West Coast Cruises - Capitalizing on the "Vancouver Shuffle"

Firstly let me preface this - I don't have an issue with sailing out of Vancouver, its a terrific city to explore with a lot of wonderful scenery regardless of the weather.  It also has very easy airport access thanks to the Skytrain.  The biggest issue is, however, the prices to fly there from the United States are quite expensive compared to most other embarkation ports and if you are desiring to take a Pacific Coastal cruise that is shorter than 7 days, you often times have no choice but to either start or end in Vancouver thanks to the Passenger Vessel Services Act.  But many times a ship may start in Los Angeles, and make a voyage to Vancouver and then followed by a short voyage to Seattle.  The issue is, you can't make that voyage because of the PVSA.  But there's a way around the law which is totally legal but just requires a bit of research and planning, which I like to call the "Vancouver Shuffle"

For more info on that particular law, check out the page friends have made here:
https://sites.google.com/site/princesscruisesfaq/ports/pvsahelp

*DISCLAIMER - WE AREN'T LAWYERS - CHECK WITH THE CRUISE LINE OR A KNOWLEDGEABLE TRAVEL AGENT BEFORE BOOKING - you won't go to jail for a PVSA violation, but the cruise line might get fined and they would potentially pass that fine on to you however, since they font want that to happen, they are pretty diligent about checking!*

So what is the "Vancouver Shuffle" - its a "trick" so to speak to avoid being impacted by the PSVA by combing a 1 or more day voyage from a US port, which ends in Vancouver on the same day another ship is departing to presumably another US port.  I've only really looked closely at the west coast re-positioning cruises so I'm not sure if these exist on east coast re-positioning cruises.  Perhaps the textbook example would be a 3 day cruise from LA to Vancouver followed by a 1 day cruise from Vancouver to Seattle.  Provided both voyages are on different ships this is a legal itinerary.  Typically, there may be 1 or 2 of these combination voyages available every Spring and Fall, and most frequently, these voyages require sailing on different cruise lines.  The ones with the most candidates tend to be Holland America and Princess.

Below is a list of voyages that would be both legal and considered the "Vancouver Shuffle"...

2018 Spring Voyage
5 nights
Nieuw Amsterdam + Zaandam 
Tuesday 5/1/2018 - Depart San Diego on the ms Nieuw Amsterdam

Friday 5/4/2018 - Port call in Victoria
Saturday 5/5/2018 - Arrive Vancouver - Transfer to the ms Zaandam

Sunday 5/6/2018 - Arrive Seattle

2018 Fall Voyage (this one has options)
Choose either voyage
6 nights
Amsterdam + Zaandam
Sunday 9/23/2018 - Depart Seattle on the ms Amsterdam

Monday 9/24/2018 - Port call in Victoria
Tuesday 9/25/2018 - Arrive Vancouver - Transfer to the ms Zaandam

Friday 9/28/2018 - Port Call in Santa Barbara
Saturday 9/29/2018 - Arrive San Diego


6 nights
Zaandam + Amsterdam
Monday 9/24/18 - Depart Seattle on the ms Zaandam

Tuesday 9/25/2018 - Arrive Vancouver - Transfer to the ms Amsterdam

Wednesday 9/26/18 - Port Call in Astoria
Friday 9/28/2018 - Port Call in San Francisco
Sunday 9/30/2018 - Arrive in San Diego


The Emerald Princess can also be booked with a 1 day voyage from Seattle to Vancouver departing on Sunday 9/23 and arriving in Vancouver on Monday 9/24 and requiring an overnight before transferring to either the Zaandam, Amsterdam, or 2 overnights and transferring to the Volendam.



Note that both voyages could be adjusted with a 1 night over night in Vancouver, followed by a 3 night voyage on the ms Volendam from Vancouver to San Francisco with no port calls from 9/26/18 to 9/29/18.


This is understandably confusing!!!

So we've put together a chart to help you plan.

2018 Fall Vancouver Shuffle Schedule
			9/23/18	9/24/18	9/25/18	9/26/18	9/27/18	9/28/18	9/29/18	9/30/18
Amsterdam	Zaandam		Seattle	Victoria	Vancouver	At Sea	At Sea	Santa Barbara	San Diego
Zaandam	Amsterdam			Seattle	Vancouver	Astoria	At Sea	San Francisco	At Sea	San Diego
Emerald	Zaandam		Seattle	Vancouver	Vancouver	At Sea	At Sea	Santa Barbara	San Diego
Emerald	Amsterdam		Seattle	Vancouver	Vancouver	Astoria	At Sea	San Francisco	At Sea	San Diego
Amsterdam	Volendam		Seattle	Victoria	Vancouver	Vancouver	At Sea	At Sea	San Francisco
Zaandam	Volendam			Seattle	Vancouver	Vancouver	At Sea	At Sea	San Francisco
Emerald	Volendam		Seattle	Vancouver	Vancouver	Vancouver	At Sea	At Sea	San Francisco
Vancouver	= shuffle day
Vancouver	= no ship