkg]

41 minutes ago, lindaler said:

I have thought about taking Amtrak but wasn't sure how hard it was to get from the train to the ship. What does a taxi cost and how hard is it to find one willing to take you there? In San Diego you just walk three blocks and you are there, we loved the train for cruises from there. Took a three day from San Diego to Vancouver and then connected up with our 14 day Alaska cruise. That was my shortest.

The taxi from the train station to Pier 91 was $20. It's a little less in Vancouver from the station to Canada Place. We took the Sky Train this time in Vancouver. The Sky Train station is just across the park from the train station and goes right to Canada Place.

[Gigi1977]

Kind of jelly!   I’d love to be able to do this! Thanks for sharing!  

[sailingskyward]

5 hours ago, MoyCoy said:

We were on that cruise too! We wanted to give Holland a try. We are now booked to sail her on a 7 day in December.  We used the 1 day to connect to a 6 day on the Bliss.

 

Our Bliss cruise was intresting😑.  (Im being nice here) Wished we had stayed on the Oosterdam! Especially since we were in a Neptune Suite.

 

Oh how funny, I had originally planned to do the same thing. SEA-YVR on the Oosterdam, then walk across the Vancouver cruise terminal to board the Bliss 6-day to LA. Can you tell us more about your NCL Bliss experience compared to your HAL experience? Thank you and safe travels

[MoyCoy]

19 minutes ago, sailingskyward said:

Oh how funny, I had originally planned to do the same thing. SEA-YVR on the Oosterdam, then walk across the Vancouver cruise terminal to board the Bliss 6-day to LA. Can you tell us more about your NCL Bliss experience compared to your HAL experience? Thank you and safe travels

We liked Oosterdam.  They apparently don't allow you to ck in luggage for a one day. We packed heavy because we were cruising thereafter.  So it was interesting pulling our luggage through the terminal.  The food on buffet was just okay.  I'm hoping on the 7 day it will be better.

 

The Bliss had quite a boarding process. They informed guest 4 days before embarking that they cant get on till 7pm

 

Then they tried to ck in 4000 people between 7 to 930pm

 

Needless to say, it did not work out well.

 

Then we had to clear in San Francisco which wasted 3 hours of our port time. And we skipped Seattle.  Overnight in Victoria instead.  Half the ship was Canadian so that wasn't appealing.  Cancellation for Seattle was due to clearance time frame.😑

 

The Bliss was waiting in the harbour since 10am the day we were to embark. I saw her with my own eyes.   They just didn't have a slip to park. Say overbooked anyone!!!??

 

They blamed late boarding on tides. 😑

They did finally issue a $100 on board credit. But only after people screamed. 

 

The intin was crazy from the beginning.  Vancouver, Seattle, Victoria, San Francisco.... clearing is obviously a problem here. So dropping Seattle was a no brainer.  But it should have been adjusted before itin was released.  They informed people they would have to clear in San Francisco the night before, making it impossible for those with private tours to call and cancel. 

 

We disembarked and people were still in line  , yelling at customer service. People wanted gratuities refunded for the shortened day , etc...

 

And they changed our intin before embarking at least 5 times.

 

I heard last years 5 day Bliss wasn't a picnic either. 

 

On the ship, staff were not as attentive and knowledgeable.  Seems like they picked up new crew too. 

 

Just wish NCL was honest that someone higher up messed up. Instead they made excuses that seasoned cruisers were not buying.  I'm surprised we didn't have a riot on that cruise.  There were ALOT of angry people on board

 

I've sailed NCL quite a bit. This cruise was not my favorite. 

 

 

[clarkg]

10 hours ago, MoyCoy said:

We liked Oosterdam.  They apparently don't allow you to ck in luggage for a one day. We packed heavy because we were cruising thereafter.  So it was interesting pulling our luggage through the terminal.  The food on buffet was just okay.  I'm hoping on the 7 day it will be better.

 

The Bliss had quite a boarding process. They informed guest 4 days before embarking that they cant get on till 7pm

 

Then they tried to ck in 4000 people between 7 to 930pm

 

Needless to say, it did not work out well.

 

Then we had to clear in San Francisco which wasted 3 hours of our port time. And we skipped Seattle.  Overnight in Victoria instead.  Half the ship was Canadian so that wasn't appealing.  Cancellation for Seattle was due to clearance time frame.😑

 

The Bliss was waiting in the harbour since 10am the day we were to embark. I saw her with my own eyes.   They just didn't have a slip to park. Say overbooked anyone!!!??

 

They blamed late boarding on tides. 😑

They did finally issue a $100 on board credit. But only after people screamed. 

 

The intin was crazy from the beginning.  Vancouver, Seattle, Victoria, San Francisco.... clearing is obviously a problem here. So dropping Seattle was a no brainer.  But it should have been adjusted before itin was released.  They informed people they would have to clear in San Francisco the night before, making it impossible for those with private tours to call and cancel. 

 

We disembarked and people were still in line  , yelling at customer service. People wanted gratuities refunded for the shortened day , etc...

 

And they changed our intin before embarking at least 5 times.

 

I heard last years 5 day Bliss wasn't a picnic either. 

 

On the ship, staff were not as attentive and knowledgeable.  Seems like they picked up new crew too. 

 

Just wish NCL was honest that someone higher up messed up. Instead they made excuses that seasoned cruisers were not buying.  I'm surprised we didn't have a riot on that cruise.  There were ALOT of angry people on board

 

I've sailed NCL quite a bit. This cruise was not my favorite. 

 

 

Sounds terrible.

[rj42]

Another good thing about the 1-nt Cruise was HAL was adding the beverage package for $20, so you could do some serious cocktail sampling. 
 

For those looking to get between Seattle and Vancouver, Quick Shuttle goes right to the terminal in Vancouver—I'm taking it tomorrow to the Noordam. Taking Uber or Lyft to the Seattle pier is cheaper than a taxi, or you could get creative and ride an app-based electric bike, as I did to the NCL pier for an Alaskan Cruise.

 

The Bliss debacle comes from the lines trying to add as many stops as possible on coastals, to increase excursion revenues. HAL started doing the same thing this year, adding multiple stops down the coast, including SF, which charges high port taxes. I used to go each season for 4-day cruises with pleasant stops in Santa Barbara, Astoria, and Victoria, but now the longer cruises and higher taxes don’t make it worth it to me, especially with the frequently  less pleasant weather going down the coast (sometimes the winds get so bad they close outside promenade access). Princess still offers several 3-day ones, though, sometimes at deep discounts.

[JustinPlusLauren]

I didn't know you could do a 1 day cruise! There are a couple of perks but it would be a huge tease for me and I would be sad to leave so soon. At the same time, could make for a fun couple of days! Thanks for sharing!

[john2003]

Interesting comment about adding the additional stps increasing revenue.  I had assumed they found them more marketable and could increase the per diems. Either way, our less expensive quick getaways are going away.  

[Qcruise]

We're thinking about doing just this next April 2020.....our Koningsdam 4 night repositioning cruise debarks in Vancouver the Oosterdam will be right next to us going to Seattle overnight so we're thinking it would be an easy way to get to Seattle to visit our kids then fly back  there.   Makes sense dollar wise......

[DaveOKC]

1 hour ago, Qcruise said:

We're thinking about doing just this next April 2020.....our Koningsdam 4 night repositioning cruise debarks in Vancouver the Oosterdam will be right next to us going to Seattle overnight so we're thinking it would be an easy way to get to Seattle to visit our kids then fly back  there.   Makes sense dollar wise......

Check with HAL to be sure this allowed (assuming you are doing it the same day).  The next day is fine, but I am not sure the same day is.

[clarkg]

2 hours ago, DaveOKC said:

Check with HAL to be sure this allowed (assuming you are doing it the same day).  The next day is fine, but I am not sure the same day is.

You can't take the same ship, but you can take a different ship. The Jones act is the problem, you can't leave from a USA port and go to another USA port without going to a foreign port. If you go on two different ships, you are fine.

[DaveOKC]

2 minutes ago, clarkg said:

You can't take the same ship, but you can take a different ship. The Jones act is the problem, you can't leave from a USA port and go to another USA port without going to a foreign port. If you go on two different ships, you are fine.

You likely are correct, but I would still check with HAL before you book to be certain.  Better to be safe than sorry.