What to expect on a 34 day cruise?

[Ineke]

At the end of next month, DH and I will be embarking on a 34 day cruise which, for us, will be more than twice as long as any previous cruise we have taken.  It’s exciting, but as the date comes closer, the inevitable questions start to come up: What are you guys going to do all those days?  Won’t you get tired.of the same food every day?  Don’t they repeat the shows every week?  And so on, and so on.  

Our response is that we’re not sure!  All you seasoned long-cruise veterans - what is your input?  Any suggestions?  DH usually likes to sit on the back deck and read, but that’s going to get old after a bit.  I hope to attend some computer workshops, bring some knitting or other crafty stuff, etc. but what else can we look forward to?  In port, we’ll take a few tours in the places we haven’t been before (anything South of Panama).  Will there be a ‘crossing the equator’ celebration?

Thanks for your help!

[Scrapnana]

If you are going on back to back cruises the food and entertainment might repeat.  If it is one long cruise, this is not as likely.

 

See if you can get a group of people together on your roll call to knit/craft on sea days.  I never get bored on sea days and often find there are more things to do than I have time for.  Depending on the itinerary there may also be guest lecturers.

 

Chances are good there will be a crossing the equator event.

[RuthC]

What the 34 days is like will depend a lot on whether it's a true 34-day cruise, or a succession of back to back cruises, whether it's totally port intensive, alternating ports and sea days, or lots of port days at one end and lots of sea days at the other.

If it's truly one long cruise, then you will find a very different pace than shorter cruises. It's slower, more relaxed. The frenzy to do-do, go-go, see it all is not there, since there is always tomorrow to do, or see, or even eat that tasty whatever. You won't gain as much weight as one week times five. A sort of routine sets in, more like real life in a sense.
If this is separate cruises, the pace will be more active, though, since the others won't be on for as long.

If there is to be a long succession of sea days, you should expect several lecture series, on a variety of topics. There should also be several activities during the day, although not nearly as much going on as in years past.

Yes, there will be a King Neptune ceremony, which is always loads of fun. Get there early for a good seat.

[RobTheGob]

We've been on a 31 day NCL cruise (2016), a 30 day RCCL cruise (spring 2019) and we're gonna be on the same 34 day cruise leaving from Vancouver on the Amsterdam. This will be by far the smallest ship we've been on!

 

We found the food on the NCL cruise to have more variety and less "overlap", compared to the RCCL cruise. Our NCL cruise had *many* ports and very few back to back sea days. Our RCCL cruise had fewer ports and a 4 day and a 5 day stretch of back to back sea days - we survived them, but would have preferred the stretches to be shorter...

 

The Amsterdam cruise has quite a few ports and the sea day stretches are limited to two days! We're *hoping* the food on HAL is good (and hopefully with as much variety as NCL).

 

NCL is known for their entertainment and has never let us down, RCCL was better than we expected. We're not really sure what to expect from the Amsterdam when it comes to entertainment...

 

The Amsterdam looks like it has lots of interesting outside areas to hang around - that should help us on the sea days!

 

Have you found the roll calls for this cruise? I think there are 2 or 3 of them - the main one is the 35 day version, leaving from Seattle.

[Ken the cruiser]

We'll be on a 40 day cruise on the Maasdam starting in early October, which includes circumnavigating Australia! We plan on going to lectures, playing trivia, going to evening shows when they have them, watching Deep Space Nine or Voyager Dvds we plan on bringing, checking email and FB as we purchased the unlimited internet package and, of course, go on HAL excursions when we're in port. Of course, we will also be eating mostly in the MDR unless it's a port day. We also plan on walking 2 miles on sea days around the promenade to burn off all those calories. Of course, we'll also go to any game shows or any other fun thing they might offer to do, although I'm not sure they still have them. 

 

But, the bottom line is, we plan on having fun the entire 40 days!! After all, we'll be on a cruise!! 

[Sir PMP]

What to expect? Nothing but pleasure..

[dockman]

7 hours ago, Ken the cruiser said:

We'll be on a 40 day cruise on the Maasdam starting in early October, which includes circumnavigating Australia! We plan on going to lectures, playing trivia, going to evening shows when they have them, watching Deep Space Nine or Voyager Dvds we plan on bringing, checking email and FB as we purchased the unlimited internet package and, of course, go on HAL excursions when we're in port. Of course, we will also be eating mostly in the MDR unless it's a port day. We also plan on walking 2 miles on sea days around the promenade to burn off all those calories. Of course, we'll also go to any game shows or any other fun thing they might offer to do, although I'm not sure they still have them. 

 

But, the bottom line is, we plan on having fun the entire 40 days!! After all, we'll be on a cruise!! 

 2 mile walk will burn maybe 200 calories....oh how i wish that a two mile walk would really burn off those extra calories on a 40 day cruise....maybe 20 miles a day would do it?

[taxmantoo]

10 hours ago, RuthC said:

Yes, there will be a King Neptune ceremony, which is always loads of fun. Get there early for a good seat.

Don't sit TOO CLOSE 

[CruiserBruce]

The King Neptune ceremony is a lot of fun. Everyone really gets into it, and the typically very warm temps seem to encourage the staff activities. But it can be a little tough on the pax watching.

[KirkNC]

2 hours ago, dockman said:

 2 mile walk will burn maybe 200 calories....oh how i wish that a two mile walk would really burn off those extra calories on a 40 day cruise....maybe 20 miles a day would do it?

 

True but if you do that walk every day it actually will raise your resting (I believe it is called Basel rate) rate so you burn more calories all day long.

[Ken the cruiser]

2 hours ago, dockman said:

 2 mile walk will burn maybe 200 calories....oh how i wish that a two mile walk would really burn off those extra calories on a 40 day cruise....maybe 20 miles a day would do it?

Good point! But as long as we eat sensibly, that's 200 calories x 40 days we don't have to worry about at the end of the cruise. In any event it is one of the many things we enjoy doing together which helps to keep us healthy. Using the stairs instead of the elevator is another healthy event we like doing together.

[dockman]

52 minutes ago, Ken the cruiser said:

Good point! But as long as we eat sensibly, that's 200 calories x 40 days we don't have to worry about at the end of the cruise. In any event it is one of the many things we enjoy doing together which helps to keep us healthy. Using the stairs instead of the elevator is another healthy event we like doing together.

 I try to walk ten miles a day...five in morning and five in the afternoon.  I love walking the prom decks on the HAL ships that still have good ones wide enough to walk and still have room for some nice teak chairs.  It is one of the most important features that a ship can have for my taste. 

 

Unfortunately the bean counters seem to win in eliminating them or making them absurdly narrow as they don't generate revenues....to this I say the Marketing department needs to grow a spine and say revenues are also lost when customers who love a proper walking deck decide to not cruise on a ship that lacks this feature.  If the bean counters win every "revenue" argument we will soon see further cut backs in a variety of now included features, cover charges for shows, more for fee dining, and lots of other things that are the very items that have made cruising so very popular over the years.

[jimdee3636]

14 hours ago, Ineke said:

At the end of next month, DH and I will be embarking on a 34 day cruise which, for us, will be more than twice as long as any previous cruise we have taken.  It’s exciting, but as the date comes closer, the inevitable questions start to come up: What are you guys going to do all those days?  Won’t you get tired.of the same food every day?  Don’t they repeat the shows every week?  And so on, and so on.  

Our response is that we’re not sure!  All you seasoned long-cruise veterans - what is your input?  Any suggestions?  DH usually likes to sit on the back deck and read, but that’s going to get old after a bit.  I hope to attend some computer workshops, bring some knitting or other crafty stuff, etc. but what else can we look forward to?  In port, we’ll take a few tours in the places we haven’t been before (anything South of Panama).  Will there be a ‘crossing the equator’ celebration?

Thanks for your help!

I think you're doing the 34-day version (Vancouver to Lima round-trip) of the 30-day (San Diego round-trip) cruise that my wife and I did on the Volendam this past February and March. Like you, our prior cruises had never been longer than 17 days, so we had some of the same concerns you do. As others have said, relax and have a good time. Our cruise consisted of 16 sea days and 14 port days, and there were never more than three sea days in a row (and that was only once). We had been on transatlantics having as many as seven sea days in a row, so three was easy to deal with and actually quite relaxing.

 

We knew that not gaining weight would be a challenge, so we agreed ahead of time to set a few rules for ourselves: no alcoholic beverages before cocktail hour (despite our having the "elite" beverage package), no desserts at lunch, no extra portions of bacon, eggs, hash-browns, or smoked salmon at lido breakfasts. Combined with our usual exercise routines (stairs-only---I've never been on a cruise ship elevator---and gym workouts every sea day), those "rules" kept us from gaining a single pound, and we never felt deprived.

 

One tip: bring plenty of sunscreen and wide-brimmed hats. Virtually all the places you're sailing to are hot and humid---REALLY hot and humid. I'm something of an exercise fanatic, but I learned to walk very slowly in places like Corinto, Puntarenas, and Panama City.

[kazu]

I actually have found I gain little weight on a longer cruise (33 days is my longest, though).

 

I guess I’m like RuthC - you don’t need to have everything every day like you would on a 7 day cruise.  The night there are escargots is an exception for me, of course 😉 

 

DH and I will order one dessert with 2 forks, have our taste and we’re happy.

 

As my mother taught me long ago - you can eat anything in moderation 😉 

 

Love longer cruises as you get into “cruise mode”.  But, it’s amazing how fast those days go by!

 

 

[JimnKaren]

Twice we have been on 42-day itineraries. Lots of time crossing the Atlantic (both ways). I read; we were on ships with good libraries, although I did take my e-reader with me. Karen knits, she would spend several hours on each sea day knitting with other needleworkers and has become on-line friends with several of them.

On longer cruises, one has an opportunity to really get to know the other passengers (if you wish). We have cruise with several people on different ships and it is fun to cruise with them again (without planning it out).

We have no problem with being 'cool' on a long cruise. We don't need lots and lots and lots of fun things to do all the time, we are way past that with our lives. If you want, spend some money and get on Cruise Critic every day and let everyone know how the cruise is going for you.

Jim

[wyobean]

We did 39 days, Vancouver to New Zealand. It was awesome. Met tons of new friends, played games, went to the shows, watched some movies, read books, walked the promenade deck(numerous times). We really have to work at being bored...just doesn’t happen. 

[Ineke]

For us, weight gain is not an issue, actually DH usually loses a few pounds because he snacks less than at home, just because the snacks are not close at hand.  Neither of us are big eaters, so half portions work well for us.  And we seldom eat lunch while cruising, so we should be fine.  Of course there may be a glass of wine with dinner, and also at happy hour, but that’s part of the special things we do when on holidays!  Sure looking forward to it.

[pmjnh]

I bet you will love it! Our longest cruise was 21 days. One thing I found was that after 2 weeks or so, we got a bit tired of the food . Not that the food wasn't wonderful, but we found that we really wanted to try the food in different ports. We found that this was important. Hard to explain why, but have lunches out when in port whenever you can. You not only support local economy but it kick-starts your taste buds when on a long cruise!

[RedmondCruiser]

There will be 5 gala nights and since many of the people on the ship will be on for the whole 34-35 days they normally try not to repeat menu's.  We did this cruise out of San Diego two years ago for 32 days.  It was our longest cruise and after a while you tend to get into a routine.  I found it very relaxing.   We will be getting on in Seattle so hope to see you at the MG.  I can't speak about the entertainment since I rarely go to the shows.

 

You will have a great time.

 

 

[rtdiva]

On 8/21/2019 at 9:58 PM, Sir PMP said:

What to expect? Nothing but pleasure..

I have to chime in: we’ve sailed on Holland for two months a few years back, called the Asian Pacific Rim Cruise, as I was rushing to an activity, one of the crew, who become like a second family said “ You are on vacation, relax”.

 

The cuisine was never boring, eating too much was an issue because we had late dining. Just join in all of the silly games and contest, it’s fun! And yes, the lecture series are not to be missed. And books! 

 

The ports were amazing, with a lot of experience to share with dinner mates, who too, became close friends. Plus we have great stories to share even now at dinner parties.

 

The only time I felt restless was on the section returning home from Samoa to Honolulu. 

 

This year we are on a World Cruise Jan. - mid April. As we are aging, we feel it it is necessary to fill that cruise bucket list!

 

Have fun! 

Ann