DeputyDan
Contributor
Looks like an easy way to see many differing areas and nicer ship-board accommodations look to be less expensive than first class air to Australia.
Anyone ever taken a Transpacific cruise?
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noj3333
Contributor
Look into the full cost of the cruise (taxes, fee, port charges, and tips that are automatically billed to your account).
I have, and it is a good way to travel if you can't stand the long flights. Of course flying business or first class will surely lessen the hardship on your body from long distance flight. There are a couple of things to consider.
1.The transpacific type of cruise you are looking for requires time on a couple of fronts. First, it will take approximately 30 days to get from Sydney (for example) to the West Coast, usually with a route that might make a couple stops in NZ, three in French Polynesia, four or five in Hawaii and then to the west coast of the U.S. or Canada. There are a lot of cruise days on this type of trip. The second time requirement is for plenty of time to make advanced planning and reservations. Those cruises tend to fill up pretty quickly, and if you don't book early enough, what is left are the more expensive cabin categories. Check 2017 and 2018 Celebrity Solstice (transpacific) from Sydney to Honolulu, connecting to the (Hawaii) Honolulu to west coast leg, and you will see what I mean. But sometimes people cancel their plans when booked this far in the future, so don't give up this far out.
2. Someone mentioned port fees and tips. The taxes and port fees show up when you reserve the cruise, so it is not a surprise, and you can figure about $12-13 a day/per person on the tips. If you closely watch the various cruise line websites and sign up for their email notifications of sales/specials you can sometimes pick up free pre-payment of tips, drink packages, on-board credits, and other perks. But, be sure to read the fine print because sometimes those "specials" do not apply to transpacific or repositioning sailings. Be sure to fully understand all of the gotchas on the perks.
3. If you do one of these transpacific cruises, you likely know that the one way airfare is usually a lot more than half of the round trip cost, and a multi-leg flight will be close to doing one way fares between you destinations. Also, if you wait too late to book, all of the early purchase seats are gone and you wind up paying a lot more money for the same type of seat.
4. If diving is your primary trip objective, you will not have too many really good dive opportunities during the 30 day trip over or back. Get your diving done before or after the cruise, and then realize you are only going to have a handful of dive opportunities during the cruise. Personally I found the diving in Fr. Polynesia to be so-so, and you are only in Maui and Kona for a day each as a rule, and sometimes the arrival times are not very compatible with the early departures of the dive ops. Shore diving is a pretty good option at both locations.
5. Cruising is a fairly inexpensive way to travel if you consider the cost of lodging, comfort of the room, the huge quantity of food available, and on-board entertainment that is included.
6. You are going to gain weight unless you are a dedicated, avid gym enthusiast.
If you have any specific questions, feel free to PM me.
1.The transpacific type of cruise you are looking for requires time on a couple of fronts. First, it will take approximately 30 days to get from Sydney (for example) to the West Coast, usually with a route that might make a couple stops in NZ, three in French Polynesia, four or five in Hawaii and then to the west coast of the U.S. or Canada. There are a lot of cruise days on this type of trip. The second time requirement is for plenty of time to make advanced planning and reservations. Those cruises tend to fill up pretty quickly, and if you don't book early enough, what is left are the more expensive cabin categories. Check 2017 and 2018 Celebrity Solstice (transpacific) from Sydney to Honolulu, connecting to the (Hawaii) Honolulu to west coast leg, and you will see what I mean. But sometimes people cancel their plans when booked this far in the future, so don't give up this far out.
2. Someone mentioned port fees and tips. The taxes and port fees show up when you reserve the cruise, so it is not a surprise, and you can figure about $12-13 a day/per person on the tips. If you closely watch the various cruise line websites and sign up for their email notifications of sales/specials you can sometimes pick up free pre-payment of tips, drink packages, on-board credits, and other perks. But, be sure to read the fine print because sometimes those "specials" do not apply to transpacific or repositioning sailings. Be sure to fully understand all of the gotchas on the perks.
3. If you do one of these transpacific cruises, you likely know that the one way airfare is usually a lot more than half of the round trip cost, and a multi-leg flight will be close to doing one way fares between you destinations. Also, if you wait too late to book, all of the early purchase seats are gone and you wind up paying a lot more money for the same type of seat.
4. If diving is your primary trip objective, you will not have too many really good dive opportunities during the 30 day trip over or back. Get your diving done before or after the cruise, and then realize you are only going to have a handful of dive opportunities during the cruise. Personally I found the diving in Fr. Polynesia to be so-so, and you are only in Maui and Kona for a day each as a rule, and sometimes the arrival times are not very compatible with the early departures of the dive ops. Shore diving is a pretty good option at both locations.
5. Cruising is a fairly inexpensive way to travel if you consider the cost of lodging, comfort of the room, the huge quantity of food available, and on-board entertainment that is included.
6. You are going to gain weight unless you are a dedicated, avid gym enthusiast.
If you have any specific questions, feel free to PM me.
robint
Contributor
Keep in mind also that most people doing these long cruises are retired, so the age group is much older than the average Caribbean cruise.
You have that right. Unless you bring your own "young" cruise buddy, you had better like being around an older crowd, sometimes much older, and don't expect or wish to see any wet T-shirt contests. And God forbid you are unlucky enough to have a "mature" European crowd on board that still think they look good in a Speedo.
OP
DeputyDan
Contributor
I will be there is fewer years that I would like to admit....
Stoo
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My brother, who is much older than me, did one of these when he was 68 or 69. He loved it... although he did comment that he and his wife were definitely the youngsters on board.
I seem to recall that he mentioned that there were wet T-shirt contests, but the contestants were men...
He also mentioned that the blue-haired ladies outnumbered the men by about 10 - 1, and that they were a pretty affluent bunch of ladies. I suspect a fella with a penchant for Grandmas might have a fine time...
I seem to recall that he mentioned that there were wet T-shirt contests, but the contestants were men...
He also mentioned that the blue-haired ladies outnumbered the men by about 10 - 1, and that they were a pretty affluent bunch of ladies. I suspect a fella with a penchant for Grandmas might have a fine time...
maj2
Contributor
I know this is now an older thread, but I found it interesting...
My parents used to a ton of transoceanic cruises. Not sure that they ever did transpacific though. They did a few trans-Atlantic cruises (in both directions) as well as a trans-Indian Ocean cruise (Cape Town to Sydney). They were scheduled to do a "sort of" trans-Pacific one that started as a typical Alaska cruise, but would have continued through the Aleutians and down the coast of Russia to Hong Kong with stops in Russia, South Korea, Japan and China. My mom became ill prior to that cruise though and they had to cancel (see the note in an earlier post about cabins sometimes coming available!)
As Robint, Altamira and Stoo have mentioned, these long cruises tend to be an older crowd, but not always. My parents once took a recently widowed friend on a cruise. He decided to go to the singles "meet and greet." Apparently all of the men were in their 70s, and the evening broke up pretty quickly because, as my parent's put it, "all of the ladies were younger than his daughters."
Since my mom passed away, my dad has remarried and is back to doing these long cruises. He and my step-mom are currently on a 68-day cruise circumnavigating South America.
My parents used to a ton of transoceanic cruises. Not sure that they ever did transpacific though. They did a few trans-Atlantic cruises (in both directions) as well as a trans-Indian Ocean cruise (Cape Town to Sydney). They were scheduled to do a "sort of" trans-Pacific one that started as a typical Alaska cruise, but would have continued through the Aleutians and down the coast of Russia to Hong Kong with stops in Russia, South Korea, Japan and China. My mom became ill prior to that cruise though and they had to cancel (see the note in an earlier post about cabins sometimes coming available!)
As Robint, Altamira and Stoo have mentioned, these long cruises tend to be an older crowd, but not always. My parents once took a recently widowed friend on a cruise. He decided to go to the singles "meet and greet." Apparently all of the men were in their 70s, and the evening broke up pretty quickly because, as my parent's put it, "all of the ladies were younger than his daughters."
Since my mom passed away, my dad has remarried and is back to doing these long cruises. He and my step-mom are currently on a 68-day cruise circumnavigating South America.
Bubblesong
Contributor
We have done Cunard Transatlantic about 7 times, there are no stops for seven days so the staff really have a lot of activities to keep everyone busy for a week. Then the activities repeat themselves, so for a longer number of days at sea, you may run out of interesting activities, speakers, shows etc.
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