Has anyone ever done a cruise with NO "days at sea"?

[4nana]

No we haven't, honestly 7 islands in 8 days sound exhausting . I would fear you no sooner get there, have a few hours to explore, before you're off to the next island.
Of course if you take advantage of arranging activites and tours on your own like we do, you can maximize your time doing a lot in a short amt.

Honestly, we love our sea days to explore the ship, do as much or as little as our heart desires. Our last cruise was RCCL's Liberty of Seas, with 15 decks and so much to
do, after a week we still hadn't checked everything out!

Cruising is the best vacation and know you'll have fun whatever you decide!!

 

[LanaJayne]

Thanks Can I ask where you went on your 10-day cruise?

We went to Greece and Turkey sailing from Rome. It was such a wonderful trip.

 

[DisneyBlonde]

Seven islands in 8 days sounds ambitious. We like a mix. I wouldn't like a cruise that was too much one or the other.

We did a port intensive cruise in April that had 7 sea days in a row (3 sea days out and 3 back). That was killer. Would have preferred to break up the port days a little.

And when we went to Hawaii we had 5 sea days out, 5 days around the islands, and 5 sea days back. Got a little boring at the end, but I suppose you can't really do anything to break that up (Oahu to Los Angeles).

 

[STLDisney_Freak]

Nope, i have to had at least one sea day. I enjoy just watching the sea go by sipping on a drink.

 

[marlynnp]

I did a clipper ship cruise 15 years ago and loved it! I'm not a fan on floating around on a ship with thouands of other people and just laying around a pool.
This was much smaller - so there were not the food options or entertainment options that you would find on a large cruise ship - but we mainly sailed at night, and had tons of time to explore each island - either on our own or on an excursion.

http://www.starclippers.com/index_en.html

 

[DawnCt1]

I wonder if it is the one we are thinking of doing. It departs from San Juan, and here is the itinerary.

San Juan--embarkation
St. Thomas
Domenica
Barbados
St. Lucia
Antigua
St. Kitts
San Juan--debarkation

If it is the same one, did you enjoy these islands?

I love San Juan. St. Thomas is nice. We did a sailboat excursion that I booked myself on the Mildred I think. Domenica I vaguely remember. Barbados I liked. Catamaran cruise there. St. Lucia, haven't been to. Antigua. Beach was okay. All of the dogs look alike. I think they are all related and there were a lot of them. St. Kitts. Very nice. We did a kayak snorkeling excursion. I would not do it again. Lots of fire coral. The tour company only provided snorkel and mask; no fins. The current seems to go out from the shore so you needed to be a fairly strong swimmer to swim back in. A lot of the coral reefs have been hit by hurricanes. I would do an island tour or rain forest tour instead. The primates are interesting there. They are the same species but the skinny monkeys on the dry side do not get along with the fatter ones in the rain forest. They can't even house them together in their primate research center, or so I was told by the tour guide.

 

[donald&daisy]

We're doing this cruise in one week so I'll let you know when we get back! We are getting to San Juan a day early and then staying two days after the cruise to relax.

 

[Jeafl]

Maybe stay in Old San Juan the day before but then stay on the beach when you get back. We stayed in the Condado area at the Marriott Stelaris and really enjoyed it.

Not sure which cruise line you are on, but not many of them embark from the Old San Juan side. Those piers are mostly used for the ships just stopping for the day, not unloading and loading. Royal Caribbean and Princess both used the pier across the water when we departed from there. Carnival was on the Old San Juan side.

Here's our San Juan pics:
http://travel.webshots.com/album/571010119PSLxXo

Your pics were wonderful!! Thanks!

 

[Jeafl]

We're doing this cruise in one week so I'll let you know when we get back! We are getting to San Juan a day early and then staying two days after the cruise to relax.

I would love to hear about it when you get back!

 

[tinatark]

We love sea days - there's so much more to do than just "lay around the pool"! I think my preference is a 7 day cruise (we have to cruise over spring break - summer is prime time for our business!) with 3 ports. I would love to go on a 10 day Panama Canal cruise.

Maybe when the kids are out of school, we can do those super cheap Jan/Feb Caribbean cruises!

 

[LindaM]

I have been on a 4 day cruise with 0 sea days, last year we did Alaska with 2 sea days. In September we are going on a 7 days cruise with 3 sea days. I love to explore the ship and take in the different activities which is what we do on sea days. This time we have a aft cabin and I plan to spend lots of time on the balcony with a book and just relax.

I would be exhausted if I didn't have a sea day, I love getting up early and seeing the port we will be visiting coming into view, then I can't wait for us to have breakfast and get out to explore.

 

[MickeysMommy]

I wonder if it is the one we are thinking of doing. It departs from San Juan, and here is the itinerary.

San Juan--embarkation
St. Thomas
Domenica
Barbados
St. Lucia
Antigua
St. Kitts
San Juan--debarkation

If it is the same one, did you enjoy these islands?

Jill - I'm so sorry I am just getting back to you. Yes, this is the exact cruise and I loved it. We did an excursion every day and had the late dinner seating. Perfect! I would definitely do it again.

 

[almacdonald]

We did the same cruise and it was AWESOME!!! Definitely try to book the later dinner time as you don't leave the ports until 5-6 some days. We would get up early each day, do our island thing they head back to the ship when we were tired. We sat around at the pool, had a nap, ate some ice cream etc. The only thing you can't do while in port is gamble since the casino is closed. When you're in Puerto Rico, try to make time to go kayaking in the bio-luminescent bay - one of the coolest parts of the trip!

 

[Ekon]

I recently went on a cruise in December to Mexico. It was very relaxing and enjoyable. It was a 7 day cruise and we visited 3 parts of Mexico. I would highly recommend it

 

[mrsmom]

i am looking at the cruise for my 25th next June!! i can't wait

 

[donald&daisy]

We made it back from the Victory Southern Carribean cruise ealier today. First of all, let me say that this was our first cruise so we don't have any background to compare it to. That being said, we had an AMAZING time. It was so great. I loved being in a new place every day. We had an excursion every day and although we were tired after our late (8:15) dinner seating we still managed to enjoy the ship and at least some of it's offerings. I would be happy to answer any specific questions. I booked all independent tour except for one, thanks to the reviews from cruise critic. Oh, and we had a balcony room--loved that!

 

[Jeafl]

We made it back from the Victory Southern Carribean cruise ealier today. First of all, let me say that this was our first cruise so we don't have any background to compare it to. That being said, we had an AMAZING time. It was so great. I loved being in a new place every day. We had an excursion every day and although we were tired after our late (8:15) dinner seating we still managed to enjoy the ship and at least some of it's offerings. I would be happy to answer any specific questions. I booked all independent tour except for one, thanks to the reviews from cruise critic. Oh, and we had a balcony room--loved that!

Welcome back! Did you do any tours in San Juan? My kids really want to do the ziplining tour there but it is $125 a person!

Did you ever cut it close by using independent tours? That is one of my biggest fears--that the tour will run late and I will miss the ship! I know Carnival will wait for you if you are on one of their sponsored tours, but you are out of luck with the independents.

I know I am probably being irrational....

 

[Camicar]

We go absolutely stir crazy on the days at sea and is the main reason we have not booked another cruise. Sso a trip without them would be ideal for us.

 

[Darcy03231]

Welcome back! Did you do any tours in San Juan? My kids really want to do the ziplining tour there but it is $125 a person!

Did you ever cut it close by using independent tours? That is one of my biggest fears--that the tour will run late and I will miss the ship! I know Carnival will wait for you if you are on one of their sponsored tours, but you are out of luck with the independents.

I know I am probably being irrational....

We cruise a lot and mostly book independent excursions. A good place for recommended vendors is either www.cruisecritic.com or www.cruisemates.com. The only time I book through the ship is if the tour is a long one (ie you're in port for 8 hours and the tour is 7 hours) or if it requires a drive inland of an hour or more. I also try to book excursions for shortly after the ship docks and then spend some time exploring on my own in the vicinity of the ship.

 

[MIGrandma]

I days at sea! They are so much more relaxing than port days.

We choose cruises that go to just 2-3 ports, and have more sea days than port days. Now cruises that go to a private island, I kind of consider those "sea days" because it doesn't really seem like a port to us, and it's nice to just relax on the beach and have lunch on the island, etc.

I don't think I would enjoy a cruise with all port days. I enjoy having lots of time to explore the ship, take afternoon naps, order room service and eat out on the balcony, spend an hour or two reading/watching the water go by, etc.