What was I Thinking? 49 Days

[dvcmember]

After Having my 2021 32-Day Tahiti, Hawaii, & Marquesas voyage changed 3 times to a 35-Day Voyage in 2022, I now have done something crazier.  Rather than fly from South Florida to San Diego, I thought, why not cruise to San Diego?  The voyage before is a 14-Day Panama Canal Transit leaving Ft. Lauderdale ending in San Diego then goes right into the 35-Day cruise.  

 

I have very little confidence that my April Caribbean sailing will happen.  That means I will have even more FCC's coming my way.  I was able to take advantage of the View & Verandah and all the perks associated with for an inside cabin (drinks, dinner, gratuities) for the 14-day portion.  

 

Now we will will only need a 1-way ticket home from San Diego.  I did a Partial-Transit in 2019 and enjoyed it very much.  I have a feeling we will like this voyage even more.  49 days is a lot, I guess I better bring expandable pants - LOL

 

Let me know if you have cruised for this amount of time. I am interested to hear your comments.  

[RuthC]

My 'personal best' was 39 consecutive days on the same ship. I envy you 49 days. 
I got used to the rhythm of a long cruise years ago, so going off for over a month wasn't difficult at all. 
You may be pleasantly surprised! 
Oh, and you won't be as likely to overeat as much on a longer cruise as you would on a shorter one. So, don't worry too much about the weight gain. There is likely to be some, but not as much as you fear. 

[Cruising-along]

I agree with Ruth, I think you'll be pleasantly surprised also.  

The longest I've spent on one ship was 39 days on the Nieuw Statendam, then the next day boarded the Koningsdam for another 26 days.  I could have stayed longer, and it really didn't seem that long.

[Sir PMP]

You will be more relaxed and live longer..

[canadianbear]

Well, we have booked our longest cruise of 35 days for February 2022 as well...San Diego to Tahiti return!    I’m worried hubby will find it too long but I sure hope not.  South Pacific has been on my bucket list and flying to San Diego is easy for us.  Can hardly wait.  I think you are making a great decision to cruise to your cruise, lol!! 

[shadesofblonde]

Nope.... not too long!

 

The first day on-board our 42 day Brisbane to San Francisco cruise I had that same “OMG what was I thinking?!?” feeling... which soon dissipated. You find your groove, and form some wonderful lasting friendships on the way... 

 

I have learned since that anything less than 3 weeks is not long enough!

 

[KirkNC]

We have done several cruises of over 100 days so to us 42 days is just warming up 😎.

[rafinmd]

Think of 49 days as a marathon while a regular cruise is more of a sprint.  My longest ever on a single ship is 80 days on the Prinsendam, but I've done several strings longer than that jumping from one ship to another with just a day or 2 in hotels in between and every time I've nearly needed to be dragged off the ship at the end of the last cruise.  You can pace yourself a bit; that special desert will be back again later in the cruise and you can afford to take a little break.  One warning, long cruises are addictive.

 

Roy

[kazu]

What were you thinking?  You were thinking smart!

 

I remember the first time I went to a 20 day cruise and the worry went through my head - what will we do?  Will we be bored?  Etc.

 

The time flew by and I realized as cruises get longer you get into cruise mode.  You don’t have to eat everything or do everything today as you will have an opportunity later 😉 

 

Now, my preferred length is 30+ days when I can find an itinerary that appeals.  Absolutely love longer cruises and I think (and hope) that you will too 🙂 

[dvcmember]

Ultimately, I wanted to be completely relaxed for the South Pacific portion of the cruise.   This itinerary was a bucket list cruise and I am so glad that I was able do it.  In fact, I had booked that cruise in March 2019 for 2021, which has turned into 2022.  

 

Just thinking about the itinerary gives me goose bumps.  I wonder if the 35-Day voyage is sill considered a Legendary voyage?  I know there are some Grand Voyages that are shorter than 35 days.  Anyone think HAL will turn it into a Grand Voyage?

[kazu]

10 minutes ago, dvcmember said:

Ultimately, I wanted to be completely relaxed for the South Pacific portion of the cruise.   This itinerary was a bucket list cruise and I am so glad that I was able do it.  In fact, I had booked that cruise in March 2019 for 2021, which has turned into 2022.  

 

Just thinking about the itinerary gives me goose bumps.  I wonder if the 35-Day voyage is sill considered a Legendary voyage?  I know there are some Grand Voyages that are shorter than 35 days.  Anyone think HAL will turn it into a Grand Voyage?

 

I’ve done that cruise and it is considered a bucket list cruise by many.

 

It has never been a Grand Voyage and I doubt it ever will be.

 

That being said, there are a lot of activities and things done on that cruise that are often not seen on others.  Hawaiian people are brought on board to lecture (very good if you have the same one we did), teach hula and do hula dances, ukulele, drums, etc.  There were also more pool party type things, etc.

The ship did a good job entertainment / entertaining wise.

[bouhunter]

Our longest was 21 nights last winter.  We could have stayed on the ship another week. 🙂  I think at some point we'd get tired of the food.

 

[KirkNC]

Don’t think it will become a grand voyage, those were going down in number before the pandemic.

[StLouisCruisers]

We have done the 35 day South Pacific cruise and it was great, even though I prefer cool weather cruises.  I remember one interesting happening on that cruise.  One of the Hawaiian dance team fell on the stairs during the cruise and broke her ankle.  From then on she would sit in a chair next to the dance floor and demonstrate the hand gestures while the rest of the team stood and taught the entire dance movements to the class.  Such a pity she injured herself.

 

We have also done a 49 day South America cruise from Ft. Lauderdale to San Francisco on Ruby Princess, a 54 day Grand Africa and Mediterranean on the Prinsendam, and 62 days in Australia, New Zealand and Papua New Guinea on Sun Princess.  Never do we feel like we want to leave the ship.  We enjoy the time spent relaxing and not racing to get off the ship in port.  You meet many new friends, and if you enjoy a hobby like knitting or other needlework you join others like you every sea day for chats while you all work on your projects.  Others like bridge or mah jong, trivia, dancing or music events, lectures by the wonderful lecturers on board.  It's a lot of fun!

 

So don't worry - be happy!  😉😎

[jimdee3636]

One more good thing: a full transit of the Panama Canal is a wonderful experience. And I don't know your itinerary, but many of the usual ports between the Canal and San Diego are well worth seeing (although I can do without Cabo).

[xjust4fun]

18 hours ago, dvcmember said:

After Having my 2021 32-Day Tahiti, Hawaii, & Marquesas voyage changed 3 times to a 35-Day Voyage in 2022, I now have done something crazier.  Rather than fly from South Florida to San Diego, I thought, why not cruise to San Diego?  The voyage before is a 14-Day Panama Canal Transit leaving Ft. Lauderdale ending in San Diego then goes right into the 35-Day cruise.  

 

I have very little confidence that my April Caribbean sailing will happen.  That means I will have even more FCC's coming my way.  I was able to take advantage of the View & Verandah and all the perks associated with for an inside cabin (drinks, dinner, gratuities) for the 14-day portion.  

 

Now we will will only need a 1-way ticket home from San Diego.  I did a Partial-Transit in 2019 and enjoyed it very much.  I have a feeling we will like this voyage even more.  49 days is a lot, I guess I better bring expandable pants - LOL

 

Let me know if you have cruised for this amount of time. I am interested to hear your comments.  

Hi We did the South Pacific twice, the first time was 34 days, last year we did the 51 Days South Pacific SD/SD and stayed on the ship for another 17 days to do the Panama Canal during the Xmas holiday  which finished in Fort Lauderdale so it turned out that this voyage was for 68 days, it was an incredible trip.  We didn’t find it too long, we actually enjoyed it.  We had some friends that came with us and it was their first ever cruise, they did the 51 days and they were not bored at all.  You will get in your own rhythm..  We are happy we did our cruise then cause 2 months after is when the Pandemic was out of control.

[pattycakes4810]

You have inspired us!  We are also booked on the 35 day Hawaii and  South Pacific cruise.  When I read your post about booking the previous 14 day cruise aboard the Zuiderdam, my husband and I thought that was a terrific idea.  So we called our TA, and viola, we are now booked also. We prefer long cruises, our longest being a 56 day Med Grand Voyage, and we have also been on 42 day and 37 day cruises. 

[rkacruiser]

My longest cruise was 113 days.  I was not ready to disembark when we reached Port Everglades.  As far as being aboard the ship and experiencing the cruise experience.  To say "have a nice trip home'' to a very few of my fellow cruise guests, was, in my opinion, a "cynical farewell and may we never cruise together again."  

 

I love longer cruises than 3-4-5-7-etc, days.

[dvcmember]

3 hours ago, rkacruiser said:

My longest cruise was 113 days.  I was not ready to disembark when we reached Port Everglades.  As far as being aboard the ship and experiencing the cruise experience.  To say "have a nice trip home'' to a very few of my fellow cruise guests, was, in my opinion, a "cynical farewell and may we never cruise together again."  

 

I love longer cruises than 3-4-5-7-etc, days.

That is terrific.  It will make it so much easier for us not flying.  We do not have to stick to the quart size liquid requirements.  I’m sure we will meet up on the cruise.  

[cunnorl]

    We are doing the same thing. Since we live in Florida and  can easily drive to Ft Lauderdale. 

We did the 28 day South Pacific cruise on the Eurodam in 2019. Terrific trip and we were not ready to leave.  So looking forward  to this 49 day trip with a great deal of pleasure and optimism!

[Aquahound]

On 12/17/2020 at 5:39 PM, dvcmember said:

 

Let me know if you have cruised for this amount of time. I am interested to hear your comments.  

 

Looking at your signature, you've got quite a few days on cruise ships, so you probably know what you're in for.  That said, I'll be the oddball here.  While I love cruising, 14 days is my max before I'm itching to get off the ship.  I'm mid 40s though.  I'm sure that time will extend in my later years.  🙂

[rkacruiser]

4 hours ago, Aquahound said:

14 days is my max before I'm itching to get off the ship.  I'm mid 40s though.  I'm sure that time will extend in my later years.  🙂

 

I'll predict that will happen.  I celebrated my retirement by experiencing a longer cruise than "usual" in a time period that was not "usual" (because of work requirements).  That one led to another, and another....

 

You have much for which to look forward.  The cruising experience, requirements, etc. may change by the time you are ready to try such a "lengthy" cruise, but the basics:  the experience of being at sea, the motion of the ocean, the sounds of the ship sailing through the water,  the night time sky on a clear night while at sea, the opportunity of visiting countries that once seemed impossible to do:  these will not change.  

[USN59-79]

We have done and enjoyed a few longer cruises; 71 days, 70 days, and 69 days were the longest with a couple of half world cruises also.  A couple of tips:  The form for having the post office hold your mail says "maximum 30 days".  I have found that if I talk to my local post office person they will hold it for as long as you need.  Also, since we usually have to fly to embark, I go the the airport the day before and bring home a rental car to take us and our luggage there.  Thus no need to use long term airport parking.  I ask my neighbor to pick up any advertising newspapers that are left on our driveway so it is not obvious to those who drive by that we have been gone for awhile.  Hope this helps.

[seaoma]

8 hours ago, USN59-79 said:

We have done and enjoyed a few longer cruises; 71 days, 70 days, and 69 days were the longest with a couple of half world cruises also.  A couple of tips:  The form for having the post office hold your mail says "maximum 30 days".  I have found that if I talk to my local post office person they will hold it for as long as you need.  Also, since we usually have to fly to embark, I go the the airport the day before and bring home a rental car to take us and our luggage there.  Thus no need to use long term airport parking.  I ask my neighbor to pick up any advertising newspapers that are left on our driveway so it is not obvious to those who drive by that we have been gone for awhile.  Hope this helps.

 

This is a brilliant suggestion! Thanks. I'm just mad at myself that I didn't think of this.

[mrmoviezombie]

Been kicking myself since ever since we found out about the rental car trick on CC a few years ago. Same thing, so wish I had thought of it long ago. So much time and money wasted researching the best pricing on shuttles or long term parking.

 

It is so much better that we used it for just about all our (pre 2020 of course) trips. For us there is a closer Avis rental place that doesn't charge an extra one-way fee to the airport.