Thanksgiving onboard?

[lovesublime]

A first for us. I don't believe we've ever cruised during a holiday. We just booked the Nov. 24th cruise out of Galveston on Magic and are wondering if they will serve a traditional turkey dinner. This will be the first time ever that I haven't made Thanksgiving dinner in nearly 25 years. It will also be the first time ever, that DH and I have been without our family for the holiday. Please tell me they serve a traditional and delicious dinner for Thanksgiving....?

[joeyancho]

Yes they serve turkey dinner. No, it is not delicious or traditional. They do not roast whole turkers and carve them. Think Swansons.

[girlscruise2011]

A first for us. I don't believe we've ever cruised during a holiday. We just booked the Nov. 24th cruise out of Galveston on Magic and are wondering if they will serve a traditional turkey dinner. This will be the first time ever that I haven't made Thanksgiving dinner in nearly 25 years. It will also be the first time ever, that DH and I have been without our family for the holiday. Please tell me they serve a traditional and delicious dinner for Thanksgiving....?

 

I have done 2 Thanksgiving cruises and they are great. Crowded but mostly family. The first one we ate in the MDR and as the other poster said, its not that good. This past Thanksgiving we were on the Liberty and ate at the buffet that night. They had real carved turkey. It was alot better then the MDR turkey we had previously.

 

If you want real turkey, I would go to the buffet that night. A little more relaxed then the MDR but definately better.

 

Enjoy your cruise.

[prattmom]

A first for us. I don't believe we've ever cruised during a holiday. We just booked the Nov. 24th cruise out of Galveston on Magic and are wondering if they will serve a traditional turkey dinner. This will be the first time ever that I haven't made Thanksgiving dinner in nearly 25 years. It will also be the first time ever, that DH and I have been without our family for the holiday. Please tell me they serve a traditional and delicious dinner for Thanksgiving....?

 

This will be our third Thanksgiving cruise on the Magic. Join our roll call!

 

And yes, for "real" turkey, eat at the buffet that night... The only catch is, that is also the second cruise elegant night, if you're into that...

 

 

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[sailor_jimc]

Been on the Magic for Thanksgiving dinner. No its not a whole turkey. Certainly better than Swanson's though. It is real sliced turkey. Stuffing, potatoes and cranberries I believe. If you have been on Carnival before and have ever tried the "Roasted Tom Turkey" dinner, it is almost exactly like that.

 

IT IS STILL BETTER THAN COOKING ALL DAY AT HOME....

 

They also do pumpkin pie for dessert.

Other things they do that week- They will have NFL football on TV (Sportsbar and perhaps poolside) They have Black Friday in the gift shops too... And.. they make it snow in the lobby.

 

Beats the heck out of having to deal with a house full of relatives, a huge grocery bill and a destroyed kitchen.. If you want to stay home because they don't have a real roasted, carved in front of you turkey, I would be happy to take your tickets off your hands....

[ibcnusoon]

We cruised last Thanksgiving and it didn't even feel like Thanksgiving. Yes, they had Turkey in the MDR with all the fixings. I was on the Victory and we didn't have snow nor did we have Black Friday shopping in the shops, but then again we were in St. Kitts on Black Friday (and they didn't have any BF shopping either on the island). :p

[vbintx]

A first for us. I don't believe we've ever cruised during a holiday. We just booked the Nov. 24th cruise out of Galveston on Magic and are wondering if they will serve a traditional turkey dinner. This will be the first time ever that I haven't made Thanksgiving dinner in nearly 25 years. It will also be the first time ever, that DH and I have been without our family for the holiday. Please tell me they serve a traditional and delicious dinner for Thanksgiving....?

 

Yes - you should join our roll call! ;)

[SadieN]

Had Thanksgiving Dinner at the Buffet on the Spirit a few year's ago. Carved turkey (dark meat!), stuffing, yams, soup etc. I remember cranberries on DH's plate.

 

Only two lousy things on the buffet - the walnut balls in the soup and the pumpkin desserts.

[MrBanana1240]

It's great. I love it. What ship? We may be cruising together.

[Webecruzen]

I much prefer Carnival cooking Thanksgiving dinner for me then the hours I would spend in the kitchen cooking for a 20 minute meal. Never mind the grocery shopping and cleaning then the clean up. First Thanksgiving on a Carnival ship I didn't feel like it was a holiday. The next year we stayed home and cooked. My husband and I decided we really liked Thanksgiving Carnival style better.

[DHnDWplus2]

Our very first cruise was during thanksgiving a few years ago. It was so relaxing not having to cook, clean, or put up with the inlaws. Food? Definitely not like all the yummy food at home, but no weight gain was a plus !

 

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[JMAE]

A first for us. I don't believe we've ever cruised during a holiday. We just booked the Nov. 24th cruise out of Galveston on Magic and are wondering if they will serve a traditional turkey dinner. This will be the first time ever that I haven't made Thanksgiving dinner in nearly 25 years. It will also be the first time ever, that DH and I have been without our family for the holiday. Please tell me they serve a traditional and delicious dinner for Thanksgiving....?

 

Yes, they serve Thanksgiving dinner but not as gooooood as my wife's great cooking.

[girlscruise2011]

Our very first cruise was during thanksgiving a few years ago. It was so relaxing not having to cook, clean, or put up with the inlaws. Food? Definitely not like all the yummy food at home, but no weight gain was a plus !

 

Sent from my PC36100 using Forums mobile app

 

How can you not gain weight on a cruise, Thanksgiving or not :confused:;):D

[Plant]

We did a Thanksgiving cruise a few years ago. It was great! The funniest thing was that we sat with some very proper ladies from England on Thanksgiving night.

 

They had no idea..., and we ordered steak instead of turkey :).

 

It was a great night!

[HawkIVette]

We cruised last Thanksgiving and it didn't even feel like Thanksgiving. Yes, they had Turkey in the MDR with all the fixings. I was on the Victory and we didn't have snow nor did we have Black Friday shopping in the shops, but then again we were in St. Kitts on Black Friday (and they didn't have any BF shopping either on the island). :p

 

We took whole family on Thanksgiving cruise last year and loved the cruise, but felt the same as above. Didn't feel like Thanksgiving at all. Won't cruise during a holiday again. Any other time of the year, heck yes.

[CruzLover80]

This will be my first Thanksgiving on a cruise, I'm not looking for the Thanksgiving meal per se. I'm actually cooking Thanksgiving dinner (an abbreviated version) at my house before we sail. Next year my whole family is cruising for Thanksgiving, which will be great, regardless of the meal. I don't necessarily think it's the food that makes it the holidays it's the ones you are with.

 

It may be a little weird, but I think I can handle it ... having a drink....poolside. :D

[cruisinJenF]

This is our first Thanksgiving cruise this year! I'm excited, I usually cook for days just for it to all be over and then clean for days. We are empty nesters with no kids visiting for Thanksgiving so we decided a cruise was in order. We will be in Half Moon Cay on Thanksgiving day :) can't wait!!!!

[lovesublime]

We took whole family on Thanksgiving cruise last year and loved the cruise, but felt the same as above. Didn't feel like Thanksgiving at all. Won't cruise during a holiday again. Any other time of the year, heck yes.

 

 

Thanks everyone for the responses. This is what I'm afraid of. Not much of a dinner or holiday atmosphere. I'll let you know when we get back. BTW, I actually enjoy the cooking, shopping and house full of people, for the most part.

[abitaturbodog]

We've cruised over Thanksgiving a few times and they always offer turkey, etc. at dinner. We hardly ever order it!

 

One of our favorite things about being on a Thanksgiving cruise is that the ship is decorated for Christmas! Everything's sparkling and festive. It really gets you into the holiday spirit!

[caribbean dreams]

Yes they serve turkey dinner. No, it is not delicious or traditional. They do not roast whole turkers and carve them. Think Swansons.

 

 

Hahaha! I was on Triumph last thanksgiving...I thought it was more like the turkey dinner they used to serve in the cafeteria in high school. I opted out and orders something off the dining room menu.

[scottsgal]

We've cruised 6 times over Thanksgiving and learned after the first one that the buffet is much better that night because they have the fresh carved turkey and it's so good. We've cruised Carnival, Princess and Royal over Thanksgiving and all 3 had the fresh turkey in the buffet with all the trimmings. Enjoy!

[Sun 4-ever]

We cruised Carnival Dream over Thanksgiving a few years ago and we will NEVER cruise over Thanksgiving again. There were 1,400 kids on our sailing and trust me every where you went there was a kid having a tantrum, teenagers running wild, several fights. The ship was only a month old and after that cruise they needed to do some heavy duty cleaning. Strollers everywhere, kids touching all the food in the buffet, you get the message it was awful. We had our teenage son with us and even he didn't like it. Nope we will stay away from cruising over any holiday that could mean a lot of kids. Oh and the Thanksgiving meal I thought was delicious.

[CMM]

We sailed on Thanksgiving twice, most recently on Carnival Legend in 2009. We all had the traditional turkey dinner, my husband found it delicious.

 

It wasn't traditional in the American sense of Thanksgiving. Carnival served it more gourmet. Good, but not like home with cranberry sauce and pie for desert.

There was a pumpkin offering, but it wasn't pie. No apple pie etc.

 

The timing is good for Thanksgiving and lots of big extended families so a nice happy group, but if we cruised again then we all thought it would be good to have a traditional turkey dinner with relatives at home before we left. We got back and felt like Thanksgiving hadn't occurred since we were in the Caribbean then it didn't seem right we were into the Christmas season already since we felt like we missed Thanksgiving.

 

I never thought of the buffet, sounds like a good option.