Cruise duration for long distance passenger

Hello, so I have been mulling over on going on a cruise maybe in 2019 or 20. My destination ideA was the the Bahamas, but do to the hurricane I decided not to for now. I'm thinking of Alaska, my question to all of you is, I live in New Mexico so I'm going to have to Travel a great distance now matter which port I go to. How many days do you all suggest I go to make it worth all the travel time up, since I notice that most are 3-5 day cruises.

Thanks

Sierra

There aren't any 3 or 5 day cruises in Alaska. Most are 7 day cruises with some 10 day and a small number 14 days routes. The Bahamas can have 3 or 5 day cruises. By the way, the Bahamas appear to have suffered only light damage. And if you are in the planning purposes, I doubt you will be sailing for at least 4 or 5 months, most likely. You can't sail in Alaska until the very end of April.

You could do Hawaii, either as a 7 day Hawaii alone, or 15-16 days out of a West Coast port.

Hello, so I have been mulling over on going on a cruise maybe in 2019 or 20. My destination ideA was the the Bahamas, but do to the hurricane I decided not to for now. I'm thinking of Alaska, my question to all of you is, I live in New Mexico so I'm going to have to Travel a great distance now matter which port I go to. How many days do you all suggest I go to make it worth all the travel time up, since I notice that most are 3-5 day cruises.

Thanks

Sierra

You're asking an unanswerable question. No one can say with any certainty what cruise length will make you personally feel like the travel time was "worth it".

Alaska has 7 day and 14 day cruises. Also cruisetours from 10 to 13 days are available.

From California there are cruises from 3 to 29 days.

Personally, I wouldn't do any cruise shorter than 7 days; we have to fly quite a ways too and it's just not worth all the hassle. In fact, we now prefer at least 14 days.

I would imagine the Bahama ports would be open soon and especially by 2019. They are not my favorite ports, though, unless you have to go for a 3-4 nighter. As far as I know there are no cruises to Alaska shorter than 7 nights.

So far thanks for the input, it's very insightful

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We've been on many cruises and have flown from the east coast (RI) to Seattle and Puerto Rico to board the ship. We usually fly in a day or two prior to sailing. When we did the Alaskan cruise last month, we spent two days in Seattle before our 7-day cruise. We spent one night in Puerto Rico before our 9-day cruise.

Karen

Multiple cruise lines offer Alaska cruises of different lengths. Generally, you can find:

• 7-day "southbound" cruises from Anchorage to Vancouver, BC.
  
• 7-day "northbound" cruises from Vancouver to Anchorage.
  
• 7-day and 14-day roundtrip cruises out of Seattle.
  
• 10-day roundtrip cruises out of San Francisco.
  
• 12-day roundtrip cruises out of Los Angeles.
  
• 14-day roundtrip cruises out of Long Beach. Carnival is sailing their first one out of Long Beach this week, I think.
  

I would not doubt that there were more options.

As others have indicated, many like to add an inland tour to the "northbound" and "southbound itineraries.

One of your considerations is going to be air fares. My experience is that roundtrip air fares are less expensive than two one-way tickets.

If you could sit down with an experienced travel agent to discuss your preferences and your budget, I think that would help you out a lot.

Regardless of which cruise you might try, I am confident that you will enjoy it very much.

Hello, so I have been mulling over on going on a cruise maybe in 2019 or 20. My destination ideA was the the Bahamas, but do to the hurricane I decided not to for now. I'm thinking of Alaska, my question to all of you is, I live in New Mexico so I'm going to have to Travel a great distance now matter which port I go to. How many days do you all suggest I go to make it worth all the travel time up, since I notice that most are 3-5 day cruises.

Thanks

Sierra

Sierra - Welcome to CruiseCritic.

It takes only about 5 or 6 hours to get to either of your departure port options compared to about 2 or 3 hours to get to your closest possible cruise port in southern CA. The extra 3 hours should not be a significant factor if you are truly interested in cruising. Take the longest cruise you can afford with regard to both available time and available money :)

The Bahamas are not in the Caribbean. The actual Caribbean islands offer MUCH more than the Bahamas. Go to the S. Caribbean....it's gorgeous! So is the Eastern, which may have a stop in the Bahamas on the itinerary. Flying from NM, I wouldn't do less than a 7 nighter...which means you'll need to plan for 8 nights. You will want to arrive in your port city a day prior!

Hello, so I have been mulling over on going on a cruise maybe in 2019 or 20. My destination ideA was the the Bahamas, but do to the hurricane I decided not to for now. I'm thinking of Alaska, my question to all of you is, I live in New Mexico so I'm going to have to Travel a great distance now matter which port I go to. How many days do you all suggest I go to make it worth all the travel time up, since I notice that most are 3-5 day cruises.

Thanks

Sierra

As stated, none of the Alaska cruises are 3-5 days. All are 7 or more days.

We also live in NM, the southern part so our nearest airport is El Paso TX, 88 miles away. We did an AK cruise. It was awesome. We chose Holland America's 14 day itinerary because it visited ports such as Homer not visited by other cruise lines. It was Roundtrip Seattle.

HAL does not always do that cruise but I would strongly recommend it for being able to see the most of AK.

Since travel distance is a concern, you may want to consider cruises leaving out of southern CA - Mexican Riviera or Hawaii are the shorter cruises (7 day) that I am aware of. I don't know what your flight time is to Seattle or Vancouver for the Alaska cruises but as other have said, 7 days is the minimum.

You should check one of the cruise websites that covers various cruise lines but allows you to pick departure point on a search.

Personally, I prefer longer cruises and have never been on one less than 7 days and would recommend a 7 day cruise. Not everyone feels that way though. You have to do what is right for you.

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Thank you everyone, and I feel very welcomed here, I for sure will put everyone's consideration in, when planning my cruise.

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Multiple cruise lines offer Alaska cruises of different lengths. Generally, you can find:

 

• 7-day "southbound" cruises from Anchorage to Vancouver, BC.
  
• 7-day "northbound" cruises from Vancouver to Anchorage.
  
• 7-day and 14-day roundtrip cruises out of Seattle.
  
• 10-day roundtrip cruises out of San Francisco.
  
• 12-day roundtrip cruises out of Los Angeles.
  
• 14-day roundtrip cruises out of Long Beach. Carnival is sailing their first one out of Long Beach this week, I think.
  

I would not doubt that there were more options.

There are cruises out of Los Angeles, Galveston, and New Orleans.

I personally prefer voyages over 7 days.

As others have mentioned for Alaska cruises are 7 days or more.

I would see if you can get a travel agent who specializes in cruises to help you with all of this.

Keith

We took 6 members of my family on the Holland America 7-day Inside Passage (round trip out of Vancouve) last year - first cruise for four of them coming from Southern Utah, and my aunt flew from upstate New York. I helped set up some of the flights and was surprised that the old rule of round-trip being significantly less than two one ways seems to have disappeared.

We've invited them all plus two more upstate NYers for the 14-day Great Alaskan Explorer round trip out of Seattle, for August 2018. All are excited and none seem nervous about the length of the trip - though it is the first cruise for the two newbies. Maybe they figure that coming so far they might as well get the most bang for the travel time.

Either Vancouver or Seattle has plenty to occupy you before or after the cruise. As others have mentioned, plan to arrive at departure city at least the day before. (My aunt wound up arriving at the hotel at 11 pm the night before embarcation--thankfully not the night after!)

If you are avoiding the Caribbean/Bahamas because you want to avoid a hurricane yourself, that is solved by not sailing during hurricane season. (June-November)

If you comment is due to devastation from Irma and Harvey, It will take quite awhile for many damaged ports to recover. However, only a portion of the islands were affected. You could choose a cruise that does not visit those locations, (many itineraries will be

changing to drop those ports anyway)

If you elect to do the Bahamas/Caribbean, then remember you could always do a back-to-back cruise (two consecutive cruises on the same ship), if the shorter itineraries go where you want to be.

Hello, so I have been mulling over on going on a cruise maybe in 2019 or 20. My destination ideA was the the Bahamas, but do to the hurricane I decided not to for now. I'm thinking of Alaska, my question to all of you is, I live in New Mexico so I'm going to have to Travel a great distance now matter which port I go to. How many days do you all suggest I go to make it worth all the travel time up, since I notice that most are 3-5 day cruises.

Thanks

Sierra

What is your definition of Long Distance? If your in New Mexico (?) distances to cruise ports aren't very far .

What is your definition of Long Distance? If your in New Mexico (?) distances to cruise ports aren't very far .

Agree. Don't look at a map, look at the flight time.

Flying from New Mexico (Albuquerque) to Seattle is only a three hour, 10 minute flight. It's over before you know it.

From New Mexico to Houston is two hours, five minutes.

From New Mexico to Ft.Lauderdale is five hours because you'll have to make a connection.

None of these are long flights.

Hello, so I have been mulling over on going on a cruise maybe in 2019 or 20. My destination ideA was the the Bahamas, but do to the hurricane I decided not to for now. I'm thinking of Alaska, my question to all of you is, I live in New Mexico so I'm going to have to Travel a great distance now matter which port I go to. How many days do you all suggest I go to make it worth all the travel time up, since I notice that most are 3-5 day cruises.

Thanks

Sierra

If your original idea, when you first chose the Bahamas, was a warm place, you might have a look at the Mexican Riviera itineraries from Carnival and Princess that sail out of San Diego and LA. You could still get the warm weather, and they have the added benefit of being pretty reasonable. With pretty short flights.

You'll find both Princess and Carnival have short warm cruises from Long Beach or San Pedro. Both are accessible from LAX and Long Beach International.

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We live in Atlanta. The longest flight we've taken for a 7 night cruise was 5 hours to Seattle and it was well worth it. We are planning a 7 night Mediterranean cruise next year and for that one, we will take a 9 hour flight to Rome which I still consider worth our while. The longest flight we've taken for a 4 night cruise was to Los Angeles (a little over 4 hours) and it was well worth it as well. I guess it all boils down to personal choice and tolerance levels. Those who travel frequently may not bat an eye at long travel times, even for a short cruise, while others may never consider such a thing.

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We live in Atlanta. The longest flight we've taken for a 7 night cruise was 5 hours to Seattle and it was well worth it. We are planning a 7 night Mediterranean cruise next year and for that one, we will take a 9 hour flight to Rome which I still consider worth our while. The longest flight we've taken for a 4 night cruise was to Los Angeles (a little over 4 hours) and it was well worth it as well. I guess it all boils down to personal choice and tolerance levels. Those who travel frequently may not bat an eye at long travel times, even for a short cruise, while others may never consider such a thing.

Exactly true. It's completely personal. After a 40-year corporate career where traveling was part of the job, I do not look forward to airports or airlines at all. We have a one-hour flight, tomorrow, and I am now wondering, "Why did I ever think this was a good idea?"

First world problems.

;p