Long Cruises - What’s Different?

[Selbourne]

Having booked our first really long cruise (65 nights) my wife has been asking me a number of questions that I don’t have a clue about. Essentially, we are interested to know how they differ from regular length cruises. Questions that spring to mind are;

 

Headliners Shows - As the Headliners only have a limited number of shows, do the same shows get repeated throughout the cruise?

 

Other shows - Are there still shows of some description in the theatre every night? Do local acts come on board (we are in the Caribbean)?

 

Guest Lecturers - Are there usually guest lecturers on all sea days and roughly how often do they change?

 

MDR Menus - Presumably these start to repeat after a few weeks? Over 65 nights are we likely to get each menu 3 or 4 times, or does it change a bit?

 

Offers - Are there more likely to be offers for things like speciality restaurants and laundry services? 
 

Anything else that we can expect to be different from our normal cruises? Thanks. 

[gsmt47471015]

Headliners do repeat so you will probably see the same shows twice , other acts do appear but depends which ports they can embark/disembark to/from sometimes they stay on for a couple of weeks , in Brazil and Peru we had local artists come on the ship as we were overnight in ports , guest speakers could stay on for two to three weeks and others were on for less than a week, mdr does repeat after three weeks sometimes less so we chose the other dining venues to break up the routine , as for offers they were few and far between although the duty free did offer two spirits for £25 which you could use on board for your own consumption , and finally you will get to know all the staff very well and they you , we have had the best times on the longer cruises and met some lovely people although we do tend to keep to ourselves   , I feel confident by the end of the cruise you may wonder where the time went .       Enjoy👍👍

[terrierjohn]

@gsmt47471015 has answered most of your questions, to add to his comments, I would say that pre covid there were usually more interesting speakers on our 35 night cruises, and there were some changes during the cruise, as well as some that were on the entire cruise. The guest artists do usually do the same number of shows as shorter cruises, and are changed at similar frequencies, except of course on the longer sea day legs.

The MDR  menus do repeat but pre covid the daily selection was higher, so I hope the executive chefs will now be a little more creative on longer cruises.

We do enjoy the longer cruises more than the shorter ones, however the return atlantic crossing can seem more tedious, especially as the weather deteriorates.

[TigerB]

Don't forget to take extra detergent and fabric conditioner, as you'll be spending more time in the laundry.😉

[tring]

On our recent Canada/US thirty night cruise there were no headliner repeats, but there were a lot of other entertainers who came onboard, doing two shows during their stay.  They were largely singers, with a couple of comedians.  They join/leave at different ports as we travelled, so possibly going onto other ships as well.  I can not say anything about quality as we do not tend to go to the shows. 

 

Speakers were a bit better than the normal P&O speakers imo and did change, but only one speaker per day so no choice, sadly.  What we were not happy about were the lounge entertainers on Aurora, pretty poor quality in our view, but they are on the ship, not for a specific cruise.  TBH we find P&O entertainment quite poor anyway on all cruises.

 

Yes, MDR menu's repeat, but choice on menus and I tend to repeat meals at home, so we do not find that a problem.  No laundry offers, and launderettes can get busy, so I tend to use them late in the evening and eating the self service when doing so, which saves fighting for machines.

 

Edited October 21, 2023 by tring

[Selbourne]

9 hours ago, gsmt47471015 said:

Headliners do repeat so you will probably see the same shows twice , other acts do appear but depends which ports they can embark/disembark to/from sometimes they stay on for a couple of weeks , in Brazil and Peru we had local artists come on the ship as we were overnight in ports , guest speakers could stay on for two to three weeks and others were on for less than a week, mdr does repeat after three weeks sometimes less so we chose the other dining venues to break up the routine , as for offers they were few and far between although the duty free did offer two spirits for £25 which you could use on board for your own consumption , and finally you will get to know all the staff very well and they you , we have had the best times on the longer cruises and met some lovely people although we do tend to keep to ourselves   , I feel confident by the end of the cruise you may wonder where the time went .       Enjoy👍👍

Thanks. That all makes sense. I think that we only have two overnights (Bermuda and New Orleans) so I guess we may not get the local entertainers, but maybe as the distances between many Caribbean islands are short we may do some late evening departures which may allow time for them? I hope so, as it’s a nice change from the usual Headliners, singers or comedians that seem to be the default entertainment!

[david63]

The other thing that you used to get pre Covid was things like art classes which ran for the duration of the cruise on sea days, with an exhibition at the end.

[Selbourne]

8 hours ago, terrierjohn said:

@gsmt47471015 has answered most of your questions, to add to his comments, I would say that pre covid there were usually more interesting speakers on our 35 night cruises, and there were some changes during the cruise, as well as some that were on the entire cruise. The guest artists do usually do the same number of shows as shorter cruises, and are changed at similar frequencies, except of course on the longer sea day legs.

The MDR  menus do repeat but pre covid the daily selection was higher, so I hope the executive chefs will now be a little more creative on longer cruises.

We do enjoy the longer cruises more than the shorter ones, however the return atlantic crossing can seem more tedious, especially as the weather deteriorates.

Thankfully neither of us are fussy eaters, so the inevitable menu repeats shouldn’t be particularly problematic. I guess that on longer cruises it may be possible to get into speciality restaurants without having pre-booked?
 

Certainly the trans-Atlantic crossings are going to be the low point, but sadly as we cannot fly it’s an inevitable inconvenience if we are to ever go there. We really struggled with 6 sea days in a row each way when we did our USA & Canada 24 nighter (particularly the return) and said that we wouldn’t do it again, but it was North Atlantic and cold with force 10 and 11 seas for most of the outward and return crossings (tail end of several big storm systems). Fingers crossed that this time will be a little more tolerable, firstly because the longest unbroken run of sea days is 5 both ways (outward via Madeira and Bermuda - somewhere I’ve always wanted to go, and return via the Azores) and secondly because the weather will hopefully be kinder, certainly for part of it. 

[Selbourne]

8 hours ago, TigerB said:

Don't forget to take extra detergent and fabric conditioner, as you'll be spending more time in the laundry.😉

Hmmm. Maybe, although any trip to the laundry will be a maiden visit 😂 I might just use some of the refund we are getting to pay for the ships laundry service!

[Selbourne]

46 minutes ago, tring said:

TBH we find P&O entertainment quite poor anyway on all cruises.

We generally feel the same, but on a cruise of this length we will steal ourselves to try more things, especially on the outward and return trans-Atlantic crossings. 

 

48 minutes ago, tring said:

Speakers were a bit better than the normal P&O speakers imo and did change, but only one speaker per day so no choice, sadly. 

We are really hoping that we aren’t disappointed in this area, as guest lecturers are usually the highlight of sea days for us, but P&O seem to have cut back on them and on our two week Britannia cruise in July the principal speakers talks were all very similar and none appealed. 

 

52 minutes ago, tring said:

MDR menu's repeat, but choice on menus and I tend to repeat meals at home, so we do not find that a problem. 

Same here. There will still be far more choice than at home. I may even steal myself to try one or two vegetarian choices to mix it up a little 😂 

[Interestedcruisefan]

Isn't for most of us one inevitable result of long cruises some extra inches on our bellys?

 

Do people have to start trying not to eat so much when they are on a cruise for so long?

 

Maybe cut out a breakfast or lunch every day?

 

It's hard enough on 2 week cruises for me and despite not using the lifts, doing lots of walking and using the gym most days with spin classes thrown in!

 

Just having breakfast, lunch and  dinner, cocktails and snacks available 24/7 makes it hard NOT to add significant weight I imagine?

 

 

Edited October 21, 2023 by Interestedcruisefan

[Selbourne]

19 minutes ago, david63 said:

The other thing that you used to get pre Covid was things like art classes which ran for the duration of the cruise on sea days, with an exhibition at the end.

Whilst I don’t have an artistic bone in my body, I do enjoy the art talks (until the point that they turn into sales pitches). We attended them on both Britannia and Iona and enjoyed them.

 

I’ve sometimes even wondered about the passenger choir to help ease the monotony of sea days, but they seem to often clash with lunch, which would be a no-no 😂 

[Ohana27]

For this years 65 night, the Headliners did not perform for the first couple of weeks as they were new to the ship and therefore had to practice on board first.  They also performed a play one afternoon which lasted around two hours.  They have I believe 7 shows so these were spread out, and one or two repeated by ‘guest request’

 

There was a crew talent show one afternoon, some of which were far better than the guest entertainment.  
 

Menus were on a two week rotation, maybe one dish changed during the rotation.  They are marked with the day at the bottom of the menu, so you can see when the rotation starts again.

 

There may be opportunities for learning a new skill.  For example the second half of the cruise we had ukulele lessons.   Always wanted to learn an instrument so I enjoyed this.  
 

The usual language classes, in this case in was Spanish or maybe Portuguese.

Edited October 21, 2023 by Ohana27

[Selbourne]

4 minutes ago, Interestedcruisefan said:

Isn't for most of us one inevitable result of long cruises some extra inches on our bellys?

 

Do people have to start trying not to eat so much when they are on a cruise for so long?

 

Maybe cut out a breakfast or lunch every day?

 

It's hard enough on 2 week cruises for me and despite not using the lifts, doing lots of walking and using the gym most days with spin classes thrown in!

 

Just having breakfast, lunch and  dinner, cocktails and snacks available 24/7 makes it hard NOT to add significant weight I imagine?

 

 

This is a big concern for me as, unfortunately, I’m already carrying excess baggage before even getting on the ship 😂 Oddly, on our last two cruises I didn’t put any more weight on, but they were only 14 and 7 night cruises. I think that this was because we did a lot of walking and also portion sizes on the ships are a lot smaller than I serve at home (which wasn’t a problem as we were having 3 meals a day). My problem is will power, or lack of it. My wife eats to live, whereas I live to eat 😂. I am going to have to be very careful on this cruise. 
 

I don’t do gyms, but thankfully Aurora has an excellent covered promenade deck. I’m going to try to do a lot of laps each day, hopefully before breakfast (if I’m up in time) and during the day. Without being obsessed about it, I’m going to have to go for more healthy choices when dining. I don’t drink that much and can easily cope with just water at lunch and dinner, but we do like a pre-dinner drink. Any other tips to stop long cruise weight gain would be appreciated!

[jh1809]

37 minutes ago, Selbourne said:

Hmmm. Maybe, although any trip to the laundry will be a maiden visit 😂 I might just use some of the refund we are getting to pay for the ships laundry service!

I should. It's quite reasonably priced, and when you've spent thousands of pounds on a cruise why begrudge another £100 or so over he course of the cruise. And think of all the money you'll be saving on your heating bill back home!

 

(Being a helpless male, even at home I pay someone to do my ironing - though not my laundry - fpor me.)

[jh1809]

54 minutes ago, david63 said:

The other thing that you used to get pre Covid was things like art classes which ran for the duration of the cruise on sea days, with an exhibition at the end.

Still a feature post-Covid - at least it has been on the Aurora and Arcadia cruises I've taken. Not that I've taken part, having discovered at school art classes as a 12 year-old that I'm the world's worst painter.

[gsmt47471015]

I would certainly agree about the transatlantic crossing ,coming home been the worst as we have never really been blessed with decent weather that is probably the only downside for us on these types of cruises . Also in agreement regarding the Headliners , we also did not see them for the first two weeks but did get Three repeat shows ,allegedly by popular request?

They also did an Alan Ayckbourn play one afternoon which was excellent , unable to vouch for art or craft classes however when we popped into the crows nest on some sea days to read people appeared to be having some sort of gathering with different materials. there was indeed a choir which was split into two performances , one half way and one towards the end , with different songs of course .there were ukulele lessons as mentioned

As for weight gain amazingly we did not put on more than three pounds , admittedly we never used the lifts and we were on the upper decks ,we did utilize the prom deck and kept out of the afternoon buffet and did a lot of walking when in pot, also we felt the portions in the mdr were smaller than previously, so maybe that helped!!!!

We did use the launderette on a couple of occasions but had to choose our times as it always appeared busy and we also made good use of the laundry service. 

[Gettingwarmer]

46 minutes ago, Selbourne said:

Any other tips to stop long cruise weight gain would be appreciated!

On our recent 24 day cruise we declined the bread from day one and never ate any pastries. Start as you mean to go on. 

[daveoc]

As both Arvia and Britannia are in the Caribbean while you are there I think it likely that guest entertainers on those ships will also pop up on your cruise at some point. 

[Waju]

1 hour ago, Selbourne said:

This is a big concern for me as, unfortunately, I’m already carrying excess baggage before even getting on the ship 😂 Oddly, on our last two cruises I didn’t put any more weight on, but they were only 14 and 7 night cruises. I think that this was because we did a lot of walking and also portion sizes on the ships are a lot smaller than I serve at home (which wasn’t a problem as we were having 3 meals a day). My problem is will power, or lack of it. My wife eats to live, whereas I live to eat 😂. I am going to have to be very careful on this cruise. 
 

I don’t do gyms, but thankfully Aurora has an excellent covered promenade deck. I’m going to try to do a lot of laps each day, hopefully before breakfast (if I’m up in time) and during the day. Without being obsessed about it, I’m going to have to go for more healthy choices when dining. I don’t drink that much and can easily cope with just water at lunch and dinner, but we do like a pre-dinner drink. Any other tips to stop long cruise weight gain would be appreciated!

I try and do 10 laps of the prom deck a day which as you know is around 3 miles - its got to help.

 

My day would go something like this - nice leisurely breakfast followed by a couple of laps of the deck by which time it will be time for mid morning coffee (and cake) - another few laps and it'll be almost lunchtime.  Long lunch, perhaps you'll find someone interesting to chat to, a couple more laps because it'll soon be time for afternoon tea and more cake 🙂 - off you go again round the deck and 'oh my word' its almost time to go and get ready for dinner!!!!

 

I am only kidding, I can usually find things to do - the odd exercise class, a trip to the cinema, I don't know if you're sporty but they usually do walking football and indoor cricket on longer cruises.  I've also seen ukulele lessons,

 

I always start off with good, healthy eating plans which go out of the window immediately but after 10 days or so I do settle into it and start eating a little bit more 'normally'

 

My top tip is beware of the damp in the wardrobes  that has a tendency to shrink clothes and have a start of the holiday side and an end of the holiday side so you always have something comfortable to wear 🙃

[9265359]

2 hours ago, Selbourne said:

Any other tips to stop long cruise weight gain would be appreciated!

 

Breakfast as you would at home - a full cooked breakfast is enticing, but keep it for a once a week treat.

 

Lunch in the MDR and not the buffet, but keep it to a single course.

 

Dinner in the MDR and not treating every evening as a 'night out', so some evenings just having one or two courses.

 

However doing that in the MDR doesn't work well with sharing tables as you are either sat around waiting for your single course to arrive, or leaving just as the others are getting started.

 

Alcohol, well its all to easy to get into consuming far more than you would at home - not helped if there is a wallet full of OBC to get rid of. And these days a 'small' glass of wine at 175ml isn't small - a small glass used to be 125ml and a medium glass 175ml, and as for the 1/3rd of a bottle 250ml glasses...

 

Similarly those drinking 'buckets' of coffee, sorry, 'buckets' of hot milk that has vaguely seen a splash of coffee.

 

And then there is some exercise, and although you don't 'do' the gym, then even a half hour stroll on a treadmill watching some TV on the display when the weather is bad is going to be better than sitting around looking out of the window.

[Interestedcruisefan]

2 hours ago, Selbourne said:

Whilst I don’t have an artistic bone in my body, I do enjoy the art talks (until the point that they turn into sales pitches). We attended them on both Britannia and Iona and enjoyed them.

 

I’ve sometimes even wondered about the passenger choir to help ease the monotony of sea days, but they seem to often clash with lunch, which would be a no-no 😂 

I believe they should have walking groups or challenges on cruises

 

Some kind of reward/incentive for how many steps people do per day

 

People walk a bit as it  is but I think more could be made of this opportunity on board for all ages and all fitness levels

 

With health and wellness being so en vogue at the moment

 

 

 

[Bill Y]

We have not done long cruises since before Covid. As regarding eating we were not bothered by the MDR having a 14 day cycling menu, whereas I say that for 35 nights, we found that after 40 plus nights the food no longer had a special appeal we were just eating to fill the time and because we felt that we should eat something. An overweight former colleague years ago advised me to eat in the MDR at lunch time portion control! Which we do on sea days, but having sailed on Ventura this year found the lunchtime menu skewed towards burgers and baguettes, pub food which should not be at the expense of a traditional lunch time restaurant menu. The other precaution I take is to resist the sometimes appealing bread rolls.

 

P&O used to have several lecturers on the longer cruises but they tend to trot out their favourite ones regularly, Terry the policeman who likes sailing to north America a five part lecture on the way out and a five day murder mystery participation on the way back, the clarinet player whose “Great American songbook” that goes on ad infinitum, (apologies to lovers of American composers of the first half of the 20^th C) he likes visiting New Orleans.

 

Although we are not lovers of sea days we do not mind them if we need to do them in order to visit ports, but on the way home to Southampton they are compounded by nothing new to look forward to. Our record is ten nights Papeete to LA, which we were dreading it but it was alright.

[Megabear2]

1 hour ago, Interestedcruisefan said:

I believe they should have walking groups or challenges on cruises

 

Some kind of reward/incentive for how many steps people do per day

 

People walk a bit as it  is but I think more could be made of this opportunity on board for all ages and all fitness levels

 

With health and wellness being so en vogue at the moment

 

 

 

Not sure if P&O do them but Cunard offer the early morning group walks around the deck generally 1 mile or 2 miles.  A bit of competition sets in and it's very sociable. With Aurora having the promenade perhaps you could form your own group if there isn't an organised one..

[Interestedcruisefan]

1 hour ago, Megabear2 said:

Not sure if P&O do them but Cunard offer the early morning group walks around the deck generally 1 mile or 2 miles.  A bit of competition sets in and it's very sociable. With Aurora having the promenade perhaps you could form your own group if there isn't an organised one..

 

 

My wife jogs early

 

I go in the gym and/or do a spin class

 

Then I like to walk a bit whilst my wife sunbathes on sea days. It gets too hot for me just lying in the sun

 

Those early morning group walks are exactly what I was thinking P and O should do though

 

But also maybe some challenges for guests on board in terms of total steps per day or cruise or flights of stairs climbed or descended or both etc

 

But all fun things with fun rewards/certificates etc

 

Kids who are old enough should be encouraged not to use the lifts etc with fun rewards

 

The physically active who don't need lifts so much - the same. We just challenged each other not to use them. 

 

We benefited and I guess others benefit the less that people use the lifts

 

It just seems an obvious thing to do. And no  cost to anyone needs to be involved

 

Like you say it can be  sociable and friendly competitive as well and just seems to fit so well with a cruise holiday IMO

Edited October 21, 2023 by Interestedcruisefan