We are excited to note that Princess Cruises has launched a variety of short cruises. On the West Coast, you can choose from three- and four-day cruises from late September to early January, offering ports of call in Santa Barbara, Catalina Island and San Diego in California in addition to Ensenada in Mexico. The cruises depart Los Angeles on the Golden Princess and Sapphire Princess. Princess is also offering a few short cruises from Houston for the first time and returning to a short-cruise program from Fort Lauderdale. From Fort Lauderdale, Princess is using the Ruby Princess for a series of four- and five-day cruises on both Eastern and Western Caribbean itineraries. The Eastern route includes stops at Princess Cay and Grand Turk, with two cruises that also include Nassau. The western route includes either Grand Cayman Island or Cozumel on the four-day itinerary, and both destinations on the five-day cruise.