Port intensive itineraries

Noticing a couple of comments by JoanandJoe and NewLondon on another thread about the port intensive itineraries coming up, I thought I'd start the thread I'd been mulling over since we arrived back from the Baltic a couple of days ago.

We are fairly fit, younger than average cruise guests (I think) and I must say, we found the nine port days on a ten day cruise pretty tiring. Given that we started with a day and a half walking in Copenhagen too, by the time we were half way through, we'd have given anything for a sea day! (We got just one...the second day after embarkation) It's the first time we've done such a port-intensive cruise since we usually choose longer, more unusual itineraries and it had never occurred to us how exhausting a shorter cruise could be. Most tours had early starts and because we favour the most active tours where possible, there is likely to be a fair bit of activity throughout the day. We were getting back in the late afternoon - maybe in time for Trivia - showering and changing for dinner, going to the show and falling into bed in a bit of an unrelenting routine. Definitely not much time for mischief (and no time for any port lectures, one of which was scheduled for 9.30pm!)

Now, on our last cruise (South America, earlier in the year) we had some enforced sea days due to one thing and another and we found that rather dull. We wouldn't contemplate a transatlantic journey because we like to be out there, seeing new places. I suppose our ideal is alternate port and sea days.

Of course, if one has only ten or twelve days available, then perhaps it makes sense to visit as many ports as possible? Or perhaps we need to factor in a "sea day" and forego a port - though personally, I can't imagine I could ever do that!

Your thoughts?

Gilly,

If you could afford the time, I'd suggest a 16 night Panama Canal cruise. Out of the 16 days, there are five sea days and one day to transit the Panama Canal. The sea days are spread out among the port days and provide a respit from tiring port days.

I actually like the Med cruises in port every day; you get your money's worth. After all, you are only ashore from 4 to 10 hours each day. Don't get me wrong i like the long cruises with lots of sea days too; just in Med it is nice to pack in all you can. Best of all possible worlds are westbound Transatlantics with around 10 days or so touring in Med followed by rest and relaxation.

Marc

We like to have a good mix of port and sea days - mainly because we consider the ship to be a destination as well as the ports. If we only wanted to spend our time in ports, we would not necessarily need to be on a luxury cruise line.

We have a B2B cruise coming up in November -- the first 14 nights is port intensive and the second 16 nights is half sea days and half port days (transatlantic cruise). One way we will deal with the port intensive cruise is to take half-day excursions (maximum of 5-6 hours per excursion). Also, for ports that we have visited previously, we enjoy just walking around the towns and enjoying a taste of the local food and then go back to the ship. To us, this is having a "sea day" that we have selected.

It is interesting that you found parts of South America dull because we feel the same way. I'm very happy that we've been to South America but would not repeat the ports that we have already done. We have cruised the Baltic twice and although it is port intensive, we loved it (but needed a vacation afterwards as we were exhausted).

IMO, the most tiring cruises that we have been on were to the Middle East. Every day was a 11 or 12 hour excursion and we felt that it was a once in a lifetime opportunity to visit this part of the world. As it ends up, we did a second visit to Egypt and Israel. And, we will be flying into Haifa in November and will take a 5 hour excursion into Tel Aviv - a place that we have yet to visit (the rest of the cruise will be in Italy and Greece - places we have been a few times and look forward to doing our own thing in both countries).

Gilly, you do wonderful blogs on your cruises so it may seem that you have to see as much as possible (and it sounds as if you really enjoy it). IMO, you should do as much or as little as you find comfortable.

Most of our cruises tend toward the port-intensive side. But DW and I are both still in the work force and tied to an office, so time away is still limited. So we try and see as much as possible when we travel.

That said, we do try and alternate long tours and short tours whenever possible so as to not overdo it, as we did on our first cruise (we were both still in our 40s then, with my better half being very, very early 40s then) - that one about did us in, we had chosen the longest, most strenuous excursions possible and we paid the price for it!

I do love having a sea day around the middle of the cruise just to regroup.

We enjoy sea days - we get off only when we really want to see something. I want to relax and enjoy the day, afternoon and evening - even if we don't do a thing.

How interesting! DaveFr, I'm wondering if you are telepathic: we will sail LA to Miami next year! We have sailed through the canal previously and really enjoyed the experience, so are very much looking forward to it.

Yes, wise ones would choose the shorter tours! I don't believe we have even considered that when choosing our tours and it's something I would think about in the light of our experience. After all, we go on holiday for a bit of R&R as well. But we also want to see and do everything because, after all, life is short, isn't it? I might add here that we don't do things just 'to blog about' - we do what we want to do and if it's worth writing about, then I will! I guess that we have always squeezed as much as we can into every day...perhaps this was a timely reminder of our limitations 😉

Tc, it wasn't the South American ports which were dull, but the long sea days when ports were cancelled. I won't go into details - you know all about that cruise already. Just that, if there are more than a couple of sea days after one another, I think we'd be looking for a richer on board programme of activities, not just the same old same old. Perhaps that happens on a TA?

Gilly, this is a very good thread to start. We like an itinery with a good mix of sea and port days. This can't always happen though due to work schedules and time. Our recent cruise had a really good mix of both and we felt this was a rest for us and time to relax and enjoy the free time on board.

Most of our post incentive cruises we only take shorter trips or go off on our own and also we do omit one day and relax on board. It very much depends on the ports I think.

We have booked for Explorer next year. 3 of the ports we have not booked an excursion for and one we will definitely just stay on board and relax. It would be lovely to have a longer cruise with more time to relax but it's not always possible due to work commitments, one day I am sure we will be able to get the ideal balance. Jean.

Jean, which itinerary did you choose to sail on Explorer?

I think that, were we sailing to familiar places, in the Med, say, we wouldn't bother with excursions either. The thing is, we tend to book cruises which visit ports we've not been to before and with that in mind, reach the conclusion that booking a tour is a good way of getting an overview. Originally, we thought we'd not bother with the Baltic excursions with the exception of St Petersburg, but then we get the programme, see what's on offer and think "why not?" On reflection, though we'd have had fun in Warnemunde, we were delighted by the Schwerin tour, the excursion in Klaipeda to the Amber Museum in the park was rather interesting and the walking tour in Riga was ace. In all three of those ports, we could have gone it alone, but we got so much more from taking a tour. Of course, were we in the Med or somewhere familiar like Boston or Charleston SC, we'd enjoy a day "just being there" and would probably go it alone. So, I guess "it depends".

As you say, it's all about achieving a balance. We are lucky to have flexible work commitments that allow us to take longer cruises and I love to settle into a kind of onboard routine which a shorter cruise just doesn't allow. But the "bonus" Baltic cruise we just did was absolutely terrific and I think the fact that we came home feeling shattered was probably a great indicator of what a great time we had!

I love sea days. I wouldn't want them every other day, but about every 4th day would be great. I'm looking at booking a 17-day Med cruise for next year-- but it has only one sea day. Ouch! Of course, as has been noted, one can always just choose to stay on board, sleep in a bit, have leisurely meals, time to read, whatever. But somehow we seem never to do that. When we're in an interesting port, there's always several excursions that have enough appeal that we can't resist. We've had to forego the longer excursions these days, and even being out and about for 5 hours is sometimes too taxing, at least when we have to haul out of bed earlier than we'd like.

What I would MOST like, I think even more than having more sea days, would be for excursions to start a bit later in the morning. Say 9:00 or 10:00 or even 11:00 instead of 8:00-8:30. It used to be the case that one could do several excursions in a port, so it made sense to start early, so that a person could be back in time to do an afternoon tour as well. But in recent years it's almost never the case (not never, almost never) that Regent schedules excursions in a way that enables two a day.

In short: I, too, wish there were always a couple of sea days in a cruise of 10 days or more. But I wish even more that excursions would begin a bit later. At the same time, since many people would much prefer to have a nice port stop every day, would feel almost cheated if not, I guess that the rest of us should just use restraint and stay onboard Ha!

Poss I agree with you about the amount of sea days could be better in the 10 day cruises for sure. A nice balance gives you the best of everything really.

Gilly we have booked the round trip Barcelona in May. We are restricted as my husband works overseas and only home at certain times so our holidays are booked round that. The majority of the ports we have visited before but will go on a different trip or just do our own walking trip.

We booked on board recently on Mariner and it was just before end August so we were lucky to get it before price increase and the onboard discount. It worked for us and it went directly to our own TA. Jean.

Gilly, Glad you are back safely. After reading Elegant Sufficiency, I'm not surprised you need a vacation; and you are younger than Wendy and I!

We agree about sea days although I like them better than she. I know that people watching their pennies will be upset with me, but, imo the way to see what you want and retain some energy is to schedule private tours on occasion, particularly when the Regent tour looks strenuous; as an example the Patmos tour on Athens to Rome next year. One of the keys I think, is the speed guides expect you to maintain, on a private tour you decide.

Either way sea days are fun and relaxing and if the on board entertainment is up to snuff as TC says it makes the ship a destination itself.

Gilly, Glad you are back safely. After reading Elegant Sufficiency, I'm not surprised you need a vacation; and you are younger than Wendy and I!

We agree about sea days although I like them better than she. I know that people watching their pennies will be upset with me, but, imo the way to see what you want and retain some energy is to schedule private tours on occasion, particularly when the Regent tour looks strenuous; as an example the Patmos tour on Athens to Rome next year. One of the keys I think, is the speed guides expect you to maintain, on a private tour you decide.

Either way sea days are fun and relaxing and if the on board entertainment is up to snuff as TC says it makes the ship a destination itself.

Could i ask you a question about (private tours?)

We are looking into a Explorer cruise next year and there was this.

PRIVATE TOUR - HIGHLIGHTS OF HELSINKI

Light Activity /Walking Meal

DURATION: 6 1/2 HOURS

TOUR CODE: HEL-PVT

Drive from the pier to Unique Lapland

Activity in Unique Lapland with meeting Santa Claus

Transfer to Helsinki City Center

Helsinki City Tour Rock Church, Senate Sq, Market Sq, w shopping

Lunch at Restaurant A21

Transfer to Port

I'm guessing it's a paid tour of some sort but why does it not specify that?

I have checked out that restaurant and it's pretty fancy.

Thanks.

Hi Pam, I was referring to tours arranged by my TA. Regent also has private tours but I don't know much about them, I think they are the executive car options.

I do know that in Europe, unfortunately, they are much more expensive than say, in SA. Availability is also an issue.We are already working on our choices for 10/17.

Hope that helps!

Hi Pam, I was referring to tours arranged by my TA. Regent also has private tours but I don't know much about them, I think they are the executive car options.

I do know that in Europe, unfortunately, they are much more expensive than say, in SA. Availability is also an issue.We are already working on our choices for 10/17.

Hope that helps!

Thank you. I wasn't particularly going to book that excursion but just wondered why it wasn't a "Regent's choice" excursion or the regular "Free Excursions"

Sounds like you have a fabulous TA, enjoy working on your next choices.

Pam.

On the other hand, we seek out port-intensive cruises, and have actually decided not to do certain cruises when we see they have too many days at sea. The killer for us was a 30-day from Sydney to LA, which had three stretches of four days at sea in a row. We were bored out of our minds.

Now our ideal would be a sea day every five or so days, to break up the continuous days of touring (and get a chance to do laundry). But as I'm saying this, our next cruise is Cape Town to Miami, with four days going across the Atlantic. But the rest of the cruise is what we were looking for, so one bad stretch is the price we pay for getting the remainder of what we want. Of course, now we are not limited by having to report to work (semi-retired), so we can be much more selective in what we want.

Greetings, Everyone, from South Beach. One of the problems for us on port days is that there is usually nothing much o do on the ship. The salon is usually open as are the bars, but not the casino and shops. Sea days are different. There is lots to do and the the ship is lively. QM2 is particularly successful at sea days on its TAs. We sailed on her so often we are three days from the top loyalty level. Moving to the Beach made her too inconvenient. Round trip NYC/MIA has no appeal with all the lovely options we find here. For example, we will meet some of you on Explorer's March 17 TA.

Mary

We definitely prefer to have some sea days Every third to fourth day would be great!! Our first Regent cruise was a Baltic cruise for 7 days with a port every day. Now, we talked about doing a 10 day but it had a sea day so we thought why would we want a sea day!! After that first Regent cruise, we knew we needed some sea days!!

It is sometimes difficult to find cruises with sea days. I know some people make port days "sea days" but, for us, that is hard to do unless we've been to that port before.

We just did a port intensive in the beginning of August with a couple of days to decompress on both ends. I think it depends on what you're looking for at a specific time. We just booked the Explorer for 14 days in the Caribbean. Starts out with two sea days then 1 in the middle and two at the end. Perfect! Especially since we've been to all but one of the islands. I'll be recovering after having radiation on my throat and will need the rest. That won't keep us out of the casino on sea days though :D

On the rare occasion that we make a port day an impromptu 'sea day', we tend to enjoy the solitude and the relaxed nature of the ship. The only problem is that whenever we try and stay onboard on a port day, we get to the last minute and see an excursion that looks interesting enough to entice us off the ship.

Very rare that we skip a port, even ports we've visited numerous times. There's usually either an excursion we want to try or we know the port well enough to go revisit fun places on our own. It's terrible...terrible, I tells ya...

:p

Noticing a couple of comments by JoanandJoe and NewLondon on another thread about the port intensive itineraries coming up, I thought I'd start the thread I'd been mulling over since we arrived back from the Baltic a couple of days ago.

 

Your thoughts?

We're glad our comments caused you to start a new thread.

Forgetting about the weather (which was way too hot for us), our San Francisco to New York Panama Canal cruise on the Mariner, which ended last Wednesday, had about the right mix for us - roughly half port and half sea days. When we went onboard, we already had another cruise booked: 10/6/17 on the Navigator, 11 days Lisbon to NYC, with 6 sea days, 3 ports enroute, and the oddity of landing in New York (9 miles from our home) the night before the cruise ends. The attractions were a cruise ending at home, and the chance to see Lisbon again.

We got carried away, and booked a cruise at essentially the same time as our existing cruise: 10/8 to 10/27/17 on the Voyager, B 2 B Venice to Athens to Rome. Once we leave Venice, all of the stops on the way to Athens are new to us; but it's 7 consecutive days of arriving at a port at 8 am. Exhausting! The second leg is a bit better: 2 sea days and an overnight in Haifa. That is exciting, but shore excursions in Israel are very long. (Maybe we'll spend the night in Jerusalem.) Also, the last two ports are ones we've been to before (Valetta and Sorrento).

We now have to choose between two cruises that are almost opposites. Neither one hits anything close to an ideal mix of sea days and port days. Which will we choose? I haven't a clue!

Hi Joanandjoe, As I said on the other thread we are doing the full Venice to Rome, hope you will too. Our repeats will be some of the early ports-not all, and Rome. So many other bucket list stops we couldn't resist. We intend to do several private tours to save wear and tear; not pennies.

Hi Joanandjoe, As I said on the other thread we are doing the full Venice to Rome, hope you will too. Our repeats will be some of the early ports-not all, and Rome. So many other bucket list stops we couldn't resist. We intend to do several private tours to save wear and tear; not pennies.

It would be nice if we could contact you regarding your impressions of the itinerary. Is there some way to contact you? Should we post an email address? Thanks.

Flexibility to talk longer trips because my organization has a generous leave policy and the other half has the ability to work off-site intermittently (the boss rolls eyes). So another vote for the mix of sea days / port days. By far our most relaxing trip was the Panama Canal where it almost sea, port, sea, port..... That cruise also had really long port days so you felt you had an opportunity to see the city. We've booked the Amazon cruise which is going to be similar. Can't wait....

-Indi

We have always enjoyed a mix of sea days and port days which Regent always use to do. One reason, among others, that we stayed away from Oceana is that they always seemed to have a port every day. Now the Regent itineraries seem to mimic Oceana.

We love the transatlantic cruises especially Westbound but they always seem to be over Thanksgiving and that is our family task.