First Time Cruiser - 4 or 7 night?

[palenskec]

I originally booked the 4 night Bahamas cruise for spring 2017. Having second thoughts ... the other option (although more spendy), is the 7 night Eastern Caribbean.

Worth the jump to do the 7 nighter? We will be flying across the US (from Oregon), so I kind of feel like we should make it "worth it" so to speak, and I know the husband isn't super into trying to tie Disney World into this trip...

Decisions, decisions!!!!

 

[dclpluto]

7 night

 

[nearlyfallinstar]

I would have loved for our 4 night Bahamas cruise to have been 7 nights instead. If you can afford it, I say go for it!

 

[cantontrebor]

Another vote for the 7 day. On a ship that is new to you it will take a few days just to get comfortable. A 4 night cruise is simply too short in my opinion. Get the most for your flight money and try a 7 day if you can swing it.

Good luck with your decision.

 

[palenskec]

Well, "If I can swing it" is sort of relative at this point .... but heck, I did it anyway!!!!!!!!

Now ... how to tell the rest of the family....

 

[bethy]

We just tried our first DCL cruise and flew in from the West Coast also. We did a four night which I was happy with. But only because it was merely a portion of a 2 week trip. No way would I fly my whole family all the way to Florida just for a 4-5 night vacation. Odds are, unless you are one of the very few people who suffer extremely from seasickness you will love the 7 nighter.

Just bring an assortment of seasickness remedies for peace of mind just in case.

 

[Saamh]

Well, "If I can swing it" is sort of relative at this point .... but heck, I did it anyway!!!!!!!!

Now ... how to tell the rest of the family....

I wish we had done a 7 day for our first cruise! You won't regret switching to the longer cruise.

 

[elphie101]

We've only done the one cruise, and it was a 7-Night, and it was ABSOLUTELY the right decision. Hands down the sea days were both mine and DH's favorite part of the cruise, and the 7-Nighters just have more! (We did the Eastern as well, so I can tell you 3 sea days are wonderful). Now of course some people are more port-intensive cruisers vs sea day cruisers, which you won't really know I don't think if you haven't cruised before, but even then there's still one more port compared to the 4-Night cruise. If you can swing it, absolutely do it.

 

[ForMyBoys]

Our first cruise was a 4 night cruise... for us it was the perfect length for a first time cruise. We did pair it with a Disney park vacation so it was really an 8 day vacation. Best trip ever! In your situation, since you are flying so far and don't want to do the parks I would choose a 7 day cruise hands down.

 

[palenskec]

We've only done the one cruise, and it was a 7-Night, and it was ABSOLUTELY the right decision. Hands down the sea days were both mine and DH's favorite part of the cruise, and the 7-Nighters just have more! (We did the Eastern as well, so I can tell you 3 sea days are wonderful). Now of course some people are more port-intensive cruisers vs sea day cruisers, which you won't really know I don't think if you haven't cruised before, but even then there's still one more port compared to the 4-Night cruise. If you can swing it, absolutely do it.

Yay! I was also thinking the ports look fun as well. I really wanting to do the Tartola Bath excursion, and wasn't really interested in getting off the boat in Nassau.

 

[scrappinginontario]

Our first cruise was a 7-night and I never regretted it! On the 4th day I remember being SO thankful that we still had a lot more time on the ship and realized I would have been sorry if I'd booked a shorter cruise.

The honest truth though is that after 7 nights I still wasn't ready to get off!

 

[godde8ss]

You did the right thing, i was so disappointed by our 5 night because it snuck up on me and boom, vacation was over. We missed out on alot. I have not been able to rest since I got home the 28th of october. So, I started researching and booked a 7 day for next year!

 

[Papaspaldo]

Our first was a 7 night cruise and I wouldn't want to do any shorter! Hopefully in the future we can do longer ones

 

[Blended Disney]

We just got back from our first cruise-4 nights on the Dream. All of us wished it had been longer on the fourth night, but it was the right choice for us and our kids to get our feet wet. It answered a lot of questions and kept us looking forward to the next one which will need to be a minimum of 5 nights, but most likely 7.

 

[Sailorsgirl]

just got off my first cruise ever - 7 night Disney. I am so glad I did!! no going back now. less days is not an option for me

 

[Partyof4LA]

We just finished a first time 4 night on the dream. My
decision on length may have been different if I knew a Disney Cruise was a once in a lifetime trip, but I chose the short one knowing I would book a longer one if we all enjoyed it.
Although I was sad to leave and definitely could have stayed on longer, I am glad we did the shorter cruise first to try things out.
It gave me peace of mind to KNOW we all enjoy a Disney cruise before dropping all that money on a 7 night. Some people do not like cruising at all and I didn't know if my kids fell in that category. My husband isn't the biggest fan of Disney World, so I didn't know if he would like a Disney themed cruise. I didn't know if my kids get horrible seasickness (I did as a child and my mom and I stayed confined to our room while I vomited 3 days on a ship...Not how I want to spend 7 nights on a $5K+ vacation). It is a big price difference in 4 vs 7N and I wasn't willing to pay it not knowing how they would do. Now that everyone enjoyed the short one and wants to go back, I have no problem spending the money for a longer trip