Christmas on a cruise with small kids

[keyarra]

So we have booked Carnival Sunshine Christmas 2013. Yep far off but we can take a year to make payments. I love that!!

 

Has anyone ever cruised during Christmas with small kids? I will have a 9,7,&3 year old. The younger two will still believe in Santa the oldest will either believe or be playing along at that point. What did you guys do. I am thinking of sneaking some random stockings for them and lots of small gifts and candy. We booked the Captains suite so it should be easy enough to hide the stuff till the right time.

 

Does anyone have any other ideas?

 

Thanks much!

 

Dee

[rebeccalouiseagain]

We did a Christmas cruise one year and there was one believer among us-so we did the whole Christmas extravaganza. Our grandparents had all the presents in their room- so we never saw them until Christmas morning. You could ask you cabin steward to store the suitcase with the presents and unpack them in your room on Christmas eve- while the family is out of the room for dinner. I'm sure they would be happy to do this for you. That way you aren't trying to set them out on Christmas eve yourself.

 

I would focus on stocking stuffers and things that they can use on the trip- snorkeling equiptment, goggles for the pool, suntan lotion, pool toys, spend money for the ports. Both my sons loved the shiny gold dollar coins- which are also good for diving down to get in the pool. The little handheld game cartridges are usually a big hit.

 

To me the kids will go crazy thinking that Santa did it while they were at dinner with you!

 

What we were unhappy about was not having a Christmas tree. So we made one out of wrapping paper and hung it on the wall. It was better than nothing and didn't take up much room. Plus we had fun cutting it out. So maybe bring some wrapping paper, scissors and tape.

 

Hope this helps.

[crusinmama06]

I don't know if this will work with Santa like it worked with the Easter Bunny on one of our cruises - however - since we were traveling on Easter we sent a letter to the Easter bunny and asked him to come earlier because of our cruise. I am sure the kids don't remember it now - but the bunny came early that year ;)

 

Then I would pack a few decorations and stockings for the cabin.

[boulders]

On our Royal Caribbean cruise 2 years ago, we were able to order a small live Christmas tree off their website. Perhaps Carnival has something like that?

[newbiecruiser09]

If you didn't want to do the whole present thing on board, you could do stockings on board (with small, easy to pack items) and have Santa leave a note that he left the rest of the presents back home. (have a trusted neighbor or family/friend set them out while you are away so they are there when you get back)

[notentirelynormal]

Make sure you write a letter to Santa explaining you will be away from home and on the ship. Assure him that his cookies and milk will still be available and even though you don't have a chimney to come down, there is a huge spout. Bring a small tree from home and maybe put IOU type pieces of paper (or small jewelry box size boxes) under the tree... like IOU present for Josh - then on Christmas the IOUs are gone and the real presents remain. My grandkids have presents at home and here and I just explain to them that Santa is never quite sure where they are going to be so leaves presents in both spots.

[rebeccalouiseagain]

One thing that will make the cruise special- is ordered gift baskets for the kids to be delivered on Christmas day. These can come during the day on Christmas while you are out of the cabin. They won't be from Santa but will be a fun and exciting for the kids.

 

Here are some examples from the various cruise lines (Royal, Carnival)

 

http://www.royalcaribbean.com/giftcatalog/category/home.do?catCode=YOUTH

 

http://www.carnival.com/BonVoyage/Default.aspx?cat=MostPopularItems

[Sparkygirl]

When I was a child we spent Christmas in Ireland (we live in the US). My parents brought three gifts for each of us (the 3 wiseman brought gifts to baby Jesus) and then the rest of our gifts were small photos printed on regular paper inside toilet paper rolls then wrapped. It saved luggage space and I have no idea how long my parents saved the empty toilet paper rolls!

[keyarra]

Thanks all for the advice. We are going to have Santa visit early and have him leave stockings on the ship.

[crusinmama06]

Thanks all for the advice. We are going to have Santa visit early and have him leave stockings on the ship.

 

Good choice! That's what the bunny did the one year. And it didn't come really early. It just came the morning before we left. ;)