Like others have said, it depends on how you view the cruise -- whether the ports are what you see as your destination, or the ship itself. For me, I've only been on one cruise, a five nighter. I actually kept stumbling over my answer when people would ask me where my cruise was going in the time leading up to it -- the actual destination was so far distant to the purpose of the trip for me that it didn't even register in my mind as being particularly relevant to the discussion. I booked an excursion for the Cozumel day because I felt like I ought to get off the ship and go do something, but was terrifically relieved when I got the news the day before that it had been cancelled due to lack of interest. I'm sure the excursion would have been fun, but on some level it felt more like an obligation than something I was excited to go do.
I agree that the ship does have a different feel to it on port days, but I don't think that's a bad thing! The days at sea were very busy days for me (well, one of them was MDAS, so naturally it was
very busy). On the Cozumel port day I did go ashore for maybe an hour and poked through some kitschy shops, but it was hot and full of pushy salespeople and I just wasn't into it. I came back and spent something like four or five hours just chilling on deck 10, eating junk food from the counter service spots, reading a novel, gazing at the port, getting up now and then to take a couple rides down the AquaDunk. It was heavenly. I wouldn't want
every day to be that quiet, but since I was hitting the activities pretty hard on the sea days it was a more welcome break than a day in port would have been. I actually came back to the ship early on
Castaway Cay day, too, to hit the AquaDunk a last couple times and make sure I got into the last bingo session. Zero regrets. This trip was about allowing and/or pushing myself to do good things I wouldn't normally do, and sitting quietly and simply enjoying myself and my environment is something I do too infrequently.
I'm hoping to do a 7 night cruise my next time around, and for one of that length I think I might be inclined to get off the ship and do an excursion on at least one port day. Or I might still not bother. I just don't really see cruising as a particularly good travel method for actually visiting places. If I want to travel to a foreign locale and really experience it, I'll fly there, find lodging, and tour over multiple days. On a cruise you're so limited in terms of time, plus all the locals know that you're one of the umpteen million day tourists who've all come pouring in together and treat you differently for it. One of my coworkers recently told me about a trip she and some gal pals had taken to Mexico, where they'd found a favorite restaurant they went to a couple days in a row. One day they came in for lunch, not realizing it was a cruise ship day, and the menu was different -- everything was more expensive. When they commented on it to the bartender they'd met on previous days he changed their menu back out for the regular one; the higher price menu was one they brought out for cruisers who didn't know any better because they were only ever there for a couple of hours.
