Walking onto a cruise ship for your first day of vacation is one of the best feelings. There’s so much excitement that comes with exploring a new ship and getting settled in your cabin. The first dinner at sea always feels extra special as the servers go above and beyond to take care of you. Finally, you don’t have to worry about cooking or cleaning for a few days!
If you’re like me, you love looking forward to your next cruise. This is a time for me to disconnect from reality and reconnect with my family. I greatly value the opportunity to relax and reset, all while enjoying delicious food and visiting amazing destinations.
Unfortunately, all good things must come to an end. If only vacation could last forever!
You might find yourself feeling depressed after a highly anticipated cruise. As a kid, I would cry as we left the ship because I was so sad for our cruises to end. My mom used to remind me that the anticipation was sometimes just as exciting as the cruise itself. It’s so hard to not feel sadness after your cruise ends, especially if it was a once in a lifetime vacation for you.
Luckily, there are few ways to avoid post-cruise depression while still having a great time at sea!
Planning another cruise
Maybe this is too obvious, but planning another cruise is probably the quickest way to avoid the post vacation blues. I am a firm believer that mundane, daily life is better when you have something exciting to look forward to.
Royal Caribbean makes it super easy to book a future cruise onboard any of their ships. Next Cruise is typically located near the promenade or central atrium. You can meet with one of the travel planners to book your next cruise. These specialists will answer all of your questions and help you book the best cabin with the best rate.
If you decide to book your cruise with Next Cruise, you’ll also receive some pretty sweet benefits. You can reserve an itinerary with reduced deposits and increased onboard credit. This makes it very convenient and affordable to plan your next cruise - and immediately gives you something to look forward to when your cruise concludes!
Disconnecting
Our lives are deeply intertwined with technology, making it harder to truly disconnect from our everyday stress. One of the reasons I love cruising is having the rare opportunity to put my phone down and enjoy the present. Internet packages and international cell-service can be pricey anyway, which gives me a great excuse to disconnect as much as possible.
I spent 105 days at sea in college during my study abroad with no internet. Can you imagine a ship full of college students in the 21st century with only access to email?! While you might imagine we were miserable, almost everyone agreed that being forced to disconnect was one of the best aspects of life at sea. We learned to live in the moment and soak up every experience. We journaled about our travels and read plenty of books. I took more naps in 4 months than I had my entire life! We all realized very quickly how easily technology distracts us from seizing the day.
By leaving my phone and computer behind, I am able to be present and live in the moment while cruising. I try to avoid emails, texts and phone calls from home as much as possible.
This is especially important with work emails and messages! Unless there’s an absolute emergency, I always set the expectation that I will be unreachable on my cruise. I also refrain from reading news articles and checking social media to help myself live in the moment.
The more present you are for your vacation, the less likely you’ll leave your cruise feeling desperate for another vacation.
Prioritize Your Needs
I always recommend cruising for people looking to take a vacation with a large group of friends or family. There’s something for everyone to enjoy because there’s so much to do!
However, sometimes traveling in a group can be stressful. Having too many excursions planned or packing your itinerary full might leave you feeling exhausted on the last day of your cruise. No one wants to feel like they spent time and money just for vacation to be stressful and exhausting.
Cruising should be all about relaxation. Prioritizing your needs is vitally important to fully relax and rejuvenate.
Book a massage or schedule some alone time to take advantage of self-care opportunities. My mom always takes one port day to stay onboard for alone time - she typically reads a book, takes a nap and enjoys the quiet ship. Similarly, if you want to see a certain landmark but no one else does, take that opportunity to do what you want!
That 7am excursion you booked months ago? Don’t feel bad if you need to cancel and sleep in that morning instead. Your 7am wakeup call will be at home when you return from your cruise anyway.
Prioritizing and catering your vacation to fit your needs ensures you’ll leave the ship feeling refreshed and rested. We’ve cruised with no plans or obligations because we just wanted to relax and prioritize rest. Other cruises, we’ve been exploring nonstop in each port and walking 7+ miles a day.
Evaluate what you want out of your cruise and try your best to honor those needs, even if you’re traveling with a group. There’s nothing worse than needing a vacation after your vacation!
Help your future self
After being pampered for days on end, it can be a rude awakening returning to life back on land. No one is making your bed everyday or cooking you delicious food to your heart’s content. The view from your window is just your backyard now rather than the beautiful blue ocean. It can be depressing that your long-awaited cruise is over and you’re back to the normal stress and routine of daily life.
Make a few arrangements to ease your future self back to reality after you return. I found that giving myself a day to get reacclimated before returning to work helps tremendously. Too many times have I flown back from a cruise on Sunday night and dragged myself to work the next morning. I was never productive and always felt depressed that I wasn’t cruising anymore.
I also schedule a grocery pickup for the first day back so I don’t have to worry about what to cook for dinner. If you have time before your cruise, you can also prepare a freezer meal to easily heat up when you return.
We enjoy meal-delivery services (like HelloFresh or HomeChef) to reduce the stress around cooking and meal-planning. After returning from our last cruise, I scheduled our weekly delivery for the following day with low-effort meals. This helped me feel less overwhelmed about getting back into a routine or needing to go grocery shopping right away.
We also try to leave the house clean and organized before leaving for our cruises. Coming home to a messy house with dirty laundry or chores only makes the post-cruise depression worse.
In this way, a little preparation can help ease you back into your normal routine again - hopefully with a new cruise to look forward to!
