We find ourselves in the unenviable position of two placeholders and no future cruises booked. We disembarked about a month ago, which is about the amount of time when we start jonesing for our next cruise and planning for it.

There are a few basic places to start this decision:

We tend to default toward a mix of ship, number of nights, and what month/year. Of course, that ends up being a lot of variable and the factors of cost, which embarkation/disbarkation location, and ports visited are secondary factors.

You may have seen in other posts/pages that at this point in our DCL that we are in the Pokemon phase of our sailing era, trying to go on all the ships. We had been doing them in pairs - two cruises on one ship before moving to another ship, but our sixth cruise on the Wish broke that pattern, much to Daniel's chagrin. (Our cruising history found here.)

We currently prefer cruising in mid to late February/early March and October/November, as those are shoulder seasons with less kids and the waters of the Caribbean are not too cold or hot. They also tend to be cheaper. It also doesn't help that Jess's primary job has a busy season from the end of November until mid-February, with December often being a blackout month for customer facing roles, which she is in.

I feel another post is needed for our bucket list cruises. lol

Without getting into bucket list cruises, the next ships we want to focus on are completing the original four and going on the Wonder or the Fantasy.

We have two family weddings in 2026 and 2027, the former in a tourist destination over a holiday weekend and already is making us question if we can afford any vacation outside of it. It is a close family member and not going is not an option. 2028 there are plans brewing for a trip to celebrate Jess's 50th birthday, while we have funds being saved specific to that, it also won't be cheap, as it will be international and probably two weeks.

One nice thing is that we have the Delta Skymiles Platinum card, giving us one companion fare free (within limits.) Due to past travel and health challenges, I also have a decent credit with Delta towards a ticket. (Daniel is the primary cardholder, so only I can use the companion pass.)

On our last cruise (September 2025 on the Wish) we tested out driving to Port Canaveral. Living in Atlanta it normally is a seven hour drive, although this trip had things come up making it closer to nine. Luckily for us, we are more than ok with seven hours. Daniel's car gets one tank of gas for that trip, which is much more cost effective than the average of $1200 for the two of us to fly. Daniel likes to point out that when you fly - between getting to parking, shuttle from airport parking to the airport, checking in/security, etc. then getting your luggage and either a rental car or rideshare, it often takes the same amount of time. The cost of parking at Port Canaveral (even with the increased rate as of October 2025) is roughly equivalent to airport parking (and deck parking) at Atlanta airport. Don't worry, that saved airfare and rental car/rideshare goes directly into Mickey's pocket with merchandise and excursions. 😉 Although, if we can curb those expenses it IS a savings.

We have found that we feel a three night is too short. Honestly, Jess is of the opinion that a four night is too short! So that helps us narrow things down further.

It sounds like it is a fairly narrow list at this point. It is and it isn't. The number of nights (which impacts cost )- as well as unknowns related to the weddings - are bigger variables than I can contend with right now.

Please share in the comments any other (big) factors you use to decide your next cruise and how you balance all factors.