Longer cruises -- advantages & disadvanatges, the good and bad by Naomi Stone

For most people, in the United States at least, a week-long cruise, or even a shorter three- to five-night cruise is what is considered the ideal getaway. Longer cruises (two weeks or longer) are considered either an extreme luxury or just something for retired people. What’s often missed is the destinations of these cruises, which is the key to the viability of such a cruise.

Longer cruises can be good or bad depending on the cruiser and the desires of the cruisers. Destinations can also benefit from longer cruise lengths to allow the destinations to be visited more in depth than if the cruise were shorter. Travel time to the destination to embark on the cruise also can make such longer cruises more ideal than not.

Longer cruises tend to visit destinations not frequently visited by ships on shorter cruises. Although according to the travel insurance data gathered by AardvarkCompare, many ports are only visited by those ships on one-way trips or extra-long sailings where they can get to these what some may call out of the way ports. One example is Kodiak, Alaska, where the ships stopping are typically on two week or longer cruises either round trip from the Pacific Northwest or on one way sailings to and from Asia. Kodiak is a great port, but too far for a week-long sailing more common in Alaska.

Asia, Northern, Western, and Southern Australia, Africa, and around Cape Horn are all areas typically visited only on longer cruises. There are some exceptions, as more ships begin sailing these rapidly popular destinations. Asia in particular, especially China, is a rapidly growing market for cruises. Most of those cruises are less than a week in length, consistent with the travel needs of the Asians who book most of the cabins. Sometimes it’s possible as an American to book some back-to-back cruises and see more ports on a longer cruise in Asia, but not always. More often to see more of Asia one needs to take a longer cruise that transits North to South or across the Pacific Ocean between North America and Asia.

For those with four to six weeks of paid vacation each year, a longer cruise is a good option as they can get away on a single trip and enjoy the benefits of cruising. What that means is they can see a larger portion of the world, out of the way ports and relax more while doing it all on one cruise without having to deal with back-to-back cruise turnover days and other similar issues. The longer cruises are also nice for getting to know fellow cruisers where some come away with lifelong friends.

Longer cruises often provide more time to relax because ultimately as an entire cruise they typically are not quite as port intensive. A Panama Canal transit from Florida to California, for example, typically has several sea days on each end of the canal with some long port days mixed in. Of course, on that itinerary, there is a long day crossing the continental divide via the canal that is nearly the same as a port day. It makes having a balcony pretty nice.

On the flip side longer cruises can be more expensive and have other aspects which make them more difficult to take or less attractive. On average, the longer cruises have an older average age. When I sailed the Panama Canal I think I was among 50 or fewer passengers under the age of 50. I believe the average age was in the mid to upper 60s that cruise. It’s not a bad thing that the average age is typically that of retirees, it’s just a function of who can take that much time to vacation.

Cruises typically get more expensive as the number of nights on the cruise expands to longer days. However, often the per-night cost of the cruise goes down on longer cruises than it is on shorter cruises. Re-positioning cruises often are well priced because of the lack of ports and unique nature of the cruises.

Because these cruises often depart from and arrive at different ports, airfare to these cruises can be more costly. Depending where folks must fly it can add up well above the price of departing from a U.S. home port on a roundtrip ticket. Also, on one-way cruises, driving to and from embark and debark ports often isn’t possible. (Panama Canal transits starting and ending in the U.S. may be possible if using rental cars.)

Time away from work is a problem for many who have jobs and can’t be away for but a limited number of days at a time. This may be overcome through use of technology to stay connected via email and phone while on the ship. It may not be the least expensive way to keep in the loop, but it does offer an option to get away and still keep up with work.

Ultimately for many, longer cruises are not possible for many logistical reasons; for others it represents a great bargain. The longer cruise can be a really relaxing opportunity to see many new places around the world and for some sail completely around the world.