Are 2 cruises a year excessive for most?

[pitbullgirl]

We like to cruise, but would never want to restrict ourselves to just cruising. Since we're still working, we have limited vacation time and can't do everything we want. I'd never give up a ski trip, my favorite type of vacation, for a cruise--and there are lots of places I want to visit that aren't on the water. Plus, our DS, DDIL, and beloved granddaughters live in Germany, so we have to save vacation time to visit them. In fact, we're going next month to welcome grandchild #3!

 

I agree, my DH and I have fallen in love with cruising, but we're also crazy about skiing and scuba diving. We have to do one dedicated dive-dive-dive trip and one good ski trip a year. Sadly, that pretty much takes up all our vacation time :-(

Edited February 18, 2010 by pitbullgirl

[Jimnbigd]

Too many? Nah. We usually cruise twice a year.

 

Actually, I'd rather cruise just once a year.

That cruise starts on January 1 and ends on December 31.

Then I start the cruise for the following year.

:D :D :D

[teachtocruis]

We have cruised twice a year the last couple of years. We would do it more often, but as I have taken to saying, "This teaching thing gets in the way of my cruising plans." But I've got to teach to cruise. :)

[Cruisin_on_th_net]

OP I think it depends on your cruise experience. Due to where I live, most cruises leaving my port don't interest me. (tropical islands *yawn*) other cruises that do same same (ie pacific islands / beaches / caribean etc) make me shudder at the thought.

 

This (unfortunately due to pricing) leaves me with destinations such as Sth America, Med, Alaska, Europe... all very pricey. + airfares + accomodation. But this is where I want to go. Based on this I can never see us cruising that often.

 

I really think it depends what you want and where you are prepared to go. I'd rather stay at work than cruise Fiji / Vanuato / Caribean etc as those places just don't interest me. I think twice a year is very reasonable, but it would depend on where you are going (for me) as I'm a destinations person - not "a ship is the cruise" person. I really think it's relative to where you live. My idea of winter is putting on a jumper. I don't see snow, ice or cold - so I don't have the same attraction to the beaches as others who "suffer" the miserable winters do.

 

Hope you find some good cruises, and cruise as often as you want :)

[OnVacation11]

We do a cruise sandwich with a land vacation filling every year !

[mr green]

Two cruises a year are just right for us, we are retired but by no means rich, but we do live within driving distance of a port.

 

john

[Cuizer2]

hi, wife and I just got off our first cruise ever last week. we did splendor from long beach to mexico.

 

everything we hoped for and more. food was only thing that was not as good as we expected but that would not deter us from going again.

 

we usually do more active vacations like vegas,disneyworld etc but found the cruise to be as much fun and a super stress reliever.

 

we are considering another cruise in october but that is only 6 months away. do many other people find this cruising thing relaxing yet exciting enough to do 2 cruises a year?

 

I typically do two cruises per year. I did two in 2004, 2007, 2009. I have two booked for 2010 and 2011. However, in 1999, 2001, 2005 and 2006 I only did one cruise and in 2008 I did four.

[kgm0612]

We usually take one a cruise a year, but this year have 2 booked! :)

 

Karen

[EGG]

We usually do 2 vacations a year, generally cruises. We usually do 1 special longer 14 day cruise and a less expensive 7 day bargain cruise. I am a compulsive planner and I like to do as many ports as I can independently, so if the cruises are too close I do not have enough time to plan.

 

Just not having to cook, pack and unpack, having entertainment after dinner and then returning to the room is relaxing. Does this sound relaxing to you -get off the ship early, at port, walk around for 5 hours, back on the ship for a quick snack, then pool and whirlpool, dinner and show and sleep as the boat rocks you to sleep.

[gerry48]

that sounds exactly the same as we enjoy egg,

 

I take it you like to make a list of places to check out on your own rather than doing excursions?

 

we did that on our mexico cruise that we returned from last week and had a great time.

[GlendaleCruiser]

I would go 3 or 4 times a year if I could.

[EGG]

Gerry48 - the 7 day cruise is usually the bonus "free" cruise we take from money we save on the longer cruise by going off season, booking an inside cabin, and purchasing limited expensive excursions. Lucky us, we don't spend a lot of time in the cabin, drink minimally, and have more than enough photos and "stuff" then we can ever use. We just love to walk around and enjoy the ambiance of a local port. We would rather get a feel for the local area than fly by on a bus (or spend it at a rest stop waiting for the entire bus to use the bathroom). We know exactly where the churches, museums, or best beaches are and how to get there. If it is a port where you need to travel inland, we try to set up an independent excursion with people we meet on the CC roll call.

 

We live in NJ, and our grandchildren live in Seattle, so we can look at anyplace on the east or west coast for a cruise.

 

Because we always try to have at least a few new ports on the itinerary, we find it exciting yet relaxing at the same time.

 

Now that you have found cruise critics, you can make friends and plans before you leave. What could be better.

[forwardcabin]

We first cruised in the early 1990's from Long Beach on a 3-day RCCL. Guess we didn't think that much of it then because our 2nd cruise was on Carnival Fascination from Miami in 2002. That's when we decided that when the grandkids were old enough to really enjoy a cruise, we would take them. So, from Dec, 2008, we have cruised 3 times in one year and are going again March 13, taking 3 of our grandkids on a 7-day on Triumph from NOLA. We are truly hooked and so are most in our own kids' families. Here's hoping your next cruise is a great one. Bon Voyage!

[Love2Cruz2015]

Two is a minimum for me.:cool:

 

3 is just right....4 is a splurge, but if I had a money tree, I would do quarterly cruises every year.

 

Of course I live within very close driving distance to 3 ports, so that is why I make cruises my top vacation choice, followed by the orlando theme parks (also within driving distance).

 

When I lived in NY, it was once a year, because if you factor in air fare it becomes much more expensive and more of a hassle.

[navybankerteacher]

"Excessive" - of course not. Remember the old saying: "If it's really worth doing, it's worth doing to excess."

 

We take at least four getaways each year - usually at least one is a cruise, but we have done three. It depends on what is most available/attractive/affordable.

[Velvetwater]

I suppose it depends on the cruise length and your own location.

Our UK location, UK taxed airfares, teaching jobs and other expenses mean a long cruise once a year happens generally.


If we were Florida retirees or Spanish/Italian business owners etc I am sure it would be more.

[maywell]

I was fortunate last year to do 2 one weeks (a last-minute and scheduled one) with this year being a schedule 2 week cruise and next year a 2 week B2B one - If I didn't scheduled vacations, I would not be able to go at all. I still looking to put a last minute cruise before but prices are bit high for my taste (I paying double-occupancy for a soloer). If I had the money I would go traveling 3-5 times a year.

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[sail7seas]

[B]My DH and I sailed 4-6 cruises a year for many years. He worked extremely long hours when home and never would take time off if we weren't 'away'. Seeing he passed away this last year and never got to retire, I am now so grateful we made those choices. We had a great many trips to Europe, domestic resorts, land and cruise trips to Canada, Caribbean in a great many island resorts and over 90+ cruises ......[/B]

[srlafleur]

We've been pretty much doing 2 a year, and we're trying to not duplicate itineraries! So far there is only one booked for this year, at the end of November, but it's a 10 night. We likely would have booked something for this spring, but we had a wedding to attend in Arizona and made a vacation of it, plus we just bought a lakeside cottage in NH that we'll be spending time at (and money on :rolleyes:) this summer.
We've also got Alaska booked for next summer (and we really want to extend that with some land-time). Who knows what else will come up? I can't help myself, I'm always looking and if the price and itinerary are right, I've been known to book spontaneously. :cool:

[Tiggertastic]

Go for it, it grows by affordability and vacation availability.

[SPacificbound]

Our first cruise was in 2013 and we (well me especially) were hooked. :)

[GUT2407]

[quote name='gerry48']hi, wife and I just got off our first cruise ever last week. we did splendor from long beach to mexico.

everything we hoped for and more. food was only thing that was not as good as we expected but that would not deter us from going again.

we usually do more active vacations like vegas,disneyworld etc but found the cruise to be as much fun and a super stress reliever.

we are considering another cruise in october but that is only 6 months away. do many other people find this cruising thing relaxing yet exciting enough to do 2 cruises a year?[/QUOTE]

DW is a teacher and we were trying for 4 a year, one each school holidays. Had to have a few years off, but now trying to get back to 2 or 3 a year.

So no 2 a year for us isn't too many.

Also depends on how many days, we are trying to do about 30-40 days year now.

[OzKiwiJJ]

[quote name='gerry48']
we are considering another cruise in october but that is only 6 months away. do many other people find this cruising thing relaxing yet exciting enough to do 2 cruises a year?[/QUOTE]

We did our second cruise less than three months after disembarking from our first. :eek:

And we've got another one already booked for December.

If I could I'd sneak in one more before that :p

I think I'm hooked ;) Edited April 30, 2015 by OzKiwiJJ

[kelmac]

[quote name='kelmac']Travel has always been our number one priority! We travel 8 -- 10 weeks during the year, with about 1/2 of that being cruises. So, usually three or four cruises a year is normal for us.
By the way, you might want to give Celebrity or Holland America a try if you want to upgrade to better cruise cuisine.:)

Good Luck!
Kel[/QUOTE]

This thread is five years old:eek:. We've cruised 19 more times since this post. We have three more cruises coming up this year! Two, three or four a year is just about right.

GUT2407 -- my wife is a teacher as well -- during her periods of unemployment, we are traveling!!

Enjoy!
Kel:) Edited April 30, 2015 by kelmac

[Hlitner]

After we retired and had no time restraints, the idea of counting number of cruises (we have no clue how many cruises we have taken) made no sense. For example, if we take one cruise and its 108 days long then it would still be a single cruise. So now we think in terms of cruise day per year and will normally try to average about 70. But some here would say that is equal to 10 cruises per year...an others might say that is a single short cruise (these are the folks that do the World Cruises every year).

Hank