We did the 7-night Med. cruise last year and it was very port-intensive. You, of course, can control the length of your excursions if you take any at all. As I remember, four days we were gone from about 8 am to almost 6 pm. There were still character appearances in the evening and on the "at sea" days. I know it is last minute, but you can check out the Navigator each day on the cruise for meet/greet times. We found, too, that many of the characters and princesses come out of the crew/staff door at one end of Shutters. If they are coming back from their shift they sometimes have time for autographs, photos, etc. Once Captain Hook came up behind my wife, tapped her shoulder with his hook and she jumped about a foot...what a hoot!