*Have you ever extending your cruise vacation*

[:BibleTeacher:]

We are sailing just before Christmas and I wanted to extend our vacation afterwards. We will be in Miami. Can we just make hotel reservations once we get off the ship or should we do it beforehand?

 

Stats: Christmas Cruise

Dec. 19 - Dec. 24th

 

 

Sorry for the typo - should be EXTENDED!

[wrp96]

Absolutely do it beforehand. You risk not finding a decent hotel room if you wait.

[The Big Booper]

When ever we do a post cruise land stay I book in advance including car rental and hotel and return airfare. We never take cruise air, always do our own.

[MrsFixitCT]

We're on the Liberty in November and are extending ours a week, staying in Florida after with my Dad for Thanksgiving week. Granted, we'll be staying AT my Dad's, but instead of going directly from Miami to Sarasota, we're looking at going down to Key West for Saturday night, possibly Sunday night, and heading up to Sarasota on Sunday or Monday. We're looking at hotels now.

 

When we booked the cruise, it was too far out to do the air-and we decided in the meantime to extend when we booked the air...and at the same time, booked the car for the week as well.

 

I'd rather have everything "in place" than get off the cruise and have to go hunting for what we want...

 

JMHO/YMMV

[Yvonne]

We've done pre- and post-cruise stays. We always cruise out of Port Canaveral and for our first one we flew down 4 days early and spent them at Disneyworld, then took our 7-night Disney Magic cruise, then stayed another week in Florida sightseeing and visiting family with a rental car before flying back home.

 

On our other cruises we usually either go down a few days early, or stay a week or so after the cruise. Most times we have plans made as to hotels booked, things we want to do, etc. but sometimes we don't book everything and just find hotels wherever we happen to be.

[:BibleTeacher:]

Thanks for the advice.

We are already going to be in Miami. I think trying to get to Orlando would be such a hassle?

I guess that would probably be a 3 hour drive right? :rolleyes:

[:BibleTeacher:]

When ever we do a post cruise land stay I book in advance including car rental and hotel and return airfare. We never take cruise air, always do our own.

 

 

 

I've heard that cruise air is generally higher? Is that what you've found? :rolleyes:

[beej]

We've done both pre and post extensions of a cruise. No running around worrying if you'll get there on time. This Nov we go in a week early, cruise, and stay a couple of extra days.

 

BTW, the drive from Miami to orlando is about 4 hours and basically all highway so it isn't that bad. You may have a problem this late in getting rooms in Miami for Christmas, but Fort lauderdale is just up the highway a little, and so is Pompano and West Palm.

[want2seaitall]

I would definately book prior...especially because of the time of year...and it being Miami. If you want a decent place, book ahead.

 

Also, the cruise air when compared to what I can get on my own is always a lot more expensive. Southwest Airlines is the only airline I fly...luv um.

[HorrorFan]

On our next cruise we are flying in a day early and flying home a day after. Everything is already booked...except a car rental, but I'm not too concerned about that.

[FitzLA]

We usually extend before. If we take a 7 day cruise, we extend at least 3 days. 7 days is not near long enough for a vacation.

 

fyi, you can edit your thread title. For future reference, after you hit edit, just hit "go advanced" and that allows you to edit your title. Also, this isn't really a poll. A poll has to give you options.

 

example

 

1) I extend before

2) I extend after

3) I never extend

4) I always extend either before or after.

 

Sorry to correct, but just thought you would like to know for future reference.

[gatour]

We have done all three. pre-cruise extended stay, post-cruise extended stay, and both a pre and post cruise extended stay.

 

If I had to choose one option, I would go with the pre-cruise extended stay. I hate being late and the thought of missing a cruise due to unforeseen circumstances is unacceptable. Once I get to the embarkation city, I feel like I am officially on vacation, so can begin to relax.

[sgttami]

We did a cruise on Empress from San Juan in '04 and then went to St. John, USVI for 12 days after the cruise.

 

Prior to the cruise, we spent two nights in Puerto Rico. Yep, that was a good one!!

[Linda/Ohio]

We've done a few days prior and after. Miami has some fun areas to explore in addition to it being close to FLL and West Palm--all good vacation spots. We also did a precruise in San Juan.

 

Also we always fly in a day early.

[rubrrick]

Back when ships were not consistently full.........while we were on our cruise.......we would approach the purser and check on availability of cabins for the next cruise. Always........the purser would come back to us with an upgraded cabin for less money than we had paid for our original cruise..........if we stayed aboard.

 

I can think of three separate occasions where we extended our vacation by staying on for a b2b.............twice on MSC and once on Renaissance!!

 

At the rate that our economy is faring.........those days may be back....unless the cruise companies head for stronger markets.

 

Rick

[Merion_Mom]

Thanks for the advice.

We are already going to be in Miami. I think trying to get to Orlando would be such a hassle?

I guess that would probably be a 3 hour drive right? :rolleyes:

 

We *just* did the drive from Orlando (airport) to Miami (airport) via rental car, and it took EXACTLY the three hours and thirty five minutes that Yahoo! maps said that it would between these two locations. (Thrifty Car Rental - I like them a lot. We had no drop off charge, but always check when you are booking.)

[want2seaitall]

I agree with gatour...I love extending prior to the cruise. Even if we are driving to the port, it is nice to get into, what I call "vacation mode". On this next cruise, my husband (firefighter) is getting off of a 24 hour shift and I'm throwing him in the car, driving him 5 hours to the port, and based on previous experience...that usually doesn't work too well. It usually takes him a day or so to relax and get into "vacation mode". So, he is trying to switch shifts with someone so we can atleast drive out to Ft. Lauderdale the day before.

[TigerLady]

We are sailing just before Christmas and I wanted to extend our vacation afterwards. We will be in Miami. Can we just make hotel reservations once we get off the ship or should we do it beforehand?

 

Stats: Christmas Cruise

Dec. 19 - Dec. 24th

 

 

Sorry for the typo - should be EXTENDED!

 

That time of year I would make it beforehand, leave nothing to chance One less thing to worry about

[grayesun]

We usually extend cruise vacation at the tail end...for us this takes most of the edge of that gloomy post cruise depression, knowing we still have more time off (albeit on land). Whenever we sail out of a Florida port (Miami or Ft. L so far) we rent a car, head up to visit friends in Bradenton for a few days, then over to Orlando to visit other friends for a few days then fly home from ORL. Bonus Points: 1) By the time we hook up with friends, we're sportin nice post cruise tans (like they always have down there), and are all mellowed out... 2) This takes a huge 2 week bite right out of the middle of our wicked too-long NE winter. Finally, we like to plan seeing Super Bowl on the boat or with friends after cruise as part of our annual vacation festivities.

[Gonzo70]

The only time I extended a cruise was one that ended in Europe (I am from U.S.). Since I had not been before to Europe (and was already there for the cruise) I figured it would be a good time to see more of Europe than what was possible from the cruise.

 

When I cruise from U.S. Ports I do not extend as I am usually ready to go home at the end of the cruise. I do fly in 1-2 days before the cruise to help decrease the chances of missing the ship as well as enjoy the city the ship is leaving from. I always book my hotel in advance. I have found really good deals via Hotwire and also book my own air as well (as I have found booking airfare through the cruise lines to be far more expensive).

[Sea Island Lady]

We usually extend our vacation for one or two nights pre-cruise and sometimes 1 night post cruise. This is mostly to accommodate flight plans and make sure we are in town in plenty of time to catch the ship.

 

Our favorite extended vacations have been to Disney (4 days) before catching a 3 night Disney cruise, and the year we spent two nights at Universal Studios before sailing on the Mariner, and then one night at Disney post cruise. However, we sure were exhausted that day in Disney.:rolleyes:

[cruiserbryce]

we have stayed over longer in the port we come back to, but never arranged through the cruise lines...but I would always recommend making some kind of reservations in advance...

[grayesun]

Absolutely critical point I overlooked, we also always fly in (or drive in to Bayonne, NJ) the day before departure; traveling during winter months poses too many risks to do otherwise. So yes, it is sort of front-end 1 day extension.

[:BibleTeacher:]

I think we will more then likely add one day before and a few days after. Since it's Christmas, we'll have the time to take off.

Thanks for your help everyone!

 

[Katink]

We've done pre- and post-cruise stays. We always cruise out of Port Canaveral and for our first one we flew down 4 days early and spent them at Disneyworld, then took our 7-night Disney Magic cruise, then stayed another week in Florida sightseeing and visiting family with a rental car before flying back home.

 

On our other cruises we usually either go down a few days early, or stay a week or so after the cruise. Most times we have plans made as to hotels booked, things we want to do, etc. but sometimes we don't book everything and just find hotels wherever we happen to be.

 

We've done both and I prefer a pre-cruise stay so we can totally relax once onboard. We always make our own arrangements for flights and transportation - it just works out better for us, I like being able to control as many of the arrangements as possible but accept that if things go wrong, I have no one to blame but myself.

 

Our favorite pre-cruise trip was flying into Jacksonville a week early to visit friends in St. Augustine, then driving down the east coast of Florida, seeing Cape Canaveral, Vero Beach (we're Dodger fans), Miaimi, and the Everglades before our free cruise on HAL that DH had won playing Win-A-Cruise bingo. It doesn't get any better than that :D

 

Katink