3 night, Fall cruise-Just a "booze cruise"?

[CruizCuz]

For the past several years, I have predominately sailed on cruises that were 3-4 days in length.  This is due to not being able to be away for anything longer because of family health issues.  That said, I have sailed on the Liberty, as well as the Elation on both 3 and 4 day cruises.  I have a 4 day Liberty cruise and a 3 day Liberty cruise already booked for this year.  I have actually found the reverse to be true.  I found the partying to be to a minimum and the passengers extremely friendly.  On my last 3 day cruise, it seemed that EVERYONE had CHEERS.  Maybe it was because of the cruise only being 3 days, I don't know.  However, there was no excessive partying or drunken people.  I guess according to some posters, I have been lucky.  But to have booked over 6 cruises in shorter length in the past few years, I feel that I am more than lucky.   Now, cruising during Spring Break is a different story.  I have cruised during that time on a 6 day cruise, and there were a LOT of crazy partiers on that ship.  But I have always found that security kept trouble to a minimum and I had a wonderful cruise regardless.  

[cdm289]

I found the 3 and 4 day cruises to be much more "casual" than 7 day sailings.  We fly in from quite the distance and the trip is a bigger deal for us.  Many people on 3 and 4 day sailings come from near the port and it is a fun weekend get-a-way for them.  Does this make for a bad cruise?  Of course not.  I don't party all night so I don't see the booze cruise people.  I am a morning person and so the mornings are quiet and wonderful.  

[LandlockedCruiser01]

22 hours ago, cdm289 said:

I found the 3 and 4 day cruises to be much more "casual" than 7 day sailings.  We fly in from quite the distance and the trip is a bigger deal for us.  Many people on 3 and 4 day sailings come from near the port and it is a fun weekend get-a-way for them.  Does this make for a bad cruise?  Of course not.  I don't party all night so I don't see the booze cruise people.  I am a morning person and so the mornings are quiet and wonderful.  

I found that too.  In fact, I found that the 3- and 4-days were booze cruises, especially those with late port stays.  Dockside tourist bars would get packed with drunk people in balloon hats dancing with each other.  But... the booze cruise crowd stuck to their own kind.  It was nothing like "MTV Spring Break".  They'd find each other early on during the cruise (if they didn't come as a big group to begin with), bond quickly, and party together until the last night.  For the most part, they played nice in public areas and not cause wild scenes, letting the mellower crowd enjoy the cruise too.  Unless, of course, it was a party venue, like the nightclub or the deck party; that's where they were somewhat the center of attention.  Sometimes, the mellow crowd would even briefly adopt the party persona and get in on the action.

[Lee Cruiser]

We did a 4 day out of New Orleans last November and will never make that mistake again!  For many it was one big party.  Every night we were awakened in the early morning hours (1-3 am) with people shouting down the halls and then carrying on the party out on their balconies.

[Cyn874]

I've become very enamored with the idea of trying a solo cruise, and plan on using one of these 3 or 4 day cruises to test it out. Since I just want to see what it's like to travel solo and roam the ship for a few days, without the itinerary being of any importance, I'll be sailing out of Long Beach (I'm in Las Vegas) and probably taking Inspiration or Imagination to Ensenada and back. I'm an early to bed/early to rise type of person so I'll probably miss most of the drunken parties, as long as they stay down in the club/bars/pool deck. And any drunken parties during the day will just be part of my people watching entertainment. Especially if security does have to get involved. 😉

[LandlockedCruiser01]

On 8/17/2019 at 12:09 AM, Cyn874 said:

I've become very enamored with the idea of trying a solo cruise, and plan on using one of these 3 or 4 day cruises to test it out. Since I just want to see what it's like to travel solo and roam the ship for a few days, without the itinerary being of any importance, I'll be sailing out of Long Beach (I'm in Las Vegas) and probably taking Inspiration or Imagination to Ensenada and back. I'm an early to bed/early to rise type of person so I'll probably miss most of the drunken parties, as long as they stay down in the club/bars/pool deck. And any drunken parties during the day will just be part of my people watching entertainment. Especially if security does have to get involved. 😉

I just sailed on the Inspiration out of Long Beach, 4 days, and solo to boot.  I had so much fun on the cruise, although I was one of the boozing party people.  I met them the second night, got "adopted" by the ringleaders of the newly formed group, and we all hung out for much of the rest of the cruise.  We didn't cause mayhem all over.  We limited it to just two places: one side of the Lido deck pool during the sea day, and the piano bar at night every night.  Other times in other venues, we behaved ourselves.  I also did my own things, like the tea time, the Hasbro show, and the morning trivia.

 

I'm actually working on a cruise review.  The link is available in my signature.  Perhaps you'll find it useful once it's all done.  (For now, only the pre-cruise day is completed.)

Edited September 12, 2019 by LandlockedCruiser01

[OnePsychLynne]

On 8/12/2019 at 7:55 AM, Nic6318 said:

good thing is that you don't need to be part of the party any more than you want to.

 

Omg THIS 1,000,000% 

[Drose716]

I went on several 3-5 day cruises in my early 20s. They were party cruises for sure. But that's because I was like 23 & seeking out the party. During the day they felt like the 8 day cruises in my 30s are. I doubt the passengers not seeking out a party really noticed much different at night.

 

I've been on cruises from 3 days up to 8. The only time I ever noticed a party vibe that disrupted other passengers was a 6 day with a large travel group on board that imbibed way to much & got physical too often. The brig was full. Such behavior was never seen on my shorter cruises.

 

I think you'll be fine! The "party" vibe is rarely, if ever, in my experience, enough to impact those not looking for the party.

Edited September 13, 2019 by Drose716

[Baxter1234]

While we haven’t done one on Carnival we have done a 3 night cruise on another line.  Won’t do that again.  It definitely did have the booze cruise feel..and it was everywhere.  Once and done...it wasn’t for us so we stick to 7 day or longer.

[ray98]

We have cruised on 3, 4, 5, and 7 night cruises spread over all 4 seasons.  Each cruise has its own identity.  You will find cruises around college spring break will be a little more lively than the same cruise in November, no matter the length.  On that same note you will find summer cruises have more kids and teens than one in the middle of January.

 

It is what it is.....there is enough space on a cruise ship where everyone can do their own thing.

[BeachDiva101]

Being from CA I always think the better cruises leave from FL.  My first cruise was a 3 day to Ensenada.  Definitely a booze cruise because a lot of people don’t bother getting off the ship because Ensenada is kinda a crappy port.  So people just party for 3 days straight on the ship. That was our experience.  My least favorite cruise I’ve taken. 

[LandlockedCruiser01]

8 hours ago, BeachDiva101 said:

Being from CA I always think the better cruises leave from FL.  My first cruise was a 3 day to Ensenada.  Definitely a booze cruise because a lot of people don’t bother getting off the ship because Ensenada is kinda a crappy port.  So people just party for 3 days straight on the ship. That was our experience.  My least favorite cruise I’ve taken. 

I've done both CA and FL cruises, with my latest one being a 4-day to Catalina and Ensenada.  I'd say people partied harder on the CA cruise.  The FL cruises stopped in ports like Cozumel and Nassau, that have touristy bars right by the dock (*cough* Señor Frog's *cough*), and it stayed late, so people did a lot of the partying onshore.  The CA cruise port stops were daytime only, leaving people with enough energy to party on the ship every night on and on the sea day.  I was one of the partiers, so I know.