6 nights, Los Angeles to Vancouver

Six nights up the Pacific Coast, one way from Los Angeles to Vancouver, with five port days and no sea days. The pace is brisk and city-forward: you wake in a new waterfront most mornings, and four of the five drop you within walking distance of the day's draw. It starts at the World Cruise Center in San Pedro, which is the port, not the city, so the smart play is the local battleship and fish market rather than burning the day fighting freeway traffic toward Hollywood. San Diego hands you a flat Embarcadero walk past the Midway, the Maritime Museum, and Seaport Village without a single transfer. San Francisco docks at Pier 27, steps from the Ferry Building and the Alcatraz pier. The run finishes at Canada Place in downtown Vancouver, an easy stroll to Gastown and Stanley Park.

This itinerary rewards independent travelers who would rather walk off and improvise than queue for an organized tour. The walkable terminals do most of the work, so you keep your own clock. It is the wrong pick if you expect a quiet, slow cruise with sea days, or if you imagine each stop delivering a marquee sight on a plate. These are working cities best read on foot, and the single recurring mistake is over-reaching inland and losing the day to traffic.

EXPLORA III is all-suite and all-oceanfront.