Carnival 3 vs 7 day cruises - Pros and Cons

[Luckiestmanonearth]

We usually do 7 night  but just had an opportunity for a 3 Nighter on the Victory, and of course , mostly like the 7 day

 

Any thoughts on pros vs cons for each ?

Edited November 28, 2019 by Luckiestmanonearth

[Yehootu]

Pro= 7 days

Con=3 days

Happy Thanksgiving

[Saint Greg]

1 hour ago, Yehootu said:

Pro= 7 days

Con=3 days

Happy Thanksgiving

exactly 

[VentureMan_2000]

Have never done a 3-day... but on the face of it, I would fathom that folks do the 3-days to let off a little steam before heading back to work.  A 7 day would be a vacation.

[tandemcruzr]

We did a 4 day/3 day/4 day B2B2B on the Liberty earlier this year (Feb). The 4 days were pretty calm. The aft pool was adults only and there was a large group on the 3 day leg that had to be removed from the pool by Security. One of them could hardly walk after she got out of the water. And the 3 day was over the weekend, so it looked like it was meant to be a party cruise for that group.

[Tapi]

I did a couple of 3 nighters when I lived in Miami. Never thought of them as a real vacation, but more of something convenient to do on a weekend. While they are fun, they are not necessarily relaxing, and they are too short to allow me to settle into “cruise mode”. By the time I start getting in the rhythm of things, it’s over. And because they are short, fellow cruisers tend to want to pack too much into the short amount of time, making the general atmosphere feel more hectic. 
 

Since I moved away from Miami, I don’t do 3 nighters anymore. At a minimum, I look at 4 night cruises and I usually add a night or two at a hotel before the cruise, and that seems long enough to feel like a vacation. 

[cruisinmeme]

We have NEVER done a 3 day or 4 day.  5 day many times but i will say you spend the first day getting on the ship and all the craziness that goes with it. The last day is the getting off craziness. So i would call it a one day cruise. I would be more worn out doing a 3 day.  We prefer 7 day.  Done a 9 day once and that was a bit too long.

just my 2 cents

[cdm289]

I've done 3 day cruises.  My experience is that there were more partying type of people but nothing out of hand.  People needed to pack in more in 3 days versus relaxing.  I am a go-to-sleep-early-wake-up-early type of gal and so mornings were nice and quiet.  I also found that people were more casual and lots of people eating on the Lido.  That being said, would I take another 3 day again.  Sure!  Would I prefer a longer cruise?  Yes, because the longer I am on a cruise the better.  

 

[Markmom18]

I live an hour away from Long Beach Port (California).  While I much prefer 7 day cruises, I have a great time on the 4 Day & even the 3 Day cruises.  I no longer drink, so seeing folks getting wasted is an excellent reminder to myself of why I don't.   But, seriously, I just do my own things onboard with my family & always have had a fantastic time. 😁😁

Edited November 29, 2019 by Markmom18

[sparks1093]

13 hours ago, Tapi said:

I did a couple of 3 nighters when I lived in Miami. Never thought of them as a real vacation, but more of something convenient to do on a weekend. While they are fun, they are not necessarily relaxing, and they are too short to allow me to settle into “cruise mode”. By the time I start getting in the rhythm of things, it’s over. And because they are short, fellow cruisers tend to want to pack too much into the short amount of time, making the general atmosphere feel more hectic. 
 

Since I moved away from Miami, I don’t do 3 nighters anymore. At a minimum, I look at 4 night cruises and I usually add a night or two at a hotel before the cruise, and that seems long enough to feel like a vacation. 

I second this, although we've only experience with 4 nighters. Back then we were told that a 4 night cruise cannot compare to a 7 night cruise and that is right, the feel of each is different. I don't see us ever doing a 3 or 4 night cruise again unless we are in the port area anyway and want to just have a quick get away.

[kctwinmommy]

We did a 3-night with 3 other couples because 2 of them had never cruised and were unsure. It just went to the Bahamas, spent the night, and came back. It was nice, but nothing exciting. We spent a few extra days in the area before we left then too, just to justify the flight price for us. I could see, like others said, if you lived close to a port and could just hop on a 3-day one, it would be like a weekend getaway for us land-locked people. LOL! We did travel again with the same 3 couples the next year and then they were ready for the 7 day one! We didn't have any problems on the 3-day one though, it was nice, warm, sunshine, pools, all the things this cold weather girl would love in November!

[Cruise-Crazy]

The 3 day cruises are a great weekend getaway. I do two or three a year because I only miss one day of work.  I like to do a 7 day at the end of the year as a real vacation. If I didn’t live in Miami I wouldn’t do all the 3 day cruises, airfare would make not worth it.  

 

the 3 day ones tend to have a lot more party people. 

[HillBilly Bob]

20 hours ago, Luckiestmanonearth said:

.... but just had an opportunity for a 3 Nighter on the Victory

 

Unless you live near the port, I can't see going to the trouble of a 3 day cruise.   Just too much trouble/travel time to endure for such a short amount of time at sea.  

[evandbob]

I booked our one and only 4 day cruise just as an experiment for Evelyn to try sailing and see how she re-acted.  Her fear of being seasick had kept her from ever cruising, so I sailed solo for a few years until she came around to trying it.

 

Now we book 10 day or longer sailings as we look at a week long cruise as too short.  We did a 15 day TA back in May, will be doing a Norway fjord 9 day this June, and a 2 week round Cape Horn and the Straits of Magellan in 2021.

[Theosprey247]

I do a 4 day cruise every other year. They are fine only too short. 

[RandomUser123]

If I lived in Miami or Port Canaveral area I probably would give the 3 dayers a try as a good way to blow off some steam on a weekend. Would probably actually purchase Cheers then. I figure I could get my moneys worth then as opposed to 7 days. 

[sparks1093]

1 hour ago, evandbob said:

I booked our one and only 4 day cruise just as an experiment for Evelyn to try sailing and see how she re-acted.  Her fear of being seasick had kept her from ever cruising, so I sailed solo for a few years until she came around to trying it.

 

Now we book 10 day or longer sailings as we look at a week long cruise as too short.  We did a 15 day TA back in May, will be doing a Norway fjord 9 day this June, and a 2 week round Cape Horn and the Straits of Magellan in 2021.

We used a 2 night CTN to see if we liked the concept and to look for potential triggers for our autistic son. It was just enough to let us know that we'd love it. Our hope is to do longer cruises someday, but right now 7 nights is all we can manage with schedules, etc.

[Joebucks]

For me, a 3 day is great when you or your group has a limited availability. It is also a more lively bunch. Although I have not done a 3 day. I have done quite a few 4 day. I can't imagine there is much difference. It all ends too quickly. They are great when partnered with a short land vacation.

 

A 7 day gives you the chance to experience a lot more. There are also a few things thrown in that you cannot get on a 3 day like included lobster, certain shows, etc. Some days the party dies down a little because people get exhausted.

 

I also feel Cheers is more reasonable on a shorter cruise. Even after 4 days, I am done with drinking. A 7 day is unreasonable for me.

[M2LR]

We do shorter cruises because my youngest (5) isn't really into the kids club yet and too short to do some of the really cool activities on the newer ships so I think we might get bored.  Right now we do a short cruise and have time to pair it with other stuff.  Last time we did it with Disney, this time we'll do a 5 day out of Galveston and have time in Houston for the zoo, space center and Natural History Museum.  Once they are older I'd love to do a full week on a ship like the new Mardi gras but right now the shorter cruises fit us better 

[adventuredancer]

i dont like the 3 or 4 day cruises because its not long enough for me to fully reach vacay mode. that said, we do occassionally take them, but we live in a port city that has a variety of cruise lengths. but if it was more than our 20 min drive to the port, it wouldn't be worth it to me. 5 days is the minimum, but i love the week long. we are scheduled to go on a 9 day in May, but i am going crazy with waiting

[cruisequeen4ever]

Pros:

cheap

gives you a bonus cruise

doesn't require much time off from work

You can cram a lot of fun into a short period of time
 

Cons:
You’ll be sad getting off so soon

Known as booze cruises so can have some craziness 

[RumpunchGirl]

I just did a 3 night cruise on Victory in Oct. I really enjoyed it. I couldn't take off the whole week so this was a great get away until my next vacation. Really enjoyed the ship and the ocean. Did not experience a "booze cruise" atmosphere at all. But the comedy shows were fabulous!

[simplelife]

We have done several 5 day - It's a week's vacation if you do something special to day before and the day after.

[rukkian]

We did a three day for our honeymoon, but it was packed together with 4 days at disney first.  It was a good bit of relaxation, but that was in 97, when things were way different.  Unless you are already in the area, I can't see ever doing less than 7 days in the future, since we have to fly down anyways.

[nissach]

We did a 3 day once out of Long Beach.  Because we fly in from Canada the dates did not jive right to do a longer cruise, so we decided we would do the 3 day and then spend a few days in Long Beach and LA too.  For me, it is too short and the cruise is over before it feels like it has started.