How long of a cruise to take?

You may be tempted to take a 4 night cruise for your first cruise, especially if you are not sure you will like it. This is what we did on our first cruise, and it was the wrong decision. The fact is, if you are flying into the cruise port, or even if you are driving 1,000 miles, the cost of just getting there might be as much or more than the cruise itself. If you are arriving from out of state, it would be better cost-wise to take a 7 day cruise. If you live nearby, well take any length of cruise you like. One issue you'll find is that you lose the first and last days on a cruise, just from the process of arriving and leaving the ship, so on a 4 night cruise, in reality you only have 3 days, which is really not long enough. Even though the same holds true for a 7 night cruise, you will still have 6 full days of enjoyment, so that first day has less of an impact. Also if you take a 4 night cruise, you are generally limited to the Bahamas or possibly a quick trip to Cozumel and back. Longer cruises visit the more popular islands that are not reachable by a 4 night cruise.

Unless you are very sure you love cruising, I would not take a 10 to 14 night cruise for your first cruise. If you are one of the few that don't like the experience, two weeks is a long time to be stuck somewhere when you are not enjoying yourself. But the longer cruises tend to go to islands unreacheable by even the 7 night cruises, so those are where you really see the isolated islands. One of our cruises was a 10 day cruise, and we had two days at sea getting to the Eastern Caribbean from Tampa, and 5 days of visiting islands, then two days to return. I have to tell you, after those 5 island-hopping days, were were pretty exhausted. In contrast, a 14 day cruise breaks up the island visits a bit; you will typically be at sea for a couple of days, visit islands for the next couple of days, perhaps another day at sea to get to another set of islands, then a couple more island days, and so on. Those days at sea between island visits gives you a chance to relax and recuperate.

One of the coolest cruises might be a trans-Panama Canal cruise. The length of time varies with these cruises, but they are typically 14 or 15 night cruises. As well, they are one way; that is, one cruise is an Westbound cruise; say from Miami to San Diego; and then the ship turns around and repeats the trip Eastbound. The round trip takes up to a month, but you only book for one leg. These cruises are only offered for a short period each year.

The last type of cruise to be discussed is a repositioning cruise. Many cruise itineraries are not year-round; for example Alaska is only in the summer months. When the ship leaves the region, it "repositions" to another region for the next season. These cruises are called repositioning, in that the cruise starts in one region, and ends up in another. The cruises can be anywhere from 7 nights to 14 nights or more as each one tends to be a bit unique. Obvously, these cruises are only offered periodically, whenever the ship changes regions.