Port intensive or sea day intensive?

[emckeeve]

Ports. Unpack once and see the world!

[SoBaycruiser]

I like a mixture. I'll choose a longer itinerary to get those sea days in addition to the ports. The one exception is the Baltic cruise. We have 7 port days in a row in the middle of our 14 day trip. It's only because this would be difficult to do by land and see all these places that we've made an exception. We live very busy lives, even in retirement, so we see a cruise as a time to relax.

 

We also find ourselves attracted to spectacular nature sights which tend to have more days at sea...such as So America/Antarctica, Norwegian fjords, Tahiti, etc. Continental Europe we prefer to do by land at our own pace.

[Heavy T]

I love Sea Days cuz you can just lounge around and not worry about getting in line for the tender before the line gets too long. I love looking out the windows or over the railings and seeing nothing but blue ocean. I love Port days cuz the ship is less chaotic with most of the passengers going ashore. Buffet lines are shorter, ice cream lines are shorter, etc.... So, I love both days!!

[Happy2cruise]

Love the sea days!!!!

[HomelessBear]

Having recently done the Hawaii cruise, it made me realise that 4 sea days on the trot is too many for me. I was desperate to to get off for a while after that long.

I like sea days, but when I can sit on my balcony in the sun and warmth, in tee shirt and shorts. I also like the port days just getting off and mooching around for a while, and sometime exploring somewhere new. I like just spending a few hours in a place, as it gives me a taste for either wanting to return for longer, or never returning again!

 

Having a mixture of sea days and ports on a cruise is the best for me, and especially having a sea day before we have to disembark is a bonus. This day is great for having a lie-in the day before we have to get up really early, having a relax during the day before reality starts again, and we can pack without feeling rushed.

 

Just my two pennies worth.

[Pam in CA]

Both. It all depends. I've taken extremely port-intensive cruises (21 ports in 28 days) and laid back cruises (20 sea days out of 31). Some itineraries are port-intensive because so many interesting places are near each other (a Med, Baltic or British Isles) or have lots of sea days because ports are a long distance from each other.

 

If a cruise is very port-intensive, I plan my tours so I'm not taking all-day tours every day. I'm not going to see everything or even a small part so I pick what has the greatest interest to me.

 

FYI, on our 21 port/28-day cruise, my friend and I started packing our bags with a week left of the cruise. We were exhausted and "toured out." We went on tour but had lost our interest. I'd never do anything like that again. But we had a great cruise with a lot of memories.

[smoosh21]

personally I would be just as happy if the ship just left the port and cruised around for the 7 days... I just dont get that much into the ports, I dont need to go somewhere for me just getting away is enough for me. ( and yes I understand about the Jones act, so I know we would have to stop somewhere, but that would be fine)

 

I used to be port intensive, but now I am sea days intensive. Especially for Caribbean as I have now been to most of the regular stops. I like a 3 port itinerary on a week long cruise.

[iriemon]

We would take the sea days. After 41 cruises there is not much in the ports that we care or want to see. It would also be a lot cheaper if we did sea days, it would keep my wife out of the jewelry stores! :eek:

[mariakitty]

The more we cruise, the less we care about the ports unless it is a place we haven't been before. I love sea days, but a nice mix is important too. Actually my DH and I love being in port and not getting off the ship - it's quiet, relaxing and not as crowded.

[cruis247g]

I love visiting ports, but in order for the vacation to be relaxing, I need sea days. However, we sometimes turn port days into ship days, which are fabulous and very relaxing, as well:D!

[Rixnsd]

For Caribbean cruises, I like sea days with a few ports. My wife likes port days. When it is her choice, we often go to a resort instead of a taking a cruise or take a Southern Caribbean cruise from San Juan. Her perfect (imposssible) Caribbean cruise would leave from Florida and visit Princess Cays, Labadee, St. Thomas, Dominica, Barbados and Turks & Caicos or Aruba- without any sea days in between.

 

We took a Hawaii cruise the drove her nuts (Honolulu to Vancouver). We left our last port, Hilo, on a Saturday evening and didn't get into Vancouver until Thursday morning. She said NEVER again to that many sea days.

 

We've also taken a 14-night Panama Canal cruise from San Diego to Ft. Lauderdale that pretty much had one sea day and then one port day the entire cruise. We both seemed to like that itinerary.

 

That being said, we pretty much pick a cruise based on deciding where we want to go, and then picking the best ship/itineray option at the best price from three cruise lines we like (Princess, Royal Caribbean and Celebrity). When the new ships come out, we go just for the ship. We typically take 2-cruises a year and one of them is a Caribbean Cruise typically out of Galveston for convenience since we live in Austin. In that case, there really isn't any option for itinerary because we only like one of the itineraries offered.