Long cruises

[CRZAHOLIC]

We have gone on close to 30 cruises but the longest has been 9 days so we obviously love to cruise but after 7 days we are ready to get off.  We signed up for a 14 day Royal cruise because the itinerary is fabulous.  I am just worried because it is so long.  I am interested in hearing other people’s thoughts.

[Shmoo here]

12 minutes ago, CRZAHOLIC said:

We have gone on close to 30 cruises but the longest has been 9 days so we obviously love to cruise but after 7 days we are ready to get off.  We signed up for a 14 day Royal cruise because the itinerary is fabulous.  I am just worried because it is so long.  I am interested in hearing other people’s thoughts.

10-14 night cruises are our basic cruises.  Anything less is a "short" cruise.  Our longest cruise was 28 nights.  Our very first cruise was 15 nights.  Much prefer the longer ones.  Although, I'll admit our first long cruise was a 10 night Med cruise B2B with a 14 night trans Atlantic.  Along about day 20 I was getting really tired of having to make dinner choices.  But I've gotten over that.

[clo]

19 minutes ago, CRZAHOLIC said:

We have gone on close to 30 cruises but the longest has been 9 days so we obviously love to cruise but after 7 days we are ready to get off.  We signed up for a 14 day Royal cruise because the itinerary is fabulous.  I am just worried because it is so long.  I am interested in hearing other people’s thoughts.

I'm reading an Oceania FB 'thing' about a 180 day around the world cruise. I would hate that. I think 14 days would be about my limit.

[ldubs]

Our experience is very similar to the OP's.   Just over 30 cruises.  We enjoy 7 day cruises but it seems like we are packing up to come home before we really get a chance to unwind.  We found that 14 day cruises hit our sweet spot.    The longest cruise we have taken is 21 days.  On that one I have to admit I was itching to come home.    Having said all, we select itineraries with few sea days.   I would likely find a 14 day cruise too long if there were a lot of sea days.  But, as I say, we avoid those.  

 

Enjoy!  

[Flatbush Flyer]

11 minutes ago, ldubs said:

Our experience is very similar to the OP's.   Just over 30 cruises.  We enjoy 7 day cruises but it seems like we are packing up to come home before we really get a chance to unwind.  We found that 14 day cruises hit our sweet spot.    The longest cruise we have taken is 21 days.  On that one I have to admit I was itching to come home.    Having said all, we select itineraries with few sea days.   I would likely find a 14 day cruise too long if there were a lot of sea days.  But, as I say, we avoid those.  

 

Enjoy!  

Here’s another area where cruise line and specific ship can definitely be as important as itinerary.

 

Our “sweet spot” for cruise length is 4-5 weeks to which we always add pre-cruise land days and often post-cruise land days in a different end port. We’ve done as much as 6+ weeks and even the rare (for us) 7 day coastal California with friends (which we consider a “boat ride”).

 

In 2022,  we’ll do about 100 nights over three itineraries (comprising five separate cruise segments). Our longest will be 45 cruise days (60 days total with land days pre/post cruise in Cape Town and NYC respectively).
 

But IMO, the keys to successful “long” cruises is a well crafted itinerary with a good mix of port and sea days, excellent food and service, small ships with good crew and space ratios  and a passenger demographic with a fair share of folks who are accomplished, decorous and well traveled. 
 

[ldubs]

3 minutes ago, Flatbush Flyer said:

Here’s another area where cruise line and specific ship can definitely be as important as itinerary.

 

Our “sweet spot” for cruise length is 4-5 weeks to which we always add pre-cruise land days and often post-cruise land days in a different end port. We’ve done as much as 6+ weeks and even the rare (for us) 7 day coastal California with friends (which we consider a “boat ride”).

 

In 2022,  we’ll do about 100 nights over three itineraries (comprising five separate cruise segments). Our longest will be 45 cruise days (60 days total with land days pre/post cruise in Cape Town and NYC respectively).
 

But IMO, the keys to successful “long” cruises is a well crafted itinerary with a good mix of port and sea days, excellent food and service, small ships with good crew and space ratios  and a passenger demographic with a fair share of folks who are accomplished, decorous and well traveled. 
 

 

My preferences are about as far apart from yours as they could be.  I can enjoy being around someone on their first trip just as much as a seasoned traveler.  

[Flatbush Flyer]

8 minutes ago, ldubs said:

 

My preferences are about as far apart from yours as they could be.  I can enjoy being around someone on their first trip just as much as a seasoned traveler.  

Not that it really matters but, notice I said “a fair share” of.....

[Honolulu Blue]

6 hours ago, CRZAHOLIC said:

We have gone on close to 30 cruises but the longest has been 9 days so we obviously love to cruise but after 7 days we are ready to get off.  We signed up for a 14 day Royal cruise because the itinerary is fabulous.  I am just worried because it is so long.  I am interested in hearing other people’s thoughts.

 

So far the perfect length for me seems to be about 10 days, wrapped around two weekends.  Longer than that and I start to think of home too much - partly for work reasons, partly because of homebound responsibilities, and partly because I dream of doing things I can't do on a cruise ship.  Shorter trips are fine, but since I have to fly to get to every cruise, I don't bother with anything shorter than 6 days.

[Markanddonna]

We found out 23 day transpacific to be about 2 days too long but that could be because we just wanted to get to our main destination: Australia. I suspect our 28 day will be a bit more tolerable since it is returning from Sydney with some fabulous ports onroute (New Zealand, three Tahitis, three Hawaii. It might be tedious on those last few days to SF.

[CruiserBruce]

14 days isn't a long cruise to many people, including us. We haven't gotten on a cruise for under 14 days in at least 15 years now, and we have been cruising for around 30 years.

[Lois R]

Good morning, for the OP, what is the itinerary?  14 nights sounds wonderful to me! 

 

I was so looking forward to 2020----I had just retired and had planned 2 cruises.......first one

was a TA crossing, 16 nights and then after arriving in Europe I was doing a river cruise for

another week....then we all know what happened☹️...these sailings were supposed to be

my retirement celebrations.   So I would have been away more than 3 weeks.......maybe in

2022..........I hope so.

[ilikeanswers]

I did a 14 day cruise and it worked for me because it was port intensive. There were only 2 sea days which was great as I'm not a big fan of sea days. I couldn't do the same length cruise if there were many sea days.

 

[Heidi13]

We consider a short cruise to be anything under a month. Last cruise was 119 days and next is 120 days, with 9 months being the longest.

[iancal]

We like 14.  Did 21 and enjoyed it but we happy to get off the ship.  Did on TA, never again.  6 sea days was a killer for us.   

 

We find after two weeks the food all tastes the same and we a sick and tired of the environment.

[c-boy]

It's not the length of the cruise but, the time spent in close quarters with spouse and strangers. We love the ocean. Lengthy cruises and trans oceans don't ruffle out feathers. Until March of last year, we were thinking of purchasing on World residence at sea.

[donaldsc]

I would never take a cruise or several cruise that were not more than 20 or 25 days.  To me it is not worth the bother of packing and traveling to the place where the cruise starts or the expense of the traveling for a 7 day cruise.  We have done a number of 30+ day cruises.   Now I will admit the idea of going to a place for 20 or 25 days pre-cruise and/or post cruise with a 14 day or so cruise might be acceptable.   

 

The important thing to me is not the 20 or the 25 days of the cruise but the absence or small number of sea days.  I hate sea days as I regard them as a waste.  I travel to see things and not to see the ocean.

 

DON

[mom says]

15 hours ago, CRZAHOLIC said:

We have gone on close to 30 cruises but the longest has been 9 days so we obviously love to cruise but after 7 days we are ready to get off.  We signed up for a 14 day Royal cruise because the itinerary is fabulous.  I am just worried because it is so long.  I am interested in hearing other people’s thoughts.

If you haven't liked cruising for more than a week in the last 30 cruises, I'm mystified why you would book a 14 nighter but kudos for pushing a bit outside your comfort zone. Only time will tell whether you enjoy it or not. We started with 7 nighters, but quickly extended to longer cruises. A week was just too quick- we'd barely relaxed before it was time to return home. But we've found that a month is about our limit, whether it's a cruise or land trip. At that point we want to be back in our own home and seeing the family. Everyone has their own sweet spot for trip durations. One BIL takes 3 month trips. Another can't bear more than a few days.

[Hlitner]

When I took my first cruise (in 1975) it was 4 days long and I thought of a 7 day cruise as a long cruise!  When I took my first 7 day cruise I thought of a 10 day cruise as a long cruise.  When I took my first 14 day cruise I thought of a 21 day cruise as a long cruise.  These days I think of anything under 30 days as a short cruise 🙂   We have yet to find a cruise that is too long.  The first time we took a 62 day cruise we wondered if it was going to be too long...especially since it has 22 sea days.  The last night, as we crawled into bed, DW said to me, "I could do another 62 days."

 

So my response to the OP is that what is too long or too short varies by the person.   

 

Hank

[lenquixote66]

17 hours ago, CRZAHOLIC said:

We have gone on close to 30 cruises but the longest has been 9 days so we obviously love to cruise but after 7 days we are ready to get off.  We signed up for a 14 day Royal cruise because the itinerary is fabulous.  I am just worried because it is so long.  I am interested in hearing other people’s thoughts.

We never go on a cruise less than 14 days.We do not get bored ,primarily because on every cruise we have been on we have made friends with at least two people.

[panoramaofthepast]

17 hours ago, Shmoo here said:

10-14 night cruises are our basic cruises.  Anything less is a "short" cruise.  Our longest cruise was 28 nights.  Our very first cruise was 15 nights.  Much prefer the longer ones.  Although, I'll admit our first long cruise was a 10 night Med cruise B2B with a 14 night trans Atlantic.  Along about day 20 I was getting really tired of having to make dinner choices.  But I've gotten over that.

For me, 10-12 days is a good length. I get antsy after 14 days. 

[getting older slowly]

The consensus seems to be 14 days minimum, which I would agreed with our longest so far is 26 nights, which was great,  but for the present 4 weeks away from home in long enough, due to thing which need to be done.....

 

Don

[jocap]

Although we favour longer cruises, we have been happy with a couple of 7 night ones, because of the new ports we were seeing (Greek Isles; Red Sea), and at the back of our minds we were always aware of the day, which port and when the dreaded packing up would happen.

It's the same with a longer cruise- you know which days are sea ones, and also can relax in the thought that you don't have to cram in everything because there's a longer time in which to do it.

As a Head Chef once told us- on short cruises people try to do and eat everything; on longer ones after the first two days of novelty, minds begin to realise that there's no hurry, and you see people beginning to relax more- and eat less!😄

[skrufy]

On 3/16/2021 at 10:07 PM, CRZAHOLIC said:

We have gone on close to 30 cruises but the longest has been 9 days so we obviously love to cruise but after 7 days we are ready to get off.  We signed up for a 14 day Royal cruise because the itinerary is fabulous.  I am just worried because it is so long.  I am interested in hearing other people’s thoughts.

We do 14 day or longer cruises only for the past few years. For the distance we travel and the cost, a 7 day goes by to fast. We enjoy the extra sea days. Having sea day brunch a few times and the lounging around the pool area on warm days with a drink is so relaxing.

[TheOldBear]

On 3/16/2021 at 11:07 PM, CRZAHOLIC said:

We have gone on close to 30 cruises but the longest has been 9 days so we obviously love to cruise but after 7 days we are ready to get off.  We signed up for a 14 day Royal cruise because the itinerary is fabulous.  I am just worried because it is so long.  I am interested in hearing other people’s thoughts.

We are local to the Brooklyn Cruise Port, and fond of QM2, so our basic choice is a transatlantic round trip + whatever side voyage is included. We were considering the October 2022 26 night northern lights cruise [Norway above the arctic circle], but decided on a week shorter [so Miss Judy the Beagle would not be as sad leaving the sitter's house & dogs]

[ldubs]

On 3/16/2021 at 10:23 PM, Flatbush Flyer said:

Not that it really matters but, notice I said “a fair share” of.....

 

It does not matter and yet some seem to need to constantly bring it up.