Will Alaska Cruises Substitute Mexico for Canada When they Restart?

[SelectSys]

Canada seems highly unlikely to permit cruising in their waters anytime soon.  In addition to COVID, local British Columbia politics are moving increasing against cruising on environmental grounds as well.  When you factor in the negligible contribution to the BC economy from cruising, it just seems that the restart of ocean cruising - especially simple port calls - seems suspect.

 

What do people think about US cruises for Alaska departing from Southern California and making a quick port call in Ensenada to satisfy the law?  HI cruises from CA do this from time to time and why not Alaska cruises as well? The ships would need to burn a lot of fuel, but the price of fuel these days is probably still pretty low.   It would also likely reduce the time in Alaska to about 2 days, but it would be something for summer 2021.

 

Of course this all assumes that CA will accept cruises as well which is by no means certain as the governor said yesterday that he "was going to be stubborn on opening theme parks" like Disneyland.

[Ashland]

I'm all for RCI coming back to our coast. I sailed for many years out of San Pedro doing their Mexican Riviera or Baja cruises.

Hawaii round trip would be amazing. However not interested in a coastal trip that's much to easy to drive for us.

[mom says]

1 hour ago, SelectSys said:

It would also likely reduce the time in Alaska to about 2 days,

Then why call it an Alaska cruise? That's a west coast cruise consisting if mostly sea days. You can't begin to compare that to an Alaska cruise out of Seattle.

[SelectSys]

52 minutes ago, Ashland said:

I'm all for RCI coming back to our coast... However not interested in a coastal trip that's much to easy to drive for us.

 

I am also interested in a return of RCI to the west coast.  A road trip to Alaska is not all that easy via car and almost impossible to reach the "panhandle" port towns called on by cruise ships.

 

Add to this that the fact that US-Canada borders is almost closed.  Canada, as is their absolute right,  added restrictions on land transit between the lower 48 and Alaska have increased which further discourages discretionary travel to Alaska.

https://www.canada.ca/en/border-services-agency/news/2020/07/covid-19-stricter-rules-for-foreign-nationals-transiting-through-canada-to-alaska.html

 

11 minutes ago, mom says said:

Then why call it an Alaska cruise? That's a west coast cruise consisting if mostly sea days. You can't begin to compare that to an Alaska cruise out of Seattle.

 

Because these cruises would still call on Alaskan ports as the "signature" destinations.  I see these as similar to the cruises from NY and Maryland that go to the Caribbean.  Like these east coast cruises, they might get extended to 10 nights to deal with the extra transit time.  I didn't say this was preferred, but only a "work around" if Canada prefers not to support cruising for the 2021 summer which currently seems likely - especially if the ships are predominantly filled with Americans.

 

[SelectSys]

I guess Princess is already on board with this idea in limited fashion.  I need to use the cruise news area more.

https://www.cruisecritic.com/news/5642/

 

Here is the cruise listed for Alaska.  It would be easy to substitute Ensenada for Prince Rupert and comply with the law and remain within the 14 day cruise duration.

 

Alaska -

 14-day roundtrip voyages from San Pedro to Ketchikan, Icy Strait Point, Juneau, Skagway, Sitka and Prince Rupert, British Columbia. Departs July 3 and 17, 2021.

[CruiserBruce]

39 minutes ago, mom says said:

Then why call it an Alaska cruise? That's a west coast cruise consisting if mostly sea days. You can't begin to compare that to an Alaska cruise out of Seattle.

At least one...Princess, I think, but perhaps Carnival, already had, prior to covid, a plan for cruises out of LA to Alaska. Just a longer Alaska cruise is all. Princess already sails to Alaska out of San Francisco. And a Panama Canal cruise has lots of sea days involved going to and through the Canal.

[Ashland]

Well I for one am only interested in RCI sailing out of the west coast...have tried PCL and that's a no for us...not even interested in Carnival....JMHO

1 hour ago, CruiserBruce said:

At least one...Princess, I think, but perhaps Carnival, already had, prior to covid, a plan for cruises out of LA to Alaska. Just a longer Alaska cruise is all. Princess already sails to Alaska out of San Francisco. And a Panama Canal cruise has lots of sea days involved going to and through the Canal.

 

[SelectSys]

2 hours ago, CruiserBruce said:

At least one...Princess, I think, but perhaps Carnival, already had, prior to covid, a plan for cruises out of LA to Alaska. Just a longer Alaska cruise is all. Princess already sails to Alaska out of San Francisco. And a Panama Canal cruise has lots of sea days involved going to and through the Canal.

 

I looked on the Carnival site and they show 10 day cruises from San Francisco with a port stop in Vancouver.  These would be problematic if CA remains closed to cruising.

[rkacruiser]

None of these Princess itineraries have any interest for me.  I have NO interest in a Mexican cruise.  If I am cruising to Alaska, I want to sail from Vancouver or Seattle because I enjoy those ports much more than the Los Angles area.  Sailing from San Francisco?  Yes.  But, not from a Los Angeles port.  

 

If having to do so is my only choice, then, I won't be sailing.

[SelectSys]

2 hours ago, rkacruiser said:

None of these Princess itineraries have any interest for me.  I have NO interest in a Mexican cruise.  If I am cruising to Alaska, I want to sail from Vancouver or Seattle because I enjoy those ports much more than the Los Angles area.  Sailing from San Francisco?  Yes.  But, not from a Los Angeles port.  

 

If having to do so is my only choice, then, I won't be sailing.

 

I  can understand that you might no interest.  I also recognize that this solution isn't ideal. However some people that want to cruise to Alaska and also enjoy sea days would be happy with this.  I am also sure that the Alaska cruise ports would be happy for some business if Canadian cruise ports remained closed and this was the only avenue by which passengers could visit. 

 

Realize that this really wouldn't be a Mexican cruise.  It would only have a short stop in Ensenada to be in compliance with US restrictions before going to Alaska or returning LA.  As I said earlier, round trip cruises to HI from LA also employ this strategy. 

 

Note that I also thought about how cruises might incorporate a Russian port somehow, but that seems even harder to pull off from a distance and logistics perspective.

[clo]

OT kinda/sorta, how long would it take to cruise from Mexico to Alaska?

[getting older slowly]

29 minutes ago, clo said:

Mexico to Alaska?

 

about 3500 nm    so about 19 knots cruise   about 7 1/2 days   no stops

 

so a long way  ... not sure anybody would be happy  with 7 sea days...

[ldubs]

Might be another solution much closer than Mexico.  Does Berkeley qualify as a  foreign country?  😋

[Ashland]

Just bring back an RCI ship to our coast...we'll figure out the specifics later 

[sanger727]

Maybe This wouldn’t be feasible due to visa issues. But Russia isn’t far from Alaska and if there was a way to incorporate a tender stop that seems like it would be far less detrimental to an Alaska itinerary. Bonus is you can then start in Seattle and end in Alaska since Russia is a distant foreign port.

 

Don’t forget that Mexico is not a distant foreign port so cruise would either be round trip from LA or would have to start in Mexico to incorporate Mexico into an Alaska cruise.

Edited October 9, 2020 by sanger727

[ilikeanswers]

Sounds like Alaska might need to rethink cancelling some of their marine highway routes😆

[chengkp75]

2 hours ago, sanger727 said:

Maybe This wouldn’t be feasible due to visa issues. But Russia isn’t far from Alaska and if there was a way to incorporate a tender stop that seems like it would be far less detrimental to an Alaska itinerary. Bonus is you can then start in Seattle and end in Alaska since Russia is a distant foreign port.

Someone's been listening to Sarah Palin too much.  "Isn't far from Alaska"?  Few cruise ships go north of Anchorage, as far as I know (some expeditions, yes), so let's say you plan to get to Russia from Anchorage.  It's 500 miles to the end of the Katmai Peninsula (so, two days steaming), and then another 500+ miles to the closest point of land in Russia, let alone a port.  So, figure 5 days each way to Russia, added to the Alaska part of the cruise.  Or, continue the Alaska adventure by going 1300 miles from Anchorage to Nome, and then Russia is only a stone's throw away.

 

The demographic and demand for cruises longer than 7 days is totally different than the 7 day or less cruises, so even a one way from Mexico to Alaska would have a somewhat limited demand.

[sanger727]

32 minutes ago, chengkp75 said:

Someone's been listening to Sarah Palin too much.  "Isn't far from Alaska"?  Few cruise ships go north of Anchorage, as far as I know (some expeditions, yes), so let's say you plan to get to Russia from Anchorage.  It's 500 miles to the end of the Katmai Peninsula (so, two days steaming), and then another 500+ miles to the closest point of land in Russia, let alone a port.  So, figure 5 days each way to Russia, added to the Alaska part of the cruise.  Or, continue the Alaska adventure by going 1300 miles from Anchorage to Nome, and then Russia is only a stone's throw away.

 

The demographic and demand for cruises longer than 7 days is totally different than the 7 day or less cruises, so even a one way from Mexico to Alaska would have a somewhat limited demand.

yes, I understand all that. I was more addressing the idea that IF Canada never allows cruise ships to return and they wanted to return sailing to Alaska. With Working around the PVSA, Russia is much closer than Mexico and may be easier to incorporate. If the only other alternative was no Alaska cruises ever.

[ontheweb]

9 hours ago, ldubs said:

Might be another solution much closer than Mexico.  Does Berkeley qualify as a  foreign country?  😋

No, and neither is Key West on the East Coast though they believe they are a foreign country.😊

[jtwind]

Does the cruise line actually have to let passengers go ashore at a foreign port?

[cruizergal70]

14 hours ago, rkacruiser said:

None of these Princess itineraries have any interest for me.  I have NO interest in a Mexican cruise.  If I am cruising to Alaska, I want to sail from Vancouver or Seattle because I enjoy those ports much more than the Los Angles area.  Sailing from San Francisco?  Yes.  But, not from a Los Angeles port.  

 

If having to do so is my only choice, then, I won't be sailing.

This doesn't make any sense. If the ship left from Seattle to Alaska with a stop in Vancouver,  would you call it a Canadian cruise?

 

The Mexico option is literally the same thing. A short few hours in a foreign country to meet the requirements. All other ports in Alaska. 

 

LA or SF port, what didference does it make?

[ontheweb]

39 minutes ago, jtwind said:

Does the cruise line actually have to let passengers go ashore at a foreign port?

Yes, otherwise it is still a PVSA violation.

[Aquahound]

4 hours ago, chengkp75 said:

Someone's been listening to Sarah Palin too much.  "Isn't far from Alaska"?  Few cruise ships go north of Anchorage, as far as I know (some expeditions, yes), so let's say you plan to get to Russia from Anchorage.  It's 500 miles to the end of the Katmai Peninsula (so, two days steaming), and then another 500+ miles to the closest point of land in Russia, let alone a port.  So, figure 5 days each way to Russia, added to the Alaska part of the cruise.  Or, continue the Alaska adventure by going 1300 miles from Anchorage to Nome, and then Russia is only a stone's throw away.

 

Oh, come on.  I'm thinking a tender stop at Big Diomede.  😉

[ilikeanswers]

No private island they can create in Canada😜?

Edited October 9, 2020 by ilikeanswers

[chengkp75]

43 minutes ago, Aquahound said:

 

Oh, come on.  I'm thinking a tender stop at Big Diomede.  😉

Sure, 3 days from Anchorage for a tender stop in Nome, then another overnight (10 hours) for a tender stop at Big Diomede, and then 5-6 days back to Seattle.  All across the Bering Sea.  I can see the appeal to a Coastie.  😉