Sea Days

[dockman]

Having done about 60 cruises to a lot of ports I find more and more that I often prefer sea days to port calls.

 

Perhaps it's just being older/lazy etc but I do just love the freedom of a sea day where there are few serious decisions to be made.

 

Port calls can often be chaotic with too many people and too much hassle trying to negotiate with taxi mafias etc.

 

I often don't even bother to get off at some of the ports where I've been before or where I am going to have to deal with a lot of BS and hassles. The ones where you can walk into town or easily catch a shuttle or public transport are my favorites.

 

I really have no desire whatsoever to ride around on an overpriced overhyped tour bus all day. For me at many ports about three hours of roaming/walking around is plenty and I'm ready to go back aboard.

 

In fact sometimes staying on board while most passengers are gone on tours all day can be some of the most wonderful and relaxing times ever when you have most of the ship to yourself, never have a line, can enjoy the crows nest in solitude etc.

 

I do realize that a lot of passengers haven't been to the ports and are determined to see and do as much as possible in their limited time. Good for them. Go for it.

 

But the more I cruise the less appeal many of the ports hold for me.

 

How about you?

[Fouremco]

We still enjoy visiting ports, even those we've visited before because we always seem to find something new to explore. That said, we too enjoy the relaxation of sea days.

 

On very port-intensive cruises, we will sometimes choose a port with the least to offer and make it at least a partial ship day. Amazing how much more relaxing it can be without many others aboard. We can actually find a couple of loungers near the pool!

Edited July 31, 2015 by Fouremco

[ski ww]

We too love our sea days. At ports that we have been to before we either just take a nice long walk around the port if the ship is tied up close to town or our other choice is to take the hop on/hop off bus if the port has one and revisit our favorite places.

Allan & Marlane

[kazu]

Having done about 60 cruises to a lot of ports I find more and more that I often prefer sea days to port calls.

 

Perhaps it's just being older/lazy etc but I do just love the freedom of a sea day where there are few serious decisions to be made.

 

Port calls can often be chaotic with too many people and too much hassle trying to negotiate with taxi mafias etc.

 

I often don't even bother to get off at some of the ports where I've been before or where I am going to have to deal with a lot of BS and hassles. The ones where you can walk into town or easily catch a shuttle or public transport are my favorites.

 

I really have no desire whatsoever to ride around on an overpriced overhyped tour bus all day. For me at many ports about three hours of roaming/walking around is plenty and I'm ready to go back aboard.

 

In fact sometimes staying on board while most passengers are gone on tours all day can be some of the most wonderful and relaxing times ever when you have most of the ship to yourself, never have a line, can enjoy the crows nest in solitude etc.

 

I do realize that a lot of passengers haven't been to the ports and are determined to see and do as much as possible in their limited time. Good for them. Go for it.

 

But the more I cruise the less appeal many of the ports hold for me.

 

How about you?

 

Totally enjoy the sea days and somehow I usually end up on a cruise with a few :)

 

But I do enjoy my ports. I just don't do the tour bus thing. I will do the odd HAL tour if they have small group tours. Otherwise, it's private tours or diy for us. It makes a huge difference in visiting the ports and adds a lot of flexibility

[rkacruiser]

Having done about 60 cruises to a lot of ports I find more and more that I often prefer sea days to port calls.

 

Perhaps it's just being older/lazy etc but I do just love the freedom of a sea day where there are few serious decisions to be made.

 

Port calls can often be chaotic with too many people and too much hassle trying to negotiate with taxi mafias etc.

 

I often don't even bother to get off at some of the ports where I've been before or where I am going to have to deal with a lot of BS and hassles. The ones where you can walk into town or easily catch a shuttle or public transport are my favorites.

 

I really have no desire whatsoever to ride around on an overpriced overhyped tour bus all day. For me at many ports about three hours of roaming/walking around is plenty and I'm ready to go back aboard.

 

In fact sometimes staying on board while most passengers are gone on tours all day can be some of the most wonderful and relaxing times ever when you have most of the ship to yourself, never have a line, can enjoy the crows nest in solitude etc.

 

I do realize that a lot of passengers haven't been to the ports and are determined to see and do as much as possible in their limited time. Good for them. Go for it.

 

But the more I cruise the less appeal many of the ports hold for me.

 

How about you?

 

Your thoughts mirror mine on this topic 99%.

 

If I am visiting a new port, I will make an effort to "see whatever there is to see".

 

If I am returning to a favorite port, I will most certainly get off the ship for awhile, at least.

 

If I am returning to a port that is on my "been there, done that list", I thoroughly enjoy staying on the ship and enjoy myself in venues that often are busy, i.e. the Hydrothermal Pool and Thermal Suite.

[Krazy Kruizers]

There are many ports that we have been to many times.

But we still enjoy getting off the ship for a couple of hours -- just to see if anything has changed.

[OlsSalt]

I wouldn't generally disparage shore excisions as over-hyped and over-priced. HAL actually delivers value on every one we have been on, and best of all they do try to keep you away from all the souvenir sellers which often mar other tourist shore excisions.

 

Occasional glitches with errant guides who try tack them on anyway, but that is never the upfront part of most HAL cruises and those that do include "shopping experiences" tell you this up front.

 

Exhausting yes because a lot gets packed into some of them, that I agree. But we have found HAL passengers to be excellent shore excursion mates - show up on time, no complainers and amazingly agile even with known mobility challenges.

 

But yes, I also agree one can have very interesting experiences on their own just exploring the nearby sights. You get the real feel for the place, even if it is a port side cafe where the dock workers hang out. We visit these places for real life today, as much as for museums of what once they were. And the best guides give us background on both.

Edited July 31, 2015 by OlsSalt

[Scrapnana]

I love sea days, also. On my last cruise I made two port days into sea days by staying on the ship. Having the ship virtually to yourself is the best!

[kalliekae]

I agree with the op if we are in the Caribbean. We've done everything we have wanted to do on all the islands so we enjoy staying on board the ship. If we go on a rare excursion, we generally look for a short one. That said, we didn't miss any port excursions when we were on the Baltic and Mediterranean cruises. It was our first time in those ports and there was so much to see and do!

[Foggy Bay]

We loooove sea days. We pick cruises based on the amount of days at sea. It's not even that we don't care for the ports of call, or for the excursions (we love the excursions!), it's just that peace, that rolling motion, that feeling of nothing else to do but relax, relax, relax...what could be better? We lived on a boat in Alaska for 20 years, and having another person captain the ship while we laze about--is heaven. (Also having the teak in great shape with no effort on our part is an added bonus.)

 

Two thumbs way up for sea days.

[sppunk]

Sea days > most port days.

 

When we get to a point we can schedule it (ie retire), a full pacific crossing is in our future.

[blizzardboy]

Are you my long lost twin? I couldn't agree more.

[Globaliser]

In fact sometimes staying on board while most passengers are gone on tours all day can be some of the most wonderful and relaxing times ever when you have most of the ship to yourself, never have a line, can enjoy the crows nest in solitude etc.

I entirely agree.

 

The first time I did this, it was a bit of a joke, but it's now become a feature of Caribbean cruises. I'll board in Miami or Fort Lauderdale, and then next set foot on land a week later when the ship gets back there.

[Stratheden]

Having done about 60 cruises to a lot of ports I find more and more that I often prefer sea days to port calls.

 

Perhaps it's just being older/lazy etc but I do just love the freedom of a sea day where there are few serious decisions to be made.

 

Port calls can often be chaotic with too many people and too much hassle trying to negotiate with taxi mafias etc.

 

I often don't even bother to get off at some of the ports where I've been before or where I am going to have to deal with a lot of BS and hassles. The ones where you can walk into town or easily catch a shuttle or public transport are my favorites.

 

I really have no desire whatsoever to ride around on an overpriced overhyped tour bus all day. For me at many ports about three hours of roaming/walking around is plenty and I'm ready to go back aboard.

 

In fact sometimes staying on board while most passengers are gone on tours all day can be some of the most wonderful and relaxing times ever when you have most of the ship to yourself, never have a line, can enjoy the crows nest in solitude etc.

 

I do realize that a lot of passengers haven't been to the ports and are determined to see and do as much as possible in their limited time. Good for them. Go for it.

 

But the more I cruise the less appeal many of the ports hold for me.

 

How about you?

 

Totally agree with you. The more sea days the better.

[Hlitner]

Agree with the OP. One reason we took the transpacific cruise (on the Oosterdam) was because 12 of the first 14 days were at sea. And when we docked in Honolulu (the only stop in those first two weeks) DW had to nearly push me off the ship as I would have been content to just stay aboard.

 

Hank

[Caribbean Chris]

Same as OP. Figured out the joy of sea days on board my first cruise in 1977.

 

Once we were on a 21-day TA and the Captain announced we had to skip Madeira due to weather. Even though I'd never been there (still haven't) my first reaction was, "Yay! Another sea day." I think our first port was on Day Ten. Loved it.

[ger_77]

I love sea days, but wasn't sure DH would be quite as happy as I was when I booked our trans-Atlantic cruise last fall. DH is a type A personality who is on the go from morning till night, and even when he relaxes, is still doing it with purpose. Well, to my delight, he enjoyed the sea days as much (if not more) than I did. Even a few months later, he told me he really enjoyed the days at sea because there wasn't any pressure on him to have to do things, nothing needed fixing, the phones weren't ringing, and he didn't have to think about going ashore to "discover" things. I'm pretty sure we'll be booking another t/A fairly soon. ;)

 

Smooth Sailing! :) :) :)

[Snook]

Wow! My feelings exactly. I’m just now, the last week or so, looking at the cruises that I might be interested in and I come to the same conclusions, been there done that. One of the longer tours we took a few years ago included a long, very long, bus ride. The first couple of hours were just fine, but by the seventh hour, I was ready to get off and call a cab. I do like to get off the ship, walk around town for a while, and experience the locals as we did in Bar Harbor, Halifax and a few others. Now, I’m really looking at the shipboard activities with a new prospective, thinking, can we really enjoy a few days just staying on the ship while in port?

[Randyk47]

Sea days are alright as long as there aren't too many of them and no more than two in a 10-day cruise. If I want to just sit around and soak up the sun or sit outside on the patio I can do that at home. My worse cruise "nightmare" is a trans Atlantic with the five or six sea days in a row. :eek: I'd be a basket case after the second day. :D

Edited August 1, 2015 by Randyk47

[jtl513]

Sea days are alright as long as there aren't too many of them and no more than two in a 10-day cruise. If I want to just sit around and soak up the sun or sit outside on the patio I can do that at home.

Ditto. We cruise to see new ports, and try to choose itineraries with as few repeats as possible. On 17 HAL cruises we've been to 78 ports. We have a backyard pool and live a mile from the ocean, so don't go in water on cruises. The only sea day I like is the last day before debarkation because it gives me time to do some editing of my pictures. :D Edited August 1, 2015 by jtl513

[cruz chic]

Sea days are alright as long as there aren't too many of them and no more than two in a 10-day cruise. If I want to just sit around and soak up the sun or sit outside on the patio I can do that at home. My worse cruise "nightmare" is a trans Atlantic with the five or six sea days in a row. :eek: I'd be a basket case after the second day. :D

 

I'm the same way. The less sea days the better.

[take us away]

Dockman - you are so correct. Love the sea days, often do a quick look at a port that I have been to many times, then back on board (if I get off at all as agree that there are a few ports that are just not worth it again). Do a lot of research on ports which is part of the fun and it helps a lot for options. Do HAL tours if far to what I want to see, e.g. pyramids, Borabodur (sp??) just to be safer. Now that my DH is gone, may do more HAL tours in some ports, sorry to say. New ports have to be explored and I do keep a list of what I want to see in ports where we have previously docked in as you can only see/appreciate so much in the time in port. Example: next time in Florence will go to the Michelangelo museum. My favorite mix is about 1/2 and 1/2 sea days to port days.

[Cruising-along]

Sea days are alright as long as there aren't too many of them and no more than two in a 10-day cruise. If I want to just sit around and soak up the sun or sit outside on the patio I can do that at home. My worse cruise "nightmare" is a trans Atlantic with the five or six sea days in a row. :eek: I'd be a basket case after the second day. :D

 

Exactly how I feel. A sea day about every 3 days is perfect. I cruise for the ports, and to see the world.

[Vict0riann]

I like sea days - in fact I could do with probably 50% of the time being at sea. Love TAs. And I don't like too many port days in a row, three in a row is probably max. Then I need to take a day off to recover. Of course, if we've been to a port before, we can take it easier, and that would almost count as a sea day!

[OlsSalt]

Agree, port, port, port is just plain work. I need time to savor each one, or else I get home and they are all a jumble until I sort out the photos.