Cruising during Thanksgiving

[JetCruister]

This will be our first Thanksgiving on a cruise...do they do anything special on Thanksgiving Day?? Also, I heard that they start decorating the ship for Christmas during that time. And by the time we get to our final stop, the ship should be all decorated. Is this the case? I am hoping so. We would like to be able to take our Christmas photo at that time! :)

 

Thanks!

Sheila

[Happy Cruiser 6143]

This will be our first Thanksgiving on a cruise...do they do anything special on Thanksgiving Day?? Also, I heard that they start decorating the ship for Christmas during that time. And by the time we get to our final stop, the ship should be all decorated. Is this the case? I am hoping so. We would like to be able to take our Christmas photo at that time! :)

 

Thanks!

Sheila

 

We cruised on the Connie over Thanksgiving last year. On Thanksgiving Day, a turkey dinner was served. No Christmas decorations were placed out after Thanksgiving. We got off the ship December 3--perhaps they decorated after that.

[pacheco18]

I had the identical experience on Infinity. Just turkey on Thanksgiving. We disembarked on December 5. No decorations

[JetCruister]

Thanks everyone! Just wishful thinking...!:)

[Denny01]

We've cruised on four different Thanksgivings: 1st in '97 on Mercury right after she had been launched, 2nd in '08 and then '09 and '10. I'm getting the idea my wife doesn't want to cook a turkey! We missed this year, but looking at the Solstice Nov 12 Reunion cruise - that should be a different Thanksgiving cruise from Dubai to Singapore.

 

I agree, the ships seemed to start decorting right after we left. We once took an early Dec cruise and the ship was decorated for XMAS the 1st week. The turkey was about the only connection with Thanksgiving, except there are a lot of family reunions going on. We had various family groups with us on most of those. Fun way to do it. Everyone goes off doing what they like, and you don't end up as 'Social Director' trying to find out what Aunt Martha or Uncle Joe is bothered by or won't eat.

 

We enjoyed them a good deal. More kids, and I know that bothers some posters, but the kids all seemed quite happy and focused on the kids programs. No issues at all unless the very sight of a child bothers you.

 

enjoy, it is a great way to celebrate a holiday.

 

Den

[JetCruister]

We've cruised on four different Thanksgivings: 1st in '97 on Mercury right after she had been launched, 2nd in '08 and then '09 and '10. I'm getting the idea my wife doesn't want to cook a turkey! We missed this year, but looking at the Solstice Nov 12 Reunion cruise - that should be a different Thanksgiving cruise from Dubai to Singapore.

 

I agree, the ships seemed to start decorting right after we left. We once took an early Dec cruise and the ship was decorated for XMAS the 1st week. The turkey was about the only connection with Thanksgiving, except there are a lot of family reunions going on. We had various family groups with us on most of those. Fun way to do it. Everyone goes off doing what they like, and you don't end up as 'Social Director' trying to find out what Aunt Martha or Uncle Joe is bothered by or won't eat.

 

We enjoyed them a good deal. More kids, and I know that bothers some posters, but the kids all seemed quite happy and focused on the kids programs. No issues at all unless the very sight of a child bothers you.

 

enjoy, it is a great way to celebrate a holiday.

 

Den

 

 

We are doing a TA from Barcelona to Fort Lauderdale, FL. I was not very excited to cruise during Thanksgiving. We usually host the dinner at our house, with me doing all the cooking...for 30 people! We like to do this and try to get both sides of our family there! And I really love to do the cooking for everyone! So, for us this will be a really different Thanksgiving! My parents will be sailing with us along with a few of our friends. I know we will miss our kids, but their ages range from 23-33 and two of the four are married. And this will be our first grandson's first Thanksgiving, and we are sad to miss this. I am hoping that the family that is not cruising with us will still get together! :) I may even like this so much, that I may never cook another Thanksgiving dinner! ;) We know there probably won't be to many kids, this this is a longer cruise. We have taken our kids on numerous cruises when they were growing up. But I do understand that sometimes cruising without a bunch of kids is nice. We would cruise with the kids and then find another cruise that we knew would not have many if any, just for our adult time!

[Flowrider]

has anyone been in a cruise on the week after thanksgiving? say november 27th 2011, thanksgiving is on the 24th. would the week of nov 27th to dec 4th be less crowded and with less kids than the week of the 20th to the 27th?

thanks

[ClaudiaB]

Two years ago we sailed southern Caribbean on Equinox right after Thanksgiving into December. Very few children on board but we always find that the case on any cruise longer than a week. The ship was full but we never find the ships crowded. We actually LOVE to cruise between the two holidays.

We have also cruised over Thanksgiving twice and enjoyed that too.

[bighairtexan]

I always cruise the 1st and or 2nd week of December. Very few kids. And the prices are usually reallllllly good!

[Flowrider]

I always cruise the 1st and or 2nd week of December. Very few kids. And the prices are usually reallllllly good!

 

I know what you mean, we also cruise the first week of december, this is the first year we are going in november.

[Michidoeme]

has anyone been in a cruise on the week after thanksgiving? say november 27th 2011, thanksgiving is on the 24th. would the week of nov 27th to dec 4th be less crowded and with less kids than the week of the 20th to the 27th?

thanks

 

We did a b2b on Eclipse last year. First week cruise was over Thanksgiving. I think they did the formal night then. That week was lots more (big) families, which made it very crowded and noisy. Fairly chaotic in MDR and pool area.

2nd week after Thanksgiving had quite a different public. It was a lot more relaxed and I felt also more toned down - even dress seemed to be more casual all way through. Of course also less kids.

Maybe one reason also because week after Thanksgiving had some better pricing and last minute specials, it attracted other travellers ?

[Flowrider]

We did a b2b on Eclipse last year. First week cruise was over Thanksgiving. I think they did the formal night then. That week was lots more (big) families, which made it very crowded and noisy. Fairly chaotic in MDR and pool area.

2nd week after Thanksgiving had quite a different public. It was a lot more relaxed and I felt also more toned down - even dress seemed to be more casual all way through. Of course also less kids.

Maybe one reason also because week after Thanksgiving had some better pricing and last minute specials, it attracted other travellers ?

 

great, this is what i was hoping for, a relaxed not so crowded cruise.

[jt1120]

We regularly cruise on Thanksgiving week, since our anniversary is the 17th and my birthday is the 20th. Plus, it's only three work days off, and we all know how precious vacation time is! :p

 

You won't see any Christmas decorations yet, but they will serve a nice Thanksgiving dinner (turkey and trimmings) and some lines will have a nice display of Thanksgiving related decorations in the atrium area. I remember one time they had this round cake-looking thing standing on its side and it said "Happy Thanks (next line) Giving." No hyphen or anything. I got a nice chcuckle out of that. Remember, the majority of the staff are not from the US so they don't know what Thanksgiving is.

 

As for your picture, might I suggest wearing something holiday-like on formal night and taking a picture with a non-descript background? You might wear a red formal and your husband a tux with matching cummerbund. Enjoy your holiday cruise!

[moorerf]

We cruised over thanksgiving in 05, caribbean, nice turkey dinner in buffet and choice in MDR. no christmas decs but they boarded as soon as we docked in FLL to begin decorating. Taking a Med cruise out of Rome this year so does anyone know if they do turkey on thanksgiving abroad. Funny we will be in

Ephesus, Turkey on Turkey day on the Equinox.