Holiday Cruises

[Cats3]

My family is thinking about taking a cruise over Christmas 2014. We would like to hear from anyone who has done this before and tell us about your experience. Was it fun? Did the ship have anything special for Christmas? What cruise line offered the best experience. That kind of information would be very helpful.

 

:)

[Gunner22aa]

Its been ten years or more so perhaps my info is somewhat dated. The ship was decorated very nicely, traditional Christmas dinner was served including plum puddiing with rum sauce. The ship had close to 400 children onboard. Some exceptionally well behaved and some not so well and totally unsupervised. The cruise was with Celebrity on the Summit. I would expect all of the mainstream lines to be similar. Someone with more recent experience might be a better help though.

 

Children are grown and we now have grand babies. We don't cruise over holiday periods or even close to them now. Our cruises are longer and to more exotic locations so there are very few if any children. Our cruise in Asia was sold out and had exactly three children onboard.

 

Enjoy your trip.

[boulders]

We were on HAL's Zaandam this past Christmas. The ship had Christmas trees and Christmas decorations throughout. There were large gingerbread houses in the MDR and buffet area. There was carolling in the MDR on Christmas Eve. There was a big presentation on Christmas morning with more carolling and the arrival of Santa. The children received presents from Santa and everyone who wanted could pose for a picture on Santa's lap.

 

We had sailed on RCCL's Explorer of the Seas 3 years ago for Christmas. On Explorer, I had to wait in line for half an hour for ds5 see Santa at the ice rink. I then had a bad experience with a nasty elf once we go to the front of the line. I preferred the experience on HAL as did ds8, dd15 and dd18.

[leaveitallbehind]

We have been on two cruises that included Christmas with RCI - one in 2008 on Jewel and one in 2013 on Explorer. Both times the ships were decorated nicely for the Holidays, with gingerbread houses on display, toy trains, etc. Last year on Explorer there was caroling and in the Royal Promenade and Santa for the kids. We likely won't go on another Holiday cruise for a while as we too have a grandchild that we want to be home with, but the times we did it were enjoyable.

[spookwife]

My family is thinking about taking a cruise over Christmas 2014. We would like to hear from anyone who has done this before and tell us about your experience. Was it fun? Did the ship have anything special for Christmas? What cruise line offered the best experience. That kind of information would be very helpful.

 

:)

 

 

we did it. NEVER again.. but not because of anything the ship did or didn't do. just way too many large family groups that traveled in packs. and far too many kids that were not contained by the kid's club programming.

 

Decorated very nicely. our cruise had a passenger led Caroling session that was , I am told, very lovely. couple of 'special' menus in the MDR,

 

do NOT take a cruise that ports in Nassau on Xmas day. just.. don't. not unless you want to do a beach day and nothing else

[JimAOk1945]

We enjoy sailing over Christmas week. The ships are decorated beautifully, there is Christmas music throughout the ship, special ice skating shows on RC, and the crew seems especially cheerful. It's a great experience.

[boulders]

we did it. NEVER again.. but not because of anything the ship did or didn't do. just way too many large family groups that traveled in packs. and far too many kids that were not contained by the kid's club programming.

 

Decorated very nicely. our cruise had a passenger led Caroling session that was , I am told, very lovely. couple of 'special' menus in the MDR,

 

do NOT take a cruise that ports in Nassau on Xmas day. just.. don't. not unless you want to do a beach day and nothing else

 

There were only about 35 kids on our cruise this past Christmas. Two of them were mine. Ya just gotta know how to pick cruises. ;)

[leaveitallbehind]

and far too many kids that were not contained by the kid's club programming.

 

By "not contained" I assume you mean roaming around the ship. Probably not enrolled in the kids program to begin with - and not "contained" by their parents - if they were roaming the ship. If they are in the program they are not out unsupervised.

Edited January 17, 2014 by leaveitallbehind

[20pluscruises]

Did Refelction 2013 Christmas cruise....and never ever again! If you want A LOT of children on board...and I mean A LOT...this cruise is for you.

[Cruisin' Chick]

Our last three cruises were the holiday Hawaiian cruise on Princess. As we have a school-aged kid, this is the only time we can do this cruise. What's really nice is that when we're at home the time around Christmas, the malls are a zoo with traffic jams, little available parking and grumpy people. On Christmas, these places aren't even open. On our cruises, we can relax or take part in trivia or watch a lot of movies, or all of the above. On two of these,we had sea days around Christmas. In 2012, we were on Maui on Christmas and a little research beforehand, and I found a place that was open that I had wanted to go to.

[geoherb]

I love taking Christmas cruises. We don't have any children, but have never been bothered by too many unruly ones on board at Christmas. Most ships have adults-only areas to avoid being around children. We also always go for the second seating for dinner, which doesn't attract many families with children either. If you pick the right itinerary and ship, you won't see as many families with children. Generally that means older ships on longer itineraries.

 

We have been on four Princess cruises over Christmas, plus one Christmas cruise each on Royal Caribbean, Holland America, and Celebrity.

 

Overall, the experience is about the same on all the cruise lines--special menus, a visit with Santa, special shows featuring Christmas music, etc. There's also a midnight Mass on Christmas Eve.

 

We've also taken quite a few cruises earlier in December. If all you want to see are the decorations, you can do one of the cruises before Christmas and save a bit of money. Unfortunately, since DH teaches at a community college, we don't get to go earlier in December as often as we used to.

Edited January 17, 2014 by geoherb