Query re longer cruises

[Bizmark'sMom]

3 weeks is my happy limit on travel in general.  Shorter than 2 weeks, and it all feels too rushed. After 3 weeks, I want my home - my pets, my stuff, and my normal schedule.

[geoherb]

Our limit has been three weeks away. As long as my mother-in-law is alive, I doubt we'll go for that again. We did 19 days away this fall with a night on the flight, then two nights in London, and 16 nights on a transatlantic. 

[Slugsta]

Our longest was this year's round-trip Southampton to Quebec, 24 days. I loved it, especially the sea days (which is just as well as there were a lot of them!) but OH felt it was a bit too long. However, as I can't fly these days, cruising is the only way we can get anywhere, so I suspect we will do longer trips as and when the finances allow. Next year is a 'shortie', 16 days in the Baltics 🙂

 

OP, for every person who says 7 days is enough, you will find one who say 100 days is too short - and vice versa.

[cb at sea]

I start getting tired of the ship's offerings after about 8 days....ready to do something different!

 

[Shmoo here]

Our first "long" cruise was our first cruise (ever).  15 nights Panama Canal.  Just fell in love with it.  Our next one we did a B2B 10 night Med cruise/14 night westbound TA.  That's when I found that along about day 20, I get real tired of having to go "out" for dinner every night and select something from a menu to eat.  But I still enjoyed the rest of the cruise stuff.

 

Since then we've done 30 nights (B2B river cruises);  19 night Alaska cruise/tour;  21 night Panama Canal; 18 night B2B2B Bahama/Caribbean; and 28 night Hawaii/Tahiti.

 

We've also done several 7, 10, 11, and 14 night cruises.

 

 

[GUT2407]

I find it interesting the different number of days, some classify as a “longer” cruise.

[ldubs]

I just can't really get into the idea of being on a cruise ship for more than 2 weeks.  Even two weeks is going to be pushing things if the itinerary is not port intensive.   But that is just me and the one thing I guess we can all agree with is we are all wired differently.   

[Flatbush Flyer]

5 hours ago, GUT2407 said:

I find it interesting the different number of days, some classify as a “longer” cruise.

Yes. Isn't it interesting how anyone could call a cruise less than 14 nights "long?"👀

[Hlitner]

7 hours ago, Flatbush Flyer said:

Yes. Isn't it interesting how anyone could call a cruise less than 14 nights "long?"👀

Guess it is all relevant.  When we only took 7 day cruises a 14 day cruise was "long."  Now, we would not consider anything "long" until it was at least 30 days.  We met an elderly lady on HAL who was on our 5th cruise which was the 62 day Grand Med cruise.  Over lunch she mentioned something about our "short cruise."  It turned out that her first 4 cruises (when her DH was alive) were each full World Cruises over 100 days.  So that 62 day was short to her.

 

Hank

[ansui]

Thanks to everyone for taking the time to give us their perspective on a 32 day cruise and our hesitation. You all gave me lots to think about. Glad to see my fellow Canadians are ardent cruisers too! 

Best regards to you all happy cruising and Happy New Year.

[ducklite]

I would never book a cruise longer than 14 days until I'd cruise on any particular ship--not just the line, but the actual ship.  If I loved it, I'd book a long trip without hesitation.  If I just "liked" it, nope.  Those little things that make it just a like will turn it into major buyers remorse by the end of the cruise.

[calliopecruiser]

1 hour ago, ducklite said:

Those little things that make it just a like will turn it into major buyers remorse by the end of the cruise.

Or, possibly, you'd learn to overlook those things and mentally prioritize the other things you like more.  Kind of like when you move into a new apartment that has a small bathroom and it drives you nuts.....for the first little while, until it becomes your normal and it doesn't bother you anymore. 

[Hlitner]

1 hour ago, ducklite said:

I would never book a cruise longer than 14 days until I'd cruise on any particular ship--not just the line, but the actual ship.  If I loved it, I'd book a long trip without hesitation.  If I just "liked" it, nope.  Those little things that make it just a like will turn it into major buyers remorse by the end of the cruise.

We would easily book a much longer cruise (even several months in length) on a ship we have never cruised.  Over many decades of cruising we have found that a ship we might like on one cruise is much less likeable on another cruise.  Why?  Crews change, passengers change, executive chefs change, hotel managers change.  The design of a ship is not that important to us as we simply find our own niche on any vessel.  In most cases we have found that it is the people that make the cruise.  And if a new ship (to us) was doing a fabulous itinerary we would generally not hesitate to book.  Our least favorite ship (currently sailing) is HAL's Rotterdam (we have quite a few good reasons not to like this vessel) yet we did book another cruise (38 days) because of the itinerary.  And we did not like the ship anymore on that cruise...but we still enjoyed the cruise, crew, and fellow passengers.  As to the ship, we just sucked it up, acknowledged that there was much not to like, and enjoyed every day :).

 

Hank

[Lois R]

Hi, interesting reading about people's different views on this topic. I have been gone for 2 weeks before.....but the

cruise was probably 10/11 days with pre-cruise attached.....so 13 or 14 total days total.

 

I just retired (12/31) and will be going on my first TA CROSSING in April which is 16 days. Once the ship

arrives in Barcelona I am then flying to Lisbon for another 10 days...3 days land trip with a 7 day river cruise on

the Douro following--then I am staying 2 nights in Madrid. So I will be gone 28 nights and I can't wait.

I have no pets/family here so it is just me and I am so looking forward to this trip!!!! MY TIME!!!!!!!

[ldubs]

On 11/29/2019 at 4:48 PM, Hlitner said:

We love longer cruises and think that 60 days is ideal (although we have cruised longer).  There is a segment of the cruising public that loves long cruises (we belong to that group) and do not get bored, tired, etc.  Good cruise lines try to vary the entertainment (although you may get repeats of Production shows).  Depending on the line the menus might constantly change (items may be repeated but they alter the daily groupings).  And consider even if you do get the same menu there are multiple choices.

 

I will be honest and say that we have seen some folks who hated being on a long cruise.   It just did not fit their personality.  I think those that need to be constantly busy are the most likely to suffer.  For DW and I, a long cruise means we have lots of time to read, socialize, and relax.  Sure, we do sometimes go to a lecture or activity, but like many long cruisers we are very capable of entertaining ourselves.  

 

My suggestion  to the OP is to gradually work up to really long cruises.  If you have already tried something around 14 days and were happy, then go ahead and see about a 30 day.  Keep increasing the days and you will quickly discover whether it is for you.  The first time we took a 62 day cruise (on a 800 passenger ship) we had our doubts.  But the last night of our cruise DW looked at me and said, "I could do another 62."  I share that feeling.  In fact, we could probably do a 100 day cruise that was all sea days :).

 

Hank

 

Last paragraph is great advice to someone on how to work up to longer cruises.   I'm probably the guy you are talking about in your second paragraph.  Before we would do land trips or cruises (with a day or two tacked on sometimes).  Lately it seems we are started to do land trips in combination with cruises.  And, it seems the cruise part is getting shorter, but of course that depends on the location and available itineraries.   Mrs Ldubs retires later this month.  I expect there will be a quantum shift in how we plan vacations.  It will be interesting to see what happens.   

[Hlitner]

12 minutes ago, ldubs said:

 

Last paragraph is great advice to someone on how to work up to longer cruises.   I'm probably the guy you are talking about in your second paragraph.  Before we would do land trips or cruises (with a day or two tacked on sometimes).  Lately it seems we are started to do land trips in combination with cruises.  And, it seems the cruise part is getting shorter, but of course that depends on the location and available itineraries.   Mrs Ldubs retires later this month.  I expect there will be a quantum shift in how we plan vacations.  It will be interesting to see what happens.   

We still have our own personal issues with cruises vs land.  As lifelong independent travelers we do not suffer any of the hang ups about things like language barriers, using public transit, renting cars, etc.  But the reality of cruising is that it quickly makes many get used to not having to deal with hauling around luggage, going through the check-in check--out hassles, etc.  At times we find ourselves just getting lazy and booking longer cruises with less time on land.  But this year we are turning back the clock and have increased our land time and complexity (in conjunction with cruises).  The fact remains that cruises do not give folks enough time for quality time ashore.  Spending only a port day in places like Florence or Kyoto is almost criminal.  And then there are all the fabulous places that are not accessible from cruise ships.  Besides, anytime I suggest to DW that we spend a few days (or even weeks) in Paris I get a big smile :).  That is worth any minor hassle with handling our luggage.

 

Hank

[Markanddonna]

Our longest was 23 days and I started to tire of cruising around day 19. The shine and awesomeness ran dry. I want to be excited and interested while I cruise, not just endure the experience. 

[donaldsc]

The longest cruise we have done on is maybe 24 or 25 days.  However, we have done 35 to 40 day trips combining a land trip w a cruise.  I could probably do a longer cruise as long as it was port intensive.  The problem is that most long cruises have a lot of sea days and I absolutely hate sea days.  Also I would need to have good internet options not because I want to talk w anyone but I can check out library books to my Kindle for only 21 days.  I would need to be able to take out new books every 21 days.  The only thing that keeps me sane on sea days is the Kindle.

 

Actually my best case scenario would be 24 - 30 day cruises with 10 - 15 day land trips between cruises.

 

As far as needing to go home because I miss home, as far as I am concerned home is a state of mind and not a place.

 

DON

Edited January 6, 2020 by donaldsc

[jingels]

Love the longer cruises but depends on what you like.  Have now done several TA 27-30 days and plan to do more.  Like others, fly to your favorite city near the port several days early to visit, get on the ship (we love sea days) to the destination and then spend more time there.  
 

Old school - we are members of the OATC (Openly Addicted To Cruising) group.

 

Jeffrey and Jeanne

[clo]

On 1/6/2020 at 11:28 AM, ducklite said:

I would never book a cruise longer than 14 days until I'd cruise on any particular ship--not just the line, but the actual ship.  If I loved it, I'd book a long trip without hesitation.  If I just "liked" it, nope.  Those little things that make it just a like will turn it into major buyers remorse by the end of the cruise.

What a good point!

[clo]

On 1/6/2020 at 1:46 PM, Lois R said:

Once the ship

arrives in Barcelona

Have you already spent time in Barcelona, one of my absolute favorite cities?

[SargassoPirate]

I always say you've gotta be somewhere, so why not on a cruise?  My record single cruise so far was a 49 night cruise around the Horn of South America.  I now have a 99 night world cruise booked.  She Who Must Be Obeyed does not like to be on a cruise much more than 30 days or so, such as a transpacific back from Australia, so when I did the around the Horn cruise I went with a brother and some friends.  So far, it's just me on the world cruise.   

 

We have a pact that we will not have regrets about things we wished we had done but didn't.  So far, it's working out.

 

 

[Lois R]

10 hours ago, clo said:

Have you already spent time in Barcelona, one of my absolute favorite cities?

Yes, been there multiple times.