Any cruise is a vacation and is always worth it!

For me the 4/5 night cruises out of NJ are perfect for my current life demands. It takes me an hour to drive to the port, I park my car and I’m in the terminal in minutes. I’m so thankful that I have that option available so I can satisfy my cruise cravings. I love Bermuda and I love Liberty of the Seas!

Lately we have been booking 9 or 10 days, 7 days is not enough anymore LOL. We have a 7, 9, 10 and 14 coming up, we are retired so we can go whenever!!!!

MINIMUM 7 nights for me. 10 nights is better, and 28 nights even better.

We found the 3-night cruise only made us mad, it was just too short and the vibe on board was different. The four and 4 & 5-nights feel like a cruise and I think they are worth taking. We have a 4-night cruise next year then back to our normal 7-night cruises.

Being able to drive to the port makes shorter cruises more valuable to me because you can hop on and enjoy a quick getaway. Still getting a cruise fix in anytime is a benefit I think of living here in Florida. I like shorter cruises because I don’t feel the need to do all the things or get off in port. I can chill and do what I want and have my needed fix of being on the ocean.

Short (3-4-night) cruises usually make no sense to those who must fly to embarkation port (in my case, from Brazil), unless they are part of a larger itinerary. For instance, I once sailed on Navigator of the Seas to Catalina Island and Ensenada, followed by a 7-night cruise on the same ship and cabin, but this time to Cabo San Lucas, Puerto Vallarta and Mazatlan. Loved the back-to-back experience. Even then, however, we are not allowed to combine the points we get on two consecutive cruises for a better free cruise certificate. Hence, I'd much prefer an 11-night cruise than a 4+7 back-to-back as I did, specially when aiming for those high-points certificates.

Taking our first ever shorty in August. 5 nights on Grandeur out of Tampa w 2 ports, Grand Cayman and Cozumel. 2 awesome stops and simply skipping a couple of sea days. Small ship, 5 nighter, Diamond drinks and NO specialty dining is my new strategy to combat the exploding cruise fares. 😎

My husband and I are going on our first ever cruise in December, a 3 night cruise on Liberty of the Seas! It doesn’t go to Nassau, though, which is why we chose it. I love that we have a stop at Coco Cay and a Sea Day!

Doing B2B on Utopia on March 2025 to make it a 7 day

Cruising with littles 3 and under AND a husband who works Sundays-Thursdays...3-4 day cruises are all we've ever done haha

I have Cruised 7 times over the last 33 years and I have enjoyed 5-7 night Cruises. But now in my life 😊4-5 night cruises 😆😆 are enough! We’re heading on a 5 night Cruise this October and can’t wait! 🤗

Although any cruise is awesome, I really don't love anything less than 5 nights to really feel relaxed.

Since I am not close to port 5 days is not worth it. Would have to do B2B to make it worth while.

For me personally I'll probably only ever do 5+ Nights cruises. I live on the west coast so flying cross country is expensive so unless I'm also going to a theme park too I just don't see a short cruise from the east. Flying to Los Angeles isn't bad, however it's definitely not the same as the tropics for their shorter cruises and one of the popular ports (Catalina Island) you can visit via ferry easily. There are some interesting Cabo overnight cruises that I'm considering, but those are also 5+ nighters so again longer cruise.

Must agree. Our first 2 cruises were 4 days ones (Liberty and Indi). Two different years at the same date during school « spring » break. Our school break in Quebec isn’t the same dates as the rest of Canada and USA, so there are a pretty good deals. 4 days cruises were a great way for us make sure we’re not to rushed. We can arrive a day earlier and even stay one night more in Florida to enjoy the weather before heading back. We always had the feeling that we were missing just 1 out of 2 days of cruising. With the travel down to Florida and trying to keep it contained in 5 days of PTO, 7 nights would be a bit tight, but next year we just booked a 6 nights on Oasis, very much looking forward to this! The prices at Coco Cay are very different however 😅

I see my favorite bartender from our last cruise on Indepencence last week at 9:40 on this video! Edward was awesome at the Schooner Bar!

Our first two cruises were 7 days ,but we thought 4-5 nights is enough for me. Plus they are cheaper so we can cruise more often!

Although 6 nights is not offered very often for me is the sweet spot.

Always a good time!

another great informative video Matt, thanks! I definitely like 4 or 5 night offerings, 7 is great as well. not quite ready for a shorter 3 nighter.

I prefer 5 night or longer. Too much activity with embarkation and disembarkation that I like being settled on the ship. Back to backs in the same room is great! 3 & 4 day cruises are not for me.

I’ve done the LOTS 5 night cruise to Bermuda twice and have another planned for next summer…I love the cruise and the destination SO much but I really wish Royal would regularly do TWO nights instead of one night in Bermuda like Celebrity, Norwegian, and MSC do.

Did a 3 night cruise in March out of Ft Lauderdale on Liberty, and while it was fun, the 2 days of traveling makes it feel a bit rushed. The 3 night cruises are better if you already live near the port the ship is departing from.

We have a 7 night 2025 mexican riviera Christmas cruise booked. But we couldn't wait that long and found an amazing deal in Feb 2025 4 night Bahama cruise out of Miami. We are including 3 day pre cruise stay in Miami beach. 😊 it's perfect.

I have done the short (4nights)and long 7/8 nights). I truly like sea days, so for me the longer cruises are the best. But to see different parts of the Caribbean longer cruises need to be done. But either way bad day at sea beats being at work.

The longer the cruise the better BUT sometimes I can't fit in a whole week with my family's schedule. In January we did a 4 day because that's what worked with our kids and I was pleasantly surprised at the end. We are doing a 5 day in September and a 4 day in December because pricing for those was too good to say no to:) I prefer NOT to do 3 days because it feels rushed to me but my daughter really wanted to try Utopia of the Seas sooooo we are doing a weekend cruise in January as well.

We live less than 2 hours from Port Canaveral, Port of Tampa and Fort Lauderdale Cruise Port. About 2 1/2 hours from Port of Miami. We always take 4 night cruises.

Odd person out but we have no desire to go on longer than a 5 night cruise. Our first cruise was 4 nights on Empress to Cozumel and back. Then we did several years of 5 nights and then in April we did 4 nights on Freedom to Puerto Plata. We have to fly to the embarkation port because we live in Ohio but a flight to Florida is under 3 hours so it's not a big deal. We are like this and always have been with all our vacations, Even when we used to fly directly to a destination that was all inclusive. After five nights we are ready to come home.

My first cruise was a 5 night on Majesty of the Seas and is what got me into cruising so I'm all for these shorter cruises. Just beware that you might get hooked like me!

Long cruises are better suited for me to relax and enjoy!!

I live in Michigan and have to fly to ports, so anything less than 7 days is a no-go, unless combined with a land vacation. We did a 5 day once and it was too stressful. My favorite was 15 day Hawaiian cruise.

Any cruises are fun. Don't like this narrative that you have to go on a week long cruise to have fun.

Because we also need to fly to any cruise we take and are spending one or more nights in the port city, a 4 or 5 night cruise is often all we can manage, both in time commitment and in cost. 60% of the cruises I've taken were 4 or 5 nights; I'm less likely to be able to take a 7 night cruise.

Definitely worth it when you have a career!!! I can’t go for a week at a time until I retire.

Hi Matt it's very subjective if a 4 or 5 night cruise is worth it. Maybe it's all the budget allows. But still gives you vacation time. You also have to consider this longer cruises can be the law of diminishing returns. Because after 4 night's you start to get bored of cruise life. Ok sure there's dozens of activities to do. But it's the same cycle you wake up each morning in the same cabin. You go eat do your activities. Eat again and the cycle keeps going. Plus longer then 4 night's start to mess with your mental state as your now getting used to and addicted to vacation. So if your life is stressful and gives you so much pressures. Then think of the depression folks will go though when they are disembarking. It will probably take then close to 4 weeks to get mentally straight and accept it's over. What makes the 4 night's perfect. It's just a long weekend. It allows to relaxed and unwind. Without the concept I can get used to it. So if you're having a fun weekend you know your going back to work and life. But once you pass that 4 night's changes everything mentally.

Our 1st cruise we purposely did a 3 or 4 night to Mexico & Cayman Is. just to see if we liked cruising. The 2nd was 10 days AK to Vancouver. This fall it’ll be 14 days from Seattle to Tokyo.

I’ve done 3,4,5,7,9,11 night and transatlantic cruises and I actually like 4 nights BECAUSE of the amount of sea days. I usually like the 4 night that leaves on a Thursday and comes back on Monday. It really depends what you’re wanting out of the cruise.

We're doing a 5-night in a few months on RC. Leaves Monday, returns Friday, Port of Miami. Since we used to live in the Ft Lauderdale area, we are using the first weekend to visit friends, the 2nd weekend to unwind for the 5 hour drive home. We prefer the 7 day cruises, may even try a 10 or 15 day cruise if we find one that fits our desires!

I love Liberty OTS. It's my favorite ship, and Bermuda is my favorite port so far. The 5 night is a perfect length, especially with the overnight in Bermuda, it allowed me to see more of the island, and move at my own pace.

I'll be in a 4 night cruise in Florida + Disney World parks, will be great if you do a video for this kind of plan😀

Shortest cruise we ever did was a 5 nighter on Carnival out of Jacksonville. We enjoyed it but it did feel like it went by too fast. Majority of our cruises since were 7 nights but we just finished a Royal 12 night cruise and it was awesome. Starting and ending with 3 full sea days really make the trip so much more relaxing especially after 5 straight port days. We have a 5 booked trips coming uptime next 18 months, three 7 night one 8 night and one 9 night all with Royal but we may try a 5 night Bermuda cruise next.

Matt you have never done an 11 or 12 night cruise and I think you should. Those are the only crusies my wife and I do.

Consider the quality of cruisers going on short cruises. Yes, there is a noticeable difference.

We try for 7 nights because we have to fly in no matter where it is, but we also can’t swing two 7 nights a year. So we balance with a 4 nighter. A lot of things are cheaper for the 4 nighters, like you mentioned towards the end. At the end of the day I look for deals based on a per night per person rate. If I can get a great deal at about $100/person/night for my family of 4 on a newer ship with a cococay stop, I’m happy!

Matt:, my wife and I just made Emerald and we're only 24 points from making Diamond. So, we're considering doing 3 seven-night, plus an extra five-night cruise to Bermuda. We live in Virginia, so doing a bunch of short cruises isn't a good option until I retire. Basically, we do one cruise a year to fit our budget. However, I start collecting my military pension later this year, so can probably start doing an extra cruise here and there. That Bermuda cruise option seems good, so we have gotten tired of the Bahamas. So that seems to be a good option to achieve Diamond a year earlier than we would normally.

We're new to cruising, have only been on 2 so far, and both were 7 days. But we want to try Utopia which only does 3 and 4 night cruises. We live in Orlando so it's easy to get there, so we're looking forward to trying a 4 night cruise soon on Utopia.

It takes alot of effort for me to get everything packed, house in order, $ ready to go, all meds, make sure that clothes still fit, a ride to the port, etc. it's hard but i get away for 30 days........YAHOOO!

I’m yeah. I don’t have a lot of leave time so I have to take 4 night cruises.

My wife and I just took our 3rd cruise on Freedom (4 nights) and thoroughly enjoyed ourselves. The only downside for us was the size of the ship… our first 2 cruises were on Wonder and Allure (7 nights with my family and 3 nights with her family respectively). This trip, however, was just the 2 of us… making it more enjoyable despite the smaller size of the ship.

omg i nearly spat my dinner! no, no drink fatigue here, none what so ever

Of course it's worth it. Why wouldn't it be?

Interesting comparisons. Would you consider doing a similar comparison of the cost per day between the various length cruises?

The shorter cruises 3-5 night sails are the cheapest ones out there. With just over $1,000 or less for 2 guests. That is like $250 per night.

Matt for those of us (New Mexico)who don’t live near a cruise port and need to fly and get hotel, definitely a 7 night would be the way to go. I don’t think it’s worth it going on shorter cruises. If I was closer than I would definitely do shorter cruises as well to get more trips in 😄 thanks for all your videos!

We are doing a 4 and 5 night back to back on Navigator of the Seas for our 50th wedding anniversary on Jan. 4th 2026. We get an over night in Cabo San Lucas on the five day.

Shorter cruises are great if you live near the port, when I lived in SoCal, my friends and I would take a quick weekend cruise to Rocky Point, etc every couple months or so. It does seem, as you said that on a shorter cruise, the ship is more of just a means of getting to the destination and sleeping, no real time to really explore or truly enjoy all of the amenities onboard. That being said it's still a great value for a weekend getaway but if I were talking to someone about a first cruise, I would steer them towards a 7 night so they could get a sea day or two and get the full experience.

Your thinking too much about this. Any cruise is worth taking. Anytime away from home and work where you can have fun is worth it.

I only go on one Cruise; 70,000 Tons Of Metal. It is a 4 night Cruise. It has Heavy Metal Concerts for most of the day. It is AWESOME! This year, it was on the Freedom Of The Seas Ship. Next year, it will be on the Independence Of The Seas Ship. I can't wait for it.

Our work schedules make 3-5 night cruises the best option for us. I technically did a "7-night" cruise on Allure of the Seas by doing a 3-night cruise and then a 4-night cruise a couple of months later. Neither cruise had the same port of call. My sweet spot for a cruise is 5-nights. Eventually one day if work schedules align we will try a 7-night cruise.

Flying from the Midwest to any of the ports makes the shorter cruises not make sense for us. The cost per night just gets too high because the flights are a fixed cost.

Definitely at least 7. Depending on traveling to the port for people which is a factor of time spent to get to the ship. Day 1 is a half day and the last day is nothing as you disembark early AM.

I did a 4 night once as I was travelling for work and was able to pick up a 4 nighter before a conference began. As I always have to fly to ports, I normally wouldn’t bother with a shorter cruise. I’d love to see more 8-11 nighters in the Caribbean, but I know those aren’t popular either.😊

I've done a couple of 3 night cruises and hated them. I get lots of Casino Royale offers, and now they're mostly 3 or 4 days. I've done 4 days a few times and it's nice, but I miss having lobster night. If I had to pay, I would only do a 7 or 8 night.

5 night minimum. Unless I lived in Florida, I can't fathom packing my bags, flying down to the port (a day in advance no less), hopping on the boat just to unpack less than 72 hours later. 5 night cruises have been the perfect length so far. Hoping that I'll be able to take longer ones if I can get a better paying job.

Love Bermuda, and leaving out of New Jersey was a trip without flying for us.

i’ve done 3,4,5,6,7,8 and 9 day cruises. I’ve had fun on every last one.

I went last year on my first cruise. It was Freedom 4 night. It can fit some work schedule better. Because I live in Aruba. Can get there on saturday, have 1 day and come back to our island on the next saturday.

If I lived near the cruise port maybe a short cruise would be OK to hold me over until my real cruise. I do not live near a cruise port, so I will never book less than 7 nights.

No such thing as a too short cruise. It’s a cruise. I do always hate that last day, never enough time in the ship.

Just finished 4 nights cruise. It was basically a disaster. Rained out at Nassau. Food poisoning then Bahamas security would not let us off at CocoCay.

Worth it is highly dependent upon your situation. I'm in the Midwest and have to fly so 4 day is too short. I'd go nothing less than 7 to 10. Ive done 15 to 16 days but that's much too long to be gone. I don't buy internet so hard to be disconnected so long.

We prefer five nights and more. We have taken a few four nights, and they don't seem like a vacation to us. We have a four night on, Utopia, and that will probably be the last short cruise for us. A few seven nights are scheduled in 2025.

Three nights is too short but love a 4 night. I am that person with a day job and cruising isn’t the only thing I do. Clarifying this applies to Caribbean only for me - I am down with a nice 4 night for a fun quick getaway. 🤷🏻‍♀️

We prefer at least 7 day cruises, any shorter ones we consider booze cruises we do not want to be on. Also the ports on those short ones, inclusive those "Private Islands" are not of interest for us. Also - we live far away from any port, we always have to fly or use the train. Für us, those short ones would unfer certain circumstances only make sense to full up the time between 2 long cruises- back 2 back e.g. (Hotels are expensive nowadays!)

For me - any amount of nights is a good cruise!

3 days are definitely not worth it, if you have to fly to the port. I been on 4, 6, 7 and 8 night cruises. The four day was to quick and never done it again. I can't imagine a 3 day? By the time you get done unpacking, you will be ready to disembark 😂

Excelencia Royal Carribean crucero 🚢☀️ excelente vacaciones de exito

I go to Bermuda in a few weeks I can’t wait

RC has one of my past cruises as 4-day to Bahamas. I have never been to the Bahamas or ever done anything less than a 7-day cruise. They screwed up and refused to fix it.

Since we have to fly to Florida, only 7 days or longer make sense.

I would rather do a longer one because I have to pay airfare so I’d rather maximize my options.

We're doing a 4 night. It's our first cruise so this is a trial. I'm meeting my friend in TX, we'll do the cruise, and then I'll do a couple of days in TX to round out my vacation time before coming back home. I'm considering it an extra port day

There's a lot of people who don't work M-F jobs where a 4 night makes a ton of sense.

We live around 6 hours from our nearest RCL port, Port Canaveral. First cruise we booked was 6 night on Adventure with CocoCay, Puerto Plata, and Labadee. It got us interested and left us wanting a bit longer . I have looked into back-to-back to possibly open up newer ships and more itinerary options. Thought a 5 and 6 or two 5's back to back on either the same ship or other ship back on same day would be good. I spent the first few years at my current job only take given holidays and 1 week a year off so built up a good amount of time off. Enough that I still have 3 weeks of time off after taking two weeks off this year. If you have to accrue PTO you have to make some sacrifices to get a nice cushion. Have 10 year old that would die if we did Disney along with a cruise, but the cost of it is just too much. Tried to get us to change to a Disney cruise and had to explain you pay a lot more for the Disney name. Not worth it to me. Royal is great so I'll stick with Royal.

We are doing a short cruise to Bahamas and private island in August of 2025 RC and we go on a 10 days on virgin in January ! We will let you know ! 67 year olds ! Glenda😮yeah ! I know 67 and virgin may not jive BUT 8 ports ??? Wow !!!

I like your videos. But on this one I disagree with you I don’t think they would invest so much money on a ship like utopia the Sea now I understand they’re marking reasoning behind it because it’s having to experience an oasis ship for half the price which is genius but I think you could have fun on a a 3 and 4 night cruise I think for a family of four or five I think a minimum of four nights it’ Great I can see how 3 night can be a little overwhelming on a ship like that because there’s so much to do anyways keep up the good work.🤙

Your videos are extremely helpful. Thank you. 1 question. Is the soda package ever on sale for less than $9.99 per day ? I am wondering if it ever drops or if I should buy now. I sail a month from now.

The 4 nighters we take r thur- mon. So only 3 pto days for me

I have to respectfully disagree with you. Any cruise is fun, and if you plan carefully and pre-book your excursions and specialty restaurants, a 5-night cruise is perfect. I'll be on Liberty for 5 nights to Bermuda in July (3rd time). I know I will enjoy it.

4 and 5 nights for us are to get in an extra cruise and stay in a suite.

The real sweet spot is a thurs-monday 4 night cruise. Only 3 PTO days.

These are not considered short cruises for most people. Remember that most folks don't cruise for a living Matt.

Aren't shorter cruises intended for first-time cruisers? Think that was a point you could have made in favor of the shorter cruises.

nice

Matt what’s your favorite freedom class ship ?

They are not worth it. The itineraries are not good enough either. 7 or longer is the only way to go.

Which port has that gondola to the mountain that they show at 5:23?

Overkill referencing x numbers of nights a zillion times. You lost me on this video. There will be a quiz at the end 😂

This advice is only for people with the Monday Friday 9 to 5. Shift workers stay away! We dont want you here.