Difference between longer cruise vs smaller cruise

[LAS2AMS]

A very good generalization - Shorter cruises (2-5 days) feature core entertainment and activities. Longer cruises (6-8 days) feature core and supplemental entertainment. Extended cruises (9+ days) will feature unique entertainment. Core entertainment is the production & private shows, etc. Supplemental entertainment includes singers, magicians, comedians, etc. Unique entertainment includes crew talent show, guest talent show, additional dance parties on the lido deck, etc.

Personally, I’m not a fan of shorter cruises. It takes a day for people to get orientated with the ship, and the last day (packing, settling account, farewell cast off, etc) can be suffocating. It’s the days in between that are relaxing. And I know there’s plenty of exceptions but generally, the longer the cruise, the lower per day cost on our end.

Port days are nearly always ghost towns about the ships, especially in Europe.

 

[JM_97]

The shortest cruise I have ever been on was 7 days. For me I can't imagine.....in my case...traveling any distance for just a 3 or 4 day cruise. But my first cruise was 14 days with lots of ports, and just enough sea days sprinkled in to be rested for enjoy the following ports. We just booked a 14 day Princess Land/Sea package. 7 days touring on land, then 7 days on the ship....the first day a sea day which we will need to rest up after the 7 days of touring on land. We will be flying cross country.......and flying five hours each way, I want as many days of vacation to justify it.

I live not too far from PC so traveling for a 3-4 day cruise isn't a huge deal. But if you're flying, it's definitely not worth it if you don't tack on a pre or post cruise portion.

5-7 nights is my favorite. Usually by night 7 I'm recharged and have gotten my cruise fix. 4 nights feels way too rushed but 5, 6, or 7 nights is just right for me. I do want to try Panama Canal one day though. That would be a once in a lifetime trip.

 

[auntlynne]

Based on your original and subsequent posts, it sounds like a sampling of locations in Europe would be the result.

The cruise portion would allow you to get a one-day glimpse into five countries, including a big one in Athens (visiting the Parthenon).

I can say I have been to Rome, Pisa, Pompeii, and a bunch of other ports just from one cruise. And I am happy with that. If I don’t have the opportunity for an in-depth visit later, at least I have the memory of the experience I did have. Others might only go somewhere if they can really soak it all in (which might take a year or more ).

That is the beauty of port-intensive cruises. Often, they are not relaxing. But this one seems a nice balance.

It sort of comes down to whether you want to visit these destinations for just a day. And if you want a cruise.

…Curious - did you fly all the way to Australia for a 3-night cruise? And then do some touring around (like Europe sounds like) or did you fly all the way to Florida for a Wish cruise (again, combined with other vacation).

This sounds like a grand adventure! Cruise or not. Yours could be an interesting write-up, as the geographic region (and the guest demographics) might change the experience. Routinely, shorter cruises do have a different vibe.

Happy decision making.

 

[asgur5]

Based on your original and subsequent posts, it sounds like a sampling of locations in Europe would be the result.

The cruise portion would allow you to get a one-day glimpse into five countries, including a big one in Athens (visiting the Parthenon).

I can say I have been to Rome, Pisa, Pompeii, and a bunch of other ports just from one cruise. And I am happy with that. If I don’t have the opportunity for an in-depth visit later, at least I have the memory of the experience I did have. Others might only go somewhere if they can really soak it all in (which might take a year or more ).

That is the beauty of port-intensive cruises. Often, they are not relaxing. But this one seems a nice balance.

It sort of comes down to whether you want to visit these destinations for just a day. And if you want a cruise.

…Curious - did you fly all the way to Australia for a 3-night cruise? And then do some touring around (like Europe sounds like) or did you fly all the way to Florida for a Wish cruise (again, combined with other vacation).

This sounds like a grand adventure! Cruise or not. Yours could be an interesting write-up, as the geographic region (and the guest demographics) might change the experience. Routinely, shorter cruises do have a different vibe.

Happy decision making.

Im from australia. The australian cruise was a long weekend while the wish cruise was part of a much bigger trip to florida (5 days universal and 12 days disneyworld).

The wish cruise was probably our favourite part of the Florida trip. Although the theme parks were great as well but very tiring (we estimated we walked about 8-9 miles a day with the kids on theme park days).

Thanks for everyones advice. It's been very useful. We have decided to book the cruise. Super excited. Now just have to wait 400 days until its commences .

 

[mousefan73]

we prefer longer cruises. done Hawaii 2x and the 5 sea days go by fast and i was never bored... I also like that I dont have the pressure to go to every evening show. I love happythe pool deck to myself when most are at dinner or the show.

Honestly a 3 night seems so stressful to me now - even a 7 night.. but that is what we are booked on next

 

[msmama]

I'm another that's very Pro longer cruises. (At this point the only less than 7 days I'd do is if they ever go from NYC to Canada again).

I'm also terrible at relaxing, so even on sea days I will have well over 10,000 steps just from going from event to event around the ship. Usually on like the second to last day I'll plop somewhere with a book and wonder why I didn't do it early. But I still don't seem to learn for the next cruise.

I didn't find our Med cruise relaxing at all. The port days were super long. Wonderful, but long and exhausting. Like someone else said, I love to think I'll go back to really explore in depth, but if not, at least I have something.

For the Europe cruises (at least the Med, less so for Norway/Iceland, probably due to the climate) there were a lot of Europeans who stayed on the ship in the ports. They seemed to use it more as a staycation because they'd traveled Europe before so while there may be fewer planned activities (not as much trivia or drawing classes, for example) the services are all up and running.

The longer trips give you more time to get to know people (said as an extreme introvert) and the longer cruises just seem to have a bit of a more relaxed flow to them.

 

[cedricandsophie]

Our favorite cruises are the TAs, either way, and the transpacific which we did last October from Hawaii to Sydney. We love sea days and never tire of them. I read at the Cove. My husband goes to lectures, movies etc. We both work out in the morning. If we have been to a port we may not get off.

 

[Hubie]

We also don't enjoy short cruises. Those that we have done, we've always stayed at WDW for a few days either before or afterwards. Our second DCL cruise was the 14-day WBPC on the Wonder. It was a great 50th anniversary trip. We also absolutely loved both of our DCL Northern European cruises. The ports of Tallin and St. Petersburg especially are such spectacular places to have visited and we also were able to thoroughly explore Copenhagen prior to and/or after both cruises. Our only complaint on cruising is the short amount of time you have in each port. We wish ships would dock for a couple of days at each port. We have, however, done many other land trips to Europe also. If you want to check out one of my Northern Europe cruise trip reports below:

 

[auntlynne]

We also don't enjoy short cruises. Those that we have done, we've always stayed at WDW for a few days either before or afterwards. Our second DCL cruise was the 14-day WBPC on the Wonder. It was a great 50th anniversary trip. We also absolutely loved both of our DCL Northern European cruises. The ports of Tallin and St. Petersburg especially are such spectacular places to have visited and we also were able to thoroughly explore Copenhagen prior to and/or after both cruises. Our only complaint on cruising is the short amount of time you have in each port. We wish ships would dock for a couple of days at each port. We have, however, done many other lands trips to Europe also. If you want to check out one of my Northern Europe cruise trip reports below:

I am jealous of your St Petersburg and Copenhagen visits. Good for you!

 

[auntlynne]

OP - Sounds like you are an adventuring family. Whether you get enough time to relax and enjoy the ship in 4 Sea Days remains to be seen. But it will be a grand adventure.

I do not envy the flight to get there. I visited New Zealand from the Southeastern US (21 hours travel - stops in Dallas and Honolulu) many years ago but cannot imagine doing it now. Youth has its benefits!

Congratulations on booking. Now for the fun of researching the various port areas.

Bon Voyage!

 

[Hubie]

Copenhagen is so easy to navigate, and it was my favorite European city to visit. Also, it has Tivoli the park that inspired Walt to build Disneyland. But after spending several days in Edinburgh while on a land trip to Scotland, it's now my all-time favorite city to visit due to its tremendous history, huge castle and the associated Royal Mile in Old Town.

 

[auntlynne]

Copenhagen is so easy to navigate, and it was my favorite European city to visit. Also, it has Tivoli the park that inspired Walt to build Disneyland. But after spending several days in Edinburgh while on a land trip to Scotland, it's now my all-time favorite city to visit due to its tremendous history, huge castle and the associated Royal Mile in Old Town.

Quit teasing me!

You could list a lot of places and I would be jealous - even those I have visited. There’s too much world to see it all, even just to scratch the surface.

What an amazing period in history that so many have been fortunate to go so far and have such adventures. Just for fun.

I have an ongoing list of my life experiences and consider what the life that someone of my background, but 100 years ago, would have had. Not floating around in cruise ships or jetting off to faraway islands. Fantastic adventures. And still some to come, I imagine.

Hope you continue your adventures, if you wish.

 

[asgur5]

OP - Sounds like you are an adventuring family. Whether you get enough time to relax and enjoy the ship in 4 Sea Days remains to be seen. But it will be a grand adventure.

I do not envy the flight to get there. I visited New Zealand from the Southeastern US (21 hours travel - stops in Dallas and Honolulu) many years ago but cannot imagine doing it now. Youth has its benefits!

Congratulations on booking. Now for the fun of researching the various port areas.

Bon Voyage!

Youth does indeed have its benefits. Being from australia it seems like most of our overseas flights are 20+ hours. Thats just standard international flying for us unfortunately. A trip to west cost USA is only 13 hours. Thats a short trip for us.

Have already been looking at port destinations today even though its 400 days away. Probably should of spent more time working lol.

 

[Hubie]

Quit teasing me!

You could list a lot of places and I would be jealous - even those I have visited. There’s too much world to see it all, even just to scratch the surface.

What an amazing period in history that so many have been fortunate to go so far and have such adventures. Just for fun.

I have an ongoing list of my life experiences and consider what the life that someone of my background, but 100 years ago, would have had. Not floating around in cruise ships or jetting off to faraway islands. Fantastic adventures. And still some to come, I imagine.

Hope you continue your adventures, if you wish.

Thank you! I agree it's an amazing time concerning fabulous travel opportunities even for the middle class in this country. While growing up in a small town in Wisconsin I never imagined I'd ever even leave the country during my lifetime. I've now been to 32 countries and counting. I visited many of them during the 35-years I climbed. But age catches up to us all and now going on 78 my adventurous travels are coming to a close. I also never dreamed I would enjoy cruising, but now I'm about to be Platinum on DCL. We've been so very fortunate.