Extra day on the end of the trip or not?

[LeslieSJ]

I got a lot of good advice about flying down a day early to the port -- what about on the other end of the trip? Do you all mostly fly out that day or stay in the port city for an extra day?

 

We just returned from a cruise that was out of Philly -- only 20 minutes from our home -- and I felt so sorry for the people that had to do the scramble to get off the ship and head to the airport and spend a whole day traveling. I thought at that time that it would be nicer to spend one more night in the port town to sort of decompress and then fly the next morning.

 

But now that I'm considering doing that it doesn't seem as cut & dried -- maybe you just are so tired you want nothing more than to get home and spending one more night in a strange bed would just prolong the travel headache. Plus the added expense. Any thoughts?

[Spikesgirl]

We always add a day or two or five to the end of our cruise, espeically if we are in a foreign port. It gives us a chance to look around, not rush and to get the feel of where we are. Adding a day means that you have a better chance at connections at the airport, you don't have to rush to get to your plane or worry about missing it (or a piece of luggage) in the dash there. Plus it's a nice way to avoid the 'let down' that comes when you disembark. The sting of having the cruise over is assuaged knowing tha you've got a couple more days before heading home.

 

Charlie

[hajekfam]

We add a few days after cruise if our cruise ends in Florida. Our son and his family live there so we stop off to see them. On our first transatlantic, we flew directly home. There were 7-8 ships in port that day (a Saturday) ending one cruise and starting the next. The airport was a zoo. Since that time, we now drive over to Ft. Myers to visit and fly home from there.

[SPI_Rick]

LeslieSJ, we try to do something similar to what Spikesgirl mentioned. We usually plan a 2 day post cruise stay in foreign ports. If you find yourself at the end of a cruise in an interesting place that you may not visit often, then you might as well take advantage of it and see some of the local sights......also disembarkation (especially from a very large ship) can be both tedious and chaotic.....a lot of waiting followed by a mad scramble for baggage and transportation. If you are rushing directly from the ship to the airport where you will spend another 10-20 hours traveling it can make for a very long day. If you are just checking out of the hotel and going to the airport you can adjust your checkout time as needed to allow for a comfortable (but not too early) trip to the airport.

 

For domestic ports we usually return home the same day as long as we can get a reasonable flight schedule. If we could not get a good schedule then we would stay over an extra day.....note: our experience so far with domestic ports has only been with Fort Lauderdale. If we were disembarking in New York, San Francisco or Seattle we might choose to stay a couple of days for sightseeing.

[winnyd]

Done both .The Ships are usually in before 10am so if you have an afternoon flt there is no problem getting through the Airport .Thats from American ports back home to Canada .This next cruise we are going a day early & returning 2 days later . But thats to Tahiti We have to catch 3 planes,Also going on Flyer miles & not like the cruise ship airline they use (which is the cheapest by the way ) Air points book you when & where there is available seats. I've also driven to NJ & New York.At one I parked at the side of the Ship for 11 days @$25 us/day.The next I got a room at the Sheraten on the River & parked my veh for free. The Hotel was Cheaper. Also watched the Ship come down the Hudson ,Checked out after breakfast ,caught the ferry over next to the ship & boarded her

[barbarah33]

I have always come home on the same day that the ship comes into port - though at the beginning of my cruise I always go down at least one, if not two or three, days early. On our cruise last year we couldn't get flights that we liked for the day the ship came into port so we figured we would spend a day and come home the next. That worked out so well that for our cruise this year we have added three days to the end.

 

It was much more relaxing - we were in no rush to get off the ship at all; when it was time we simply did. And the mental mindset of not worrying about getting to the airport, checking in, etc. was amazing. You didn't have to worry as much about your packing the night before - all it was doing was spending one night in a suitcase. If we had forgotten anything we knew we could easily snag it at the hotel. The airport was much less crowded as we were now departing on a Monday vs. a Sunday when there were many ships in town. And we enjoyed that extra time to kind of recover from our cruise. It was much easier to have that day then fly home the very next and re-enter 'reality.' I am looking forward to three extra days this year as it's almost a mini-vacation to recover from our vacation.

 

Before I had ever done this I was fine with flying home the same day but now I know it can be better so as long as it's doable I will always try to add at least one day to the end.

[critterchick]

We usually fly home the same day, if we can get a flight after noon. The one exception is Barcelona, where we've seen enough chaos at the port that we stay over one night.

 

We always arrive in the port city at least the night before, but allow more time if we're visiting a place for the first time.

[packercruising]

There are several variables, most of which have been mentioned. We have only stayed over once, when we docked in Vancouver and we didn't want to take that long flight back to Milwaukee right away. We discuss it, when we go to the Caribbean thinking it would be fun, but since it's a shorter flight we are usually glad we didn't.

[bububr]

One of the best cruises I have ever been on!

 

We flew into Seattle a day before and had a great time. We had decided to stay a day after the cruise.....Well, I was MISERABLE. I was tired cranky, didn't want to do anything but get home. It was a waste of money for us to rent a hotel room. To make things worse it was just another day I had to get up early, and then head to the airport.

 

I wouldn't do it again unless maybe I was staying a few days, but for me one day was just prolonging the agony and tiredness. It felt SO GOOD to finally sleep in my own bed.

 

Dave:eek:

[wrp96]

I've done both. In San Juan we stayed an extra day to get the opportunity to explore, and it was wonderful not having to rush back to the airport. I would love to stay over after other cruises too, but I usually am on one that ends on Sunday and have to get back to work the next day.

[Happy ks]

We have done it both ways and I have to say it is so nice to have an extra day or two after you get off the ship. The times we disembarked and flew home the same day it was such a rude shock to the system. You're pampered and taken care of and then shoved off onto your own.

 

I think it depends on where you are, too. If and when we cruise the Med, we will have to stay extra days before and after. When we have cruise Hawaii, we stayed over a couple days extra and had a marvelous time (we stayed away from Waikiki Beach and Honolulu, though). When we cruised Alaska, we stayed before and after in Vancouver, it was a delightful time.

 

I don't understand tired and cranky off a cruise, though. We're always rested, refreshed and relaxed.

[Happy ks]

sorry, double post

[rusmilinyet]

We must be a little different from the other posts - when the cruise is over (or any land based vacation), we like to head home right away. We don't have an exciting life to rush home to but I need to start unpacking and get ready for our life again. We always head down a day early - 2 days early for our next cruise. :p

[Genessa]

So far, we have never added a day on at the end of our cruise, but usually add one day prior. When we do one of the many "exotic" cruises I have planned (Europe first, then Australia/New Zealand) (in the year 2525 ;) ), we will definitely add on several days at the end, mostly because the itineraries I've looked at start and end in different international locations and I want to spend some time everywhere.

 

We had planned two or three extra nights in San Francisco(which we had visited once before) at the end of a through the Panama Canal, Mexican Riviera back to back, but I talked dh into coming home when the cruise ended. For me, it's not that I'm exhausted, but that I'm back into "normal" mode and thinking about the mail piling up, and not seeing my (grown) children, and missing my bed, and wondering what is going on at work.

 

What I like to do, instead, is plan a day off the day after we get back from a cruise :).

[nparmelee]

Depends on the port. Europe we stay a few days on each end, Caribbean we tend to go home the same day, Alaska we went up to Denali for a few days.

[UpstateCruizer]

I got a lot of good advice about flying down a day early to the port -- what about on the other end of the trip? Do you all mostly fly out that day or stay in the port city for an extra day?

 

We just returned from a cruise that was out of Philly -- only 20 minutes from our home -- and I felt so sorry for the people that had to do the scramble to get off the ship and head to the airport and spend a whole day traveling. I thought at that time that it would be nicer to spend one more night in the port town to sort of decompress and then fly the next morning.

 

But now that I'm considering doing that it doesn't seem as cut & dried -- maybe you just are so tired you want nothing more than to get home and spending one more night in a strange bed would just prolong the travel headache. Plus the added expense. Any thoughts?

 

We are staying the extra night in Miami after our 06/07 cruise! It wasn't worth the hassle of hurrying to the airport or arriving home after midnight. This way we will fly out at 6am and should be home by 1-1:30 at the latest. It just seemed like a much more enjoyable way to end the trip. Plus the cost of those mid day return flights drove the price of our airfare way up. It's still cheaper to stay in the hotel for the extra night even with dinner factored in.

[Trevoli]

God, isn't the Barcelona airport the absolute WORST! We disembarked there in 1998 after 12 wonderful days sailing around Spain, France and Italy and then.....total, complete, utter chaos.

 

I remember having to take an escalator upstairs to go through some kind of security check, luggage in hand. The area at the top of the escalator was very small, and people were stuck on the escalator, which kept running. THEN, we were asked to take an elevator back down, and you can imagine what a mess that was.

 

Absolutely, if you can afford the time and $$, and you are in a port that bears exploring, take the time to do so before heading home. It's a great way to ease back into whatever 'normal' means for you.

 

If I'm travelling internationally, I make a point of adding a few days ahead of time, as well. Aside from the obvious treat of taking time to explore, it helps you get over jet lag, so when you board the ship, your body clock is already adjusted.

 

T

[critterchick]

Well, the airport is nice & modern now, so it's not nearly so bad as it was 12 years ago. The port, on the other hand, is a completely outdated facility, and the port agent is AWFUL, absolutely incapable of handling anything other that a routine boarding. So we build in a cushion to allow for that.