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What's it like on a Thanksgiving sailing?

OfTheSeasCruiser
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OfTheSeasCruiser

OfTheSeasCruiser

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I'm planning on doing a cruise sometime in late 2016 and I've been looking at both Harmony and Jewel, but I just noticed an Anthem cruise over Thanksgiving, and Bayonne is only about an hour away.

 

Is there anything special that is done on Thanksgiving? I assume a special menu? Any other festivities?

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rcrdale

rcrdale

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I've cruised over Thanksgiving the last 2 years. Once out of Florida and once out of San Juan. Both times they have turkey on the menu for Thanksgiving. Our only complaint is that there are a ton of kids on these cruises. If you don't mind all the kids, it isn't too bad. Our cruise in 2013 was on the Allure and there was 1,500 kids on board. Last year on the Adventure there was 900 kids. If you are traveling with kids, it is great as they will have lots of kids to hang out with.

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CntPAcruiser

CntPAcruiser

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We were on the 5-night on Explorer last year for Thanksgiving. 1,000 kids, believe it or not, not really noticeable until later in the week when the weather got cool and the pool deck was deserted. Once everyone was crammed inside, it was pretty raucous and crowded.

 

Thanksgiving dinner was a special menu in addition to many of the regular offerings. The turkey dinner was decent and I'd get it again, but the individual pumpkin pies were terrible! Soggy crust, dried-out filling, and just not a good flavor.

 

It was fun seeing the Christmas decorations starting to go up as the trip progressed, with most of it happening the day after Thanksgiving.

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MJonTravel

MJonTravel

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I've done a few Thanksgiving cruises. I pass on the turkey dinner and have my usual cruise food. :) As already noted, there are an above average number of children on board in my experience. Not a bother to me, just something I noticed.

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Swath

Swath

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When I went on a thanksgiving cruise in 2012

There was special Orange Paper Menus Printed on Thanksgiving

Partents & I had to ask for them after the sitting

Our waiter got us 3 of them to keep

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MattInFLL

MattInFLL

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I've spent at least 4 thanksgivings on Royal ships. While I always go home for Christmas the thought of dealing with airports for Tday is a turn off. Anyway I know I've had the special paper menu at least twice. Can't remember if they had it last year on liberty or not. But for sure they will offer a traditional turkey dinner in both MDR and WJ. I've always liked it.

 

And yes, the Christmas decorations start going up the next day.

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widallas

widallas

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I'm planning on doing a cruise sometime in late 2016 and I've been looking at both Harmony and Jewel, but I just noticed an Anthem cruise over Thanksgiving, and Bayonne is only about an hour away.

 

Is there anything special that is done on Thanksgiving? I assume a special menu? Any other festivities?

 

About all I noticed was a special turkey and stuffing entree in the MDR.

 

We did our first cruise out of Galveston in 2011 on Mariner for Thanksgiving. For as many kids as were there, never felt too crowded. And yes...we had some turkey and fixin's. But I agree with other posters...not much beyond that...but it was still an AWESOME Thanksgiving because it was our FIRST CRUISE!!!

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livinginyellow

livinginyellow

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I cruised on an 8-day Grandeur Thanksgiving cruise last year. It was great. As a few people have said above, lots and lots of kids. It didn't really bother me, but something to remember if that does.

 

They didn't do too much in the way of Thanksgiving other than a meal (but the turkey was some of the best I've ever had in my life). I thought they would do more, but I wasn't very disappointed. There was a football game playing on the big screen all day, but that was about it. I have a tradition of ALWAYS watching the Thanksgiving day parade and could not find it any where on board. That was my biggest disappointment but again that didn't ruin anything.

 

And the next morning they already had the tree up and decorations out! They were beautiful. Was it worth it to cruise specifically on Thanksgiving? For us it was because we took a lot less time off of work. But, from what I could tell and what my BF said (a 4-time cruise vet before that) it really wasn't anything different. Fun, a good time of year to go, but nothing really fantastic.

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birdlord

birdlord

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We did a Thanksgiving sailing last year on Celebrity Silhouette. There were a LOT of kids -- even the staff on board was commenting on the unusually high amount of children (and also mentioned how many were booked for Christmas). This year we are going a full week AFTER Thanksgiving is over. As for Thanksgiving itself, like other posters mentioned, they'll have a turkey dinner offered that night. Also, not sure if this is typical or not, but our Eastern itinerary was extremely windy all week -- the ship was really moving -- more so than I ever remember on any other cruise! Captain said it was tradewinds.

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tropicbird

tropicbird

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We were on Radiance one Thanksgiving. As noted earlier in the thread, each seat had a rolled menu tied up with a ribbon.

 

The only problem... they ran out of turkey! During 1st seating! It was "ham" from then on and all through 2nd seating!

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ShawninFL

ShawninFL

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I was also on Celebrity Silhouette last year on Thanksgiving. Although there were more kids than I've experienced on my other Celebrity Cruises it wasn't anything like I've experienced on Royal or Carnival on a non holiday week. I'm 43 and don't have my own kids, but I generally like kids and don't mind them being around. You just have to realize when there are kids on a cruise, then you're going to get splashed when in the main pool. As for Thanksgiving Dinner, they said they would have a turkey and dressing entree, but when we made it to dinner they advised us they were completely out. Not a big deal to me. We very much enjoyed the Thanksgiving cruise and are doing it again this year. Happy Sailing.

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Rala

Rala

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There will also be turkey and all the "fixings" in the Windjammer.

 

Turkey in the MDR and the WJ and the fix ins' are not bad. The stuffing/dressing. IMO, is pretty lame. Not like at Grandma's house!!!:)

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FlyStef

FlyStef

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The beauty of a Thanksgiving cruise, is not having to cook it or clean up or decorate or host or anything! It's SO much easier (at least for me and my family)! After all the work of last year, my Mom looked at my Dad and said "We're going on a cruise for thanksgiving next year", so we are, all 10 of us!

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jticarruthers

jticarruthers

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The beauty of a Thanksgiving cruise, is not having to cook it or clean up or decorate or host or anything! It's SO much easier (at least for me and my family)! After all the work of last year, my Mom looked at my Dad and said "We're going on a cruise for thanksgiving next year", so we are, all 10 of us!

 

That's pretty much how we go into it as well.

 

First year it was my wife and I, saw a last minute deal and figured what the heck.

Got back and told my parents about, my mom (who had hosted thanksgiving for the whole family), asked if they could go with us the next year.

This year we will have about 15 or so family members on the cruise with us :)

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h18furball

h18furball

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We were on Indy T'Day 2013. The one problem we had was we were in Old San Juan, PR and everything was closed. It was a ghost town. We walked around for 2 hours, then back to the ship. I skipped the Turkey and ordered from the normal menu. It was an excellent holiday cruise and way cheaper than a Christmas cruise.

 

Dave

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jticarruthers

jticarruthers

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We were on Indy T'Day 2013. The one problem we had was we were in Old San Juan, PR and everything was closed. It was a ghost town. We walked around for 2 hours, then back to the ship. I skipped the Turkey and ordered from the normal menu. It was an excellent holiday cruise and way cheaper than a Christmas cruise.

 

Dave

 

We had the same experience last year ... it wasn't bad but it was strange to be wandering around San Juan with it being a ghost town.

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sr4mjc

sr4mjc

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We will be in stopping in Aruba for Thanksgiving this year (on the Jewel.) I've only done one other cruise for Thanksgiving, back in 2008 on a repo on the Splendour. They had a turkey dinner, can't say it was the best I've had. Although that cruise was probably the worst food in all my RC sailings. But hey we stopped in Tunisia back then, doubt that that will ever happen again.

 

I'm looking forward to the Christmas decorations going up. With a Sunday-Sunday sailing, they should definitely have time to get them up before we disembark.

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