New to cruising

Okay I have never cruised— never thought I would want to. (Motion sickness) But now I’m Thinking it could be a lot of fun to try!

I just started looking into the cruise ships and so I think a 3 night on the Wish would be a fun intro. Then we can tack on a WDW trip to it.

I’ve seen a lot of people say not to do a 3 day— why is that? Just time?

What are your favorite cruise resources? I’ve been watching a lot of vlogs. I wanted to find a plan of what 3 days could look like with activities. Does that exist?

Thanks for the help!

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I was hesitant to cruise too and finally did last summer and loved it!! I brought ever motion sickness remedy with me but didn’t need to take much.

I didn’t do a Disney cruise and I used cruise critics as a resource.

Three nights is really short. I wouldn’t do less than five nights personally. I did nine nights for my first cruise and I could cruised for longer it was so much fun.

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By “3 day”, do you mean 3 NIGHT?

We did a 4 night cruise on RCCL in March…our first cruise.

This gives you three actual full days on the ship. One sea day, one private island day, and one Bahamas day. Cutting a day off would probably feel too short. It took us almost the full cruise before we started to find our groove. I liked doing a 4 night for our first.

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Its funny that some cruise lines say day vs night.

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Yes, so the one I saw was 3 night. The 4 night adds in Nassau it looks like.

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Good info, I’d prob buy everything too. Did you find room location helped with the motion?

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Yes! Middle if the ship closest to the water line is best location for sea sick prone passengers. So the first few floors middle of the ship are best.

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Our room was midship and mid floors and it seemed fine. I noticed the motion more in the upper decks.

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This is good info, I was thinking higher the better!
So look more at decks 7/8 then?

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Cruises are usually described in terms of X number of nights, not days.

For a typical 3-night cruise from Florida (such as several DCL ones):
On your first day, you get on board about noon (give or take an hour) and have the whole chaos of eating lunch, finding your cabin, and getting settled in - and then the ship sets sail late afternoon. Evening dinner and a show.
The second day is at a port (either private island or Nassau). Evening dinner and a show.
The third day is at a port (either Nassau or a private island). Evening dinner and a show.
The fourth day is departure day, and you leave ASAP after an early breakfast.

The result is two full days plus the arrival afternoon/evening, and almost nothing of a final morning. You have no sea days, which are where you spend the entire day on the ship because you are sailing along.

There are some 3-night cruises that stop only at the private island and have one sea day,

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Thanks for the description!

This was the itinerary I saw, which sounded kind of nice! 2 ports and no sea days I would feel like we didn’t get to explore the ship. Maybe 4 nights would make more sense.

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We were on deck 7 and didn’t struggle much in the room.

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I get motion sickness…and even with Meclizine I felt a very low level nausea our first day. By the second day, I could feel the motion still, but it was no longer making me sick. We were on deck 7 slightly forward of midship. Highly recommend taking Meclizine.

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I had originally booked a 3-night for our first cruise against all advice because that worked best for the dates we wanted to go, and with the extended family we wanted to go with. That was for 2021, so Covid intervened, and we didn’t end up sailing.

When we did finally sail for the first time in 2023, it was a 5-night and LOVED it. It was both long enough that we got to experience the ship & ports without feeling crazy rush but also still short enough that the family members who were impacted by motion sickness (we had extended family members with us that were greatly impacted by motion sickness for about half the time) were able to get some reprieve (and for the record, the 2 who experienced motion sickness were still major fans of most of the cruise and will be doing one again someday, they will just make sure they get patches prescribed since they know they will need that level of intervention- we had Dramamine and bands and they still needed to just rest in the room laying down).

Since then we’ve done a 4-night cruise and then 3 consecutive back-to-back short cruises that were 3-night > 4-night > 3-night. The 4-night that we did alone felt very compact and like we were rushing around to everything. I could not imagine enjoying a 3-night all on its own. Like don’t even unpack because you’ll be putting it back into the suitcase 48 hours later anyway.

But I would consider a 3 night if the alternative was no cruise and if I could drive the port within a reasonable day’s worth of driving (meaning I can get there in less than one day with my sanity and some energy to enjoy the cruise).

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Good info!

I guess I worry about activities. I was looking online and it’s hard to tell. But are there things going all day for kids? Mine wouldn’t be interested in a kids club.

The three day, would be an add on to a WDW vacation, if we went that route.

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I have to say that even with many cruises under my belt now (8?9?) that the first day is rather chaotic. Especially the first time. You kind of lose that day in some regards.

Three nights is better than no nights.
But four is really my minimum. And five is my sweet spot.

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Also - if you are paying the steep premium for DCL, I would consider not going into Nassau and use that time for the ship. It would be sad to be paying so much more for DCL and not enjoying more ship features.

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My favorite decks are the lowest and ocean view. But none of us struggle with motion sickness. I like to be low to make embarkation and disembarkation easier at the ports. Also closer to dining and indoor activities.

I didn’t get that for my upcoming DCL. I just went with the cheapest cabin left. :stuck_out_tongue_winking_eye:

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What would they be interested in? How old are they? There is obviously the pool/slides, etc. There are daytime activities like Bingo or towel folding or scavenger hunts, DCL has a movie theater. Some character meets happen in the day but they are more at night. Other lines have different activities like the rock walls, go karts, etc. I would think about what you think they would want to do and what is drawing you to cruising.

In my opinion, DCL charges a premium for the more “family friendly” room setup and the characters. My DH will say the kid’s club is part of the upcharge as well. If you are not interested in the kid’s club I would definitely look at the other lines to compare.

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Good points I think meet and greets and bingo, the pool would all be good. Do they do different crafts like the resorts do? Like tie dye.
I like the idea of the family friendly atmosphere of Disney, the shows and dining all look so fun. They would love that. I think we would def do the meet and greets.

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