3 day cruise question

[Lizgistix]

a 3-night was perfect for me to get an idea of what cruising is like and how well my equilibrium takes to it. My only complaint at the end was that I wished it was longer. But in hindsight, had I experienced motion sickness problems, a 7-night would have been miserable, so I'm glad I chose a 3-night for my first ever cruise experience just to be safe.

 

[ichoose2believe]

FWIW… I will be taking my first cruise next week with my kiddo who has ASD. I decided to go with the 3 night for a few reasons:
1) I didn’t know how the kiddo would handle the cruise
2) it hit the highlights (Castaway Cay and Nassau)
3) kiddo had a long weekend so only 1 missed day of school
4) the cost was right
5) it knocked some things off our family bucket list

 

[loislane]

Our first cruise was a 3-nighter and it was perfect in terms of finding out whether we like cruising or not. (The answer - we do!) But we also paired our cruis with a week at WDW so it was still a full long vacation that made it worth flying from NY to FL. That said, I still would say that a 3-night cruise is good to get your feet wet so to speak, but do it with the understand that there is a LOT on the ship you won't see/do/experience on a shorter cruise. That doesn't mean you won't have fun and won't see/do/experience a lot of wonderful things. You totally will! But just like a trip to WDW, you can't do it all, so for a 3-night cruise, prioritize what you want to accomplish. We cruised on the Dream, so we knew we wanted to ride the AquaDuck, catch at least one show, and snorkel on Castaway Cay. In Nassau, we didn't book an excursion and just wandered on our own. We managed to miss the fireworks somehow - still salty about that one! And I booked a spa package for the first night on the ship - not knowing it was going to take THREE HOURS. While it was lovely, that was 3 hours lost on our first night where my husband was left by himself and we missed out on any activities. Won't do that again.

 

[mevelandry]

It may be an unpopular opinion but I believe there is nothing wrong with a three nights cruise, if you are well prepared.

-It’s easier to get away for a long week-end than a 4 nights (which will most likely take 5 full week days if you have to travel).

-If you use packing cubes, unpacking and repacking will take only 5 minutes.

-Determine in advance what your priorities are, make reservations (if needs be) and pick your excursion in Nassau right away. This way, you don’t waste any time wondering what you should do that day)

-Pick the earliest Port Arrival Time in order to board early and if you don’t fly too early, you can disembark later (however, everything is closed so the best you can do is either hang out in your cabin or stretch your breakfast a little bit.)

 

[JM_97]

I've done a 4 and 7 night cruise. A 7 night felt too long for me as I was itching to get off on Day 6. My 4 night was long enough to where it didn't go by too fast and still left you wanting for more. 3 nights would go by way too quick. So if I were you, I'd go with the 4 night. Plus, this pretty much guarantees you a day at sea. Not all 3N cruises have a sea day.

To me the perfect cruise length is 5 nights, but it varies person to person.

 

[CaseyCruiser]

Our first cruise was for 3 nights. Never again. The extra night of a 4 night cruise makes a big difference.

 

[PrincessShmoo]

To me the perfect cruise length is 5 nights, but it varies person to person.

Totally. Our first cruise was 15 nights. We learned that we like longer cruises. Our preferred length is 10-14 nights minimum, but we've done a couple of 24+ cruises.

We've also done a couple of 3/4 night cruises when they were ones we were interested in taking.

 

[JM_97]

Totally. Our first cruise was 15 nights. We learned that we like longer cruises. Our preferred length is 10-14 nights minimum, but we've done a couple of 24+ cruises.

We've also done a couple of 3/4 night cruises when they were ones we were interested in taking.

Don't get me wrong. My 7 night was a blast. I'll make an exception if I'm fortunate enough to ever go on a Panama Canal cruise but I'll probably mostly stick to 5-7 nights in the future.

 

[daisyx3]

I would go for 4. We did a 3 night on the Fantasy to get our grand slam, and then another for the Merrytime this last fall. Our only reason is, as a teacher, I only need 2 personal days for a Friday-Monday cruise. Doing another on the Wish this fall. After I retire, probably no more 3 nights.

 

[anjuan]

I generally prefer longer cruises, but in October we went to Florida to do a college visit and a three-night fit in perfectly with our plans and we had a lot of fun. So I really think it depends what you're looking for.

 

[Rob1872]

Our first cruise was a 3 night that we paired up with a 3 day military hopper ticket at Universal Studios. We thought it was perfect to 'try out' cruising. We were not sure how my mildly autistic youngest son would do in the kids club / being on the ship in general and didn't want to risk a long trip if it didn't work out well. We all enjoyed it and followed it up with a 7 night cruise.

One thing that worked out well for us was instead of a Nassau day and a Castaway Cay day we were lucky that we had a day at sea and the Castaway Cay day. Getting the day to enjoy the ship as a first-timer was much better than a day in Nassau.

 

[MomOTwins]

A 3-night cruise is great for a first cruise or an extended weekend getaway. I've sailed three 3-night cruises (as well as longer cruises) and enjoyed each one. They tend to work better for my schedule because they can be sailed over a long weekend, whereas the 4-night requires a full week be taken off of work because they typically start on Mondays. If I'm taking a week off of work, I want to sail a 7-night, not a 4-night. So the 4-night cruises were never worth it to me for that reason.

Keep in mind that you asked this question on a cruise board filled with die-hard cruisers, so most here will advocate for a longer cruise every time. Some of them have never even sailed a 3-night cruise, and will put them down anyway. But each time I've cruised 3-nights, there have been lots of people onboard and everyone seems to be having fun, so I'm far from alone in my opinion that they're worthwhile.

The claim that "you only have time to unpack & pack & then you're off the ship" is silly and false. Unless it takes you a day and a half to unpack, and another day and a half to pack. Another bonus of a short cruise is that you can pack light.

I agree with everything said here 100%.

One thing that worked out well for us was instead of a Nassau day and a Castaway Cay day we were lucky that we had a day at sea and the Castaway Cay day. Getting the day to enjoy the ship as a first-timer was much better than a day in Nassau.

I think this is a really good point because we always stay on the ship on Nassau day instead of going ashore. There is plenty to do on board on port days on DCL and kids clubs operate normally unlike some other cruise lines. I do see how a 3-night might feel shorter if you went onshore at Nassau.