The US Government passed The Jones Act in 1886. It prohibits ships on non US registry from embarking and disembarking guests at two different US ports. Because of this law, Princess cruises needs to reposition their Alaska cruise ships that sail from Seattle to Alaska in the summer. When they sail to Alaska from Seattle they stop in Victoria. When they want to leave or return to California, they schedule a one night cruise to comply with this law. In the spring it's a one night cruise Vancouver to Seattle and Seattle to Vancouver in the fall. We usually book one of these cruises every year. This year 24 friends booked this cruise. We paid CAD $116.00 per person including taxes. Tips are $13.50 additional but you would pay that in a restaurant anyway if you ate out. I book an inside guarantee and this year was upgraded to a balcony cabin! This covers one night accommodation, great entertainment and three meals! One of the reasons people book this cruise is because of status with the cruise line. They have levels depending on how much you cruise. The higher the level, the better the benefits. Elite is as high as you can go which I reached a few cruises ago. Cec and Dave reached Elite status on this cruise. What's the benefit? A complimentary mini bar set up that includes 8 bottles of hard liquor, four beer, two can each of Sprite, Coke, Tonic water, sparkling and still water. To use my mini bar on the one day cruise I invite everyone over for a sail away party. For those who like hard liquor, I find out what their pleasure is and that's what I order. You also get free Internet and free dry cleaning along with a lot of other great perks. Of all the cruise lines I've sailed Princess has the best past passenger benefits!
We took Quick Shuttle from South Surrey to Pier 91 in Seattle. Some of our friends took Amtrak. The train trip is great but if you do it the day of the cruise you need to be at the train station by 5 AM. We did it once and enjoyed it but now we enjoy the bus as it leaves at 8 AM. There was an incident with Quick Shuttle and I am dealing with them. It should never happen again.
