OnTheJourney

Even if you do, and would get a bit tired of repeat entrees or shows, I assume the whole point of the trip is to visit the four main destinations you mentioned. Are there going to be repeat port stops? If not, I'd say the varied travel experiences alone will override whatever else might take place on the ship that could engender a modicum of boredom -which might not even be the case anyway. Sort of all comes back, as I've mentioned before, of primarily traveling for the itinerary or for what the ship offers. If occasionally eating meals ashore, that would help to compensate for repeat offerings of the ship restaurants. I'd say you're good to go. If I'd have whatever it takes to enjoy traveling for extended periods of time, I suspect the last thing I'd be concerned with is what the shows and menus are. But, some folks are all about that sort of thing and want to know even before the cruise what shows or entertainment are going to be onboard. I really could not care less and will check out whatever it is once I'm on the ship. Can always get up and leave. We do often look at menus online before boarding, thanks to the wonders of apps, but I'd be just as happy finding out once on the ship. Go and enjoy.

Surely the best way. I have neither a landscaper or a house sitter, but would likely consider it were we to plan any extensive time away. Luckily for me, I have no interest in anything longer than a 3-week trip so it all works out. Auto bill pay is great regardless of traveling or not. Often happens that I'd have to quick make a payment for a credit card that comes due on the 15th of the month, let alone forget a payment right before a trip and then wind up paying charges. For an in-house person to whatever degree the person spends there - either live-in or stop-in - gotta really have someone that you trust. I have a hard time envisioning my cat getting used to a stranger coming in - since she always hides whenever someone visits or stops in even for a few hours! Computer controlling / monitors / cameras, etc. sounds great as well, but I just have no interest in stressing myself out with all that and probably STILL worrying about everything while away. Having been robbed many years ago and then, ever since that event, having put in an alarm system with internal motion sensors, another thing I'd be worried about is whether the person remembered to turn it back on every time they leave. Oh well, sacrificing an extensive level of travel in exchange for peace of mind is, for me, probably a good trade-off. If I do two or three 2-to-3-week-long trips a year, along with maybe some shorter trips sprinkled in there, I'm fine. I've come to realize there are a good many places on the "bucket list" that'll likely remain as such as opposed to actually happening. But, hey, go for it!!

Not being any sort of wine connoisseur, I've been fine with whatever red or white is offered. Not fussy. One time we had complimentary silver spirits package but I didn't even think to choose from it. Most of the wines are really too dry for me anyway, but I've gotten used to drinking dry or semi-dry wine on cruises so it's all good. Otherwise I never buy anything but sweeter wine at home. On our recent Mississippi cruise, one of the presentations was by the chef, explaining all about the food prep on board, etc. but it also included numbers on how much or how many of certain items were consumed. His one comment was, "you guys drink aLOT of wine.." 😁 Happy Thanksgiving everyone. Don't drink and drive.

Yeah I can handle that. Our most recent trip was 3 weeks. Don't think I'd like to go much longer.

I'll throw in a recommendation for Summit. Depends partly on what size ships you like from previous sailings. Summit was recently "revolutionized" not too many years ago, so is in great shape. Good food and service also. We enjoy cruising on her for Canada / NE trips out of Bayonne. If you're looking for what the larger ships typically offer - lots of restaurant choices, etc. - then you'd probably like one of the newer, larger ships. A friend of mine who cruises frequently with X loves the Beyond and the Edge.

Nope....sounds fantastic, but....couldn't do a trip anywhere near that long. But then, being from the UK, am I correct that it's not unusual to go on quite extended "Holiday" travel?

All I can say is, some of you folks that are doing these extended trips must either not have a significant property to manage, and also very possibly no pets or houseplants. I'd feel so bad putting my pet in a kennel for weeks on end. It even bothered me for our most recent 3-week trip. For the plants, thus far I've been able to get my niece or nephew to come over and water every 8-9 days, but I pay either of them quite well also. Then, there's the flowerbeds, pool maintenance (if traveling during the summer), and lawn mowing to attend to. If a winter trip, gotta have someone ready to plow snow. Till I'd take care of all those various needs, it's just so much easier and far less worry to simply plan 2+ weeks and then back home! If no plants, pets, yard and property to take of, smaller house or townhouse (basically close the door and go), etc., that's a different level of responsibility and less stress wondering what's happening back home while away. Often wonder, relative to all this, how people manage their affairs that go on world tours for 4-5 months.

We've only done it twice - on RCL - and really enjoyed it. As you say, sort of fun watching the sober faces of some of those leaving after the 1st week! Ours were only 1 week cruises, so have never done B2B2B, etc. As I've mentioned in a previous post, 2 weeks on any ship is plenty long enough for me.

Huh...sorry to hear this.

I'd say basically we do also. Although as we get older, convenience of where the cruise starts is an increasingly big factor. We're fortunate to have two ports that are within driving distance so a good part of our cruising has been out of those - RCL and X. I'll go along with that also. Something about it. Perhaps an innate fascination with water since we not only grew in amniotic fluid, but the body is also about 60% water. More specific to cruising, looking at the ocean activates opiate receptors in the brain, releasing dopamine. Probably why so many devices that use sound to help people sleep incorporate the sound of ocean waves or similar. Also good for masking tinnitus if the sound sweeps across a fairly full audio spectrum. All that said, there are obviously people who don't like being around (let alone on) the water at all. Interesting. We've only ever done one cruise with HAL - Alaska back in '06. I'd like to do their 2-week roundtrip Vancouver cruise sometime.

This whole tier system / gaining points towards the next level or increased benefits and so forth is another motivation that I guess I'd say falls under what I referred to as 'cruising moreso for the ship than the itinerary'. It is cruise line marketing mentality at its finest and most alluring. "Only 3 more 9-day cruises and I'm at the next level !!! Yippee!!!" So another interesting study is - how many cruises lines engage in this sort of thing? Viking, for one, doesn't. You don't attain any increased status regardless of how many or few cruises you do. There is no point system. No lapel pins handed out. That said, surely repeat cruisers are likely offered special deals or perks in one form or another. But there's no tier system like with RCL or X. Surely something to be said for attaining Pinnacle status on RCL I suppose, but the sheer number of cruises required to do it (especially if not booking suites) likely exceeds my tolerance levels. Big jump from D+ (which we are) up to P. But, if for instance that's one's primary motivation, then I can see where even doing the SAME itineraries over and over again just to attain a certain level would make sense. What we all gravitate to (or not) is surely a fascinating study, appropriate to not only travel but many different walks of life. Music / literature / art preference being not the least of them.

Most interesting. I'd read posts here that refer to people's "sweet spots" relative to how long they prefer their vacations to be. For those traveling here in the US who come from AUS or NZ, it's surely not unusual to spend several weeks traveling. Again, as I alluded to in my other post, distance from home factors in. Somehow can't see going from here in the states down to AUS for much less than 3 weeks. I'd surely not do well on a world cruise. By about a month in, I'd be ready to jump overboard.

Impressive enough for me! Any vacation - cruise or land - that gets close to or beyond 3 weeks is more than enough for me. Ready to go home by then. We just did Viking's Mississippi cruise - 3 weeks in all - and, while we enjoyed it (except for missing 8 out of 11 ports - long story), it started to FEEL long. I can't say that for just about any other trips. Probably due to so many "sea" days on the river without even being able to get off the ship. Each to his/her own! Something like B4B, etc. would be way too much for me. What also enters into it is, does one cruise primarily for the sake of cruising (like basically for whatever the ship offers) or is one more port oriented regardless of ship or line? Surely there are infinite gradations for either preference, but I've spoken to cruisers who definitely seem to orient towards one or the other. We did a Baltic cruise (about 2 weeks) that is about as 'port intensive' as you can get - only one sea day as I recall. The other extreme, comparatively, was the recent MS cruise. The latter surely far more relaxing (almost too much though - never read so much during a cruise. Between 2-3 weeks on any ship would likely be about my limit. As I get older, I'm starting to like shorter trips as well - even a week or less. Another factor is - are we talking closer domestic or international travel? If I'm going over to Europe or farther, I hate to spend the money for less than 2 weeks. For DIY car trips (still my favorite mode of travel), I can get alot closer to being away 3 weeks and it doesn't feel near as long as the equivalent time on the water.

That's most interesting. Given the sheer size of the ship, I can see where that could be the case. We'll have to try it sometime. I've recently heard a good quote..."the journey IS the destination". I sort of like that. Not that I'm opposed to trying different restaurants, but just convenient to eat in the MDR. On Viking, though, the cruise fare includes at least one visit (or more depending on room category) to their two special restaurants on their ocean ships, and we enjoy both of those.

5400 passengers? Can't quite imagine that. I guess we should probably try a big ship at least once, but not sure how much we'd really enjoy it. We don't really get involved in any of the social / game-type activities on cruises other than if there are guest lecturers onboard. Outside of that, theatre / ice shows, and shore excursions, we're content to be on our balcony reading or else walking the promenade deck. Not sure how much we'd take advantage of having lots of different restaurant options either, since we mostly eat in the MDR. Coming from Viking with only 930 passengers, Oasis class would be like culture-shock! Worth a try when one is in either Bayonne or Baltimore. Biggest ship we've ever done is the Adventure.

For sure...good point.

It seems the airlines have started limiting when you can actually enter the lounges. That was our experience with a recent Delta flight for long haul. Makes sense from the standpoint of controlling the number of people in the lounge. I think it had to be only 2 hours before the flight (?) Not sure anymore. Might have been less. Initially it was disappointing since we had hoped to hang out in there as soon as we got through security. Didn't work that way.

That’s most unfortunate, and seems odd given what 1985 said about the cafe being the main eating venue. You’d think that most pax would quickly discover the grill section.

Works for me. Thanks for the info!

At over 106,000 posts I’d say it already is!

I’ve no doubt. Right now I’d say it’s pretty high up on the list. The Pacific Explorer cruise looks nice also. Would give us a chance to meet up with our daughter in LA.

Sounds (and looks) great! Makes the Great Lakes cruise sound like a really nice option for using whatever vouchers or other reimbursement we might be getting from this MS cruise that has sort of derailed in terms of originally planned itinerary. Long story - can find it all on the MS river thread.

I suspect the grill you’re referring to is much like the aft part of the cafe on the MS where they grill several different things every evening. Unfortunately none of what they do is listed on the daily menus so unless walking back to check it out you wouldn’t know. Thanks for the info! Your description though sounds like much more variety and so likely a larger area.

Interesting. How come?

Saguenay is lovely. We wound up there as part of a rescheduled Celebrity cruise itinerary. Had amazing fall colors. During an extensive car trip we did the Pictured Rocks cruise near Munising, MI. Fantastic experience. Stopped at Mackinac and also the Soo locks. We’ve also driven a good part of the Great Lakes Seaway trail. The Antique Boat Museum in Clinton is a must see if you’re in the area along the St Lawrence. Same for Alexandria Bay. Spent several days there in a lovely corner room at a waterfront resort right across from Boldt Castle. We visited the Welland Canal while there, which is part of the Viking itinerary. Since we live so close to Baltimore and Bayonne we’ve done several Canada / New England cruises, which are among our favorite itineraries. We love Quebec also. Celebrity usually does an overnight stop there. So, yeah, Viking’s Great Lakes cruise is surely a good fit for us! Thanks for the encouragement! 🙂 ps. Sorry I see I already posted much of what I just said. Didn’t remember. Memory is crappy unfortunately!