Seeking advice on 2 day cruise

Please provide pros and cons of taking a short weekend getaway. No plans to get off the ship in Nassau.

Quick getaway in the sun sounds great! Just throw some cloths in a back pack and your on your way!

Two days just too short for any cruise...you no more than get in then time to get off and not enough time to really enjoy the ship...but hope you have good time :)

MINDSET.

The reaping of premade decisions.

A 2-day cruise can be a fabulous weekend getaway. It's no different in my mind from just that.

The key to such a thing will be to be OCD prepared with packing, etc., and in your MIND, so that you hit the ground running, so to speak. For example, at embarkation, you need to be NOT cabin dependent for being able to immediately start doing whatever says "vacation" to you.

A lot of times, people mill about and wait for the cabins to open, etc., but on such a short cruise...you need to treat embarkation day like a port day...and if you are interested in such things, have on your swim suit with a cover up at embarkation...grab a drink and hit a hot tub...and not experience a hiccough because you don't have your cabin yet.

The obvious cons are that it is ONLY 2 days. I can only imagine that you are going on Allure with the mention of Nassau. I would jump on that! Check her out! She is a destination unto herself and with proper planning and mindset, you can have a great shorter experience that will yield many memories.

Did a three night one time and never again. Way to short. If you live extremely close to port maybe. But consider how much time you will put into travel to port, parking, waiting in line to get on, waiting for rooms to open up and only one morning to sleep in (second morning is departure morning and another line to get off and go through customs). Plenty of people do it though, because they do fill the ship. I'd find a weekend at a nice hotel way more relaxing, just my opinion but that's what you asked for was pros and cons unfortunately I can't come up with a pro for a 2 night over a hotel (maybe cruise points if your short two for the next level)

Please provide pros and cons of taking a short weekend getaway. No plans to get off the ship in Nassau.

Cons........DON'T DO IT! In all seriousness, I hope you have great time, but two days isn't anywhere near long enough. My wife and I's first cruise was a four day trip and it seemed about the time you were really starting to get into the trip, it was over. Since then, we've decided that seven days is just about right for our tastes. Otherwise, have a great trip and enjoy!

Cons........DON'T DO IT! In all seriousness, I hope you have great time, but two days isn't anywhere near long enough. My wife and I's first cruise was a four day trip and it seemed about the time you were really starting to get into the trip, it was over. Since then, we've decided that seven days is just about right for our tastes. Otherwise, have a great trip and enjoy!

I agree, I'd skip it until I could do a longer cruise.

Please provide pros and cons of taking a short weekend getaway. No plans to get off the ship in Nassau.

Pro = You own a pickup truck and someone wants to move furniture that day, "Sorry, I'm on a cruise"

I'd have to live extremely close to the port. I'd also want to have a swimsuit on with a cover-up for boarding to take advantage of the ship as soon as I boarded, so packing EXTREMELY light would be a must. If those two were possible, it would be two days having a great time, meals ready when I'm ready to eat and sunshine. It would SUCK it it rained those two days.

I agree, I'd skip it until I could do a longer cruise.

I think you have to not think you are going on a cruise...more like visiting a ship than a cruise...the Allure is certainly worthy of a visit.

I'd have to live extremely close to the port. I'd also want to have a swimsuit on with a cover-up for boarding to take advantage of the ship as soon as I boarded, so packing EXTREMELY light would be a must. If those two were possible, it would be two days having a great time, meals ready when I'm ready to eat and sunshine. It would SUCK it it rained those two days.

I agree with everything except the rain. There is so much to do on Allure that rain wouldn't really be that much of an issue.

OP...you have many cruises under your belt and you live in Florida. So if you are close to the port, then there aren't as many cons IMO. You have a clue and should be able to figure out how to make the most of such getaway. A first time cruiser needs more time to get into the swing of things.

Thanks everyone. In addition to this potential cruise I also have Adventure booked for December 2015.

Please provide pros and cons of taking a short weekend getaway. No plans to get off the ship in Nassau.

We have taken short cruises because we can.....only a short drive to Miami port and if that is what will fit into our life schedule for a short get away to enjoy a little vacation....it works for us.

We do enjoy longer cruises of course, but regardless of long or short cruise our plan is to have our pool wear handy to make the most of embarkation day and not worry about getting our vacation started until cabins open and luggage arrives.

Enjoyment of the cruise starts when we get on board regardless of the length of the cruise.

Caution:

There is a huge difference between taking a short cruise or a weekend cruise, vs taking the allure on nov 6th .. ( I am actually considering this cruise, but you need to know what you are getting) Many ships such as the majesty do 3 and 4 night cruises all the time, they have the system down. Thats what they do. With the case of this two day allure sailing, or the HORRIBLE 2 day freedom sailing I took last January, it's more like this....

1. the ship is arriving from europe, boarding will most likely not begin until after 1pm since it's not due to leave until 8pm per the posted schedule

2. Since they will be re-provisioning the ship, be prepared for it to be out of many things and not really ready .. ( thats the whole point of this cruise, getting it ready for the east/west caribbeans)

3. since it does not leave until 8pm, the shops, and casinos will not be open until close to 8:30pm

4. they are scheduled to be in nassau from 8 am to 5pm. so same thing, shops and casino will be closed all day

Originally this was a very very expensive cruise, now they seem to be fire sailing it... The truth is, the allure is an amazing ship... Just take it like the other poster said ( a short get away, NOT a cruise) There will most likely be things not right, things missing... I would not be suprised if they dont do some of the activities they would normally do, (there simply is not time) but if you live close, and wanted to get a feel for this ship, this sure is a really cheap way to see if the mega ships are for you. I am looking at going just for a 2 day boon doggle for my buddies to do some gambling and drinking......

It's a really good price right now... Just buyer beware.... I dont agree with the "be ocd and plan plan plan" on this cruise, I think you are just going to have to roll with the punches a bit and make the best of it......

I have done some of the 2-nighters because I live in Florida. I found the same issues that TheTruthCanHurt mentioned; late boarding and a crew that is not quite ready and still transitioning from Med to Caribbean. I considered the short cruises to be weekend trips that happened to be on a ship, and really enjoyed them.

It's a really good price right now... Just buyer beware.... I dont agree with the "be ocd and plan plan plan" on this cruise, I think you are just going to have to roll with the punches a bit and make the best of it......

I'm happy to have read your account of how this cruise transitions the ship after crossing the Atlantic and what to expect. It's good information to know.

I'm the one that talked OCD and just to be clear...my OCD was referring to packing and all the planning that goes into being able to take a weekend away...not the actual weekend itself. I think that the more prepared you are PRIOR to the getaway, the more fun the getaway will be both on the leaving and the returning end of the equation...the faster you can hit "vacation mode" (as much as you can for a short getaway) and the longer you can take to ease back into the idea that you may have to go to work the next day!

We did a one-nighter cruise once - never again. Oh, the price was right and we always look forward to time away together, but this was a nightmare. Embarkation was awful - slow, frustrating, soooo many people - we finally got onboard at around 2 pm, only to pull out at 4. We felt the whole trip was "rushed". We also felt the food was not all that it could be, since it was just a one night cruise. You could tell by the offerings that things were scaled back.

Anyway!....... yeah, we will never take anything less than 7 nights again. For us, it's just not worth the hassle, so to speak. :o

Not my cup of tea....you get basically 1 day....hardly worth the trouble!

We would never consider a 2 night cruise, not worth the hassle of packing a few items, having to leave late afternoon, cruise out one day and back in again.