What is your ideal length of cruise, and how intense in ports

[Windsurfboy]

This is a question for which there is NO right answer, it is not a debate, everyone has their own choice and experience. 

 

Just interested in what people look for, and a little bit of why , what we can learn from each other. Let's ignore budget for a moment, and also ignoreTAs which are unique both a cruise and a way from A to B

 

If I start. We are lazy, so given all the packing (remember this is a Cunard cruise not a shorts and T shirt job) and the journey , wouldn't go for less than 2 weeks. The longest we've been on is 3 weeks.  Our feeling is that 4 weeks would be about the maximum we could take without feeling stir crazy . Also feel that the longer the cruise the more sea days relative to port days we'd prefer

[newjoisey]

I would say 2 week is our minimum and we have done a 3 week [wife did not want to leave the ship to go home] . We talked about a 3 month world jaunt and thought a 30 day "work up" cruise to test ourselves but the coronavirus ended that probably forever. As for port/sea days ratio maybe 4 days [sea] max and a port every other day ... unlike a port every day . So i vote for a carib cruise that takes a total of 6 days to and from [sea days] and 21 days visiting 12 or so ports the 9 or so days i wont call sea days just idling around the islands [in shorts and tees lol] . 

[Mudhen]

Lengthwise, probably 2 weeks, give or take a couple of days. We've done as much as a month, but probably wouldn't do that again. A sea day every other day, please. Or at least one sea day for every two port days in a row. 

[newjoisey]

i would add i can't think anything that would get us back aboard for a 3/5 days cruise again ....twice was enough 

[Roger88]

8 minutes ago, newjoisey said:

I would say 2 week is our minimum and we have done a 3 week [wife did not want to leave the ship to go home] . We talked about a 3 month world jaunt and thought a 30 day "work up" cruise to test ourselves but the china virus ended that probably forever. As for port/sea days ratio maybe 4 days [sea] max and a port every other day ... unlike a port every day . So i vote for a carib cruise that takes a total of 6 days to and from [sea days] and 21 days visiting 12 or so ports the 9 or so days i wont call sea days just idling around the islands [in shorts and tees lol] . 

10 days sounds perfect to me. I was always a big fan of short term cruises. They are more cozy, fast and full entertainment wise. 14+ days it gets too long and sometimes even boring. I really wish there were more short term cruises

[Host Hattie]

At the moment, anything would be good!

The longest we've done is 21 days and we didn't want to get off but we've had enjoyable short cruises as well.

 

[Victoria2]

Forty five days is our longest as we have usually done World Cruise segments in the past, apart from routes around South  America, for four weeks plus to start the cruising year off. Sea days, sailing warm southern oceans are idyllic. I don't fancy anything longer though as I'd miss life at home.

After late Spring, two weeks max as I like being at home too.

[Windsurfboy]

1 hour ago, Host Hattie said:

At the moment, anything would be good!

 

 

 

Hear hear

[Camgirl]

2 hours ago, Host Hattie said:

At the moment, anything would be good!

 

 

Absolutely!

 

Our longest so far is also 21 days, which I loved. We have also done a few very enjoyable short cruises, but I found 2 nights is too short. 5 is my ideal minimum - we loved the new year cruises to Amsterdam that Cunard used to run. My ambition is to do a whole world cruise one day.

 

As for the ports to sea days ratio, I love sea days, but I also enjoy the ports. However, I don't like too many ports in a row. Ideally, I wouldn't like more than 2 ports in a row. 

 

At the moment though, I would do any cruise I could. 2 nights or more, I don't mind, I just want to get back on a Cunard ship.

[Bigmike911]

I like a ten day west bound trans Atlantic Crossing with a day in Southampton and one in Le Havre. That is a perfect time for me. See some new things, and just relax the rest of the time. I hope I can take my scheduled 22 July crossing this year, which has that itinerary. 

[Victoria2]

2 hours ago, Windsurfboy said:

 

Hear hear

Me too.

To be fair, our longest cruise also involved a Cunard land package too but, any length at the moment if it meant getting back onboard, would be appreciated.

 

Let's all hope we can, get back to our favourite style of holidays, soon.

[MCC retired]

7 nighters for us .

90 cruises under our belts ( many cruise lines over the years)

10 nights has been the most .

Hate to leave the pets and family for too long.

[showingdiva]

4-7 nights x 2 cruises, one in spring and one late autumn, as I need to leave the summer spare for the 120 we usually have in the Firth of Forth each year that I volunteer with on board / in the terminal / on the quayside.

 

But as Hattie said above, at the moment ... I'd be grateful for anything that turned up, either to work with or as a passenger.    I've having to content myself with waving to the four laid up Fred Olsen ships in Rosyth.

[TheOldBear]

We live fairly close to the Brooklyn Cruise Terminal, and dislike flying - so for us, a round trip TA + European ports seems to be our basic preferred trip.

[sfred]

7 hours ago, Host Hattie said:

At the moment, anything would be good!

The longest we've done is 21 days and we didn't want to get off but we've had enjoyable short cruises as well.

 

Shortest we've done is 2 nights (very enjoyable weekend getaways on short domestic Australia segments) and longest is 27 nights (Japan to Alaska and Vancouver).  Whatever the duration, we've had great fun, and were very sad to be disembarking at the end.

[lissie]

We've only done one cruise it was 14 nights, with 6 port days which seemed about right.  We're about to do an 8 day expedition style cruise in southern NZ next month. That's only 8 days - but it maybe 5 too long if I can't conquer sea sickness LOL 

 

We've booked 36 nights San Francisco- Panama Canal - Spain-Itay-Spain  -that's 36 nights - the longest sea day stretch is 5 days from Bermuda to Maderia - that will be long enough I think. We'll probably add an Alaska cruise onto that - but not continous because I want  to see more of Alaska and Vancouver than just a day in port 

 

I think it really depends on the itinerary - I'm not into repeating destinations unless I have no other choice, and some just work with certain lenghts of time. 

 

Coming from NZ - ideally I like to be away for 6 months - but my partner likes to be back a little bit quicker - but again it depends on where we'll going - wouldn't go to Europe for less than 6 weeks these days. 

[navybankerteacher]

I think ten or twelve days is the minimum — and I would guess about three to four weeks the maximum I could take.  Unless there were a string of really interesting ports, I would be happy with about one port call every three days - to look around and stretch our legs.   If we are really interested in seeing a place/places, we are not going to do it on 9:00 AM. - 4:00 PM port calls.  - and will plan land travel.

[majortom10]

12 days is the minimum these days have done one 10 nighter but wouldnt do any les than 12 now. The most we have done up to now is 17 nts and we have a 19nt on Arcadian next August if it goes ahead and we had a 28 nt on QM2 to USA/Canada in October which of course was cancelled. Ports are not really a great issue for us because we love sea days and done a few roundtrip TAs which of course is only 1 port New York in 14 nts.

[orchestrapal]

21 days would be the shortest with equal sea and port days.

We have done mostly all back to backs once on Cunard  

most past and all future not.

[Vict0riann]

We have done 42- and 49-day cruises, but both on HAL, less formal than Cunard,  I'm another one who doesn't want to disembark.  I think our longest on Cunard was 2 weeks, usually we  just do TAs on Cunard.    I like two port days, then a sea day, if there are too many port days, I'll take a day off anyway!  It is so nice, at the end of a long, port-intensive cruise to have a TA to relax.  Our 42-day cruise was called the "Atlantic Adventurer" - out of Fort Lauderdale, around the Med and back to Fort Lauderdale.  Perfect mix of sea days and port days.  I wish they were still doing it.

[Windsurfboy]

Like many who've responded we prefer a less intensive cruise, every 3rd day would be ideal.

 

Our next is a 17 day cape town to UK .  We don't get off ship as we've done it a few times before, would get of if they'd chosen Maderia instead of Tenerife. Enjoy sea days. However wouldn't normally choose 17 days on board , except we treat this a a much more pleasant way of getting from A to B compared to any part of a plane.

 

We have a 32 day cruise booked for 2022 with 11 ports, a bit uneven as we have 3 port days in a row in the middle. Will be by far our longest cruise, fingers crossed.

[Lanky Lad]

For me between 14 and 21 nights is about right.  I have done a few 16 night trips which I enjoyed.  As I like sea days I would say 1 port day to every 2 sea days is about right for me. 

 

The longest I have done was 29 nights to Cape Town and back.  As were could not stop in St Helena due to the weather we had 9 sea days, which I felt was a bit too long. 

 

As a Cunard fan, I guess the correct answer is 7 nights then a day in New York (or Southampton) and 7 nights on board again.

[Brindlebury]

With the exception of TAs, which always seem too short to me anyway – I’m just settled in when it’s time to disembark – my minimum is around 12 days.  The longest was a 72-day round the Pacific cruise years ago, which was glorious. 

 

I love having sea days liberally spaced between port stops.  And like some overnight ports as well.  Any cruise without sea days I immediately eliminate. I appreciate a balance between the two.

 

But the happiest thought to me at the moment is to simply be onboard again.

[naturelovergirl]

I like a port intensive cruise with some sea days thrown in- 12-14 days is a good fit for that.

I also like to do a land trip before the cruise... so, fly in... rent a car and drive for several days before. On the day of the cruise, return the rental car and take a taxi or public transportation to the port to get on the ship.

Example- last year before our voyage to Norway on Cunard, we flew to the UK from the USA. Then we rented a car to go on a road trip to see Cornwall.

The land trip to Cornwall before the Norway cruise just made our vacation so unique and special!! 

[Yaldi]

Around 14 days is perfect for me, enough time to make the journey to embarkation worthwhile and allows a feeling of leaving the ship while still having fun and wanting more. I get a feeling of routine and longing for home after a while.

 

For me the prerequisite for disembarkation is to have another booked so when l look back at the ship as l leave the port l know l will be back.

 

A back to back trans Atlantic voyage, Caribbean or Canada from New York or Southampton to Canary Islands are examples of voyages which suit me in terms of sea days, port days and time on board.