This might sound like a really dumb question but here goes anyway.

I'm not a cruiser (obviously)but would be interested to know if there is any such animal out there such as a 1 or 2 night cruise out of South Fla or Port Caneveral. Son is planning to visit and this would be a fun thing to try without taking up the whole week.

Any advice?

1- and 2- night cruises do exist.

If you want to find them out of a specific port, go to cruise.com , click on "cruise port search" and click on your port on the map.

There is only one cruise line running cruises less than 3 days. Cruise.com will list "Imperial Cruise Line" which is really just one old ship that runs two night cruises to Nassau (from Ft Lauderdale). Since you've never cruised before it might be OK, but please know that it is a tired old ship with minimal service.

Some will tell you it's a classic old ocean liner, which it once was, but it's not much ... other than you'll get the cruise experience to see if you like it. We sailed it once and tried to think of it as sailing on an old historic ship... but it is really run down and dated. The owners will have to take it out of service by 2010 since it cannot meet the new SOLAS requirements (Safety of Life at Sea).

You'll actually have lots of choices if you'll consider 3 days, as almost all the major lines offer these on a regular basis and they can be cheaper than staying at a hotel since your room, entertainment and meals are all included.

It sounds like you already live in Florida and the local papers run a lot of Florida-Only ads for these. They are really a bargain most times. Your local travel agent will know all about them.

Your only other choice for 1 or 2 day cruises (and they are rare) is... sometimes cruise lines will offer 1 or 2 day cruises to "nowhere". It's just a chance to try cruising and usually they do them when they have an odd time to fill, like when a ship is changing its homeport, schedule, etc. You basically get on the ship, it sails out to sea, goes no-where, and brings you back the next day. They are a fun way to try out cruising, but are rare.

Have fun whatever you choose

"There is only one cruise line running cruises less than 3 days."
Not true. Carnival and NCL offer several 2-nights cruises from FL ports in the fall, good ships. Check it on www.cruisevalue.com.

Do a search on "Cruise to Nowhere." You'll find quite a choice.

Sorry spur, but I have to stand behind my original post. There is only ONE line running regular cruises less than 3 days.

The cruises you mentioned by are those that I also pointed out, such as the cruises to nowhere.

Thanks for the info guys. I'll check the links given.

I'm just looking for something different to do that won't take more than a few days of our week together. I'll let you know what I come up with.

Hold, not a big deal but you are still not quite correct. Some of the 2 nights cruises are not to nowhere but make a one day stop like NCL at Bahamas. And whether it's regular cruises or not, I don't think it matters to OP.

Just want to add that short cruises like those mentioned are usually "party cruises" and not to be confused with longer cruises (7 days or more) which are less party and more "cruising". You get different types of interest and groups on different lengths and destinations of cruises. If you are not a party person, you may get the wrong impression of cruising.
Just a head's up.