Long cruises....20+ days

[nukesubsailor]

Seeing the thread on the "world cruise" made me wonder. Has anyone ever taken a longer cruise and got to the point they weren't enjoying it anymore and wanted it to be over? It may be a silly question or maybe not. I would think you would have to work up to the longer cruises. My wife(who isn't as excited with cruises as I am) can't even imagine doing one longer than 7 days. The one 7 day one we did, I loved and wished it had lasted longer.

 

But again, just curious if anyone has ever gotten sick(not literally) of being on a longer cruise 14 or 21+ days?

 

We took a 28-day cruise last year. The only thing that made us ready to get home was the fact that the last 8 days of the cruise were all at sea. We love life aboard Princess ships but find that we start getting a little bored after 3 consecutive sea days. In time, I am sure we will get over it.

[PescadoAmarillo]

Yes! We think the same thing! Lots of sea days in a row on the way back are making us think twice.

That's what keeps us from doing that one. We've learned that sea days are not created equal...one is wonderful, two are good, the scale starts to tip at three. And even then, many sea days in a row at the beginning of a cruise are easier to take than many at the end. We've done two transpacific cruises, one in each direction, and by the end of the east bound one, with four sea days, two Hawaiian port days, and four more sea days, DH was ready to jump overboard. I will never get him on a cruise with 8 sea days at the end.

[Pia1913]

We've done many long cruises, longest which was 63 days. Two of them. Now we are booked on the World Cruise for 2015. The OP asked about whether you got tired of it and for us, not until we get to the last week do we think about going home.

[need2cruisesoon]

We started with a 7 day cruise and worked up to 14 day. Now, we won't even consider anything shorter than 21 days! We have never been bored on a cruise and always hate when the last day arrives. We have a 43 day cruise and a 49 day cruise booked for the next 6 months. These will be our longest to date.

I'm curious but you never tire of the food? especially the buffet for breakfast?

[Pia1913]

I'm curious but you never tire of the food? especially the buffet for breakfast?

 

hahaha is my response. Even at home, my breakfast is the same. I am such a creature of habit that I never deviate. I call it discipline; my husband calls it (unmentionable) :eek:

[caribill]

I'm curious but you never tire of the food? especially the buffet for breakfast?

 

 

For us, the buffet has more variety for breakfast than what we have available at home.

[Pam in CA]

I'm curious but you never tire of the food? especially the buffet for breakfast?

I get tired of the food in the dining room at night so I just pre-order something like a chef's salad for an entree. Problem solved. As for breakfast, I'm a creature of habit to start with. My favorite breakfast on a cruise is cottage cheese, fresh fruit and an English muffin, occasionally eggs Benedict. There's enough variety with the food that if I get bored, there's something else.

[Who Knew]

I'm curious but you never tire of the food? especially the buffet for breakfast?

 

I'll be honest, my friend DID get a bit tired of the food...I was actually happy on our 28 day cruise because it was the first time we tried traditional dining and I actually had MORE variety than I usually do.

[Cruise Junky]

20/21 days is about our Max. We have zero interest in a world cruise.

[Jasperdo]

I'm curious but you never tire of the food? especially the buffet for breakfast?

We've discovered that switching between the Dining Room and the buffet for dinner helps keep it from feeling the same. While I do enjoy all the food on a cruise, by the end of the cruise I'm usually craving a "real" Mexican or Chinese restaurant. The Mexican and Chinese offerings in the ship's dining rooms are usually the same beef, chicken or fish dishes with a different sauce. They're good, but different from a typical land based restaurant.

[hillslife]

LOVE the long ones ....never bored once on the World Cruise , 107 days of fun!.

Sea days are best..sleep in, read, leisurely coffee and breakfast with friends, trivia, lunch, nap, lectures, repeat...loved it...

 

We never (rarely) book anything less than 2 weeks now. You just start relaxing at 7 days....:p

[PescadoAmarillo]

I'm curious but you never tire of the food? especially the buffet for breakfast?

We rarely eat at the buffet, so that helps. But, like others, I eat the same thing every morning, at home or on a ship...scrambled egg beaters and salsa. The head waiters offered to make us anything special we wanted for dinner in the dining room, but we never took them up on it. We just always found something we liked (and we repeat meals at home far more frequently than every two weeks, so it wasn't a big deal). I could eat salmon and broccoli every other night and not tire of it, and, on a ship, I often do.

 

You don't eat on a long cruise the same way you eat on a short cruise (well, most of us don't). After about a week we settle down and eat very reasonably.

[Pam in CA]

You don't eat on a long cruise the same way you eat on a short cruise (well, most of us don't). After about a week we settle down and eat very reasonably.

Very, very true.

 

My cruises tend to be longer and I've never gained weight. Perhaps I'm strange but the more others eat, the less I do. For me, it's kind of a turn-off to see people clean every plate of a 5-course meal and look around as though they could eat five more courses. On one cruise, I was in the buffet when someone sat down near me with three (3) platters piled with food. He set them down, put a fork in each hand and proceeded to eat it all. I lost my appetite.

[DRS/NC]

"I love sea days so a lot of sea days doesn't bother me. The only time I'd had enough was a number of years ago on a 28-day cruise. We went to 21 ports in the Med and had very few sea days to relax. Most ports, we had all-day tours and were exhausted after a couple of weeks. I'll never do anything that port-intensive again."

 

Pam -- I so agree! Those port-intensive cruises are too tiring! Give me more sea days anytime -- at least 1/2 & 1/2.

 

My upcoming 16 day TA is my longest cruise so far and it's 1/2 sea days. I hope to do the Hawaii run next year -- 4 sea days out & 4 back. I hope to do longer cruises, but the cost is BIG for going solo.

[kesam]

We love the long cruises, we took the one

B to B in Europe that connected to a TA 30 days, then this year it was Tahiti 28 days, and the last 8 were sea days, and I didn't know 8 days could go by so fast. We were not ready to get off. But maybe it was because we stayed connected the whole time, they said we wouldn't but we did.

So now we are doing the Crown, around the horn, 49 days, and adding the train from LA to DC. :D. So that will be a real test.

Cyndi

[kesam]

Very, very true.

 

My cruises tend to be longer and I've never gained weight. Perhaps I'm strange but the more others eat, the less I do. For me, it's kind of a turn-off to see people clean every plate of a 5-course meal and look around as though they could eat five more courses. On one cruise, I was in the buffet when someone sat down near me with three (3) platters piled with food. He set them down, put a fork in each hand and proceeded to eat it all. I lost my appetite.

 

I thought I was the only one,, :eek:I usually lose a couple of lbs on a cruise, because for me there, is just so much food it kills my apatite! And the HC is the worst, food is good, but after the second day I done.

Cyndi

[Pam in CA]

I thought I was the only one,, :eek:I usually lose a couple of lbs on a cruise, because for me there, is just so much food it kills my apatite! And the HC is the worst, food is good, but after the second day I done.

Cyndi

Perhaps it's a waste but I try everything but finish only what's really good to me. That way, I'm happy and have indulged without over-eating.

[caribill]

So now we are doing the Crown, around the horn, 49 days, and adding the train from LA to DC. :D.

 

I bet you will be ready to get off of the train quicker than you will be ready to get off of the Crown Princess.

[Treven]

...

My upcoming 16 day TA is my longest cruise so far and it's 1/2 sea days. I hope to do the Hawaii run next year -- 4 sea days out & 4 back. I hope to do longer cruises, but the cost is BIG for going solo.

I'm really looking forward to the sea days on my upcoming Hawaii cruise. I certainly didn't mind the 3-4 sea days going to Aruba from FLL a few years ago.

The cost is the only thing keeping me from doing a Mediterranean cruise. Roundtrip airfare alone from the left coast to Barcelona is $4k on top of the $3k cost of the cruise, plus spending money!

[deadzone1003]

32 days was my longest. I did 30 days on my 3rd cruise after starting with a 7 and 11 day cruise. My 30 days was SF to Sydney was great even if the weather could have been better. My 32 days was Bangkok to Alaska which was great until we left Tokyo - 8 sea days with 40 degree temps and 30-40 knots wind, not so great. Worst part is the time changes, mostly 23 hour days. Best to travel east to west on long cruise if there are many time changes. Should have jumped ship at Tokyo like some people did. Rule of thumb is if the itinerary is good, the food is good, the fellow passengers are good, and the weather is reasonable (enough to allow outdoor exercising) then you may not even want to get off the ship.

[skynight]

Back in 1997 we took an 11 day full transit Panama Canal and we thought that was long. But since 2003 the shortest cruise was a 10 day RT Panama Canal, with 5 cruises 3 weeks or longer, plus pre and post land tour time. In the next year we are booked for a 20 day and a 28 day both b2b's.

 

To take longer cruises you have to be able to place the world aside and enjoy the simple rhythms of the ship. Sea days are the best.

[ExDean]

Kesam...the train from Lax-DC can be wonderful. We did the Canal full transit FLL-LAX (15 days) and the Southwest Chief (Train #4) back to Toledo. We had a deluxe bedroom (Large bed, chair, private bath/shower), service was wonderful and we loved the trip. The scenery in the southwest is beautiful. As relaxing as a cruise IMHO. Also took our wine on board with no questions asked :). So, I can't agree with Carbill in wanting to get off.