Short cruises (3-4 nights)

[pinkpeony6210]

DH and I are trying to figure out what we want to do in terms of a vacation, and are thinking that a 3-4 night cruise would be pretty cool. If you've been, which cruise line did you go on? How many nights? Where were your port of calls?




Thanks!

[ginkgoleaf]

I've done short cruises on Disney and Royal Caribbean but 15 years ago. More recently I've done 7-night on Celebrity with DH and Disney with DH and DS. Celebrity was Southern Caribbean out of Puerto Rico, Disney was Western Caribbean out of Port Canaveral.

[majesty318]

My favorite cruise lines are Royal Caribbean & Celebrity. The thing to look out for with the short ones, at least on Royal Caribbean, is that they usually use the older ships. If you have never cruised before, you won't know the difference, but if you have, you might end up missing some of the newer bells & whistles. I have never done a 3 or 4 night one mostly for this reason, but I did do one 5-night and many 7-nights.

[GilliC]

I did a 3-night once on RCCL for a long weekend. The ship typically did 7-night cruises but had a few 3- and 4- night trips at the beginning and end of the season. It was a nice little chance to relax and unwind, since it left from our home city. It was 2 days at sea, and a port call in Hamburg, Germany.

[Deleted]

Are you taking the kids? If so, I think that would be too many for such a short trip since they are typically half sea days.

[pinkpeony6210]

Jan 16, 2015 17:52:28 GMT -5 @melissainabq said:

Are you taking the kids? If so, I think that would be too many for such a short trip since they are typically half sea days.

We're not sure. If we take the kids, we'll most likely do a 4-5 night Disney Cruise. If it's just DH and I, we will go for 3 nights (I think that's my MIL's babysitting limit...lol). 

[origami]

We took our kids on a 4-night RC cruise a few months ago. This was in Asia but it was very similar to RC in the Caribbean. I'm not sure how old your kids are but some of RC's ships have a kids program where they will watch your kids for free, depending on their ages, and have characters/kids activities. They also have babysitting. I was nervous my kids would fall overboard but it was just fine. On our particular cruise the excursions were really long (7+ hrs) and I wished we had more time on the ship. We had 1 day at sea and my kids went to the kids program for half of that day. They didn't want to go at first but they had a great time. If we had a cruise that did half day excursions plus half days at sea, with 1 full day at sea, that would have been ideal for us. Our previous cruises were kid-free and those were relaxing and nice. Sometimes they are a little pricey for the length (esp if you have to fly) but other times there are good deals. No matter how many days we vacation I always want more time. We try to add a few days extra at the beginning or end port city, if it's possible.

[bonnie]

We did one cruise a couple of years ago, a 5-night on RC. We stopped in Labadee (private beach in Haiti) and Jamaica. It was wonderful! We loved it so much we are going again at the end February. We are doing an 8-night RC cruise stopping in St. Maarten, St. Kitts, San Juan and Labadee.

I would recommend RC whether you and DH go alone or you bring the kids. They have so much going on (on the newer ships at least). It's so much fun and you get to basically decide if you're lying by the pool or day or having non-stop activities and entertainment.

[babsbunny]

I just did my first cruise and it was 4 nights on the Disney Wonder out of Miami with a stop at Castaway Cay, then Key West, and one day at sea. I very much enjoyed it and never saw an unhappy kid or adult (I don't have kids and went with a friend without kids). They have great child care programs so you could bring the kids and still have tons of alone time. It is more expensive than other cruise lines, but I was lucky to find a decent deal (plus I saved money since they allow you to bring on your own alcohol).

[starryfish]

We go on the 4 day one out of Galveston bc it's 20 mins away. It's nice and easy. We enjoy it. Carnival triumph! We leave next Thursday! It just goes to Cozumel which is nice

[thebulldog]

We did a four day on RC out of Port Canaveral a few years ago. Honestly for that short a time frame I would do an AI before I would do a cruise again.

Sent from my SM-G900P using proboards

[miss1180]

we did a 4 night disney cruise in November with our son who is 4. we LOVED it!! the one we did they call a "double dip". basically it had 2 days at Disney Island (Castaway Cay), and then one day at sea. We cruised overnight in between the 2 days at Castaway Cay. with little kids, it was a great amount of time i thought. and castaway cay was incredible!!! you could rent bikes to ride around the island, there was a kid club right on the island if you wanted to drop them off, snorkeling, a splash pad area for the little ones, an adult beach area, they give you BBQ lunch right there on the island,they have character meets on the island.
we flew form NJ the day before the cruise left... and stayed at one of the disney hotels for a night. so that in itself was like an extra day of vacation- we didn't do any of the disney parks but had fun hanging out at the resort.
so anyway- i thought it was a good amount of time :-)

[thelurkylulu]

Jan 17, 2015 11:05:29 GMT -5 babsbunny said:

I just did my first cruise and it was 4 nights on the Disney Wonder out of Miami with a stop at Castaway Cay, then Key West, and one day at sea. I very much enjoyed it and never saw an unhappy kid or adult (I don't have kids and went with a friend without kids). They have great child care programs so you could bring the kids and still have tons of alone time. It is more expensive than other cruise lines, but I was lucky to find a decent deal (plus I saved money since they allow you to bring on your own alcohol).

I've been looking at the Wonder. What kind of deal were you able to get?

[keyslover]

Jan 21, 2015 14:44:29 GMT -5 miss1180 said:

we did a 4 night disney cruise in November with our son who is 4. we LOVED it!! the one we did they call a "double dip". basically it had 2 days at Disney Island (Castaway Cay), and then one day at sea. We cruised overnight in between the 2 days at Castaway Cay. with little kids, it was a great amount of time i thought. and castaway cay was incredible!!! you could rent bikes to ride around the island, there was a kid club right on the island if you wanted to drop them off, snorkeling, a splash pad area for the little ones, an adult beach area, they give you BBQ lunch right there on the island,they have character meets on the island.
we flew form NJ the day before the cruise left... and stayed at one of the disney hotels for a night. so that in itself was like an extra day of vacation- we didn't do any of the disney parks but had fun hanging out at the resort.
so anyway- i thought it was a good amount of time :-)

Do they have a free shuttle from the parks/resorts to the port of call?

[keyslover]

Jan 17, 2015 11:05:29 GMT -5 babsbunny said:

I just did my first cruise and it was 4 nights on the Disney Wonder out of Miami with a stop at Castaway Cay, then Key West, and one day at sea. I very much enjoyed it and never saw an unhappy kid or adult (I don't have kids and went with a friend without kids). They have great child care programs so you could bring the kids and still have tons of alone time. It is more expensive than other cruise lines, but I was lucky to find a decent deal (plus I saved money since they allow you to bring on your own alcohol).

*never cruised before*
How do you get deals on cruises? Especially Disney ones.

[miss1180]

Jan 25, 2015 22:32:39 GMT -5 keyslover said:

Jan 21, 2015 14:44:29 GMT -5 miss1180 said:

we did a 4 night disney cruise in November with our son who is 4. we LOVED it!! the one we did they call a "double dip". basically it had 2 days at Disney Island (Castaway Cay), and then one day at sea. We cruised overnight in between the 2 days at Castaway Cay. with little kids, it was a great amount of time i thought. and castaway cay was incredible!!! you could rent bikes to ride around the island, there was a kid club right on the island if you wanted to drop them off, snorkeling, a splash pad area for the little ones, an adult beach area, they give you BBQ lunch right there on the island,they have character meets on the island.
we flew form NJ the day before the cruise left... and stayed at one of the disney hotels for a night. so that in itself was like an extra day of vacation- we didn't do any of the disney parks but had fun hanging out at the resort.
so anyway- i thought it was a good amount of time :-)

Do they have a free shuttle from the parks/resorts to the port of call?

No... not like they do from the airport to the parks/resorts kind of stinks!! i think it was $70pp round trip... i think it was a little over an hour ride. 
 And i saw you ask about getting discounts... disney cruises are hard to get discounts. but we booked about 12 days before we wanted to leave HAHA and we booked a "Guaranteed" balcony room. so basically you don't get to pick the deck, etc that your balcony room is on... you're basically saying you'll take any balcony room. (so you could end up getting one in a not great spot.. OR you could end up with one that have a HUGE oversized balcony all the way at the back of the ship, like we did! LOL
  other cruise lines like NCL or Royal Caribbean have "kids sail free" stuff sometimes, or they'll give you a credit for onboard spending... which is nice. the time of year makes a difference, too... just sign up for the email lists of different cruise lines and they send you info on special deals :-) we went on 3 cruises last year- its such a great, relaxing way to travel- especially if you have little kids. because you don't really have to think about anything HAHA the food, etc is taken care of for you :-)

[babsbunny]

Jan 25, 2015 18:51:17 GMT -5 thelurkylulu said:

Jan 17, 2015 11:05:29 GMT -5 babsbunny said:

I just did my first cruise and it was 4 nights on the Disney Wonder out of Miami with a stop at Castaway Cay, then Key West, and one day at sea. I very much enjoyed it and never saw an unhappy kid or adult (I don't have kids and went with a friend without kids). They have great child care programs so you could bring the kids and still have tons of alone time. It is more expensive than other cruise lines, but I was lucky to find a decent deal (plus I saved money since they allow you to bring on your own alcohol).

I've been looking at the Wonder. What kind of deal were you able to get?

We started looking in August for something from Sep through Dec. We had a limited set of dates and found a Wednesday departure in late October. It was about $1200 after taxes for a guaranteed verandah. To compare, a Princess Cruises sailing was almost half the cost. Our day at sea was rainy and we did miss a seasonable storm, but still fun.

[babsbunny]

Jan 25, 2015 22:34:15 GMT -5 keyslover said:

Jan 17, 2015 11:05:29 GMT -5 babsbunny said:

I just did my first cruise and it was 4 nights on the Disney Wonder out of Miami with a stop at Castaway Cay, then Key West, and one day at sea. I very much enjoyed it and never saw an unhappy kid or adult (I don't have kids and went with a friend without kids). They have great child care programs so you could bring the kids and still have tons of alone time. It is more expensive than other cruise lines, but I was lucky to find a decent deal (plus I saved money since they allow you to bring on your own alcohol).

*never cruised before*
How do you get deals on cruises? Especially Disney ones.

See my other post. We looked during school and hurricane season and booked a nonrefundable guaranteed room. There might have been a little luck too, but no coupons. Searched on Travelocity (though their new interface is horrible) and then booked through Disney. We were lucky to end up with a normal balcony. 

[dulcemariamar]

I would not sail on Disney if I wasn't taking the kids. It is a great place for them but I had a much better time and enjoyed the food more on RCL.

But I would also use cruisecritic.com to check reviews of ships.