Carnival 3 vs 7 day cruises - Pros and Cons

[dlphn501]

On 11/28/2019 at 7:01 PM, tandemcruzr said:

We did a 4 day/3 day/4 day B2B2B on the Liberty earlier this year (Feb). The 4 days were pretty calm. The aft pool was adults only and there was a large group on the 3 day leg that had to be removed from the pool by Security. One of them could hardly walk after she got out of the water. And the 3 day was over the weekend, so it looked like it was meant to be a party cruise for that group.

I am curious about your B2B's - wouldn't it be more enjoyable to do different itineraries?  I am considering doing a 3 and 4 day B2B on Liberty, but it seemed useless to go back and forth to the bahamas, twice, for the same price as a 7-day on a different ship that goes to 4 different ports that I haven't been to.

[rukkian]

41 minutes ago, dlphn501 said:

I am curious about your B2B's - wouldn't it be more enjoyable to do different itineraries?  I am considering doing a 3 and 4 day B2B on Liberty, but it seemed useless to go back and forth to the bahamas, twice, for the same price as a 7-day on a different ship that goes to 4 different ports that I haven't been to.

That was my thought, but there are many who either don't get off the ship, or just go to a beach and relax, and don't really care if it is the same one every time.

[dlphn501]

10 minutes ago, rukkian said:

That was my thought, but there are many who either don't get off the ship, or just go to a beach and relax, and don't really care if it is the same one every time.

I suppose a repeat cruise is better than no cruise at all.  I guess the price would have to be right for me to do that, especially since you do lose the entire morning on embarkation day for the 2nd leg, and still have the day 1 craziness.  Seriously wondering about this though.

[tandemcruzr]

1 hour ago, dlphn501 said:

I am curious about your B2B's - wouldn't it be more enjoyable to do different itineraries?  I am considering doing a 3 and 4 day B2B on Liberty, but it seemed useless to go back and forth to the bahamas, twice, for the same price as a 7-day on a different ship that goes to 4 different ports that I haven't been to.

You are quite right. What we are doing is to get to 50 cruises in 2020 to celebrate our 50th wedding anniversary. And the price was right for us. We booked it a year and a half out. We are currently at 47 and get 50 on the Radiance in Nov, 2020.

Edited December 2, 2019 by tandemcruzr
Clarification

[serene56]

We did a 4 day.   ONCE.   will never do that again.

thought it was gonna be a nice relaxing vacation

 

No soon was I on and it was time to get off as I blinked and it was over. 

 

[dlphn501]

31 minutes ago, tandemcruzr said:

You are quite right. What we are doing is to get to 50 cruises in 2020 to celebrate our 50th wedding anniversary. And the price was right for us. We booked it a year and a half out. We are currently at 47 and get 50 on the Radiance in Nov, 2020.

Ah, okay, I see.  Makes sense 🙂  happy anniversary!

[tandemcruzr]

2 hours ago, dlphn501 said:

Ah, okay, I see.  Makes sense 🙂  happy anniversary!

Thanks. It's been a fun experience.  😉

 

[xDisconnections]

On 11/28/2019 at 9:20 PM, Tapi said:

I did a couple of 3 nighters when I lived in Miami. Never thought of them as a real vacation, but more of something convenient to do on a weekend. While they are fun, they are not necessarily relaxing, and they are too short to allow me to settle into “cruise mode”. By the time I start getting in the rhythm of things, it’s over. And because they are short, fellow cruisers tend to want to pack too much into the short amount of time, making the general atmosphere feel more hectic. 
 

Since I moved away from Miami, I don’t do 3 nighters anymore. At a minimum, I look at 4 night cruises and I usually add a night or two at a hotel before the cruise, and that seems long enough to feel like a vacation. 

They’re certainly convenient for a weekend!

[glrounds]

I tend to sandwich in 4-day cruises between my "regular" 7 and 8 day cruises. Love the glitzy old well-maintained IMAGINATION and INSPIRATION Fantasy Class ships of the Joe Farcus days, to play remember-when they were doing the 7-dayers. Of course, the shorter cruises draw those who can't maybe getaway for a week and need to vent. Understandable to me as I look on while the brain cells are dying. 🙂 But, they're usually a very good price (just turned down a P&D offer on a cruise leaving yesterday for $28 per person per day !) and always fun to go to Catalina and Ensenada. Good grub, comfortable bunk, and often great company.

[Kristi Williamson]

Get yourself into a different mindset and they're GREAT! We typically do 4-5 nighters instead of the 3, but even then we have to think about it differently.  We've actually had the discussion. We rarely take the kids on the short ones, so that's different, too. 

 

Tell yourself, before you ever leave, that the minute you leave the house you're not going to rush. Refuse it. Something about the shorter cruises causes our brains to rush, rush, rush, rush, but if you'll consciously remind yourself this is to RELAX, you'll do better. I very intentionally get on the ship with the mindset that this is solely for relaxation and anything that screws with my time on the shorter cruises we tend to nix it. We also lean more toward reading books, enjoying more mimosas, later lunches, etc...  I rarely look at the Fun Times on short cruises. We love 'em, but just have to be more aware of chilling out because the days fly by. 

[Jasonsterling]

I honestly think that the effort involved with getting to the port and getting on and off the ship makes it not worth doing anything less than 7 days unless I lived in the port city or maybe within an hour of it, maybe. I mean with three days- one of them being the day you board- I'd basically not want to unpack or even sleep- lol and that's the biggest draw back I see, too little time. The best case scenario would be you live in the port city and have been on the ship before so you don't have to travel and learn a new boat- OH! And it's a good deal, lol. Then I'd do it for a quick weekend getaway. The only other draw back might be less of the "stage" type entertainment in the main show lounge and maybe there's not a formal night? Not a big deal though.