Home · Vancouver ·
Cruises · Cruise deals
5 sailings from Canada Place
Lowest fare US$229 per person
Taxes & port fees included
Snapshot: 3 August 2026
Fares are the cheapest per-person rate showing on CruiseDirect on the date
above, based on two people sharing. They change daily — the button on each
card opens the live listing so you can see what it costs today.
Sailings out of Vancouver, cheapest first
4 nights
Princess Cruises
Island Princess
Vancouver → Los Angeles
Vancouver → at sea → at sea → Los Angeles
The cheapest way to leave Vancouver by sea. Four nights, two of them full days at open ocean, and you step off in Los Angeles instead of flying back. Princess throws the drinks-and-Wi-Fi package in, which on a short sailing is most of the onboard bill.
Worth knowing: One-way. Budget a flight home from LAX, and check it before you book — a $229 fare plus a $400 flight is not a $229 holiday.
★★★★☆
4.0 from 12 CruiseDirect traveller reviews
DealDrinks, tips, Wi-Fi at sea and more
3 nights
Royal Caribbean
Ovation of the Seas
Vancouver → Los Angeles
Vancouver → at sea → at sea → Los Angeles
Ovation is the biggest ship that regularly ties up at Canada Place — bumper cars, a skydiving simulator and the North Star observation arm that lifts you 90 m over the water. Three nights is barely enough to try everything, which is the point: you are paying for the ship, not the ports.
Worth knowing: The 60%-off-second-guest deal is what makes the per-person maths work. Solo, the same cabin is a poor buy at $93 a night.
★★★★★
5.0 from 14 CruiseDirect traveller reviews
Deal60% off the second guest
3 nights
Princess Cruises
Royal Princess
Vancouver → Victoria → Seattle
Vancouver → Victoria → at sea → Seattle
The only sailing on this list that actually calls somewhere: Victoria, three hours down the Inner Harbour from the terminal, on a ship that spends the rest of the year doing Alaska. It is the classic Pacific Northwest weekend — two cities, one crossing, no airport in between.
Worth knowing: Victoria calls are often short and late in the day. Check the arrival time before you plan afternoon tea at the Empress.
★★★★★
5.0 from 19 CruiseDirect traveller reviews
DealUp to a $500 Visa gift card
4 nights
Holland America
Eurodam
Vancouver → Santa Barbara → San Diego
Vancouver → at sea → Santa Barbara → San Diego
Holland America has been sailing out of Vancouver longer than anyone, and Eurodam is a mid-size ship — 2,100 passengers, not 4,900 — so the ports feel less like a stampede. Santa Barbara is a tender call into one of the prettiest waterfronts on the California coast.
Worth knowing: Tender ports get cancelled in swell. If Santa Barbara is the whole reason you are booking, that is a real risk, not a technicality.
★★★★★
5.0 from 16 CruiseDirect traveller reviews
DealUp to a $500 Visa gift card
5 nights
Royal Caribbean
Serenade of the Seas
Vancouver → Astoria → San Francisco → San Diego
Vancouver → at sea → Astoria → San Francisco → San Diego
The best value on the board: five nights, three ports, $71 a night, and a sail-in under the Golden Gate Bridge that people pay for as a standalone excursion elsewhere. Serenade is a Radiance-class ship — walls of glass, sea visible from almost everywhere inside.
Worth knowing: Astoria is a small Oregon river town, not a resort. Lovely for a morning; do not expect a beach day.
★★★★★
5.0 from 29 CruiseDirect traveller reviews
DealKids sail free
Ship photographs via Wikimedia Commons: Island Princess — Jean-Philippe Boulet, CC BY 3.0; Ovation of the Seas — Bernard Spragg, public domain; Royal Princess — Sonse, CC BY 2.0; Eurodam — Gillfoto, CC BY-SA 4.0; Serenade of the Seas — Quintin Soloviev, CC BY 4.0.
What a night at sea actually costs
Headline fares are useless for comparing a three-night hop with a
seven-night Alaska run. Per night is the number that tells you whether a
deal is a deal. Here is where the Vancouver departures sat on 3 August 2026.
| Itinerary | Line | Per person / night |
|---|
| 7-night Alaska | Celebrity Cruises | US$64 |
| 4-night Pacific Coastal | Holland America | US$67 |
| 3-night Pacific Coastal | Princess Cruises | US$69 |
| 5-night Pacific Coastal | Norwegian Cruise Line | US$70 |
| 7-night Alaska | Royal Caribbean | US$77 |
| 7-night Alaska | Carnival Cruise Line | US$88 |
| 4-night Alaska | Disney Cruise Line | US$195 |
Two things jump out. Alaska at seven nights is cheaper per night than a
three-night coastal hop, because short sailings carry the same fixed
embarkation costs over fewer days. And Disney is roughly triple everything
else — you are paying for the characters, not the mileage.
Which lines sail from Vancouver, and where they go
Lines based at Canada Place
- Princess Cruises
- Holland America
- Celebrity Cruises
- Royal Caribbean
- Norwegian Cruise Line
- Silversea
- Disney Cruise Line
- Seabourn
- Viking Ocean
- Regent Seven Seas
Where the ships end up
- Juneau and the Inside Passage
- Tokyo
- Honolulu
- Cabo San Lucas
- San Francisco
- the Panama Canal
- Sydney
Alaska is what Vancouver is famous for, and from late April to early
October it is the bulk of the schedule. The rest of the year the port
empties: ships reposition south to Los Angeles, San Diego and the Panama
Canal, or west across the Pacific to Honolulu, Tokyo and Sydney. Those
crossings are the cheap ones on the board above.
Canada Place or Ballantyne — check before you book a taxi
Nearly every passenger ship uses Canada Place, the terminal under the white
sails at the foot of Burrard Street. It sits inside downtown: you can walk
to it from the Fairmont Waterfront in three minutes, from Gastown in ten,
and the Waterfront SkyTrain station is directly underneath.
Ballantyne Pier is the overflow berth, about 3 km east past the grain
terminals. It is a genuine cargo pier — no SkyTrain, no cafés, and a taxi
is the only sensible way in. Lines use it when Canada Place has three ships
in and a fourth arriving. Your cruise documents say which berth you have;
the port does not publish it in advance, so read them rather than guessing.
Getting from YVR to the ship
The airport is about 25–30 minutes from the terminal by road. If you are
driving or in a cab, the route is Grant McConachie Way out of the airport,
over the Arthur Laing Bridge, along SW Marine Drive to Granville Street,
then Route 99 north — that becomes Seymour Street downtown — left onto West
Hastings and right down Howe Street into the terminal ramp. Expect C$40–50
plus tip.
The cheaper option is the Canada Line SkyTrain from the airport station,
which takes about 26 minutes to Waterfront and costs roughly C$9 including
the airport add-fare. Waterfront station opens directly into the Canada
Place complex — you come up the escalator and the terminal doors are there.
With two suitcases each it is manageable; with four it is not.
Fly in the day before. Vancouver is a
single-runway-pair airport with weather that closes in, and ships do not
wait. A downtown hotel the night before costs less than the missed-sailing
insurance claim, and it lets you walk on board rested instead of running.
Where to stay near the terminal →
Why the one-way fares look too cheap
They are repositioning sailings. A ship that has spent the summer running
Alaska has to be in California or Mexico for the winter, and the line would
rather sell those transit days at US$57 a night than sail them empty. You
get the same cabin, the same food and usually a quieter ship, because the
families have gone home in September.
The trade-off is the flight. A US$229 fare to Los Angeles plus a one-way
ticket back to Vancouver is a different number entirely — price the flight
first, then decide. Book the flight for the day after arrival if you can:
ships occasionally dock late, and an early departure out of LAX is how
people end up sprinting through a terminal.
Before you click book
Alaska is the United States, so the passport and visa rules are the US
rules even though you sail from Canada. Canadians and Americans need a valid
passport. Everyone else needs an ESTA or a US visa — sort it weeks ahead,
not the night before. Canada Place has US pre-clearance on site for the
sailings that require it, which means you clear American immigration in
Vancouver and walk off the ship at the other end without queueing.
What the fare does not cover: shore excursions, drinks unless the deal says
otherwise, specialty restaurants, Wi-Fi, and gratuities at roughly US$16–20
per person per day, charged automatically. On a five-night sailing for two
that is another US$180 before you have bought a single cocktail.
Questions people ask before booking
How much does a cruise from Vancouver cost?
On 3 August 2026 the cheapest sailing out of Canada Place was US$229 per person for four nights to Los Angeles, taxes and port fees included. Short Pacific Coastal repositioning runs sit around US$60–95 a night; a seven-night Alaska round trip works out closer to US$64–88 a night in shoulder season. Fares change daily and the headline price is always double occupancy.
Where do cruise ships dock in Vancouver?
Almost all passenger sailings use Canada Place, the terminal with the white sails on the downtown waterfront. Ballantyne Pier, further east past the container terminal, is used only when Canada Place is full — it is a working cargo pier with no SkyTrain and a longer taxi ride. Your cruise line, not the port, tells you which one you have; check your documents rather than assuming.
How do I get from Vancouver airport to the cruise terminal?
By car it is roughly 25–30 minutes: Grant McConachie Way, over the Arthur Laing Bridge, SW Marine Drive to Granville Street, then Route 99 north onto Seymour Street, left on West Hastings and right down Howe Street into the terminal. A cab or rideshare runs about C$40–50. The Canada Line SkyTrain does the same trip for about C$9 with a single change at Waterfront, which is a two-minute walk from the terminal doors — cheaper and, in Friday afternoon traffic, faster.
Do I need a US visa for a cruise leaving Vancouver?
Yes, if the ship calls in the United States — and almost all of these do, whether that is Alaska, Seattle or San Diego. Canadian and US citizens need a passport; most other nationalities need an ESTA or a US visa even though you board in Canada. Canada Place has US border pre-clearance on site for sailings that need it, so you clear US immigration before you step on the ship.
Why are one-way sailings from Vancouver so cheap?
Because they are repositioning cruises. Ships that spend the summer doing Alaska have to get south for the winter Mexico and Panama season, and the line would rather sell those crossing days cheaply than sail them empty. That is why a four-night to Los Angeles can cost less than a weekend hotel — and why September and early October are the best-value weeks of the whole Vancouver calendar. The catch is the flight home from the other end.
When is the Alaska season from Vancouver?
Late April to early October. July and August are warmest and dearest; May and September are quieter, noticeably cheaper, and September brings a genuine chance of northern lights over the Inside Passage. Outside those months there are no Alaska departures at all — the ships have gone south.
Booking through CruiseDirect
The buttons above go to CruiseDirect, the agency whose Vancouver listing
these fares come from. We are not them and we do not take your payment —
here is what they say they offer, in their own words, so you know what you
are walking into:
- Best price guarantee — they undertake to match a lower advertised
fare on the same sailing.
- Free holds — you can lock a cabin without paying, on most
sailings, while you check flights.
- Flexible payment — the balance can be spread out rather than paid
in full at booking.
- 4.9 out of 5 from more than 10,000 customer ratings shown on
their own site.
Those are CruiseDirect's claims, not our test of
them. Read the fare conditions on the sailing you pick — deposit, change
fees and the cancellation date are what actually matter.
5 sailings · from US$229 per person
See what these cabins cost today
Dates, cabin grades and
live availability for every Vancouver departure, in one listing.
Open the Vancouver listing →
Keep reading
FanVancouver is an independent Vancouver guide. We are not
a travel agency and we do not sell cruises — the booking links go to
CruiseDirect, and we may earn a commission if you book, at no extra cost to
you. Prices, star ratings and review counts on this page are CruiseDirect's
own, recorded on 3 August 2026, and are not our rating of these ships.
Always confirm the fare, the dates and what is included on the operator's
site before paying.
