What do you do post-cruise

[Naveron]

Just was curious as to how you finish off your cruise. Do you return home immediately after the cruise or do you extend your trip a few days on your port of embarkation or tack on another trip? It always seemed to me to be cruel to have to return to reality right after a Seabourn cruise.

[SantaAna,CA]

.....and immediately into therapy. You are 100% right. The return to reality is jarring.

[Host Dan]

I find myself saying the same phrase, over and over, the day we disembark the Seabourn ships... "We're not on Seabourn anymore..!"

 

Host Dan

[Farscaper]

We start and end our cruise with an night in a budget hotel.

 

That way we ensure that we don't miss the ship plus it heightens our delight at embarkation and still makes our own home look good by comparison to our last night's accommodation.

 

The rest is but a dream.

[Keith1010]

If it is a port we enjoy we stay afterwards. If it's one we don't care for then we fly right home.

 

And on a pre cruise we always arrive two or more days prior to the cruise. We do this to not only explore the local area, but because we are concerned about flights and arriving on time and to get over the jet lag.

 

Keith

[banditcat]

When we return to FT Lauderdale from a cruise we go home but overseas it is nice to stay a few days to enjoy the sights.

Hannah

[Chairsin]

On all of our previous crusies we would fly in to the embarking port a few days early and them spend a few days at the end in the dismebarking port. But on the last cruise I realized that by the time I am led off the ship kicking and screaming I just want to go home.So for the first time this trip we will fly home the day we disembark.

[GrannyLorr]

After our first cruise, we swore we would go straight home in future...I had picked up a terrible bug (and in hindsight I had worse health issues than I realised) so a week in Rome and a week in Singapore on the way home were really miserable .....however we have already broken that rule....our last cruise ended in Lisbon, so we stayed on a few days....probably should have followed our rule and gone home as I was then threatened with arrest :eek: ......still havent learned our lesson, flying into Copenhagen 3 days before our next cruise.....and staying in London for 2 weeks after......lets hope I survive!! :D

[Chairsin]

GrannyLorr,

Am sure MI 5 has already openned a file on you:D

[LaPaloma]

When the cruise is over--we are done-- we want to get home to our Weimaraner. We stayed over once in Nice to try the Negresso Hotel--it was fun--800+ dollars worth--nice view! Don

[markham]

I usually arrive 2-3 days before the cruise begins as I am concerned about my luggage not arriving on time. The days also allow for getting over jet lag so that I can enjoy the ship's diversions fully.

 

But at disembarkation I usually go straight home to take care of what's pending although in places I have not been to I would stay a couple of days.

 

Another reason to arrive a day or 2 before embarkation... I met a woman on QM2 who had flown into London the day before a transatlantic back to the US. I asked her how her voyage was going and she told me that her husband and some other men in their group chose to fly in the day after she did which was the day of embarkation. What happened? The plane was delayed by several hours and the men chose not to go at all since they knew they would not make the 5 ship's pm Southampton departure time!

[surfersgirl]

We usually arrive a day or so early so that the luggage can catch up with us - we are starting to take a stopover on the way to a cruise so that the luggage has more chance of arriving with us.

It depends on the length of the cruise whether we head home with a couple of days stopover at a good hotel to come down to earth slowly or we carry on somewhere else for a week or two on the way home.

[TootyJane]

Disembarking is such a jolt into reality that we just don't care to stay on. We always book our next cruise so that helps, a little.

Lisa :)

[lifelover]

On the two transatlantic cruises in April '08 and '09, we were very adventurous in our post travel! We spent some time in Lisbon the first year and then flew on to France doing some wine tours. After that, in our route home, we had a layover in Ireland that we extended for five days. We rented a car and drove across the country. It was fabulous.

In '09, we flew straight out of Lisbon for Brussels and spent time in Brugge. Then we went to Luxembourg and rented a car for five days and drove all over. We finished that trip in Amsterdam, visiting the tulip gardens. It was also a wonderful addition to the vacation.

We try to break our time up with different types of places, small and large, and by using trains and a car rental. For us, it's a great way to visit Europe as well as enjoy the luxury of Seabourn. And I am a researcher, so I enjoy all the advance planning.

In our planning for the November '09 transatlantic, we decided to add the five days from Ft Lauderdale on to St Thomas. We won't stay there. We'll fly on home.

Finally, on the April '10 transatlantic, we'll fly from Lisbon to Prague for five days. I found a wonderful spacious centrally located apartment on vrbo. Haven't been to Prague before.

I guess the bottom line is that you do what works best for you and your family. For us, we love getting to Europe on a slow luxurious ship and then, visiting places at lovely times of the year.

[JaneBP]

After Seabourn, I go home, nuke some Lean Cuisine, and then as I tear off the plastic wrap, I say "And for your dining pleasure, ET VOILA! Doesn't help, never will.