Long Cruises

[CruiserBruce]

Just booked a 19 day W'Dam repositioning cruise for April 2008. The route is FLL-SEA, through the Canal.

 

As it is longer then the "standard cruise" what can I expect in terms of:

 

1. Formal Dinners (number of)

2. Special Parties, events etc (we are in an SB cabin, and are Mariners)

3. Repetition of menus (how many lobster nights?)

4. Varieties of night time entertainers

 

Any other differences due to length? By the way, there is a 15 day segment available on this cruise.

 

Due to length, I expect probably zero children (unless preschool), and probably a much older than average crowd.

 

So, for you long-haul cruisers, what can I expect?

 

Thanks!

 

Bruce

 

12 months to retirement, 16 until the cruise!

[St. Louis Sal]

Hi CruiserBruce:

 

I was wondering the same thing. My DH and I are doing the Noordam, April 21, 2007 thru the Canal. That's 21 days which is the longest one I've ever done. I'll be interested to see what response you get.

 

Congratulations on your upcoming retirement. My husband and I have been retired for eight years and we have loved every minute of it. In fact when people have asked us how we like it I tell them my husband hasn't quit grinning yet. :)

 

Sally

[kakalina]

We have taken a number of long cruises. For just 19 days there probably won't be more than one lobster dinner. We've only seen that duplicated on cruises of 30 days or more. There should be a black and white ball one formal evening which is a great deal of fun. There may be a masquerade, but again, usually on cruises a bit longer than yours. There will be the usual suite and Mariner parties. Also there is usually one or two VIP parties. They change the entertainers frequently and we have never been without entertaining shows at nights and good guest lecturers during the day. You will find there are more day time activites scheduled during the longer cruise also. We have found your take on children to be about right for the longer cruise also. You can expect to have a wonderful, relaxing cruise.

 

Congratulations on your retirement to come. We have been retired for almost 5 years and just love our permanent vacation!

[SweetP2]

You wrote: "Due to length, I expect probably zero children (unless preschool), and probably a much older than average crowd."

 

This isnt always the case as I and my DW are 44/50 and we will be on the repositioning cruise thru Panama to Vanc in April 07. I believe HAL will start, or may have already started, being discovered by the baby boomers:o Move over, here we come!

[sail7seas]

Officially..... The first of the baby boomers turned/are turning 60 years old this year..... the Class of 1946 :) :) . George Bush was among the first of the crowd!!! The Boomer Age Grouping is no stranger to HAL.

 

I think the tips you have received about your 19 days cruise sounds very accurate.

Congratulations on your upcoming retirement.

 

 

 

[hammybee]

Officially,,,,,,,the first of the baby boomers are 60 years old this year. George Bush was among the first of the crowd!!! The Boomer Age Grouping is no stranger to HAL.

 

/B]

 

MY DH turned 60 this year and took a lot of razzing for being a baby anything.

[dakrewser]

MY DH turned 60 this year and took a lot of razzing for being a baby anything.

 

Fortunately I'm a member of the small, elite group who were post-war but pre-boomer babies. Only a few hours "post" but after the Japanese surrendered nonetheless!

[Krazy Kruizers]

Congratulations on your retirement.

 

We have done several 21 and 22 day cruises.

 

There were 5 formal nights. Lobster was served only once.

 

Only 1 suite get-together at the beginning of the cruise, 1 Mariner's party, 1 VIP party (not all auite guests were invited) and 1 suite buffet at the end of the cruise.

 

There is usually 4 production shows -- lots of other entertainers -- some get on and off in various ports, others are on for the entire cruise.

 

Yes, there will be a black and white ball.

[Krazy Kruizers]

We did have some children on our long cruises -- not many -- some were the officers children.

 

Masquerade ball -- didn't have any on our cruises. Just the usual country night, 50's.

[kryos]

This isnt always the case as I and my DW are 44/50 and we will be on the repositioning cruise thru Panama to Vanc in April 07. I believe HAL will start, or may have already started, being discovered by the baby boomers:o Move over, here we come!

Yeah, but most people ... in order to get away for 19 days almost have to be retired. Many companies don't let their people be gone that long ... so the odds are you'll have the retirement crowd on a cruise like that.

 

Ditto with children. You can't pull kids out of school for 19 days. That is a bit long. So the only kids you should have on a cruise of that length is possibly some preschoolers. You could also get a handful of home schooled kids too ... but even that is rare.

 

Blue skies ...

 

--rita

[Islandbuoy]

1) we got off in San Diego--so only 15 days

 

2) Cruisin the Golfo Duce --a waste

 

3) seeing thousands of turtles--great

 

4)2 "mustard drills"

 

5) became lifelong friends with our dinner tablemates

 

6) Became good friends with the piano player

 

7) Club HAL staff person reassigned to adults--since no kids

 

8) 1 death

 

9) there's a separate non repeating menu for 14 day cruises--you can find it on the web , but i have forgotten where to find it--maybe someone else can help??

[Randyk47]

We'll be doing our longest cruise next March with the Veendam's 14-day Southern Caribbean itinerary. This is a big stretch for us in terms of time off since we still both work but this cruise happens to hit the weekends just right for us. The cruise is during the "spring break" timeframe but we don't expect a lot of kids because of the length of the cruise. We typically cruise at that time of the year since it's our anniversary and my birthday (hey baby boomers.....number 60 for me!). Previous "long" cruise was a 12-day Panama Canal cruise on the Galaxy out of Galveston. Back to our cruise.....formal nights.....this is itinerary is very port intensive (9 or 10 ports out of 14 days) with no stop at HMC. We're planning on 3 formal nights, possibly 4, but it's going to be interesting to see where they actually place them.

[Randyk47]

Ooops.....double post. :o

[sail7seas]

We'll be doing our longest cruise next March with the Veendam's 14-day Southern Caribbean itinerary. This is a big stretch for us in terms of time off since we still both work but this cruise happens to hit the weekends just right for us. The cruise is during the "spring break" timeframe but we don't expect a lot of kids because of the length of the cruise. We typically cruise at that time of the year since it's our anniversary and my birthday (hey baby boomers.....number 60 for me!). Previous "long" cruise was a 12-day Panama Canal cruise on the Galaxy out of Galveston. Back to our cruise.....formal nights.....this is itinerary is very port intensive (9 or 10 ports out of 14 days) with no stop at HMC. We're planning on 3 formal nights, possibly 4, but it's going to be interesting to see where they actually place them.

 

We did that cruise last April on Ryndam, Randy, and loved it. It's a wonderful 14 days.

 

We liked it so much we are now booked to repeat it on Veendam next November.

 

Hope you enjoy it as much as we did.

[Tricia724]

We recently did 30 days on the Veendam to the Amazon, and it was the oldest overall demographic I've sailed with yet. I saw only one little girl....about 10 years old....not sure whether she was just a passenger or was connected to ship's staff in some way.

 

But let's face it.....who can easily take a month or more off.....and just as important, who has enough disposable income to cover the cost of a longer cruise? Most of the time it's people who are retired and prepared to travel. Taking a family for a week in the Caribbean is a totally different prospect than taking them for 15, 20 or 30 days.

 

I didn't see that many differences in the cruiseline's offerings than we normally find on shorter cruises. We did have a Black & White Ball.....which was new to me. We did have lecturers.....but that seems to be one of the new trends on all the ships. There was certainly a variety in the menus being offered....but that can be good or bad! We did have lobster twice.

 

The longer cruises are a completely different experience than the short "hop on, run like crazy, hop off" cruises. One advantage is that you get a chance to do all of the things on the ship that you've always wanted to try.....maybe the spa, maybe the tea, etc.

[SweetP2]

Hello jercal10, WOW, seeing thousands of turtles...where?

 

Kinda figured cruisin Gulfo Dolce may be a bit low key...it may have to be our margeritaville day (with appys) on our veranda with friends!

[Randyk47]

S7S - Glad to hear you enjoy the same basic cruise. It was actually the Ryndam cruise that you went on from the previous year that got our attention. As I recall we were unable to get our vacation time moved to get on the Ryndam (our honeymoon ship) and went on the Volendam instead. We were really happy to see the Veendam pick up the same basic itinerary (a number of ports we've not been to) so we booked it right away. Veendam will also be a "new" ship for us as we've previously cruised on the Ryndam (several times), Oosterdam, and Volendam.

[Juanita462]

We have done the Panama repositioning cruise 3 times. There were almost no children until LA when a large number of pax disembarked - then we did see a number of children on board from there to Vancouver. Two that really stick out were at the table next to us - those children threw food, climbed up on the table and crawled across it, went under the table etc. until the parents finally took them out. We found it entertaining rather than annoying - not so the child that screamed through every dinner for 7 days on an Alaska cruise. It is always surprising to see so many children out of school and cruising with parents or grandparents. We saw one girl, about 12, travelling with grandparents for 34 days.

 

We love the Panama and try to find a different itinerary every time - that doesn't mean that you will actually see these different ports - they change them and usually let you know after you have made your final payment. I was particularly disappointed at not being able to go to the Pearl Islands and ending up anchored off Panama city instead - they even made us pay more for the change.

 

I was told that the menus on the ships are identical - all ships have the same menus on the same days. Sounds odd as the itineraries vary so much and there are local supplies coming on board all the time.

[CruiserBruce]

I have greatly appreciated reading all your remarks and input. The cruise is still 16 months away, but this is keeping me very excited.

 

Thanks most for all for the best wishes on retirement. We are both looking forward to it tremondously. Sweet P2, we are only a little older than you, so the average relative to us probably will be a fair amount older.

 

St Louis Sal- we looked very closely at the Noordam cruise you are going on. It is the model for our cruise!

 

Juanita462, you bring up a couple of good points. The 15 day segment I mentioned is FLL-San Diego, the additional 4 days takes us to SEA with a short stop in Victoria. We have been wondering about this short cruise- we will likely see a bunch of new people getting on at San Diego?

 

Also, a couple of years ago, O'Dam stopped at SFO- a short ways from us- and our travel agent got us a tour and lunch on board. It was our intro (and only experience so far) on the Vista class ships. We think the ship had a large number of TAs on board getting a promo cruise. We did get a superb rate on a Dec cruise 6 months later- booked on board that day.

 

We have been on 10 day cruises on HAL and Princess, and 1 12 day cruise on Princess. We saw Prime Rib on the menu twice (good news) on the 12 day cruise. Lobster also appeared twice, but it was noticeably rubbery the second time. I have heard this described as due to being frozen too long.

 

Thanks again. Always ready to talk more about this cruise!

 

Bruce

[RuthC]

So, for you long-haul cruisers, what can I expect?

You can expect to have a very relaxing time!

I would call this a mid-length cruise as opposed to a long one, but you will notice a difference. First, you will relax. The go-go/do-do frenzy that is so much a part of a 7-day cruise is gone. Whatever you want to do today can also be done tomorrow. No rush.

The menus may not be repeated in their entirety, but individual items will be---prime rib, for example, but with different alternatives the second time.

You will also notice that your fellow passengers will be well-traveled and very interesting. You will get to know each other so much more in depth than on a shorter cruise; I find this very enjoyable.

You will also find that once you have taken a longer cruise you won't want to go back to the short ones. Good thing retirement is coming up! (you're gonna luv it!:D )

[FRANKIEDNYC]

:) Right on Ruth. We have done a few 21 to 35 day cruises and agree with everything Ruth says. It seems as of late more children have been appearing on these longer cruises under the guise of home schooling. But nowhere near what you would get on a 7 to 10 day cruise or summer trip.

[Songhee]

We just did the SF to FLL repositioning cruise on the Zuiderdam. 1 baby and 1,000 grannies! One young couple on their honeymoon, a few young people but mostly an older group. We loved it. Met our "Little Internet Friends" from the Roll Call on CC; played bridge and had a great teacher; interesting ports; no repetition in menus. One big boo-boo. I booked the Pinacle for Lobster Night! I'm still put out about missing the lobster. Coming from the West Coast, lobster is a real treat. We weren't ready to get off and now I'm trying to find our next cruise and it must be over 14 days.