I am interested in taking a short cruise, but my travel companion does not want to leave the USA due to their visa status and complications involved with getting entry visas to other countries and an employer letter to aid their return to the USA.

I thought this might preclude cruising altogether, but I read about some lines offering very short cruises to nowhere on both coasts, that give a nice introduction to the cruise experience with lower costs and less time away from work.

The pickings seem to be abit limited, and the west coast cruises I found stop at one or more ports in Mexico or Canada, which defeats the purpose of the cruise to nowhere.

Has anyone had good experiences with one of these 2-3 night voyages? We prefer the west coast, specifically the Pacific northwest, because the shore views should be more interesting than the southeast. Also, we definately want to avoid the party ships like Carnival and Royal Caribbean, opting for a more quiet, luxurious experience.

The cruises may be longer than you want, but there is also Hawaii to consider...

Thank you. We considered a trans-pac cruise to Hawai'i, but the length is too long. We need something that is 2-3 nights maximum.

It's kind of tough on the west coast. There are very few, if any (I can't find any in a quick look at major cruise line websites) cruises to nowhere on that coast, because most of the ships can do short cruises from the US to Canada and back as part of repostioning. On the Atlantic coast, where there are no Canadian homeports, any short cruises have to be cruises to nowhere. Carnival does 2 this year, one out of New York, the other out of Norfolk. Put aside any preconceived notions about Carnival. They aren't the animal house frat party at sea they were known for 20 years ago. Their ships are nice, and they have a wide range of people on board. I remember a guy in his 60's a few years ago on the Carnival Victory telling me "there's too many old people on here" LOL.

I haven't seen any other cruises to nowhere advertised for North America. Occasionally when a new ship is entering service, a couple months ahead of it's delivery date, the cruise line will find out the ship will be ready early and stick a couple cruises to nowhere in there to get some extra revenue, but you really have to follow cruise message boards, or read cruise line press pages to find those out.

As for scenery being better on the west coast rather than the east? That won't matter. You'll be a hundred or more miles out to sea, not anchored a mile off shore. Coming back into port will be in darkness.

For future reference, should the opportunity arise that you can enjoy a longer cruise, all cruises have to make a foreign port stop, except for NCL America, which operates Hawaii cruises at this time.

Personally, I would not recommend a 2-3 night cruise. On the cruises I have been on, by the 2nd night, I was just getting to know the ship and finding my way around. A 2 night cruise is kind of like a "teaser" giving you parts of the experience but not all of it (generally no special menus / shows / formal nights / less activities etc)

Cheers

I wouldn't travel to a cruise that short, but if I lived in or near a port city, I'd do them evey chance I get. Especially those Princess repo cruises up and down the west coast. Kind of like the cruise version of a mileage run. 5 cruises makes platinum status in Captain's Circle, and it doesn't matter the length of the cruise LOL.

Or, if there was a cruise to nowhere happenning right before or after a longer scheduled cruise from that port, I'd book them back to back, and make a longer cruise out of it. (Something like the Oct 11 Carnival Legend out of New York. 8 day Caribbean, followed by the Oct 19 2 day to nowhere)

I was looking at "no-where" cruises on Expedia, and there seems to be very few, most of them being 1 night. Definately not recommended - look at thsi itinerary, for example.

Day Ports of call Arrival time Departure time
01 New York, New York --- 5:00 PM
02 New York, New York 7:00 AM ---

Hehe

If you are spending a night in New York, and want a "unique" hotel experience, this might be an interesting idea

Inside Cabin $149pp
Oceanview $179pp
Balcony $189pp
Suite $229pp

Cheers

I know it's longer than what you're looking at, but what about Hawaii interisland cruises? They take a week, and you'll have no visa issues whatsoever.

There are several 3-4 night round trip cruises available departing from (and returning to) Seattle. Have a look at Travelocity: select Seattle as your point of departure and U.S. Pacific coast as destination.

I have always believed that the purpose of a cruise to nowhere was to provide an opportunity for gambling. With the growth of the indian casino business in many states, the need is being met. The cruises still exist, but the ships/lines may be disreputable. Even more so than a 3 night cruise (which I have done twice and thoroughly enjoyed), a 1 or 2 nighter to nowhere is a mere shadow of the full cruise experience.

I do see shorter cruises advertised by major lines. Often they exist to fill a gap between itinerary changes, so they won't be available week after week after week. Most lines seem to have their itineraries available a year out, so they should be relatively easy to find. Why don't you put it in the hands of a TA?

Thanks for the feedback, all. I will check the short ones from Seattle, especially as the travel companion has family there who might join us. I think we're going to look at the difficulty and risk of a quickie to Victoria/Vancouver, which should be far less risky than a multi-island hop through the Caribbean requiring visas for 4 or 5 countries.

As for Hawai'i, we are frequent travelers there and know the islands inside out with our own off the beaten tracks agenda, making a cruise abit of a no-no. I don't think those cruises offer the flexibility of being able to hit an island, rent a car and come and go as we please, using the ship only as a hotel and breakfast spot.

I am going to look into one of the san fran or seattle -->> vancouver deals for a nice 3-4 night getaway.

Also be aware that if there are "issues" with a person being able to enter the US (or re-enter in this case), then the US government will know about it before you get on the cruise. The cruise line submits the passenger manifest to whatever government agency (INS, DHS etc) a week or so before the cruise (or earlier). They may let you board or may not, but they may deny entry at the end of the cruise. This is the main reason why cruise lines can't offer any more of those cool walk-up sales like they used to to fill a ship.

Gambling is obviously a big part of any cruise ship's revenue. Just look at how the ships are designed. You almost can't go anywhere on the main entertainment deck without going through the casino. There still are some gambling ships out of Florida, but I have no idea how reputable they are.

The main purpose now of short cruises is to do something with all these older ships the lines have now. They can get a higher per day rate for a 3, 4 or 5 day cruise to the Bahamas or Cozumel on these ships than by running 7 day cruises in competition with their own mega-ships. You can pay $599 for a 7 day on, say, the Victory, or $399 for 4 days on the Fascination. But people won't pay that same $599 for 7 days on the Fascination, since they want the amenities of a bigger ship for that long.

Hi,

Personally I don't think a cruise to nowhere is a good thing. Its very rushed, by the time you board, find your room and your way around the ship its almost time for the disembarkation talk.

That being said, the QM2 is doing a 3 nt cruise to nowhere in a few weeks. Last I heard it was sold out but you never know.

Bon voyage

There are some Alaska cruises that start and end in Seattle. While they may stop at a Canadian port along the way you probably could just stay on the ship during the stop.