For people that do 3 and 4 night cruises from Florida? Always wondered this?

[fishernrex]

Floridian here, we take mostly 3 day weekend cruises as others have stated (casino comps) -  and often take friends with us from various states (some flown in from as far as Colorado) who have never cruised before and didn't want to end up stuck on a boat if they didn't like it.  I'm usually surprised at the folks who will fly in for such a short cruise, but have met people from all over.  From what I've seen, the folks who fly in for the shorter cruises seem to be younger/middle aged and still working so I'm betting that PTO (or lack of) probably has a lot to do with it.  

[twangster]

2 hours ago, Jimbo said:

Makes you wonder too does 7 night cruises or a 3 or 4 night cruise give the cruise line more revenue per day? On a short cruises I would think I would have to get my bang for the buck so might spend more per day on a short cruise.

 

I know though on turn around day the cruise line is paying port people twice as much for doing two short cruises instead of just one 7 day cruise per week.

Meaning they have to load and unload baggage and check in people twice a week rather then once a week.

Must be worth it to the cruise lines though because they continue to do short cruises.

 

Enter CocoCay and revenue from there.  One seven night cruise might stop there once.  A 3/4 goes there twice so it brings twice as many wallets to CocoCay.  

[Tz2989]

2 hours ago, Jimbo said:

Makes you wonder too does 7 night cruises or a 3 or 4 night cruise give the cruise line more revenue per day? On a short cruises I would think I would have to get my bang for the buck so might spend more per day on a short cruise.

 

I know though on turn around day the cruise line is paying port people twice as much for doing two short cruises instead of just one 7 day cruise per week.

Meaning they have to load and unload baggage and check in people twice a week rather then once a week.

Must be worth it to the cruise lines though because they continue to do short cruises.

3-4 day are easily the money makers for cruise lines. It's why historically all new Disney boats start on the 3/4 day itineraries. 

[actuarian]

1 minute ago, Tz2989 said:

3-4 day are easily the money makers for cruise lines. It's why historically all new Disney boats start on the 3/4 day itineraries. 

The newest Disney ships do 3/4 night itineraries because Disney's largest source of revenue comes from the people who visit both their parks and their ships in a single trip.  All the other cruise lines start their newest ships on longer itineraries.  For example, RCCL mostly uses the older Voyager and Freedom class ships for short cruises, while the newer Oasis and Quantum class ships are almost always assigned longer itineraries.  It is the same for Royal's partner cruise line Celebrity; only the old M-class Celebrity ships do short cruises. I assume that the RCCL marketing department must know what they are doing when they assign long itineraries to their most valuable ships.

[CruiseMelissa]

We're flying from Maryland to Miami for a 3 night on Freedom in October.  School is closed for a 4 day weekend for our 9 and 12 year old so we figured we'd squeeze in a cruise...

[Merion_Mom]

47 minutes ago, actuarian said:

The newest Disney ships do 3/4 night itineraries because Disney's largest source of revenue comes from the people who visit both their parks and their ships in a single trip.  All the other cruise lines start their newest ships on longer itineraries.  For example, RCCL mostly uses the older Voyager and Freedom class ships for short cruises, while the newer Oasis and Quantum class ships are almost always assigned longer itineraries.  It is the same for Royal's partner cruise line Celebrity; only the old M-class Celebrity ships do short cruises. I assume that the RCCL marketing department must know what they are doing when they assign long itineraries to their most valuable ships.

 

The Allure will be doing short cruises out of Galveston.

 

[Tz2989]

51 minutes ago, actuarian said:

The newest Disney ships do 3/4 night itineraries because Disney's largest source of revenue comes from the people who visit both their parks and their ships in a single trip.  All the other cruise lines start their newest ships on longer itineraries.  For example, RCCL mostly uses the older Voyager and Freedom class ships for short cruises, while the newer Oasis and Quantum class ships are almost always assigned longer itineraries.  It is the same for Royal's partner cruise line Celebrity; only the old M-class Celebrity ships do short cruises. I assume that the RCCL marketing department must know what they are doing when they assign long itineraries to their most valuable ships.

Royal also spent a significant amount of money "amplifying" those ships for shorter itineraries.

[LittleJoefromKokomo]

We have been on a 4 night cruise and we flew in from Sweden.. But it was a combination with 4 days in Florida and the cruise. Couldn't stay away from family or work more than a week but it was well worth it.

[Vibe]

11 hours ago, Merion_Mom said:

 

The Allure will be doing short cruises out of Galveston.

 

The Allure will be doing 3/4 day cruises out of Port Canaveral in 2023

[rolloman]

12 hours ago, actuarian said:

The newest Disney ships do 3/4 night itineraries because Disney's largest source of revenue comes from the people who visit both their parks and their ships in a single trip.  All the other cruise lines start their newest ships on longer itineraries.  For example, RCCL mostly uses the older Voyager and Freedom class ships for short cruises, while the newer Oasis and Quantum class ships are almost always assigned longer itineraries.  

As was stated previous, the shorter cruises are more lucrative. There are several reasons why the new ships go longer itineraries in the beginning. Some reasons include the fact they are more fuel efficient and in addition they are marketed towards the standard full week vacationers as the new and exciting ship. 

Edited March 28, 2022 by rolloman

[LuCruise]

I'm sure we're not the majority but we've flown in from Ontario for a 4 night Mariner and Navigator cruise (about 3hr plane ride).  It's a short end of summer cruise before our kids go back to school.  Wouldn't do a 3 night but 4 night is still ok.

[mandyleighflies]

We tend to take shorter cruises (pre covid) a few times a year as they fit better into our work schedules and my husband gets antsy on any vacation longer than 5 days. Recently we flew to LA (from DC) to cruise on Navi on a 4 day cruise to Ensenada and Catalina Island and had a great time. We have taken 7 day cruises before and will do them in the future (Alaska, Med, Northern Europe) but we just think shorter Caribbean cruises are our thing at that moment. We do LOVE CoCo Cay and want to try Virgin Voyages as well on their short itineraries. Additionally, we both work for the airlines so if we want an island vacation we just hop on a plane or pick up a trip that overnights there, I will be in Barbados for work twice next month 😊.

[welshrich]

We are from the UK and will try and do a 3 or 4 night short cruise when we are in Florida, especially if we are arriving from a transatlantic or about to join one.   It's always nice to continue the vacation and can usually get some great prices.

 

[Joseph2017China]

I live in Florida, flew to Shanghai for a 4 night cruise......but I did stay over a week in hotels also.  The cruise went to Japan.  I'm guessing that is the same thing?

 

[DirtyDawg]

We did several short cruises out of Florida back in the 90's when the kids were young and flights from Toronto were much cheaper. I know many other Canucks who did this too. Sometimes in the middle of winter you just have to get away and warm up. 🥶 Also, as parents with young kids, mommy and daddy sometimes need alone time. Cruise ships are very good for that. It would have been nicer to get longer alone time but Grandma and Granddad had a four day limit for their babysitting. 😉

[Lane Hog]

With so many people in the US 2-3 weeks or less vacation per year, it's hard for a lot of us to take a 7-8 day cruise without burning up more than 5 vacation days.  For families, add in the difficulty of a school calendar...

You can fit a 3-4 day cruise in by burning one or two vacation days and taking the kids out of school for only one or two days.

Another aspect as to "why" is that some of these are dirt cheap if you don't drink or gamble.  I've seen  insides as low as $150 plus port fees/taxes.  That's cheaper than a hotel in South Beach if you're looking for a mini-break, and the cruise line is gambling on the fact you'll spend more money at the bar or casino than you did for the cabin.
 

Edited March 28, 2022 by Lane Hog

[BillOh]

We, pre-pandemic, and again this year, take a 2nd cruise, usually 4 or 5 day and drive to PC or Tampa. You can tell there is more Florida people than usual (subjective observation) and sometimes the CD or staff will make jokes about it.   But there was also a lot of people doing B2Bs or extending other trips.   

[Travelling2Some]

We don't normally take short cruises but have been thinking about it since we are curious about MSC but see they get a lot of bad reviews.  We would B2B it with an already booked longer cruise out of Florida.  We don't want to commit to a week but will try 3 or 4 days as an experiment.

[cruizzing]

As others have mentioned, we're non-Florida residents, but enjoy the short cruises as weekend getaways with minimal vacation or school days taken (bonus when we're leaving cold weather!).

[mil76]

Not specifically Florida, but we did B2B 3 and 4 on Navigator a few weeks ago and met a couple at the Flowrider from Canada (no Flow-widow in this marriage) who flew down just for the 3 day, with their kids in tow.  And this was before Canada relaxed the COVID rules to get back into the country.  They did get stressed out the last day about everything they had to do to get back into Canada, and it didn't seem like it was worth it to me for 3 days, but they said it was. 

 

Crazy what people will do to get their Flowrider fix...

 

[ramja96]

On 3/27/2022 at 11:20 AM, Jimbo said:

Is the ship just full of Florida passengers? Just doesn't seem that  to many people would fly in for only 3 or 4 day cruise?

We just went on a 4-night on Indy out of Canaveral last month. To be honest, I have no idea how many Floridians, Pinnacles, DD's or otherwise were on the ship. Nor did I care. We also didn't fly in - we drove. 😁 BTW - we had a great time, still.

[bigque]

We have a 3 day cruise on Independence out of Port Canaveral in June. We are doing 3 day just to test the waters since we haven’t cruised since pre pandemic. This will however be our 3rd time doing the 3 day from there and each time we have driven as it is a 7 hour drive. We go a day early and get there about noon and it’s like an added day in addition to the cruise itself. Personally we would never fly there (Orlando) for a 3 day cruise as the cost of flights from here couldn’t justify it. We have flown there for 7 day cruises twice. Wouldn’t do the 3 day out of Miami flying or driving. It’s to far of a drive for a 3 day cruise. I really wish Royal cruised out of Charleston which is only 3 hours away. 

Edited March 28, 2022 by bigque

[HBE4]

17 hours ago, Merion_Mom said:

 

The Allure will be doing short cruises out of Galveston.

 

 

5 hours ago, Vibe said:

The Allure will be doing 3/4 day cruises out of Port Canaveral in 2023

 

Does that mean it's officially entered middle-age/older status?😁😉

[h20skibum]

We have a short 4 night booked, but it is between a holiday house rental, and an 8 night on Harmony.   

[asalligo]

Most are from Florida and the surrounding states, but not all of course. Many people mix coming to see elderly relatives with a short cruise.