Cruising Questions
 

What's the best cruise itinerary you've personally taken?
How many days is enough?
How many days is too long?
What is your primary reason for taking a cruise?

I love the transatlantic cruises - the long, consecutive days at sea are relaxing. For me, the destination is “the ship” with the ports of call being secondary. I think you need at least 10 days aboard a ship to truly relax and get to know the ship. There would never be “too many” days in my opinion. At this time in my life, I really enjoy Holland America. Great service and good food, especially in their steak, seafood and Asian restaurants on their newer, larger ships. I also enjoy their large crows nest lounge at the top and front of their ships, with floor to ceiling windows. Great place to lounge, unwind with a latte, a good book, and watching the sea go by. I don’t want to feel I’m at an amusement park, circus, or large floating shopping mall. It’s a quiet, calm cruise line, without constant announcements on the PA, no loud “pool games” or music, and very little upselling.

Our best was our honeymoon, on the SS Norway of the Norwegian Cruise lines, back in 1990. I've heard the line isn't as good as it used to be, but back then the food was outstanding, activities galore. Service was excellent. There were no "kids programs" and we didn't see any families with young kids on board at all. There was a disco so there were some 20-somethings. The land excursions were great. It was a 7-day eastern Caribbean cruise. We had a junior suite with a balcony overlooking the stern.

We've been on a few other cruises since then but none have been as good. Also our last two were family cruises with extended families and their little kids, and arranging for everyone to do stuff together was so NOT fun it really kinda ruined it for us. We are hoping to some day afford a river cruise, and float up the Mississippi for 5 days.

If you like lots of sea days do a TA.

Our best itineraries were the Baltics back when we got to do to St Petersburg, Norwegian fjords up to the Arctic circle and around Iceland.

Than again cruise around British Isles was also very good.

These days we prefer at least a two week cruise.

For a first one perhaps a week to the Caribbean to see how you like cruising

If you have never done a cruise before, which reads like that might be the case,
a good starter trip with lots of different "shoreside" activities is a winter time (Jan - Mar) Tampa departure
to the Western Caribbean, where you can go ocean snorkeling, Mayan ruin climbing, a remote beach day, and a local tour for a total of three days not at sea. Seas will be relatively calm as hurricane season is well past

That will give you a good idea of what a cruise is, not very long, some great interesting sites to see, the mayan ruins deep in the jungle was an indiana jones day, the highlight of our trip. . . and being in a foreign country, if you don't have much intl travel experience.

just do it. . now is the time to just do small, as cruising is one of the easiest ways to go see several different countries / islands and choose between many different shoreside activities, as the hotel and food go with you

Tampa has the older smaller ships which I wouldn’t go on any longer. They are boring, terrible shows, and actually more crowded with smaller people. We went on 3 cruises with these smaller ships last year and hated them, the cruises before Covid were on the largest ships.

When you are looking at the ships for your cruise, look at the ships amenities before booking. The big ships that have around 6000 cruisers or more have the best nightly/daily shows, separate rooms for music, the entertainers are more talented, and the front of the ship is usually for adults only with many hot tubs, bars, sitting areas, etc.
To prove this point, check out the shows/entertainment on the RC Mariner ship vs the RC Wonder of the seas or the Icon or the Utopia of the seas.
If you want to play pickleball, check out the RC Symphony of the seas ship, it has indoor pickleball.

Just short of 100 now.
Began when "cruising" was a rather new concept and our children LOVED it, few of their contemporaries had ever been on a ship.
Our favorite itinerary was Norway, Sweden, Finland, etc., Alaska combined north and south back to backs probably second.
We seem to find 21-23 days our max, but in the early days always felt there was no such thing as "too long".
Don't really care to bother to pack for less than 7 nights.
Hard to find, but we love 9 day cruises because you actually get a week's vacation ! On 7 day cruises, the first day is "shot" with arrival, unpacking, usually trying to make various reservations on board, getting familiar with the ship's layout, etc. And, the last day is a frantic mess of being awakened early, trying to get a quick breakfast and sill be able to return to cabin to brush teeth, clean up, do a quick double check of safe, under beds, etc., so not at all relaxing.

Enjoy cruising because of complete relaxation IF you want... no phones, no devices, street noises,sirens, cabs, catching trains and planes from one location to another, etc. However, we do miss the "old way", before dental and medical "procedures" (only massage back then), before all the NOT included restaurant, the almost street peddler like retailing/pestering, and we REALLY miss the "old" menus where you ordered each and every selection: the type of potato or starch you preferred, a LONG list of vegetables to select from, etc. Now most main stream lines have all plated. The Salmon comes with green beans and smashed potatoes, the pork chop comes with corn and baked potato, and so on.

We've found small ship cruise lines to be closer to the "old" experience, but, they come at a substantial price unfortunately !

Totally agree the Baltic, North Sea, etc. St. Petersburg, and the Viking museum in Norway, and the overland we took to Lapland where we boarded our ship again (those not taking the overland trip, just stayed on board...it was one of the Holland American ships). Brought the "kids" up on cruise vacations, now one just returned with his family and called mom and dad: YOU ABSOLUTELY MUST CRUISE TO ABU DHABI.... they have been back SIX WEEKS now and still can't stop talking about how amazing it is ! !

my best memory of how cruising is so different for the different ages, on our Alaskan cruise, one night i was near a window looking out over one of the pools.

There was a small amount of twilight left, and there was an elementary aged girl just climbing up the slide and sliding into the pool, loving it. Then her dad came out in a full on winter parka, and told her it was time to come back to the room and get changed.

I wanted my SLR camera at that moment so badly. .

so interestingly, the original post asked about what your primary reason is for going.

You appear to be interested in the shipboard activities, which is one point of view. For us, it is seldom about what the ship offers, we don't care about the shows, or much about the entertainment on the ship, as we go for the countries and shore side excursions to visit the local areas' attractions, which we would not fly and drive to see.

The difference in our approaches is very evident with the activities we each highlighted as important for the cruise selection. . everyone is unique.

good luck to the OP on selecting what interests him/her/them

Best was a river cruise on the Danube. No driving, no packing and unpacking every night, no looking for parking in a foreign city where I can’t read the signs, and they usually drop you off in the middle of a city.

Entertainment is quite simple compared to ocean cruising but sailing by villages and castles is quite relaxing. We even biked about 10 miles one day.

We will be doing our 42nd cruise soon. Most have been with Royal Caribbean however our next cruise is thru Carnival on Mardi Gras which will be our 3rd time on this particular ship. Cruising is our idea of a great vacation. We are particularly fond of St Maartin, Grand Turk, Curaçao & any private island days. When the price is right , we are not fussy … we’ll take a 4, 5, 6, 7, 8 or more night cruise & fully enjoy it.

I second the Transatlantic crossing for the R&R at a bargain price. Fly to London, spend 3-4 nights shopping, sightseeing, and going to the theatre; then, return home well rested. We did many of these when I was working 60 hr/weeks to make enough to be able to retire to The Villages.

As for interesting/exciting ports: 1. Eastern Mediterranean; 2. Baltic 3; Alaska 4; River cruise on Rhine 5; River cruise on Danube

Viking River - 15 day - Budapest to Amsterdam - celebrating 50th anniversary year
Viking Ocean - 15 days - Scandinavian area - celebrating 60th anniversary year

Both were just right amount of time.

I think our favorite itinerary so far was an 18-day cruise that started in Sydney, and ended in Honolulu. Stops along the way included New Zealand, and French Polynesia (Tahiti, Moorea and Raiatea). During the cruise, we crossed the International Date Line (got to do Thursday twice!), as well as the Equator. Another favorite was a Med cruise that started in Venice (Ravenna), and ended in Barcelona. For a quick hit to see if you like cruising, try a 7-day Caribbean offering. But, I would recommend booking one that embarks in San Juan, Puerto Rico. Those cruises go deep into the southern Caribbean, and are more port intensive (fewer sea days).

For our taste, a 21-day cruise is right at the edge of being "too long." We have done that once, and probably would not do it again. 14 days is kind of the sweet spot, and can easily be done with two 7-day cruises back to back.