Do you cruise 'just' for itineraries or are sea days important?

[Ombud]

As another thread has me wondering if we go for itineraries, sea days, or a combination of both? I love sea days but itineraries are relevant.

(Is it really the attainment of elite status that causes cruisers to go astray to other cruise lines?

By CarelessAndConfused, 14 hours ago in Princess Cruises) 

On sea days I love music, reading, no timelines......

[RocketMan275]

We prefer port days when everyone else is off enjoying their excursions leaving us to enjoy an uncrowded cruise ship.

[Laurie S.]

Itineraries, sea days are boring.

[riffatsea]

Agree that for us the itinerary is the most important thing!!

[Lucky TGO]

19 minutes ago, RocketMan275 said:

We prefer port days when everyone else is off enjoying their excursions leaving us to enjoy an uncrowded cruise ship.

Rocket Man, I totally agree with you. 👍

Tony

[Cruiser_1977]

I like Sea Days. I vacation to relax and often find Port Days to leave me exhausted and worried about time. Therefore, I like an even-ish mix of both. My next itinerary is three ports and three sea days. I think that's a good mix.

Edited December 27, 2019 by JennyB1977

[tourismtessy]

48 minutes ago, RocketMan275 said:

We prefer port days when everyone else is off enjoying their excursions leaving us to enjoy an uncrowded cruise ship.

We enjoy the same!  Honestly don't care where the ship goes, we just enjoy the ship!

[memoak]

Sea days are my favorite. That is why we like TA’s and Hawaii cruises.  Really helps to recharge the batteries 

[exbiologist]

If I want a travel experience, I don’t cruise.  I find there’s not enough time in port to actually see and experience what I’m after.  That being said,  I do want to have some stops in interesting places.

 

So for me, cruising is not immersive enough,  and port days are sometimes done at breakneck speed.  What I like about cruising is the all inclusive floating resort with different views and minor flavor differences each day.  So I love sea days as a chance to relax and plan when I’ve got busy port days.

 

Not sure how I’m gonna like this next cruise that has 3 sea days and three port days in a round trip.  However I’m traveling with old friends I’ve hardly seen in 20 years so, so it’ll give us a ton of time to hang out and catch up.  Plus Cabo, Mazatlan and Puerto Vallarta aren’t places I’m normally looking for when I travel.  In fact, this time I could care less about the ports and wanted a cool vacation on a cool ship.

 

This format should work well for what I’m doing, so Yeah I like sea days.

Edited December 27, 2019 by exbiologist

[voljeep]

we are still just lowly , non-worldwide , short , inside cabin,  cruisers at least for another year … work, life, and other priorities and all ...

 

Princess has limited 3-4-5 day cruises out of our drive to home port, so we look at compatible dates, price, then itinerary ( been there , done that eastern, western ) 

 

with that stated, we have been very fortunate to have been to Alaska (7), Panama, partial (10), Southern (10), a few 7days and a few 3-4-5 days , from an inside , OV, balcony, true AFT balcony, and even an upsell to a PH

 

we've also were able to accept a move-over offer from a 5 day western to a 7 day eastern

 

the 'original' Big Red Boat, couple on RCCL's, an NCL, a Barnival and my wife even went on a little 2 day girls cruise on what ever ship that is out of south florida somewhere

 

9 different Princess ships … 

[drowelf]

46 minutes ago, riffatsea said:

Agree that for us the itinerary is the most important thing!!

For us its definitely the itineraries. But having a few sea days for downtime and recharge is greatly appreciated. We did a circumnavigation of Iceland a couple of years ago. It was 7 port days in a row and by the end, we really needed that sea day on the way to the Shetland Islands. 

[XBGuy]

Aren't sea days part of the itinerary?

[tmt218]

It depends on what type of cruise  I'm looking for. If I want a laid back do nothing type cruise I'll pick a cruise for the ship, close to home, and price. I will enjoy the the ship while everyone is in port. If it happens to be a port I love I'll so ashore. 

 

If I'm looking for a  go and see type vacation , I'll pick an itinerary with ports I haven't been to before. 

[skynight]

Both. Depends on the itinerary. Caribbean itineraries, don't care so much about the ports, they all blend together after a few years. Transatlantic/Pacific, it's a combination of seldom visited ports along with the restful sea days. Europe, South America,for us anyway, it's the ports. After a while it's just get me on a ship with no cleaning, cooking or other chores.

[franktown]

Cruises for us are mainly for relaxation.  We enjoy sea days and the ship.  We will get off the ship in ports but usually just for a visit to a beach or leisurely stroll.  We take land vacations when we really want to see a place.

[Thrak]

Itineraries are important but we absolutely must have a decent number of sea days. We've only done one (14 day) Caribbean cruise and we found it exhausting. So many ports one after another. On the other hand we loved the 28 day Hawaii/South Pacific cruise with 18 sea days. Granted, the final 8 sea days in a row is a fairly long stretch but we were fine with it.

[jondfk]

We really prefer port days when the ship empties out, if we've been to the same port before (and sometimes even if we haven't) we skip going ashore and take advantage of the "quiet ship".

 

Honestly, more important than either is proximity.  When possible we prefer to drive to the pier, at least one direction, being California based that leaves us with few options and Princess is the only line with a ship based in our home port of San Francisco.  These factors overcome itinerary or sea day / port day considerations.  

[crystalspin]

Love sea days. Have five cruises booked over the next 14 months and all have fair number of seadays, with the southern/eastern Caribbean having the lowest proportion of seadays, but any number of drink-on-a-beach ports.

 

Our last two cruises were transAtlantics. Our one Mediterranean cruise (post-TA) was exhausting and I would now research and find two or three ports just to stay on the ship (Monte Carlo I'm looking at you).

[Mike45LC]

I need a proper mix of port days and sea days.  This summer, we took a Mediterranean cruise on the Edge, and if I recall correctly, we had only one sea day.  That was a waste, because I did not get to take advantage of the Spa enough (Aqua class), or some of the amazing features of the ship.  Every port, we were running around in an organized excursion, five days straight.  

 

My most frequent cruise is the Mex Riv out of San Pedro.  Three sea days, three port days, all in ports that I have visited MANY times.  I still get off the ship at every port, but it is low key, with no organized excursions, very relaxing.  3 and 3 is a perfect mix for me.

 

[sun&sea]

Our priorities are:

• Warm weather (we cruise to escape winter)
• Nice ship
• Great cabin
• Mix of ports/sea days

If we want to really visit a country or region, that would be a land vacation.

[Wellou2]

Have done port intensive cruises and had a great time.  Next year trying a sea day intensive cruise.  We picked this as an opportunity to relax and recharge and most of the ports are at the start of the cruise and it finishes with just one port in the last nine days of the cruise.

[AtlantaCruiser72]

For me each cruise is different - sometimes it's all about the the itinerary/ports and the ship/amenities/entertainment or # of sea days is not as relevant.  Other times it's all about the ship and long stretches of time at sea to enjoy it ......

 

This is why I chose the HAL Amsterdam for a 14 day Alaska cruise this year (older ship with fewer amenities and less entertainment/nightlife, but a unique port intensive itinerary with 8 ports, 2 scenic cruising days that were almost like a port day and only 3 true sea days); and by contrast am doing Enchanted Princess for a 14 day Transatlantic in spring 2021 (New ship, lots of amenities, great entertainment options - ideal for a sailing with 8 days at sea and only 5 ports).

 

Pricing and perks also factor in to my decision making.

Edited December 28, 2019 by AtlantaCruiser72

[Shmoo here]

5 hours ago, Ombud said:

has me wondering if we go for itineraries, sea days, or a combination of both?

"Itineraries" would include sea days, in my opinion.

 

I like sea days, that's why I cruise.  My husband prefers port days.  So, generally we compromise with a cruise that's close to being equal sea/port days.  Sometimes that doesn't work, though.  Like when you do a Trans Atlantic, but coupling it with a 10 night Med cruise (8 ports) makes it more even.

[geoherb]

It depends. If we're flying to Europe, we book by itinerary. That said, we realize that ports are subject to change. We missed three ports on our transatlantic in 2018 and two this year. In the Caribbean, we go for the opportunity to be on a cruise. The ports don't matter as much.

[Luvmyrotti]

5 hours ago, memoak said:

Sea days are my favorite. That is why we like TA’s and Hawaii cruises.  Really helps to recharge the batteries 

Me too, love the sea days going out and coming back on the Hawaii sailings.  Love me some sea days!