Shorter cruises more frequently vs longer cruise?

[justme0729]

If you lived in FL like we do and didn’t have to pay for flights, would you rather take a 3-4 night cruise once a year or a 5-7 night cruise once every two years?

 

[Nicnicnic.nic]

Once a year. Much of my joy from vacation happens in preparation and anticipation so that's the reason for my answer

 

[scrappinginontario]

That’s a tough one. We love sea days as there is so much more to do on the ship that is not offered on port days. I’d be tempted to sail less often and say every 2 years and longer cruise.

 

[justafigment27]

Probably a longer cruise every 2 years. But I’m a weirdo who likes to space out my Disney vacations a bit because I feel like it makes them more magical.

 

[awrites]

Tough to decide! I personally like longer cruises, but I also really like variety, and currently the 7-day itineraries out of Florida don’t offer much of that. I honestly think I might get tired of 7 days on the Treasure if that’s all I did. At least with the 3-4 day cruises some other ships get added in the mix to choose from.

So I think maybe I’d focus on the shorter cruises more often, with an occasional 7-day thrown in the mix. Maybe something like:

Year 1: 4 night, Dream
Year 2: 3 night, Wish
Year 3: break
Year 4: 7 night, Treasure
Year 5 or 5.5: 4 night, Magic (assuming she’s not retired by that point!)

And so on.

ETA: missed that you’d included 5 nights in the 2 year cycle! That helps with variety. In that case, I might focus on the 2-year cycle because I really do like longer cruises.

 

[CamColt]

Both?

Seriously though, I think it would depend on the situation. Maybe if a longer special cruise that interested me was offered, or a special reason like a milestone anniversary, I would do the longer, but then maybe the next year do a couple shorter ones.

 

[tgarre06]

Shorter cruises every year!

 

[FastPasser.]

Until a few years ago we lived in Central Florida and we probably averaged two seven day cruises a year. Now living in north Ga, we’ve averaged 3 cruises per year. We’ve always done 7 days and don’t sail on DCL exclusively.

 

[tvguy]

The shortest cruise I have ever taken is 7 days. Takes a day to get settled in on the ship, and the last day involves time packing up. I think a three or four day cruise would just be too short. And that is not taking into consideration travel time and air fare costs.
My wife and I took four cruises in the first 6 years we were married and our co-workers and friends thought we were cruise addicts. Of course, it was the 1980s when cruising was less popular than now. There are folks that take that many or cruises a year. Of course I wonder about how they afford it, but to be honest, we never had enough vacation time to take that many cruises.

 

[LAS2AMS]

The shortest cruise I have ever taken is 7 days. Takes a day to get settled in on the ship, and the last day involves time packing up. I think a three or four day cruise would just be too short. And that is not taking into consideration travel time and air fare costs.
My wife and I took four cruises in the first 6 years we were married and our co-workers and friends thought we were cruise addicts. Of course, it was the 1980s when cruising was less popular than now. There are folks that take that many or cruises a year. Of course I wonder about how they afford it, but to be honest, we never had enough vacation time to take that many cruises.

As ships got bigger, the cost of cruising dropped. For example, there’s a Carnival infomercial from the mid-90s advertising a 4-day cruise from Los Angeles for a family of four “for less than $1,000 - our lowest price ever.” I booked the same cruise, 30 years later, for $595 for a party of four. Real dollars, no inflation adjusted.

If you leave near a port, you can take advantage of last minute deals. I wouldn’t do a cruise for less than 5 days unless it’s local - and I’d have to have a deal on top of it. 3/4 day cruises are depressing in the sense that they want to schedule your departure as soon as you’re on the ship.

The “deal” part is why I’d never do a 3/4 day Disney cruise - no way would I pay nearly $4000 for my family to take a three day cruise when most of the first, and half of the last day is lost as people acquaint themselves with the ship.

Of course many people like shorter cruises since it allows them to overindulge for a few days.

 

[OKW Lover]

If you lived in FL like we do and didn’t have to pay for flights, would you rather take a 3-4 night cruise once a year or a 5-7 night cruise once every two years?

We do live in FL (only a bit more than an hour to Port Canaveral) and we tend to prefer longer cruises. But!!!! a 4-night cruise is better than no cruise.

 

[tvguy]

Of course many people like shorter cruises since it allows them to overindulge for a few days.

Cruise lines like 3 and 4 day cruises because they carry twice as many passengers a week. They double the souvenir sales.

 

[Memorymakerfor4]

Given the options above, I'd combine them to do both on a 3 year rotation with a year break after the longer cruise. We found the 3 day cruise to be kind of a pain due to flying in and having to get a hotel the night before, but if I was local it could be a nice long weekend. The longer cruises have more interesting itineraries though.

 

[Disneyworldlocal]

Living in Florida I would go with the 3 to 4 night and also look for good deals on 5 nights as well. It seems like DCL is more and more releasing guaranteed rate and Florida Resident rate rooms after paid in full dates. Our party of 5 just did two oceanview staterooms on the Magic on a Florida resident rate booked 6 weeks before the cruise.
My wife and I are doing 5 nights on the Magic ocean view 8/31 (no special rate just a placeholder ) for cheaper than a lot of 3 nights on the Wish. This one goes to both islands.
I would personally go more often and figure on a couple of dates closer to when you want to sail and get a good bargain.
If you really want to do the Treasure maybe set up a separate fund and do a short and long one one year

 

[shb5007]

I feel that many factors would go into this decision... But the ranges provided are quite wide. For instance, a 3 day cruise is SO DIFFERENT than a 7 day cruise, especially with DCL.

We actually just did a B2B on the Fantasy (4 night and then a 3 night), and it was INCREDIBLE how different those 2 cruises felt. Part of that was the chaos of everyone else on the 3 night cruise... Almost like they were running around for 3 straight days trying to do everything, stressing out, getting lost everywhere, etc. The ship just felt more cramped and chaotic.

We have now done 4 night Wish, 3 night Wish (parents only), and then this B2B... And we aren't even considering anything under 7 nights for the next few DCL trips (unless maybe we sneak in another parents only trip).

For me, it would likely come down to finding discounts / sales... if I could find those on shorter cruises and I was flexible due to living in Florida... Then I would take more shorter cruises.

 

[martikus]

3-4 you are just starting to relax and time to get off. I’d do 7 days once a year and find a cruise line that affords me to do that which is not Disney. There are lots of great cruise lines out there - don’t limit yourself.

 

[OKW Lover]

Just to add to my comment above, for us a 3-night cruise is more of an annoyance than a vacation. Just not enough time on the ship. So we go for at least 4-nights.

 

[dreamer17555]

For me it depends on if its adults only, kids, and is so their ages. I prefer longer cruises but if the option is a 7 night every two years or a 4 night once a year? I want to go on the 4 night. With kids it will depend on how old they are, and school schedules. I would love longer cruises for kids Edge and Vibe age because they tend to make friends more during the sailing. For younger kids I would think 4-5 nights is all I would want to sail with a toddler.

Realistically though if I lived in FL it would depend on whatever sailings are giving me the best FL resident rate discounts.

 

[bakerworld]

Regardless of where we live, we both like a 4D cruise. We've been on as long as 6D and as short as 3D. The 3D is just to short. The 6D was good but by day 4 we're looking forward to doing something else. The one good part of the 6D is that we finally got to do many of the things we talked about doing. We're adult cruisers so maybe it makes a difference not having kids.

 

[JM_97]

Regardless of where we live, we both like a 4D cruise. We've been on as long as 6D and as short as 3D. The 3D is just to short. The 6D was good but by day 4 we're looking forward to doing something else. The one good part of the 6D is that we finally got to do many of the things we talked about doing. We're adult cruisers so maybe it makes a difference not having kids.

I'm the same way. I loved my last 7 night cruise but by Day 6 I was ready to get home. 5-6 nights is perfect, as 3-4 nights feels too short.