Please recomend a 5-7 day cruise, that has long destination ports and is inexpensive and good for adults?

Question

with pre-teen kids? We have been on a 5 day cruise to the Bahamas(coco cay & Nassua)and (Keys, Freeport, & Nassua) and a 5 day cruise to Mexico (Keys & Calica) and they were nice but werent in port long. Want to go somewhere other then the above and stay longer in ports. Any recommendation?? Another thing is the leaving port helps if its in Florida.

Answer 1

The length of time you have in a port does vary, but that's the thing is it does and the itineraries change each year.  With a cruise less than 7 days your only option is RCCL or Carnival and I personally would go with RCCL, just recently had to many problems with Carnival is all.

Unfortunately with cruises you are very limited to how long you get on an island.  I would contact a local agency and go in, maybe sit down with an agent and go over a few options and look to see the length of time in each port.  

I myself am not big on cruising only because I don't like to see a place for 5 - 7 hrs only to have to leave.  I much prefer to stay 7 nights on an island.  This is all in personal preference though.  Some people even use a cruise as a sampler to check out a few places and then choose it as a place to go back for a week.

The further out you book with cruises you will get better rates, plus best cabin locations, so keep that in mind.

Answer 2

There's a free Cruise Travel Guide at:

http://www.yourinternettravelguide.com/f...

that has a lot Cruise tips in it so it may help.  It also has some travel links in it to cheap deals sites.

Also, this review site had some good stuff last time I looked at it:

http://cruises.reviewandresourcecenter.c...

Hope it helps

Answer 3

If can I help you , my suggestion could be  Galapagos Island , Ecuador ...http://www.iloveecotourism.com/eng/ecuad...

Answer 4

Pretty much any cruise you take is going to be limited in time at the port. Basically, you dock in the morning and then leave around 5 or 6 in the evening, so it is very limited on time. But for the most part, that is what you are going to find on most lines, and the ones that are better for kids generally don't offer a longer time at the port.

Another option would be to go on a one way cruise. This will either come from or go to the port and then you either fly into or home from that port. It gives you the option of doing an extended stay at that port, giving you more times. But these tend to be longer.

My suggestion would be to go with a cruise ship that is going to offer a lot onboard. If you have alot to do onboard, the limited amount of time doesn't matter quite as much when you are on the ship. Since you have kids, Disney, Royal Caribbean (Freedom of the Seas would be a lot of fun) etc. would be the best. But again, you will still be limited on time in the ports.

If you really want to spend a lot of time at your destination, then you may consider doing an all inclusive stay. A lot of the companies offer options for families and they  are a lot of fun for everyone. It is really similar to cruising, but you are on land the whole time and get to stay in one place. Some place like Atlantis would be another option.

I hope this gives you a few ideas. Good luck with your planning!

Answer 5

One that I would recommend that I went on would be 7-day Western Caribbean out of Miami that goes to Nassau, St. Thomas and St. Maarten/St. Martin.

The possible downside to it for your consideration is that you are at sea a full day between Nassau and St. Thomas and a full two days coming back from St. Maarten. But you are at the ports for all of most of the day (outside of Nassau which is a little early on leaving).

I won't go into details here as it would be easier for you to check it out yourself; Carnival Valor to Eastern Caribbean (be sure to check Eastern as it also goes to Western).

If you would like to consider a cruise other than out of Florida, Norwegian has two cruises that cruise around the Hawaii Islands and you are actually ported at some of the islands overnight for two full days. These are the American flagged cruises. They also have another one that are on island ports all day but go down to Fanning Island which takes a full day down and a full day back which cuts into the 7-days. But when back at the islands, the port stays are full day, early arrivals with departures well into the evening. Just a consideration if you want to consider outside of a Florida port.

Answer 6

The time in the ports are usually about the same ( I know it sucks! ) .The only line I have found that stays in port longer is Costa Cruise Lines. They will stay in the port over night. It is a bit different from traditional lines, but check it out.