Take A Cruise To Nowhere?

[wdw1972]

I still work, so I cruise almost solely to the Caribbean (don't need travel days to get to/from the port), and cruise primarily for the ship/life onboard.  I could care less which ports we stop at.  That said, what I love most about staying onboard in a port is having most of the other people GO....get off "my" ship.  I'd never consider a cruise shorter than 7 days, and 7 sea days in a row with everyone onboard isn't as appealing to me - too many people around constantly.

 

Of course, with the Retreat cabanas, that helps mitigate the crowded feeling!

 

Sue/WDW1972

[Krazy Kruizers]

We would never be happy to just stay on the ship.

 

We love to get off the ship, even if we have been to the port many times, just to walk around and see what has changed.

[FlaMariner]

We would do a 7 day cruise to nowhere if it's one of the new larger HAL ships (K'dam, NS, soon to sail Ryndam).

 

We did a 7 day Caribbean cruise on the K'dam and enjoyed the ship instead of Jamaica, San Juan and Turks.  Also, the 7 days at sea on our TA were the best days ever!

 

HAL should give that a try....Perhaps a HMC stop mid cruise and we are all aboard!

 

(And think of the money they could make with us on the ship longer)

[Lido deck main]

I would do a cruise to Alaska without port stops if it went to Glacier Bay.  We have been to Alaska three times already would like to go just for the scenery.  One time we went, the captain took us on the inside of the inside channel, was wonderful.  Would want that again.  We do generally like longer cruises with ports we haven’t been to but this would get our cruising fix.  Plus we wouldn’t have to fly as we live 15 minutes from Vancouver Port.  My guess is though that Vancouver Port will stay closed until the end of the year and soonest reopen if it does even then for the start of the 2021 season in April 2021.  We are preparing for second wave expected around September.  Our provincial health ministers are very proactive and our federal counterparts are also that way too.  The federal government is in charge of the ports but they listen too and follow the science.  

[SilvertoGold]

1 hour ago, Lido deck main said:

I would do a cruise to Alaska without port stops if it went to Glacier Bay.  We have been to Alaska three times already would like to go just for the scenery.  One time we went, the captain took us on the inside of the inside channel, was wonderful.  Would want that again.  We do generally like longer cruises with ports we haven’t been to but this would get our cruising fix.  Plus we wouldn’t have to fly as we live 15 minutes from Vancouver Port.  My guess is though that Vancouver Port will stay closed until the end of the year and soonest reopen if it does even then for the start of the 2021 season in April 2021.  We are preparing for second wave expected around September.  Our provincial health ministers are very proactive and our federal counterparts are also that way too.  The federal government is in charge of the ports but they listen too and follow the science.  

 

Good post! Agree totally. We are thinking Alaska might have to be it for a while.  Homeport R/T, at any rate, so maybe Hawaii, too.

 

Yes!  We've sailed though Grenville Channel several times on HAL, many years ago. Beautiful scenery along Princess Royal Island, lots of humpbacks (breaching!). 

 

Thanks for posting this idea, as it is something we would jump at doing again!  This would be an excellent addition to any Alaska "alternate" cruise.

 

[Cruising-along]

We're itinerary cruisers, we love to see new destinations.  So no, not interested unless it was a short get-away between our regular cruises.  Definitely not interested in more than a few days of that.

Edited May 24, 2020 by Cruising-along

[Aquahound]

I wouldn't be interested in a cruise to nowhere, but throw in a stop at Half Moon Cay and we might be in business.  

[SilvertoGold]

We would be thrilled to do Vancouver --  Inside Passage --  Grenville Channel --  Tracy Arm -- Glacier Bay -- Hubbard and back to Vancouver. 

 

 

[DFD1]

22 minutes ago, SilvertoGold said:

We would be thrilled to do Vancouver --  Inside Passage --  Grenville Channel --  Tracy Arm -- Glacier Bay -- Hubbard and back to Vancouver. 

 

 

 

IMO, that would be an outstanding itinerary.

[chengkp75]

26 minutes ago, SilvertoGold said:

We would be thrilled to do Vancouver --  Inside Passage --  Grenville Channel --  Tracy Arm -- Glacier Bay -- Hubbard and back to Vancouver. 

 

 

However, that would become a "cruise to nowhere" from Canada, and I'm not sure how their Coastal Shipping Act (their combined Jones Act and PVSA) would treat that.  Aside from the fact that the Canadian ports are closed to cruise ships, so you wouldn't be able to start it anyway.

[SilvertoGold]

Just now, DFD1 said:

 

IMO, that would be an outstanding itinerary.

 

Thank you for this comment!  Can't see it happening, though,  most pax like ports.   In these interesting times, it seems a feasible alternative for the cruise lines to try this on a smaller ship, like the S or R class.  Might make a good back-to-the-real-world cruise.  After a while it could possibly be expanded to a include a port or two.

[PROCRUISE]

7 hours ago, ski ww said:

We cruise mainly for the itinerary but would love to do a Caribbean cruise on a Windstar sail ship. 

 

Would indeed be fun. Did the Society Island cruise out of Tahiti on the Windstar Spirit. When anchored in lagoons, we could swim, snorkel, kayak, and even water ski behind zodiac watercraft, launched by the crew, right off the back of the ship. Highly recommend Windstar. Oh, and on this sailing ship the total number of passengers was 148! 

[VMax1700]

1 hour ago, SilvertoGold said:

We would be thrilled to do Vancouver --  Inside Passage --  Grenville Channel --  Tracy Arm -- Glacier Bay -- Hubbard and back to Vancouver. 

 

 

That would appeal to us also, as we could mix it in with a visit to DS in Vancouver (when it becomes possible and prudent again).

A nine hour flight from Ireland to Florida to sail around the Caribbean for 7/10 days would be a big no-no.  We would need cruises around Europe so as the flights would be short, but European cruises are much more expensive than the comparative Caribbean cruise and if the cruise went nowhere, then just madness.

The earliest we would consider is May 2021 out of Amsterdam (1 hour 50 minutes flight!) and it would have to go somewhere!

[MISTER 67]

We love days at sea and it would like a cruise to nowhere very much.

[crusinbanjo]

Cruise to nowhere, never for me.  I love the ports, if I want to go no where, I’ll Just stay home.

[RuthC]

I took a couple of cruises to nowhere way back when I was young. Good grief, but they were fun! 
Of necessity, they were very short cruises, of 3 and 2 days, respectively. On the 3-day cruise I got a grand total of 7 hours sleep---there was that much to do and enjoy! No way do I have that stamina now. 
I can't see a cruise to nowhere running any longer than 3-4 days, if they could run at all. 

[rkacruiser]

35 minutes ago, RuthC said:

I can't see a cruise to nowhere running any longer than 3-4 days, if they could run at all. 

 

If a cruise line was able to come up with a business model that included cruises to nowhere, either a decent length of the cruise or the ability to combine b2b2b, etc., would be required to attract cruisers like me who live distant from a port.  

[RuthC]

6 minutes ago, rkacruiser said:

 

If a cruise line was able to come up with a business model that included cruises to nowhere, either a decent length of the cruise or the ability to combine b2b2b, etc., would be required to attract cruisers like me who live distant from a port.  

I was fortunate in that I live in RI. The first cruise to nowhere was out of Boston (right up the street), and the second was out of Providence. Easy commutes both. 
I would not have gone had getting there been much longer trips. 

[Randyk47]

No.  We are still destination cruisers so a cruise without interesting ports and countries would not interest us.  

[kaiiak]

4 hours ago, Cruising-along said:

We're itinerary cruisers, we love to see new destinations.  So no, not interested unless it was a short get-away between our regular cruises.  Definitely not interested in more than a few days of that.

Same here. Many years ago we did do a one night cruise to nowhere on NCL bc it was in our home port of Long Beach and we treated it more like a night away to have a good meal, go to the casino, etc. It was a lot of fun, we probably stayed up almost all night, but the next day we felt kind of bummed out that it was over so quickly. I would maybe do a cruise to nowhere for 2-3 nights to be sort of like a Vegas weekender to gamble, eat, relax poolside, but that's it. I'd rather do a longer cruise to see new places.

[colonialinnkeeper]

We love longer cruises with interesting and unusual ports to stop at.  However, I would welcome a cruise with limited (HMC perhaps) port stop for the first one back.  We missed our May, 2020 long Northern European cruise and will be itching to get on a ship soon after things have opened up again.  It would give us a chance to see what has been done to deal with Covid in whatever phase we will be in at that time in a fairly safe way.

[VermeulT]

There are plently of Caribbean islands I don't need to stop at again.  If a cruise I take includes a stop there - I *might* get off to have a few drinks shoreside but I'd be fine staying on board.

I cruise to relax and too many ports has too much anxiety of getting up early - getting to see as much as we can and then making sure we get back on board.  Give me a recliner and a view and I'm set.

[Djptcp]

A cruise to nowhere sounds fine to us. After 55 cruises, we have been to all of the Caribbean, Central America, and some of South America and I don't even get off the ships anymore. The cruise experience for me is just being on the ships and taking advantage of all they have to offer. DH just gets off to buy a t-shirt or two to restock his supply. We have done excursions and there aren't many left we would need to take and have bought enough primitive paintings and beautiful ceramics.

[1ANGELCAT]

21 hours ago, RuthC said:

I took a couple of cruises to nowhere way back when I was young. Good grief, but they were fun! 
Of necessity, they were very short cruises, of 3 and 2 days, respectively. On the 3-day cruise I got a grand total of 7 hours sleep---there was that much to do and enjoy! No way do I have that stamina now. 
I can't see a cruise to nowhere running any longer than 3-4 days, if they could run at all. 

Have to agree with you. I also did quite a few of the weekend ones out of Philadelphia and New York . They were cheaper than a weekend at the shore . The best one was on the QE 2 , it even had a formal nite. 

 

[shipgeeks]

Our ideal cruise would be lots of sea days and one overnight at the cruiseline's private island.  Second choice would be all sea days, for at least - but preferably more than - seven nights.

Even at our first cruise, many years ago, we were both more interested in being on a ship at sea than in visiting any exotic ports. The ship is definitely the attraction for us.