Journeys cruise- 12-14 days - Share your experience

[kew1031]

Hi all, We've never done a cruise longer than 8 days, but have booked a 14 day Journeys cruise on the Dream. It's AGES away, but I'm curious to hear about other's experiences. Do they just repeat the menu the second week? Shows? etc... I do feel like on board you might have more time to do things you might not have tried before because you didn't have enough time, like finally have a chance to hit the karaoke, or a comedy show. We are pretty low key and don't feel the need to always be DOING something. I'm very good at doing nothing!!😄Tell me what you love about a long cruise.

[pirate4me2]

We did one in 2016, it was great! They did different menus every night (not sure if they still do), had a Throwback Sea Day with activities from days gone by (frog racing in the pool, "horse racing", and a few more), and the crew did some extra entertainment activities (a crew talent show, an extra production show)...it was a blast. I would do one again if getting time off from my work wasn't so hard! 

[Joanne G.]

I find on longer cruises (I've done 14 and 21 days) I am more able to relax, knowing that I have more time to explore the ship, take part in activities, attend shows, and so forth.   If I want to go to bed early or sleep late or take a nap in the afternoon, I worry less about missing something.   I get less stressed about a bad weather day as there are more chances for good weather days on a long cruise.  There was some repetition of menus and shows, but mine were back-to-back cruises; that's likely different on a single long cruise. 

 

On the last day of a longer cruise, I feel ready to go home rather than feeling sad about my vacation ending.  I love long cruises, and I hope you love yours!  

Edited August 16, 2023 by Joanne G.

[WhiteOptima]

Other than my Sunshine cruise with a friend we now only do longer cruises.  Like @pirate4me2 said, they do special games and bring out some 80’s themed parties.  We had different comedians come on board so they weren’t all the same the whole cruise.  
 

Way more relaxing.  You don’t feel rushed like you have to do this or eat here.  And when the first week is coming to a close you sit back and say ahhhh still have another week😃😎!

[tree.critter]

I love the journey cruises or anytime over a 7 day or less. The majority of the passengers are experienced and pretty lad back for the most part. I recently did a 10 day Alaska, it wasn’t a journey but had very relaxed journey feel and rarely long lines for anything. Have 2 journey cruises booked for 2024, Hawaii and a stop in South America on southern extended route cruise.  I don’t recall any menus being repeated although I’m not a huge foodie and may not have noticed.

[matymil]

Personally i did not like it. I think that had more to do with it being out of NYC though. By day 11 i wanted to throw ppl overboard. I think 10 days is my limit.

[Chriss5601]

We did a Journeys 11 day cruise from Hawaii and loved it.  So many things to do. They had talks about Hawaii, the culture, the history and learning to make leis. I took a class about photography, which detailed the best modes for the all the photo opportunities.  We met the nicest people and we are still in touch with them! 
 

I would love to take another, but it is hard to take that much time off.

[UGACamper]

Interested in this topic. We have our first 11 and 12 day cruises booked next year. Can’t wait!

[Honolulu Blue]

13 hours ago, kew1031 said:

Hi all, We've never done a cruise longer than 8 days, but have booked a 14 day Journeys cruise on the Dream. It's AGES away, but I'm curious to hear about other's experiences. Do they just repeat the menu the second week? Shows? etc... I do feel like on board you might have more time to do things you might not have tried before because you didn't have enough time, like finally have a chance to hit the karaoke, or a comedy show. We are pretty low key and don't feel the need to always be DOING something. I'm very good at doing nothing!!😄Tell me what you love about a long cruise.

Howdy!  I think we're on the same cruise, unless you're doing the 2025 edition.

 

I've done six Journeys cruises of 10-14 days in length.  I don't have much to add to what others have said here.  It's a full 14-day cycle on the menus, though the offerings at the buffet might get a little old and/or repeat some in week 2.  The crowd is generally more experienced and older and in the past the ships were a little less full (I think this one is going to be an exception as it's already sold out).

 

Long cruises are great!  Have fun on yours/ours!

[CruisinginWonderland]

Our journey cruise to Hawaii (14) was one of my favorite vacations ever! 
 

Everyone was so laid back, so much to do, so much to not do! I loved going to the lectures about Hawaii, stargazing, reading in a clamshell. We did dance classes, glee clubs… so many fun things.
 

The best part was it felt like 3 separate vacations. 1 getting there, 2 being there & 3, just when you’re sad you’re leaving, you realize you still have 5 more days to decompress & relax. It was great!

[ChuckF]

Did a Journey's cruise out of Galveston on the Dream last October. We had a great time. As said before, passengers are generally more experienced cruisers and very few kids. The longer time together means you really get time to meet folks and make friends. It also provides an opportunity to go places you can't necessarily get to in 7 or 8 days, especially from Galveston.  We went to the Panama Canal, although had to take an excursion to actually transit the canal. I know it's not for everybody, but we enjoyed the ballroom dance classes on sea days.  Not the ones you may be used to taught by Carnival dancers, but professional dance instructors. No repeat menus. And while they didn't do a production show every night, there was plenty of entertainment options. The only downside was that the casino made a lot of money.

[ferfoodle]

Like others have said, the longer cruises really help one decompress. The Journey cruises do offer extra activities that make them a lot different than the non-journey cruises. I thoroughly enjoy them.

 

However, one thing to note is that the ship will load all of its provisions (food and drinks) from the home port for the whole two weeks. They will run out of certain items as the days go on. By day 12 or 13 expect the omelet station to have very little to add, expect certain beers to run out, etc. There still will be plenty of food, just maybe not your favorites. If there is something you really want, get it early in the cruise because the ship might be out if you wait.

[jimbo5544]

We have done several and love the experience.  They try hard not to do menu repeats but of course there are some things that have to when you are a ship that amount of time.  Shows are stretched out and there are other types of entertainment.   Highly recommend doing these. 

[kew1031]

On 8/17/2023 at 5:57 AM, Honolulu Blue said:

Howdy!  I think we're on the same cruise, unless you're doing the 2025 edition.

 

ours is 2025. Literally a year away plus3 months.

 

 

 

[kew1031]

On 8/17/2023 at 5:23 PM, ChuckF said:

Did a Journey's cruise out of Galveston on the Dream last October. We had a great time. As said before, passengers are generally more experienced cruisers and very few kids. The longer time together means you really get time to meet folks and make friends. It also provides an opportunity to go places you can't necessarily get to in 7 or 8 days, especially from Galveston.  We went to the Panama Canal, although had to take an excursion to actually transit the canal. I know it's not for everybody, but we enjoyed the ballroom dance classes on sea days.  Not the ones you may be used to taught by Carnival dancers, but professional dance instructors. No repeat menus. And while they didn't do a production show every night, there was plenty of entertainment options. The only downside was that the casino made a lot of money.

We will be on the Dream out of Galveston, doing the Key West to southern Caribbean 14 day. January 2025. It's a LONG way off! My main concern is my significant other half and keeping him occupied/entertained for 14 days. He's the one who is usually ready to get home and back to work after 5 or 6 days. He has to be DOING something all the time! I fully expect him to track down the IT staff and ask them if they need any assistance! Me, I'm fine lolling around for days on end.😄

[Honolulu Blue]

1 hour ago, kew1031 said:

ours is 2025. Literally a year away plus3 months.

So we won't be together after all.  Too bad.  ☹️

 

My cruise was booked all the way back in August 2021, so it's been a very long time coming.

[cdoncruise]

I hope you like your Journeys cruise! We took our first one this spring and absolutely LOVED it. It was 16 days on the Spirit from Miami to Seattle. We booked our next Journeys cruise before we disembarked, we loved it so much. The crowd was experienced and not tightly wound, the vibe was amazing. We made friends. We got incredible Carnival (and general cruising) tips from all the Platinum and Diamond folks. And we were able to get to know the crew so well that when the crew put on a talent show toward the end of the cruise it was an incredibly personal and moving experience.

 

I only went to a couple of the stage shows, so I don't know what (if anything) they repeated but I know they brought on several special acts throughout, I remember a magician specifically but there were others. We're more into the comedy. They rotated new comedians on throughout the cruise, and I think there were 6 or 7 different ones. Before the cruise, I'd been afraid I'd be bored, but the only time I cracked a book or watched any of the tv I'd downloaded was when I got stuck in the room with a 48-hour bug (not covid, I was tested by a poor med staffer in a hazmat suit!)

 

I don't recall any repeated dinner menus, although some dishes were just slightly altered versions of previous offerings. There were many items I'd never seen before, and one day we had an expanded Indian buffet that was phenomenal. We'd been warned that fresh fruits and vegetables might disappear by the second week, but that didn't seem to be the case although that may have been because of our itinerary. We're doing a 12 day transatlantic next spring and I'm interested to see what happens with the food on that one. But to be honest, while it's always fine, we don't cruise Carnival for the food 😂

 

(We also booked a 14 day Princess cruise for next year. I think we're just long cruise people now.)

[staceyglow]

11 hours ago, kew1031 said:

We will be on the Dream out of Galveston, doing the Key West to southern Caribbean 14 day. January 2025. It's a LONG way off! My main concern is my significant other half and keeping him occupied/entertained for 14 days. He's the one who is usually ready to get home and back to work after 5 or 6 days. He has to be DOING something all the time! I fully expect him to track down the IT staff and ask them if they need any assistance! Me, I'm fine lolling around for days on end.😄

Perhaps he should see if he can work remotely from the ship. That way he would stay occupied and as an additional bonus, won't have to burn as many vacation days. 😊

 

As an aside, I took a Journeys Cruise out of Galveston last winter, and the thing I noticed was that it had an exceptionally large number of elderly people - way more than other Journeys cruises I have taken.  Not that there is anything wrong with that. As long as you don't mind dealing with a huge number of scooters (we actually encountered scooter traffic gridlock on a few occasions) or the huge demand for early YTD seating times, you should be fine. 

 

[Tryingtocruise]

13 hours ago, cdoncruise said:

I hope you like your Journeys cruise! We took our first one this spring and absolutely LOVED it. It was 16 days on the Spirit from Miami to Seattle. We booked our next Journeys cruise before we disembarked, we loved it so much. The crowd was experienced and not tightly wound, the vibe was amazing. We made friends. We got incredible Carnival (and general cruising) tips from all the Platinum and Diamond folks. And we were able to get to know the crew so well that when the crew put on a talent show toward the end of the cruise it was an incredibly personal and moving experience.

 

I only went to a couple of the stage shows, so I don't know what (if anything) they repeated but I know they brought on several special acts throughout, I remember a magician specifically but there were others. We're more into the comedy. They rotated new comedians on throughout the cruise, and I think there were 6 or 7 different ones. Before the cruise, I'd been afraid I'd be bored, but the only time I cracked a book or watched any of the tv I'd downloaded was when I got stuck in the room with a 48-hour bug (not covid, I was tested by a poor med staffer in a hazmat suit!)

 

I don't recall any repeated dinner menus, although some dishes were just slightly altered versions of previous offerings. There were many items I'd never seen before, and one day we had an expanded Indian buffet that was phenomenal. We'd been warned that fresh fruits and vegetables might disappear by the second week, but that didn't seem to be the case although that may have been because of our itinerary. We're doing a 12 day transatlantic next spring and I'm interested to see what happens with the food on that one. But to be honest, while it's always fine, we don't cruise Carnival for the food 😂

 

(We also booked a 14 day Princess cruise for next year. I think we're just long cruise people now.)

I'm so excited to hear this.  I just booked this cruise for 2025.  I'm a little concerned about all the sea days, but I'll just have to bring an extra suitcase full on yarn and knitting patterns!  

[tensixmom]

I just put a hold on a 2025 Hawaii Journeys cruise.  By then my youngest will have graduated.  It sounds intriguing so I hope we are able to do it!

[kew1031]

On 8/24/2023 at 4:39 AM, staceyglow said:

Perhaps he should see if he can work remotely from the ship. That way he would stay occupied and as an additional bonus, won't have to burn as many vacation days. 😊

 

As an aside, I took a Journeys Cruise out of Galveston last winter, and the thing I noticed was that it had an exceptionally large number of elderly people - way more than other Journeys cruises I have taken.  Not that there is anything wrong with that. As long as you don't mind dealing with a huge number of scooters (we actually encountered scooter traffic gridlock on a few occasions) or the huge demand for early YTD seating times, you should be fine. 

 

Since I retired 6 years ago, every day is a vacation day for me! S.O. says he's "semi-retired". He doesn't have a full time 9-5 job, but he does computer repair from the comfort of his "home office" aka corner of the den and the spare bedroom. He is also an insurance agent, which means many phone conversations and in person meetings with clients. So, no working on the ship. (Also, because he's tight with the wallet and would never pay for the internet!) I just have to get him interested in other activities. Hopefully, with almost all new ports that we've never been to, that will be enough to keep his brain occupied most days.

As for the elderly people and scooter gridlock...the dates on our birth certificates indicate that we ARE the elderly!!🤣🤣 In my head, I'm still 50, some days 40, but my body tells me otherwise almost every day! Our last cruise, (only 8 days) there were a few times I considered knocking an old lady off her scooter so I could use it!! (JK, but not!) On the upside, I have 16 months (till the Journeys cruise) to get my fat butt conditioned to walking 3 miles every day. Probably won't happen, but that's on me. P.S. I had already assumed this cruise was going to be mostly retired folks because most people who have full time jobs and kids in school can't take 2 weeks in January, right after Christmas break, to go on a cruise. 

[kew1031]

23 hours ago, Tryingtocruise said:

I'm so excited to hear this.  I just booked this cruise for 2025.  I'm a little concerned about all the sea days, but I'll just have to bring an extra suitcase full on yarn and knitting patterns!  

Good Idea! I have a couple of easy crochet patterns that don't require much effort. Couple of crochet hooks and 2 or 3 skeins of yarn... 

[kew1031]

On 8/16/2023 at 6:14 PM, WhiteOptima said:

Other than my Sunshine cruise with a friend we now only do longer cruises.  Like @pirate4me2 said, they do special games and bring out some 80’s themed parties.  We had different comedians come on board so they weren’t all the same the whole cruise.  
 

Way more relaxing.  You don’t feel rushed like you have to do this or eat here.  And when the first week is coming to a close you sit back and say ahhhh still have another week😃😎!

80s party? how about a 70s party? Maybe even the 60s! In the 80s, I had a house full of kids and all I did was work and clean house. I don't recall much about the 80s, but I do know I was NOT partying!!🤣🤣🤣

Edited August 25, 2023 by kew1031

[Tryingtocruise]

19 minutes ago, kew1031 said:

Good Idea! I have a couple of easy crochet patterns that don't require much effort. Couple of crochet hooks and 2 or 3 skeins of yarn... 

 Nope - this is it.

 

[runnersuzy]

Love longer cruises.  One week until our Greenland journeys cruise.  We actually in 2019 did a B2B Bermuda and journeys cruise. Got back a day late due to weather, 22 days at sea.  If I win the lottery would do a world cruise.