Set Sail for Vancouver’s Expo ’86

Long after Vancouver’s Expo ’86 has gone, cruise passengers to Alaska will continue to enjoy the Canada Pavilion, the immense ocean liner building with steep sailing-ship roofs reminiscent of Sydney’s famous Opera House, because it will remain as the city’s new cruise ship terminal.

So it’s only fair that cruise passengers this year are getting some of the best all-inclusive Expo packages as low-priced (sometimes even free) pre- or post-cruise options. With about 20 ships heading north to Alaska between May 10 and Sept. 19, and Vancouver’s exposition scheduled between May 2 and Oct. 13, a combination package was natural.

The “free” Expo package, from World Explorer Cruises’ Universe, comes, as expected, with some strings attached. Any passenger who books and pays in full for one of the 14-day Alaska cruises six months before sailing time will get a three-day Vancouver package included: two nights in Hornby Court or Century Plaza Hotel, one day at Expo, a city tour and all transfers. Otherwise, the same package is $149 per person double occupancy, $85 triple or $230 single.

The 14-day cruises range from $1,695 to $3,195 per person, double occupancy, and include 10 ports of call and more than the usual number of enrichment lectures, seminars and film and video programs on Canadian and Alaskan art, culture, geology and history.

The Official Line

Holland America Westours, long a reliable name in Alaska cruises and land packages, has been named official cruise line for Expo ’86 and, appropriately, is offering a broad range of before- and after-cruise choices. They range from $60 per person, double occupancy, standard hotel for one overnight stay and exposition visit, to $239 per person double occupancy for a luxury hotel and three-night stay. Transfers and Expo entrance are included for each day of the package.

Holland America’s Rotterdam, Noordam and Nieuw Amsterdam, respectively, sail every Thursday, Tuesday and Saturday from Vancouver on a seven-day Alaska circuit that includes Glacier Bay, Ketchikan, Juneau and Sitka. The season begins May 20 and runs through the sailing of Sept. 13; prices range from $1,145 to $2,575 per person double occupancy. You can book combination land-sea packages for various prices.

Costa’s Daphne, sailing Fridays from Vancouver between May 16 and Sept. 19, lets you add a four-day, three-night package that includes three days at Expo, your hotel, transfers and a city tour of Vancouver for $199 per person, double occupancy.

If you think one day at Expo is enough, you can substitute a tour of Vancouver Island in place of two of the days at the exposition for $239.

The Danae’s cruises, with five ports and two glaciers visited, range from $1,190 to $2,395 for the seven days.

The Cunard Package

Cunard, with both Cunard Princess and Sagafjord scheduling alternate sailings between Vancouver and the Anchorage area, provides two-day stays at a deluxe hotel with passes to Expo along with the air-sea programs for a supplement of $195 per person.

Cunard Princess includes Hubbard and Columbia glaciers in a seven-day cruise that ranges from $1,325 to $2,500 per person double occupancy, while the Sagafjord makes 10- and 11-day sailings that include Anchorage’s Cook Inlet, Prince William Sound and the scenic Kenai Peninsula for $1,950 to $9,220 per person double occupancy.

Exploration Cruise Lines is scheduling three of its small explorer ships, Majestic Explorer, North Star and Great Rivers Explorer, for the Alaska season this year, and offering an Expo ’86 stopover that includes two nights in a hotel and three days at the exposition for $150 to $205 per person double occupancy. Exploration’s land-sea packages vary from three to 14 days, and you can book a seven-day round-trip sailing from Ketchikan or Prince Rupert for $1,149 to $2,169 per person double occupancy.

Paquet’s Rhapsody offers two Expo two-night packages, one devoted to Vancouver and the other adding a visit to Victoria. Both provide hotel and transfers as well as exposition tickets, and, depending upon the class of hotel selected, range from $118 to $201 per person double occupancy.

Cruise fares range from $1,170 to $2,495 per person double occupancy, for seven-day sailings between Vancouver and Whittier (for Anchorage). A day cruising Glacier Bay is included on both northbound and southbound routes.

Some Round Trips

Princess Cruises will have the Island Princess, Royal Princess and Sun Princess on Alaska itineraries this season, with Island and Sun sailing on seven-night round trips from Vancouver ($1,379 to $3,514 per person double occupancy) and the beautiful new Royal Princess offering 10-night round trips out of San Francisco ($2,150 to $6,670 per person double occupancy).

Glacier Bay cruises are included on all three programs, with an Expo package available for one or two nights for an additional $95 to $139 per person double occupancy, per night. One-day exposition tickets, hotel lodging and transfers are included.

A new company, Regency Cruises, has scheduled its Regent Sea (the former Gripsholm) for seven-day sailings between Vancouver and Whittier, May 18 through Sept. 14. Fares range from $1,075 to $2,485 per person double occupancy, and Expo packages for one, two or three nights are available for $60 to $239 per person.

Royal Viking Lines’ two-night package to Expo includes a tour of the city as well as one full day at the exposition, with only deluxe hotel accommodations being used, for $232 per person double occupancy. The Royal Viking Star will make 11-day cruises between Vancouver and San Francisco July 5 through Aug. 7, with one 11-day San Francisco round trip on Aug. 18; fares range from $2,376 to $7,766 per person double occupancy.

An Expo Option

Sundance Cruises’ Stardancer will supplement seven-day round-trip Vancouver sailings ($945 to $2,190 per person double occupancy) with optional Expo packages for two, three or four days that include hotel, tickets and transfers for from $64 (two days) to $150 (four days) per person double occupancy.

Sitmar Cruises, which is positioning its ship Fairsea in Seattle this summer for 10- and 11-day round-trip cruises to Alaska, will offer shore excursion packages for the exposition on full-day calls in Vancouver. Prices will range from $18 to $28, depending on whether a city tour is included in addition to the exposition visit. Sitmar’s Fairsky, making 12-day round-trip sailings out of San Francisco, will also offer the day-long excursions.

Both ships will increase the number of Alaska ports of call beginning July 2, because the recent change in interpretation of the Jones Act cabotage laws removed certain limitations on foreign flag carriers calling at U.S. ports. The Fairsea will be sailing from Seattle between July 2 and Sept. 1, with fares ranging from $1,945 to $4,100, per person double occupancy, for the 10- and 11-day cruises; Fairsky’s 12-day San Francisco round trips will be priced form $2,315 to $4,560.

Also cruising in Alaska this summer will be Sven-Olaf Lindblad’s Special Expeditions, aboard the Majestic Explorer June 8 and Sept. 9 ($2,810 to $4,140, per person double occupancy, for 12 days on a fly/cruise package from Seattle) and Society Expeditions’ Society Explorer, cruising in the Aleutians and the Northwest Passage in July and August ($3,750 to $15,750, per person double occupancy, for 15- to 20-day sailings.