Vancouver is a popular embarkation port for Pacific coastal cruises. Credit: Pixabay Creative Commons license

A Pacific coastal cruise is a chance for passengers to explore some of the best ports along the west coast of the United States and Canada.

The most popular cruise ports are Vancouver and Victoria in southwest Canada; Seattle, Washington; Los Angeles, San Francisco and San Diego, California; and Astoria, Oregon.

These cruises are common from the end of March to the end of October. The most popular months for Pacific coastal cruises are April, May, September and October when temperatures are comfortable but not too hot. Cruise lines offer far fewer cruises from June through August when people tend to vacation elsewhere.

Cruise Length

Cruise lines offering Pacific coastal cruises include Celebrity, Cunard, Disney, Holland America, Norwegian, Princess and Royal Caribbean.

A search on a major travel booking site listed 65 Pacific coastal cruises over a 12-month period. The lengths broke down this way:

• 1-2 nights - 5 cruises
• 3-5 nights - 27 cruises
• 6-9 nights - 21 cruises
• 10-14 nights - 2 cruises
• 15+ nights - 10 cruises

The 1-2 night cruises usually embark from Seattle, visit Victoria and disembark in Vancouver or vice versa.

The 3-5 night cruises embark as far north as Vancouver and as far south as San Diego. Most of them visit California ports. Like the 1-2 night cruises, they embark from one port and disembark in another.

The 6-9 night cruises also range between Vancouver and San Diego. They also embark from one port and disembark at another.

The rare 10-14 night cruises included one that began and ended in Vancouver and another that departed from Lima, Peru, and disembarked in San Diego.

The big budget, 15+ night cruises had a wide variety of embarkation ports including New York, Japan, Peru and Chile. Some of them visit ports all along the Pacific coasts of South America, Central America, Mexico, United States and Canada.

Cruise Weather

The weather on Pacific coastal cruises along the U.S. and Canadian coasts ranges as widely as the ports.

Vancouver, the most northern port, has average daytime temperatures in the mid 50s to low 60s Fahrenheit in the spring and fall. Vancouver also has the most rain during those seasons, although not enough to discourage anyone. Rainfall averages about two to four inches a month during the spring and fall. The risk of rain is much lower during the summer.

Even though Seattle has a reputation for rain, its weather has a lot in common with Vancouver.

San Diego, the most southern port, has average daytime temperatures in the high 60s Fahrenheit in the spring and fall and upper 70s in the summer. It has a low risk of rain for the entire year.