Sightseeing after a cruise ....a good idea?

[novembre]

We will be driving to Ft. Lauderdale for our December cruise, and we'e thinking about doing some sightseeing in Florida before we head back up north. But we're wondering.....will we feel like it after a cruise? Maybe we'll have had enough of "new places" after visiting four ports, and perhaps home will seem rather appealing.

 

I'm wondering how you experienced cruisers felt when you returned to port after your cruise...anxious to get home, or "don't want the vacation to end and ready for even more travel"?

 

Love to hear what y'all think.

 

Nov

[kryos]

I'm wondering how you experienced cruisers felt when you returned to port after your cruise...anxious to get home, or "don't want the vacation to end and ready for even more travel"?

It's just me, but ...

 

When the cruise is over, I'm done. It's just that I had to get off of that wonderful boat, so why not just go home? If I was gonna sightsee, I think I'd prefer to do it before embarking on the cruise. I'm just too "deflated" afterwards.

 

Blue skies ...

 

--rita

[babyher]

I have taken cruises where I planned a few days post cruise in the port city, and I have taken some where I went right home.

 

When I have a few days post cruise, although sad the cruise is over, I am still excited i have a few days left of my vacation to enjoy on land. Its a little extra fun :)

 

However when I am going straight home, then I feel the same as Rita . Get me the heck home *LOL*

[simplelife]

At the end of our cruises, DH or I or both have to get right back to work:( , so we have not yet had the sightseeing option open to us. Maybe in a few years when we retire!

[brucory]

Do it all!!!!!!

 

We love squeezing lots of fun things into vacations. It gives you heaps to look forward to, and keeps the excitement up for longer.

 

The choice is to miss out and go back to real life... I know what we prefer...

 

:D :D :D

[jtl513]

Generally when we get off the ship we've "had enough", and it's time to go home. But if you never been to Kennedy Space Center or spent much time in Orlando, they're on (or could be on) your drive home, so you might as well leave some of your money with us! :D:D

[Northshorecruisers]

We normally plan to hop on the plane and come home shortly after getting off the ship. I'm usually so depressed that the cruise is over.

On our upcoming trip in October, we are doing 2 nights pre cruise and 1 night post cruise in San Diego. The post cruise portion is giving me something to look forward to. We will be staying in an area we haven't been to before so it will be nice to have something new to explore.

[innlady1]

When we sailed out of Fort Lauderdale a few years ago, we spent a few days before the cruise; a few days after. Post-cruise, we drove through the Everglades and spent a couple days in Naples, then drove up the West Coast and flew home from Tampa. It was something to look forward to at the end of the cruise, and made the transition home much easier!

 

We're doing two 10-day cruises this year, and are arriving three days early. I think we'll be ready to get back home at the end!

[Sailorgirlseattle]

Since I take the train instead of flying, I usually have to stay over an extra day to catch an early morning train the next day after the cruise is over. Last time, I'd caught a nasty cold on the last day of the cruise, and all I wanted to do was go home ... but home was a full week away for me (cross-country train trip, with a stop to visit family). On the trip before that, we had a full day in San Diego and that was fun ... still, home was sounding pretty good. That said, give me a few days in the depart port before cruise, and I am a very happy camper! :rolleyes:

[Krazy Kruizers]

We love to spend a couple of days pre cruise exploring around the embarkation port.

 

Since we are not able to fly home on the day we leave the ship -- we spend another day just relaxing at the hotel before flying home.

 

There have been times when we ended up in a different port at the end of the cruise and we definitely stayed there for a few days to explore this new city.

[cp556]

For the most part, we prefer to fly home post-cruise, and stay a day or three pre-cruise.

 

When doing Alaska cruisetours, we pretty much follow the same idea and prefer Southbound, so that we do the land portion first and save the cruise as dessert.

 

It's hard to follow x days of pampering with hotel stays where there are prices on the menus!!

 

I think a lot also depends on the length of your cruise. For 7 days, I'd be less ready to get right home. But after longer cruises ... there's no place like home!

[bepsf]

I love flying into a port city early and spending a day or two pre-cruise getting rested, seeing the sights, doing some shopping and meeting up with other folks who will be on the cruise with us...

 

...and I've tried spending a day in town post-cruise, but everything seemed so "Blah" and anti-climactic - all our shipboard friends were gone and there was no sense of excitement anymore - I found that I just wanted to get to the airport and go home.

 

So now unless I'm making a side trip to visit friends or family post-cruise - I just come home.

[eh2zed]

We have done pre and post cruise stays. In Europe and more distant locals we generally do both to take advantage of the distances involved. For a Craibbean we have done both but generally only one end per cruise. Later this month we do a one day precruise in Quebec City and when we get off the Eurodam in Fort Lauderdale we head to Disney for three nights. Thats after we hit all the Ross Dress for Less stores around.

I don't have any vacation days from work to waste so any pre or post we do does have sightseeing involved.

[tennisobo]

Our perspective would be similar to yours since we like to cruise in the wintertime to escape the cold and snow.

 

We have loved spending a few days post-cruise. When we get off the ship we are dreading the return to the cold. With a few days in Florida, you can ease yourself back to everyday life and climate. We like that much better. The transition is just too shocking to go from the Caribbean to the frozen north in 24 hours. The transition at the beginning of the vacation from cold to Florida is not difficult at all. :)

 

Have a great vacation!

[sillylizzie]

We always prefer to get a jump start on the cruise and head to wherever we're sailing from a day or two early. It also depends on what port you're leaving from and how your schedule works out.

For our next cruise in October, we're spending a day before the cruise sightseeing (Everglades) and spending two days after the cruise with family. That's just how it happens to work out best for our schedule. :)

[AAL]

We fly into the port at least a day early, but don't make any firm sightseeing plans in case there are flight delays. So we usually stay a few days after the cruise to see the sights (in Florida it's always Disney World for me!). But it all depends on what kind of traveler you are. Our land vacations are typically 2 weeks and often involve three stops (like NYC/Boston/Maine or San Diego/LA/San Francisco) so I know that we can handle another stop after a cruise. I am definitely not ready to rush back home after the cruise is over, and I don't think I'd be looking forward to a long car trip immediately after a cruise. I might feel differently after a long cruise, but I haven't had that opportunity yet!