How many cruises is enough?

[geoherb]

We've only been on 31 cruises. We have met several people on our cruises who have many times more cruises under their belts. I'm envious. Our tablemates on the Ruby Princess this spring were the most traveled passengers. I think it was their 170th Princess cruise. I don't know if we'll ever be able to match them, but I'm looking forward to when we retire and can do more than three cruises a year. That's the max we've been able to fit into our schedule/budget so far.

[navybankerteacher]

We've only been on 31 cruises. We have met several people on our cruises who have many times more cruises under their belts. I'm envious. Our tablemates on the Ruby Princess this spring were the most traveled passengers. I think it was their 170th Princess cruise. I don't know if we'll ever be able to match them, but I'm looking forward to when we retire and can do more than three cruises a year. That's the max we've been able to fit into our schedule/budget so far.

 

I hesitate to question anyone's veracity, but there are times where some comments seem simply unlikely. 170 seems like an extraordinary number - of course if they had been retired for many years - or had always been independently wealthy so they never had to work, it is entirely possible: say 17 years with ten cruises per year... still.

 

Has anyone else had a conversation on a cruise ship which seemed possibly just a bit of exaggeration?

[ncovert]

In my opinion, there will never be "enough" cruises. There may come a time (hopefully in the distant future) when because of health issues, we won't be able to cruise any longer, but even then, I'm not sure the last one taken will be enough. There's always one more port, one more shore excursion, one more pre/post cruise city to enjoy. You just can't put a limit on making memories.

 

Smooth Sailing ! :) :) :)

 

I am not a heavy hitter cruiser like you asked for... but to answer the question... I would say there is never a cruise exactly like the last. And just like going to the same mountain retreat or other land vacation year after year, the many memories change. Each cruise has had a different reason to be on and the memories are the reason I keep coming back. I think enough will be enough if I get to a point that I am tired of the experience or have a change in my personal taste.

[ECCruise]

[quote=navybankerteacher;44059055

 

Has anyone else had a conversation on a cruise ship which seemed possibly just a bit of exaggeration?

 

Yes.

But 170 cruises isn't such a stretch over say 25 years, especially if they live in Florida, don't mind the Caribbean and take short cruises.

[marco]

Yes.

But 170 cruises isn't such a stretch over say 25 years, especially if they live in Florida, don't mind the Caribbean and take short cruises.

 

Or for someone like me (close to 60 yrs old) and have been traveling by ship since I was 6. For the first 10 yrs, they were TA's, going back to visit family in Europe. We went annually, eastbound and westbound. I count a TA same as a cruise and I count each way as one sailing, so by the time I was 16, that was already 20. Now, the total is well over 125 which includes many more TA's.

[calliopecruiser]

We are new to this forum so forgive any dumb questions.

One thing I have noticed is several forum members who have a LOT of past cruises, like over 100. We love cruising and hope to do a lot more, but at some point I think I might get tired of going to the same ports on the same boats (inevitable if you get to that many trips). So I am absolutely, totally not being negative, but I would appreciate the comments from those mega cruisers as to why they keep coming back, and how do they keep the experience fresh and exiting. Any tips?

 

I think it's just different personalities, just like some people like to frequent the same restaurant and others who almost never dine in the same place and like to choose new restaurants to try out. Different strokes.......

[momofmeg]

Yes.

But 170 cruises isn't such a stretch over say 25 years, especially if they live in Florida, don't mind the Caribbean and take short cruises.

 

You know though I think it is better to count days than cruises. For example I have taken 22 cruises but averaged by days is 6 days a cruise and we have taken 2 twelve day cruises and 1 ten day cruise. We took a lot of shorter cruises in the early years when we first became enamored with cruising. We would usually have a 7 day booked (not enough vacation time or income for more) but we would get the 'itch" so we would scoot down to FL and take a last minute short cruise Lol!

 

So you see someone that has taken only a couple of world cruises would be way ahead of me in days.

 

Like you said, there used to be poster on one cruise forum that did a lot of the 3 day weekend cruises on the same ship, 10 miles from her house, as it was easy to take Friday off(boss would let her do 4 ten hour days ever so often to get Friday off) and go for a long weekend. She did this several times a year-once we compared, she had more cruises than I but I had more days. However, I sure envied that she had a port so close was all she needed to do was work a little longer during the week to get the day off.