Suggestion..... If you want to try cruising then don't do it on a short cruise....

[9tee2Sea]

My first cruise back in the late 1990's was a Trans Atlantic from NY-Southampton.  It was a 10 day trip onboard the QE2.  The first 3 or 4 days at sea, I was bored, and very anxious to get off the ship and do something ( obviously I couldn't).  After 4 days, I realized what cruising was all about, and now i have been on over 25 different cruises to all parts of the world.  I think the best cruise for first time cruises is Alaska out of Seattle. Usually only 7 days long.  Easy port to get to (no overseas flights), language is not a problem, waters are really calm, lots of beautiful scenery,  lots of time to explore ports, relax on ship and enjoy the food onboard.  I always recommend Alaska cruises when people ask where to go for the first cruise ever.  My choice for cruises now are 10-21days.    

[ldubs]

On 12/20/2022 at 5:18 AM, ontheweb said:

Our first cruise was a 7 day cruise in the Western Mediterranean. By the last day, DW said she missed peanut butter and jelly.

 

Our second cruise was supposed to be a 5 day in the Western Caribbean with an emphasis on seeing Mayan ruins. Because of a hurricane, it turned into a 7 day cruise which was too long because school was about to start, and she needed to get back to set up her art room.

 

Our longest was 10 days, and that seemed to be about our maximum, but we have an 11 day booked for next summer.

 

Missed PBJ!  😄😄😄

 

Our sweet spot is the 10 to 12 day cruise.   Kind of like Goldilocks and the three bears -- Just right.   

[rtdiva]

Our first cruise was a short three or four day cruise from San Pedro, Ca to ports in Mexico. OMGOSH! I fell in love with the music, the meals, the people, the crew! I loved all of it. The point was whether or not I’d get claustrophobic or sea sick. The only thing sad thing to happen was a weight gain. For real! A short cruise! And I don’t eat desserts. Regardless we’ve now sailed around the world to many many ports meeting wonderful people seeing unimaginable sites. We also booked and paid for a family cruise for twenty. I no longer gain weight cause I don’t often order all of the four courses and we walk a lot off board and on.

I recommend a short itinerary for a first cruise, naturally it would be better to find a cruise line that suits their life style.

[weltek]

Agree, generally. If you are unsure if you'll like a cruise "vibe" and aren't just in the mood for a booze cruise, do 7 days to get a real feel. However, if you are primarily worried if you'll get seasick, perhaps a shorter is a better route for your first time.

 

I did a 4 day on my usual line once in my 30s and it was pretty much a happy drink-a-thon for us! Got off the ship saying the same thing as you. Very different from a 7 day experience.

Edited December 30, 2022 by weltek

[easternLIers]

IMHO... cruises depend on many things.... Length, Time of year, Cruise line, Itinerary and Size of ship. Depends on what you are looking for? If you are looking for a party... take a short Carnival Cruise on a big ship. Longer cruises on smaller ships to exotic places are older & quieter. Big ships have all the bells and whistles (ice rinks, go cart tracks etc) hold 6,000 and you are like sardines. All depends on what you like. 

[mcollins3549]

Short 2 - 4 day cruises are good way to bump up your loyalty/reward level with cruise lines.  If you live in FL and take off out of Miami where you can drive/take car to port ... they're great!

 

[navybankerteacher]

A short (2 to 4 day) cruise might make sense if you need to discover if you might have a seasickness problem.  Otherwise, it will not give a first-timer any sense of what cruising is.   A large part of your time will be spent unpacking, finding your way around, and re-packing to get off - while hitting one (perhaps a second) uninspiring nearby port (all while being among a substantial number of booze cruisers).  7 days is the logical minimum, and if you really want to get the feel, go for ten days or more.

 

And while hitting multiple short ones might be a way to “…bump up your loyalty/reward level…”, picking itineraries based upon using such points seems a dreary way of using vacation time and dollars.

Edited January 29, 2023 by navybankerteacher

[Aquahound]

13 minutes ago, mcollins3549 said:

Short 2 - 4 day cruises are good way to bump up your loyalty/reward level with cruise lines.  If you live in FL and take off out of Miami where you can drive/take car to port ... they're great!

 

 

I would've agreed with that back in the days when cruise lines counted number of cruises for loyalty levels.  But now that most, if not all, have gone to number of nights, those short cruises aren't so beneficial anymore.  

[mcollins3549]

32 minutes ago, Aquahound said:

 

I would've agreed with that back in the days when cruise lines counted number of cruises for loyalty levels.  But now that most, if not all, have gone to number of nights, those short cruises aren't so beneficial anymore.  

OH  I thought it was per cruise.  Thanks. 

[wcook]

For someone who is skeptical about cruising, a week’s commitment is a lot to ask. While I 100% agree that it isn’t cruising at its best, it certainly a better option than not cruising. 

[KBS1607]

We had to do a 4 or 5 night cruise for our honeymoon due to work. That was 1984. Since then we’ve done mostly 7 days also due to work. For our 30th anniversary we did the 14 day Panama Canal transit and that was a little long. 
 

We’ve always had pets so any longer than 14 days probably won’t happen even when work isn’t a factor. 

[sparks1093]

16 hours ago, navybankerteacher said:

A short (2 to 4 day) cruise might make sense if you need to discover if you might have a seasickness problem.  Otherwise, it will not give a first-timer any sense of what cruising is.   A large part of your time will be spent unpacking, finding your way around, and re-packing to get off - while hitting one (perhaps a second) uninspiring nearby port (all while being among a substantial number of booze cruisers).  7 days is the logical minimum, and if you really want to get the feel, go for ten days or more.

 

And while hitting multiple short ones might be a way to “…bump up your loyalty/reward level…”, picking itineraries based upon using such points seems a dreary way of using vacation time and dollars.

We had a good sense of what cruising is all about after a 2 night cruise to nowhere. The experience itself was exactly as you describe it, pretty much over before it started, people crowding the bars to get as many drinks as possible, etc. But we saw in that small taste that cruising overall was something we could sink our teeth into. Our next two cruises were 4 day ones, but only because of the time involved to get to Miami by car (with 5 teenaged boys). Again, they were only a shadow of what cruising could be, but nonetheless we could tell that cruising was for us and we couldn't wait for our first 7 night cruise. (It did help that our 4 day cruises happened during the week, which tended to mute the booze cruise feel.) When we finally took it we then knew that we were right in our assessments made during the shorter cruises. Sometimes one only needs to take a bite of a dish to know whether or not they like it, they don't need to clean the plate.