More Cheap, Short Cruises or Save for "Big One"?

[EmpressofPurple]

Which do you like to do?

 

(Clearly, this thread is not for those who can easily take several "big ones" per year, though of course your opinion is always welcome.)

 

I just jumped on a four-night Majesty cruise for $188 solo including taxes and fees (not grats or insurance)... because I could also get RT airfare for $155! Even with airport parking on this end, and airport/cruiseport shuttle fees at the other, total cost will be under $500.

 

It's VERY hard for me to say I'm going to save up and do a one-week cruise to, say, Alaska (where you really want a balcony, and costly shore excursions, and probably a pre/post cruise land tour as well... not to mention expensive airfare, usually open-jaw for the better cruises)... or Europe (Med or Baltics, with, again, costly shore excursions and international airfare, pre/post hotel stays, airport/cruiseport transfers, shopping, etc.)... when I could do TEN cheap cruises for the same (total) cost!!!

 

Please share your opinions. My (adult) kids were trying to convince me not to book this quick getaway but to plan a special destination cruise... or at least go on one of the ships I haven't been on yet... I just see four days of relaxing onboard, enjoying three of my favorite ports, good food, good fun... it's hard to say no and plan for that one "special" trip that the budget would permit...

 

I'd love to hear other people's thinking on this issue.:)

[dadroy]

For me, it depends on why you cruise. I live in Los Angeles. I could do lots of short cruises for cheap prices to the same ports over and over again. If I were like some, and loved the ships, that would work. But I don't cruise for the ship, more for the experience of going to new and interesting ports.

 

Just a story to show my point. My brother has been going to Yosemite Nat. Park for vacation every year for the last 0 years. Same week, same campground, same camping spot, same trails, etc. He loves it! I could never do that. Kind of like eating the same thing for dinner every night, blah. I want some Thai, some Indian, some Indonesian, etc.

 

So back to your question. I have been to Alaska for 35 days on cruises and love it. But I won't be going back any time soon. BTW, you DO NOT need a balcony for Alaska, plenty of places to sit on deck and see scenery go by. I would rather save up for another Panama Canal or South America cruise than going back to the same ports over and over and over.

 

But, thats just me.

[mpoole3]

Great Question/Topic.

 

Recently I've been doing short cheap cruises. In fact, in 2014 I went on 6 cruises and they were all short "cheap" ones. Now when I factor all the other cost, I'd say they cost around $800- $1,000 each.

 

I love to book the week of the cruise and just GO! I gets me so excited, however I did miss the long week cruise and planning, such as the Oasis.

 

So for me I think I like 1 or 2 week cruises and 3 or 4 short cruises.

 

2015:

 

Jan - Short weekend Cruise

March - Oasis 7 Day

June - Freedom 7 Day

Oct - B2B2B on Enchantment (10 Days)

 

So I'll get a blend of the two. :D

[gatour]

For us it is not an either/or per se and there is no correct answer.

 

We do a bucket list type of vacation one year and the next year we do a "cost saving" trip so we can better afford the next bucket list type of trip.

 

For us, I had some type of Panama Canal transit, we knocked that off first. I also wanted to see the Greek Islands while my wife wanted to see the the Pyramids in Egypt. I found a cruise that incorporated both, however in preparation we cut back on other vacations.

 

However, if the places you mentioned don't interest you for whatever reason, then don't go to them but take the trips that you want. If that means taking shorter but more frequent cruises that sounds like a valid reason.

 

My parents took trips (for football games, etc) that I would never take. It was their life, money, and were mentally competent, so they could decide on their own on what types of vacations they wanted to take.

[EmpressofPurple]

Thank you so much for sharing your views. It really helps to be able to "discuss" this topic with my cruising friends.

 

I love CC because I can learn about how to plan ahead and make those special trips more affordable -- i.e., DIY touring in Europe, inside cabin ok in Alaska, etc.... though it's hard to do your own helicopter tour!!

 

I'm looking forward to others sharing their experience and their views. Sometimes it helps just to hear yourself talk about something to figure out what you want to do.

 

Clearly, I enjoy the relaxation and social aspects of cruising... I don't want vacations to be too much "work"... but I love culture, and travel, and trying new foods, and planning what to do/where to go, etc.... so a destination cruise would also be a big draw...

 

Maybe it's just that seeing $500 go out at one time doesn't "hurt" as much as seeing $5,000 go out on a single trip!! (Even though I could save it up from the various shorter/less exotic itinerary trips to repeated destinations...)

 

Sigh. Talk amongst yourselves. :D

[tm3750]

We live 20 minutes from Port Canaveral and are both self employed and don't like to be away too long at one time, for us, the short cruises work.

 

I do agree about getting tired of the same old ports, we drove over to Tampa in March to do the Brillance to Cozumel and really enjoyed that ship and the change.

 

Hopefully we will be able to take longer cruises in the future but for now it's Nassau and Coco Cay.

 

It's hard not to book a three day cruise when you can take it for the same amount as a very nice night out to dinner in Orlando.

[phoenix1181]

Short 3 or 4 day trips are, IMHO, a lot of hassle with insufficient reward. By the time I start to relax, it's time to pack up to go home..................... I'd rather wait and do a more relaxing 7 or 10 day cruise with at least 1 day pre-cruise in the departure area.

 

For me, vacation means getting away from the hustle & bustle of my everyday life & going slow & easy. Short cruises don't meet that requirement.

[cb at sea]

If I lived within an easy drive of a good port, many shorter trips would be great! But, if you have to fly to a port, or go out of a cool weather port, I'd save up for that warm weather, longer trip!!!

[Garavar]

How did you get the Majesty cruise for $188 total? I have been looking at Majesty for weeks and best I've seen is $149 per person plus tax, fees etc. One day it was $109 per person but when I went to book it jumped back to $149 per person.

 

I would do Majesty every week for under $300 total for 2 people.

 

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[OfTheSeasCruiser]

We prefer to save up for one big cruise.

 

1. We don't have that many vacation days available, so its much easier for us to just go away at one time.

 

2. I don't always want a cruise to the Caribbean. I want to see new destinations.

[Agutaya]

I prefer to save up and go on a longer cruise. For me it's about the planning and the anticipation. I spent over an hour today looking at shore excursions for cruises we're taking in Oct. and Nov.! The preparation is so much work that a short cruise isn't enough time for us to unwind, unless we're adding it to another cruise. To save money on airfare we now do B2Bs when we can. That really gives us a long time onboard so we feel very relaxed by the end of the vacation.

 

Waiting a year for a cruise when we see our friends going on vacations throughout the year is admittedly a little hard. We remind ourselves of our upcoming cruise(s). But if you aren't one who easily delays gratification just go for it when you find a good deal.

[jules71]

I really enjoy the shorter cruises. Our last three cruises have been 6, 5, and 6 days. And they seemed just about right. I keep looking at some 8 and 9 days, but hesitate about being onboard that long. We did a 10 day Panama several years ago and although we loved the ports, we were ready to be off by the end.

 

My hesitation with longer cruises may be because when we first started cruising, we would wear ourselves out trying to do everything! We would eat too much, drink too much, stay up too late! When I got home, I needed a vacation from my vacation. I am a little more relaxed about it now.

 

Enjoying this thread -- good topic!

[CruiseMGM]

Love the topic!

 

We're land-locked in Las Vegas, and for us, it's either fly somewhere or a long drive to a port. That "long drive" would put us on the Mexican Riveria or a Pacific Coastal trip and nothing else. We've done both and really enjoyed them, but we don't want to go there all the time. I've contemplated last minute short coastal cruises (3 or 4 day) for a getaway, but the dates or the prices never seem to match up with our existing plans. I think we've reached the point where we want to do longer, "special" cruises, or destination cruises. Egypt ......one of these days, but they don't seem to be much on any line's radar at the moment. Would love to do what one commenter mentioned, and include Greece with a stop in Egypt!

 

I think if you're enjoying yourself with the short cruises and you don't mind returning to the same ports, GO for it and have fun! If you decide down the road that there are one or two "big" cruises you want to take, put 'em in the budget and have fun with the planning!

 

Best wishes!

[George C]

I would do 7 days if possible, you should look for a last min deal from NY area to save on transportation . There is nothing wrong with inside cabins if that's all that is in your budget.

[karena1]

Which do you like to do?

 

(Clearly, this thread is not for those who can easily take several "big ones" per year, though of course your opinion is always welcome.)

 

I just jumped on a four-night Majesty cruise for $188 solo including taxes and fees (not grats or insurance)... because I could also get RT airfare for $155! Even with airport parking on this end, and airport/cruiseport shuttle fees at the other, total cost will be under $500.

 

It's VERY hard for me to say I'm going to save up and do a one-week cruise to, say, Alaska (where you really want a balcony, and costly shore excursions, and probably a pre/post cruise land tour as well... not to mention expensive airfare, usually open-jaw for the better cruises)... or Europe (Med or Baltics, with, again, costly shore excursions and international airfare, pre/post hotel stays, airport/cruiseport transfers, shopping, etc.)... when I could do TEN cheap cruises for the same (total) cost!!!

 

Please share your opinions. My (adult) kids were trying to convince me not to book this quick getaway but to plan a special destination cruise... or at least go on one of the ships I haven't been on yet... I just see four days of relaxing onboard, enjoying three of my favorite ports, good food, good fun... it's hard to say no and plan for that one "special" trip that the budget would permit...

 

I'd love to hear other people's thinking on this issue.:)

 

We LOVE LOVE LOVE our little 3/4 night getaways. We have the luxury of not having to fly. So we pretty much cruise every month. We take 2 7 night cruises a year and 1 7 night land vacation each year. The other months we are either on a 3 or 4 night weekend getaway. Get some amazing prices too

 

Once I am not working so much, we will take the 4night during the week cruises instead of the 3 night weekend as the 4 night Mond-Fri sometimes has amazing deals!!!

[CptSticky]

Which do you like to do?

 

(Clearly, this thread is not for those who can easily take several "big ones" per year, though of course your opinion is always welcome.)

 

I just jumped on a four-night Majesty cruise for $188 solo including taxes and fees (not grats or insurance)... because I could also get RT airfare for $155! Even with airport parking on this end, and airport/cruiseport shuttle fees at the other, total cost will be under $500.

 

It's VERY hard for me to say I'm going to save up and do a one-week cruise to, say, Alaska (where you really want a balcony, and costly shore excursions, and probably a pre/post cruise land tour as well... not to mention expensive airfare, usually open-jaw for the better cruises)... or Europe (Med or Baltics, with, again, costly shore excursions and international airfare, pre/post hotel stays, airport/cruiseport transfers, shopping, etc.)... when I could do TEN cheap cruises for the same (total) cost!!!

 

Please share your opinions. My (adult) kids were trying to convince me not to book this quick getaway but to plan a special destination cruise... or at least go on one of the ships I haven't been on yet... I just see four days of relaxing onboard, enjoying three of my favorite ports, good food, good fun... it's hard to say no and plan for that one "special" trip that the budget would permit...

 

I'd love to hear other people's thinking on this issue.:)

For us the cruise itself is the most important thing. Admittedly we have taken some great itineraries recently and enjoyed them, but first comes the cruise. So, I see nothing wrong with taking a short cheap cruise to nowhere.

[EmpressofPurple]

How did you get the Majesty cruise for $188 total? I have been looking at Majesty for weeks and best I've seen is $149 per person plus tax, fees etc. One day it was $109 per person but when I went to book it jumped back to $149 per person.

 

I would do Majesty every week for under $300 total for 2 people.

 

Sent from my SGH-T699 using Forums mobile app

 

I really lucked out... saw a thread here on CC for this cruise... rate was $59pp,$88 for solo (plus $100 taxes and fees)... before I could book it, price went up to $149pp... then back down... then up again... asked my TA to look at it, she saw 4 cabins at that price but couldn't book them!

 

The price was gone from the website last night... then it came back... so I grabbed one with a 24-hour hold! Called today and paid it off... booked the air... reserved a shuttle... bought trip insurance... starting to pack!!!

[BekkaW]

Sadly over here we don't have much in the way of options. There are 3 or 4 short cruises available each year (2 or 3 nights) and they go for upwards of $700 in an inside. Yes you read that right.

 

We're booked on a 7 night domestic cruise in January, but most cruises from here are either to the Pacific islands or New Zealand, and average 9 to 11 nights. We enjoy longer cruises but pricing on these is also high - it cost me less to do the repositioning 14 nights from Singapore even with the flight!

 

So we're probably more in the realm of doing the save up for big trips to at least make it worthwhile for the money we're spending :S Have Europe booked for late next year and we were happy with the prices we snagged during the first BOGOHO so looking forward to that!

[irishgal432]

Both! Depends on who I go with.

 

Since I have three teenage children, I don't like to leave them with friends for longer than 4 or 5 days, so I find good deals and book those for myself and husband or groups of freinds.

 

I also save to go on the 7 days with the kids. We are doing

Alaska this year!

 

So I get the best of both worlds/

[Garavar]

I really lucked out... saw a thread here on CC for this cruise... rate was $59pp,$88 for solo (plus $100 taxes and fees)... before I could book it, price went up to $149pp... then back down... then up again... asked my TA to look at it, she saw 4 cabins at that price but couldn't book them!

 

The price was gone from the website last night... then it came back... so I grabbed one with a 24-hour hold! Called today and paid it off... booked the air... reserved a shuttle... bought trip insurance... starting to pack!!!

 

Yeah I saw same thread, been monitoring it, but never got the price...

 

You have CA, Senior etc. Discounts?

 

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[EmpressofPurple]

It's so wonderful reading all the comments; you are each verbalizing my inner dialogue on the subject!!

 

I haven't seen great last-minute deals in NYC the way I've seen out of other ports... and there are several drivable ports for me, from Baltimore to Bayonne to Boston, with Brooklyn and Manhattan thrown in for Carnival, Princess, NCL and Cunard...

 

I'm excited for this upcoming cruise to NOT have to plan... I printed out a list of "free things to do in Key West" from another CC thread... plus my own notes on what to do in Nassau, which I always enjoy (in fact, I contacted the Bahamian "People to People" program and I hope to spend the day with a local!)... Cococay is a great beach day, or an extra sea day depending on the weather...

 

...but I like the idea of starting to plan and budget for a BIG cruise as well... oooh, time to start researching options!!! Maybe Panama Canal or Alaska in 2016?

[EmpressofPurple]

Yeah I saw same thread, been monitoring it, but never got the price...

 

You have CA, Senior etc. Discounts?

 

Sent from my SGH-T699 using Forums mobile app

 

I think it was a combination of Resident Rate (for NY)... plus when I put on the hold, it stated there was a "$75 discount for Crown & Anchor" (I'm D+)... so a few factors at play for that low low rate...

 

(My TA was able to book an OV on deck 7 for me at a senior rate for $263 with taxes and fees... still, $188 for an interior solo is terrific, and the OVs below deck 10 are so tiny, it didn't seem worth $75 for a window...)

[OfTheSeasCruiser]

It's so wonderful reading all the comments; you are each verbalizing my inner dialogue on the subject!!

 

I haven't seen great last-minute deals in NYC the way I've seen out of other ports... and there are several drivable ports for me, from Baltimore to Bayonne to Boston, with Brooklyn and Manhattan thrown in for Carnival, Princess, NCL and Cunard...

 

I'm excited for this upcoming cruise to NOT have to plan... I printed out a list of "free things to do in Key West" from another CC thread... plus my own notes on what to do in Nassau, which I always enjoy (in fact, I contacted the Bahamian "People to People" program and I hope to spend the day with a local!)... Cococay is a great beach day, or an extra sea day depending on the weather...

 

...but I like the idea of starting to plan and budget for a BIG cruise as well... oooh, time to start researching options!!! Maybe Panama Canal or Alaska in 2016?

 

Just did Alaska last summer. The most amazing vacation we've taken so far!!! That cruise, along with our first ever cruise on the Explorer, are our two favorites.

[Mach1]

We did a 5 day cruise out of LA on the Monarch, it was ok, I did miss the longer cruise. But it was a good price and the air was a good price.

 

For us living in Montana it is cheaper to fly to San Juan then to Florida ... I know crazy right??

 

So we stick with the 7 nights out of San Juan with usually a few days pre or post cruise.

 

I would love to book an even longer cruise or do a B2B, we have some on our bucket list we'll need to save up for, but I love the southern route so I am happy with all the ports there, and they have added a few new ones.

 

With that said, if I could drive to a port and take a weekend cruise for cheap, yeah I'd do that. We do plenty of weekend get-a-way's here in the mountains so it would be the same - right ;)

 

~ :)

[CptSticky]

It's so wonderful reading all the comments; you are each verbalizing my inner dialogue on the subject!!

 

 

 

I haven't seen great last-minute deals in NYC the way I've seen out of other ports... and there are several drivable ports for me, from Baltimore to Bayonne to Boston, with Brooklyn and Manhattan thrown in for Carnival, Princess, NCL and Cunard...

 

 

 

I'm excited for this upcoming cruise to NOT have to plan... I printed out a list of "free things to do in Key West" from another CC thread... plus my own notes on what to do in Nassau, which I always enjoy (in fact, I contacted the Bahamian "People to People" program and I hope to spend the day with a local!)... Cococay is a great beach day, or an extra sea day depending on the weather...

 

 

 

...but I like the idea of starting to plan and budget for a BIG cruise as well... oooh, time to start researching options!!! Maybe Panama Canal or Alaska in 2016?

 

 

Let me recommend a ship excursion in Key West, the bike tour. Everything is very level. The guide knowledgeable and the ride easy.

 

 

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