If you're going to book a cruise, you might be better off with a sailing that has less time visiting an island or city.
Cruises are renowned for how convenient it is to visit multiple places in a single week. It almost feels magical how you can go to sleep and wake up in a different place.
What I've found after so many years of cruising on all sorts of ships is Royal Caribbean is getting really good at designing and building its vessels to be floating destinations. The result is it competes for your time with where you visit.
In the old days of cruising, sea days were seen as an escape to bask in the sun and enjoy a break from it all. While that's still the case, there's so much more to do on a ship than lay out on a lounger.
With so much to do on ships today, you'd be right to feel conflicted about wanting to try everything onboard versus what you can do on shore.
While there's nothing wrong with picking a cruise that has a lot of port stops, ultimately you get to enjoy your vacation the way you want to, and there's so much waiting for you on the ship.
Before you book your next cruise, here are 7 reasons I think you might want to avoid booking a cruise with lots of ports.
You'll feel more relaxed and refreshed
Exploring ports of call is a lot of fun, but it's also exhausting.
Have you ever heard the complaint, "I need a vacation from the vacation"? It means they had fun, but it wasn't the relaxing break they may have hoped for initially.
With more sea days, you can sleep in and more importantly, not exert yourself nearly as much as in a port of call.
Most shore excursions involve early starts and plenty of physical activity. Even just going to the beach involves a lot of physical exertion, especially if you're in the ocean.
On a sea day, you have much more flexibility in how you spend your day.
You could go to the spa for a treatment, read a book on deck, work on your tan, or enjoy time in the pool.
There's no question a sea day means you'll likely have much more time to take things easy.
More time to do all the things on your ship
Just looking at a Royal Caribbean cruise ship and you'll see all sorts of things you want to try, so more time on the ship allows you the chance to do it all.
This is especially true on the new ships, such as the Icon Class, Oasis Class, or Quantum Class.
You have just a few days on your ship, and there's no way to see, do, and eat everything you wanted to if you're on a port intensive cruise.
With next-gen ships like Icon of the Seas and Star of the Seas, Royal Caribbean is offering so much more than ever onboard.
These big ships have so much you can do onboard, such as zip lines, FlowRider surf simulators, water slides, rock climbing walls, and more.
Icon of the Seas has an entire water park, you can feel like you're sky diving on Odyssey of the Seas, and experience the energy of an aqua show on the Oasis Class.
Plus there's so many more activities to discover on every ship during a sea day. There's sushi making classes, all sorts of trivia, or dance competitions.
Royal Caribbean doesn't offer nearly as many activities on port days because there aren't enough passengers on the ship to warrant it.
Fewer days docked means more time in the casino
If you enjoy gambling, then more sea days means more time you can do just that.
Royal Caribbean casinos can only be open when a ship is in international waters (except for CocoCay), so if you're on a port intensive itinerary, the casino won't be open for long.
This is more problematic on a day when your ship is in port late at night. It takes some time for the ship to drop its lines, depart the port, and get out to open waters before the casino can open.
This is especially important for anyone that is counting on free drinks in the casino because they have accrued status within Casino Royale's loyalty program.
More sea days adds far more value for a nicer cabin
One of the most debated topics is if it's worth it to spend more on a balcony or suite, and if you have more sea days, the decision could be a lot easier.
If you have more time to spend in your room, that means more value from the price of nicer stateroom.
You'd have more time to spend on your balcony taking in the views, ocean breeze, and relaxing. Reading a book on a ship balcony is another idea too.
Inside your room, you'll have more opportunity to hang out and enjoy the extra space this cabin affords.
If you splurged for a suite, sea days are perfect for maximizing all the space and extra perks you get with a suite.
Not only do suites have more space, but you can use special suite-only amenities, such as the suite sun deck, suite lounge, Coastal Kitchen restaurant, and more.
One of my favorite suite benefits is to order food from the Main Dining Room to be delivered to your suite at no additional cost.
While booking a suite is always going to be expensive, I think it takes the bite out of the cost if you know you'll be able to fully utilize the suite and what it comes with.
Less days on shore means you can maximize a drink package
The price of a Royal Caribbean drink package is not cheap, but more time on the ship means more chances to get your daily value from it.
I believe a beverage package can absolutely save you money on drink costs, but it requires you to drink enough to make it worthwhile. To that point, you need to be onboard for it.
If you're galivanting around in port, that's less time in the day to order a drink and "break even" on the drink package cost.
In my experience, it takes about 6 drinks a day to break even on a drink package, and the more you can space those drinks out, the easier it is to get your money's worth.
If you were on a 7-night Southern Caribbean cruise that has port stops all but one day of the cruise, that leaves you very little time on the ship considering you'll be ashore instead.
While many of the points in this article might be argumentative, there's no denying it's easier to make a drink package work for you if you have a lot of sea days instead of port days.
More chances to enjoy onboard restaurants
Just like the drink package, more time on the ship means more chances to eat at different restaurants.
The most port intensive itineraries are found in Alaska and Europe, and often the all aboard time isn't until the early evening. If you're like, you'll want to eat a lot ashore in these amazing places and that means skipping dinner on the ship.
Royal Caribbean not only includes a great deal of food with your cruise fare, but they also offer specialty dining options at an additional cost to try.
You could buy a dining package to save money on specialty restaurants, and it's far easier to do that with a lot of sea days.
Depending on your ship, there are a lot of different restaurants to try out. I can't resist hitting up the sushi, Italian, or burger spots on any Royal Caribbean ship.
Heck, if you're on a ship like Icon of the Seas, there are more restaurants to try than days you're onboard for one sailing.
Kids get to make new friends
One aspect of cruising I always liked is it's the only kind of vacation where my kids actually meet other children and make friends.
The kids club on a Royal Caribbean ship is a win for parent and child alike.
For the kids, they get to play games and meet other kids. Most will be passing acquaintances, but sometimes they make a new friend for that sailing.
As a parent, dropping my kids off at Adventure Ocean was a great safety net. I knew they would be cared for while having a good time. Meanwhile, my wife and I could enjoy things onboard we wanted to do.
And whether they make friends or not, Adventure Ocean is a lot of fun.
You can register your kids for Adventure Ocean on the first day, and then easily drop them off every day and night.
