Vancouver cruise: sail cheaply to Hawaii and Australia

Metro Vancouver residents can experience an awe-inspiring cruise that stops in Hawaii before visiting the South Pacific this fall.

Princess Cruises’ “36-Day Tahiti, Hawaii & South Pacific Crossing” voyage starts at just over $100 per day and offers one of the best deals out of the Lower Mainland on a luxury ship. The price includes meals and entertainment (see slide two).

The five-star Royal Princess Hotel features the cruise line’s largest upper deck pool with an evening water and light show, mini golf, movies under the stars, renowned spa treatments, a disco, nine bars, tennis and much more.

The voyage overnights in Vancouver on Saturday, September 21 and then sails to Victoria on September 22. The voyage spends a few days at sea before passing under San Francisco’s enchanting Golden Gate Bridge. Guests can enjoy a full day in the city from 7 AM to 10 PM

After another day at sea, the cruise makes a few more California stops in San Diego and Los Angeles before sailing for five days to Hawaii. The cruise stops in Honolulu and Kona before spending another five days at sea en route to the South Pacific Islands.

Guests can enjoy an overnight stay in Tahiti before stopping in the Society Islands. After three days at sea, the cruise stops in American Samoa before sailing through the International Dateline.

The trip includes three stops in New Zealand before the final stop, Sydney, Australia, arrives on October 28

Date	Port	Arrive	To leave
Sat. 21st of September	Vancouver		To board
Like this. September 22	Vancouver		1 hour
Like this. September 22	Victoria, B.C	8am	9 o’clock in the evening
Monday September 23	At sea
Tuesday September 24th	At sea
Wednesday September 25	San Francisco, CA	7 hours	10 p.m
Thursday September 26	At sea
Fri September 27	San Diego, California	8am	6 p.m
Fed up. September 28	Los Angeles (San Pedro), CA	6 hours	11:59 PM
Like this. September 29	At sea
Mon. September 30th	At sea
Tuesday October 1	At sea
Wednesday October 2	At sea
Thursday October 3	At sea
Fri. 4 October	Honolulu, Hello	7 hours	11 p.m
Fed up. 5th of October	Kona, hello	9:00 am	19:00
Like this. October 6	At sea
Mon. October 7	At sea
Tuesday October 8	At sea
Wednesday October 9	At sea
Thursday October 10	At sea
Fri. 11 October	Papeete, Tahiti	8am
Fed up. 12 October	Papeete, Tahiti		4 hours
Fed up. 12 October	Moorea, Society Islands	7 hours	5 p.m
Like this. October 13	At sea
Mon. 14 October	At sea
Tuesday October 15	At sea
Wednesday October 16	Pago Pago, American Samoa	7 hours	16.00 hours
Thursday October 17	At sea
Fri. October 18th	International dateline crossings (cruises)
Like this. October 20	At sea
Mon. 21st of October	Tauranga, New Zealand	7 hours	6 p.m
Tuesday October 22	Auckland, New Zealand	6 hours	19:00
Wednesday October 23	At sea
Thursday October 24	Picton, New Zealand	8am	6 p.m
Friday October 25	At sea
Fed up. 26th of October	At sea
Like this. October 27	At sea
Mon. October 28	Sydney, Australia	6 hours

Book your stateroom with Princess Cruises

Guests can choose from four stateroom categories on the Royal Princess. Prices before taxes and fees start at $3,278 per person for an interior and go up to $14,578 for a suite. For this sailing, taxes, fees and port handling charges are $707.29 per person; they are added once you select the cabin (see slide three).

The cheapest option is to let Princess select the stateroom (this saves about $100 per person). Although large cruise ships do not rock as noticeably, stormy weather can cause some noticeable movement. If you suffer from seasickness, you may want to choose a midship cabin (these tend to be sturdier).

Interior cabins for two start at $7,969, including all taxes and fees, or $3,984.94 per person. The price per person per day works out to $110.69 (see slide four).

These costs include not only your transportation on a beautiful five-star ship, but also meals, entertainment, snacks and accommodation. The only thing it doesn’t take into account is alcohol, but you can choose to purchase a drinks package that will help you reduce the cost of your expenses.

Book flights to Vancouver from Sydney, Australia

A flight to Vancouver International Airport (YVR) from Sydney Airport (SYD) departs on October 28 at 5:25 PM for $937, booked through third-party supplier Jettzy. The itinerary includes stops in Brisbane and Taipei, but allows plenty of time to get to the airport after the cruise and costs almost $400 less than regular flights, according to Google Flights (see slide five).

Another way to save hundreds of dollars on the cost of your return flight home – and enjoy more time in Hawaii – is to book two separate flights. The first is direct from Sydney to Honolulu and the second from Honolulu to Vancouver.

A Jetstar flight departs Sydney at 5:25 pm on October 28 en route to Honolulu; the flight costs $264 with third-party ly.com, but you may want to book it directly with the airline for $327. Ly.com may not have English-speaking representatives (see slide six), which travelers should keep in mind in resolving any issues that may arise during their journey.

You can spend as many days in Hawaii as you want after arriving, as almost all returning WestJet flights to Vancouver cost about the same: $143 (see slide seven).

The price (if booked directly with either airline) is $470 or about $467 less than booking a one-way flight home from Sydney to Vancouver.

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