Do you stay for a couple of days ofr fly home on the first available flight?

[Karysa]

For those of you who have tacked on a couple of days after your cruise are you happy that you did it or did you feel that you were just postponing the inevitable?

[bobalink]

For those of you who have tacked on a couple of days after your cruise are you happy that you did it or did you feel that you were just postponing the inevitable?

 

Good question. We prefer to add days on prior to getting on the ship. Last year we were in Copenhagen 3 days before boarding the ship. It was great.

Now this year, we will be in Rome for 3 days precruise.

We did a land/cruise tour of Alaska and then we stayed 2 days in Vancouver at the end, and we were exhausted.

I kinda feel like once the cruise is over, I am done. Just get me on the plane and take me home. But, of course, that is just my opinion.

For some people, the timing of the cruise and how it fits into their vacation schedule will determine if they can add days on at the beginning or the end.

Have fun, however you decide!

[Ontario cruise duo]

For our cruise last January, we arrived two days earlier in Miami to see the sites and make our 5 day cruise into a 7 day vacation. We really enjoyed Miami and seeing South Beach however January, 2009 was cool and so no swimming or anything in Miami, and jeans and jacket most of the time. Headed to the airport after disembarkation and arrived there are 10:30 to spend the rest of the time at the airport for our 4:00 o'clock flight home.:(

 

This year for our November cruise again I have decided that it is best to head down 2 days early to hopefully spend some warmer weather in Miami/South Beach and then go on our 7 day cruise and instead of spending Saturday at the airport waiting for a flight out, to head to Hollywood (Westin Diplomat Resort & Spa) and spend the next day and a half there, postponing our flight out till 8:00 o'clock Sunday night. Trying to get the most out of our vacation time. I typically have Monday's off work and DH has booked Monday as an extra vacation day. Sooo, we (really MY DOING) have extended this one as L O N G as possible. But when it's over, it'll really be over!! Can't wait for November to come!! But at the same time looking so forward to new pool renovations, time at the cottage up north (Sauble Beach area) and summer here in Ontario!:p

[John Bull]

For those of you who have tacked on a couple of days after your cruise are you happy that you did it or did you feel that you were just postponing the inevitable?

 

For me, the biggest downside of cruising is the limited time in port.

Not a big deal in most of the the Caribbean, but major cities - Rome, Beijing, New York, etc ad infinitum, there's way too much to see & it's often too long & expensive a journey to get just a glimpse.

I aim for itineraries with different & interesting embarkation & disembarkation ports, and get in mebbe 2 to 5 days at each. A cruise from, say, Singapore to Hong Kong doesn't include either if all you see of them is a tarmac ribbon between airport & port.

Arriving at the embarkation port a day or two early has the acknowledged bonus that you don't have to worry about delays en route (volcanos permitting :rolleyes:)

 

Where time or money are an issue, I'd rather trim the length of cruise to compensate.

 

But each to their own

 

John Bull

[klfrodo]

We always tack on a day or 2 prior and at least 1 day post.

 

We always have to fly cross country to get to our cruises. Those couple of days allow us to relax, sight see, and get our body clocks adjusted.

 

Post cruise stay? I've never has a relaxing cruise. Just go, go ,go and that's the way I like it. The last thing I truely enjoy on a cruise is that last morning. While I'm relaxing with a cup of coffee in my hand, I get to watch thousands of harried travelers fight, biatch, moan, stand in line, yell at their kids, wives yelling at husbands, people pushing and/or cutting lines, all trying to get off the ship. Ourselves? We just wait till everyone is gone, walk off the ship, find a nice hotel, relax a little, get a good nights sleep and fly back home the following morning.

[cruising to paradise]

On our last cruise from San Juan we went 1 day early and stayed 2 days after. It was nice to walk around San Juan and see the sights, also went ATVing. Had a great time ,but I was ready to go home.

[STARFISH*4]

we only have done this when we cruised out of NYC...did post cruise stay

ENJOYABLE but we were very tired from the cruise...i would rather do it before, but the CHOICE isnt always ours...have to go when you can...usually after the cruise we try to get the later flight out and take a ship tour that ends up at the airport--just extending our FABULOUS vacation!!!--ideally i would like 2 days before and 2 days after but for the money to stay we can usually CRUISE again:)

[chipmaster]

Extra days before and after depend really on where you are going, how far, and what you plan to do.

 

For flights over multiple time zones it helps if as you have more time for time adjustment.

 

As another poster mentioned for Europe where port time is so limited the extra days at the beginning and end give you more touring time to explore and really see the port/cities.

 

If I have time I always tack time on, its never about postponing the inevitable :D

 

 

For those of you who have tacked on a couple of days after your cruise are you happy that you did it or did you feel that you were just postponing the inevitable?

[Essiesmom]

I usually head right home, particularly when cruising with my sister, who still works and has a difficult time negotiating enough time for the cruise itself. this means we usually fly in the day of the cruise...But last year I did a 32 day cruise on Oosterdam, San Diego to Rome. I had a friend onboard, and she wanted to stay over in Rome, so we stayed together and toured Rome for three days. Hopefully we will be able to do the eastern Med. next year with a pre/post cruise stay, preferably in Venice. EM

[Treven]

I've cruised out of FLL so far and live on the Left Coast. Due to the time changes, I always stay an extra day or two after the cruise and catch a flight leaving around 6:00 a.m. This gets me home around 1:00 p.m., local time. If I caught a flight right after the cruise I wouldnt get home till the evening.

As far as pre-cruise, I prefer catching a red-eye, which leaves here around 11:30 and gets me in to FLL about 11:00 a.m., their time. Sometimes I get in the day of the cruise, and sometimes, like in a couple weeks, :D I'll fly out a day ahead.

[grandmato4]

We love adding at least one day before returning home when possible. Some reasons are: If I don't feel like taking the time to pack "perfectly" for the flights home on that last day before leaving the cruise I don't have to as I can do it at a more leisurely pace in our hotel. The morning we leave the ship we don't feel rushed so we enjoy a much more leisurely breakfast and final walk around the ship and are in no hurry to leave the ship. No stress as to if our ship arrives back in port on time or if there are any delays in departing the ship that could effect catching our flight home. It just feels great to have at least one bridge day between a wonderful relaxing cruise and returning to the reality of real life. Often the least expensive flights home are too early in the morning to book (or safely book;)) the day you leave your ship but by flying out the next day you can take advantage of those flight which allows you the money to pay for that hotel room before flying home.

 

We're in no hurry to get home so the more days we can spend in our port city relaxing after leaving our cruise the better!:)

[MszKitty]

If we have to fly 5 or more hours to a port, we try to get there at least one day prior and stay a couple nights after. Our last 2 cruises out of Florida we spent 2 nights pre-cruise and 4 nights post-cruise in Ft Lauderdale. Its just an extension of our vacation.

[yarramar]

As we live on the other side of the world from our cruise embarkation we consider the cruise as only part of the vacation. We would never think of arriving or leaving same day. Our coming cruise in September we are staying 5 days in Rome pre-cruise & 3 days Venice post as well as 2 day stopovers in Dubai and Kuala Lumper.

[GlendaleCruiser]

We always stay pre-cruise. I like to visit a city for about 2-3 days and then I'm so excited to get on the ship and cruise. After being on the ship I just have no desire to live out of my suitcase for a couple of days. I'm done. Take me to the airport.

[Teeara]

We ALWAYS arrive one day before and stay one day after the cruise. I don't want to be stressed out by flying and possible flight delays causing me to miss the ship. I like to arrive, get settled in the hotel, have a relaxing evening and then early to bed. We also try to book a hotel close enough to the port to be able to see the ship (although this doesn't always happen). Cruise morning we're out of the hotel and at the port between 10:30 and 11 a.m.

 

After the cruise we don't feel rushed to leave the ship since we aren't catching a flight. We take our time and catch a cab to our hotel where we check in. Then we spend the rest of the day enjoying the port city (since we usually arrive too late in the day to do so on arrival day). The following day we fly home.

 

Theresa

[Krazy Kruizers]

We always stay after the cruise -- have no choice as the first flights to go home are early in the morning.

[Karysa]

Thank you for all of the insight. We have gone in a day or two early before but this will be our first post cruise stay. For our one night pre-stay in Miami we are going to stay in a suite hotel near the airport which seems to me to be a great place to relax and decompress. After the cruise we are going to Miami Beach for two full days just to hang out at the beach and walk the boardwalk to South Beach and shop a little. We will get home around midnight and will take the next couple of days off of work as well to get settled in back at home. We are traveling with our 3 teenage DD's so there is sure to be an abundance of laundry and unpacking when we finally make it home.

 

We usually take a flight home around 12 or 1pm after disembarking so we usually carry our luggage off of the ship ourselves but since we have no place that we need to be how do you suggest we disembark this time?

[diane.in.ny]

We always go in early. How early depends upon the port but we always try to arrive at least one day pre-embarkation.

 

And if the cruise ends in a city we've never been to, we'll stay a few days on the end also.

 

Doing a Med cruise in the fall and going into Athens 5 days early and staying 4 days in Venice at the end.

[Cruise Junky]

If at all possible we add days on both sides. Always arrive a day early but are probably more likely to add days on at the end if vacation time permits. Greek Island Cruise in 08 we had two nights in London before flying to Venice and then added 5 nights in Monaco and 2 in Paris before flying home. Last Mexican Riviera cruise we picked up a rental car in LA and headed to Vegas for 3 nights and flew home from Vegas rather than LA.

[kelmac]

We always arrive at least one day early and always stay at least one day postcruise. We prefer multiple days on either side of our cruise. It's like three vacations in one.

I think it's really depressing to go straight from the ship to the airport; fight the crowds and sit around for several hours.

We always fly home early morning when the crowds are down, the weather is better, the flights are on time, and we arrive home in the middle of the day.

 

Our up coming Solstice cruise we arrive four days early and have a bunch of plans, and we will stay one night post cruise and fly home early the next day.

 

Enjoy your cruise!

Kel:)

[cb at sea]

Straight home....doesn't seem fun to me, to have loads of dirty clothes to deal with!

[NCTribeFan]

It depends on how much time off I have, but I rarely have any extra in my vacation budget to allow additional days.

 

I do arrive the night before the cruise.

 

The only cruise I've added days on at the end was last May, when I sailed Carnival Victory out of San Juan. That was an all-port itinerary and I knew it would be exhausting, so since we were returning the day before Memorial day and I would have that day off anyway, I decided to stay 2 days at the Marriott Resort & Stellaris Casino.

 

Very relaxing.

[GlendaleCruiser]

Straight home....doesn't seem fun to me, to have loads of dirty clothes to deal with!

 

 

Who says I deal with them?:D I sure don't want to dig through dirty clothes in a hotel for a couple of days, that's for sure.

 

When I come home, those dirty clothes get dumped in the hamper and get dealt with later.

 

So are you telling me that you stay in a hotel for a couple of days and do laundry?

[Karysa]

We usually take a flight home around 12 or 1pm after disembarking so we usually carry our luggage off of the ship ourselves but since we have no place that we need to be how do you suggest we disembark this time?

 

 

 

Any suggestions?

[mtwingcpa]

I've added some days after shorter cruises, less than one week. But on longer trips I prefer to just head home. That said, I've often had to stay overnight in the debarkation city to sync up with airline schedules, but I usually don't do much on that day (just hang around the hotel, check email, re-pack, etc.).