One Day Adventures
Can’t find the time to take a whole week off? Don’t want to consume those vacation days with a three day cruise? One day cruises might be just what you are looking for.
You can pick any day, though weekends are the busiest of course. Several lines now have day cruises in different places. It used to be that a one-day cruise meant boarding at Long Beach and taking a small ship to Catalina Island. Or, getting on in New York and sailing to Martha’s Vineyard.
But now the options are wide open.
Carnival, for example, has several options for traveling down the west coast of the U.S. and Mexico. The east coast has cruises from New England to Florida.
Or, if you’re lucky enough to live in Hawaii, you can board a ship and travel around the islands. Australia has many cruises for touring Sydney Harbor.
China offers boat cruises along the several of the country’s major waterways. There are Mediterranean tours that leave from the south of France. And there are short cruises around the Greek Isles.
In short, no matter where you are there are excursions that can satisfy your need to get away for a day without using up those precious vacation days. You can save those for the four or five day or even week-long cruises.
Most lines offer not only one day or weekend day getaways, but specials for each holiday around the year. The Fourth of July cruise is especially popular. Even Thanksgiving Week departures can be a great time in areas where the weather is suitable.
Some of the one day cruises, despite the name, are actually longer. You may sail for one day, stay overnight on land and return the next day or a day later. ‘One day’ often actually means ‘one night’. In the meantime, you may enjoy a land excursion as part of the package.
Alaska one-day cruises are a favorite of many. You can take a tour of Prince William Sound. Just hop aboard a train in Anchorage to Valdez, then take the cruise to watch the whales or the otters.
The view of the glaciers is something to see. You never get the full sense in documentaries of how massive those formations are.
Seward is another popular port. Large cruise ships regularly ‘tie-up’ there. There’s easy train or tour bus access from Anchorage, and you’ll get a chance to see Fox Island. The area brims with sea otters and sea lions, puffins and humpback whales.
For a smaller version of the same thing, hop on board one of the many small cruise ships at Monterey, CA near the aquarium. You’ll see more otters and seals than you can store photos of in your digital camera.
At certain times of the year, you have a good chance of spotting a whale spouting.
San Diego has similar tours of the bay. Even when there isn’t sea life present, the pleasant winds and the beautiful scenery make the cruise a great choice for a one day sail.