Sailing over Thanksgiving

[Red-Sol]

We will be sailing on the Epic this year over Thanksgiving. We have never sailed before during that time period. Just wondering if there might be some type of traditional Thanksgiving type meals in the MDRs or Specialties? Also was wondering if the ship might be decorated for the Christmas/Holiday season?

[www3traveler]

In 2014 I was was on The Getaway for Thanksgiving. Turkey dinner and all the trimmings including green bean casserole available in the MDR's.

 

Big screen television in the lobby with football games all day and a free hot dog stand.

 

Some Thanksgiving decorations. Christmas decorating started a few days later.

 

The Getaway has large groups of families traveling together. Lots of kids.

 

Some people dressed for Thanksgiving dinner and others did not.

 

Enjoy. First Thanksgiving in a long time for me that I really enjoyed.

[bostongal965]

Three Thanksgiving cruises: the Dawn in 2012, the Sky in 2013, and the Sun in 2014...

 

They had nice Thanksgiving offerings in the main dining room and buffet, but we never ate there - on the Dawn we had pizza in the Pearly King pub while watching football (it was fantastic- one of my favorite Thanksgivings ever, strangely enough). On the Sky and the Sun we ate in specialty restaurants Thanksgiving night - just because.

 

They had a few Thanksgiving decorations around, especially in the buffet, but by the end of the week they were rolling out Christmas decorations.

 

Lots of families - large groups. Lots of kids. Those weren't the problem for us. The main reason there wasn't a Thanksgiving 2015 cruise (there won't be a Thanksgiving 2016 cruise either) is that we had terrible weather on all three trips. 2012 it rained most of the trip - we had a sunny day in Costa Maya, and a sunny day in Cozumel, but the winds were so high tendering was a disaster (there were seven ships in port that day). In 2013 we did the M-F 4 day on the Sky. One sunny day (Freeport) and the rest it poured - and we missed GSC. I had booked a cabana and was really looking forward to it. The Sun trip in 2014 was when the polar vortex was pretty much freezing everybody out - it was only about 70 degrees in Costa Maya - the locals were bundled up. We had one good swimming day in Roatan. That was it for us. We decided to sail at a different time, even though we liked the Thanksgiving ship experience.

[Nola26]

Thanksgiving is during Caribbean hurricane season. Sail to a different place (Europe or soon Asia) and the weather issues probably change.

 

I sailed on the Sky the day after Thanksgiving 2014. We missed GSC due to seas too rough for tendering, but the actual weather for our sea day and Nassau stop were awesome. It was my first NCL cruise and I've booked 3 Caribbean cruises since, 2 summer and have a December holiday cruise from New Orleans so it will be interesting to see how that weather plays out.

[Red-Sol]

Thanks for the replies folks!

 

Sounds like you all enjoyed cruising over Thanksgiving for various reasons.

 

The one problem it seems might be weather. I guess though that is always a variable and you just need to go with the flow with that. We did do a 2 week B2B on Epic a few years back in the Caribbean in late October and very early November. For that cruise the weather was perfect and the seas were smooth as glass. Captain even remarked that he had never seen such calm seas for an extended period. So who knows what will happen this November over turkey day! :)

[GORDONCHICK]

The Thanksgiving "decorations" were the cheesy cardboard ones taped to walls, so don't get excited. Traditional thanksgiving food is served in the buffet and MDRs. I've heard you could get it in the specialties, but I would never do that. Mainly because I don't care too much for the traditional dishes, though the ham was okay. This year, my birthday is on thanksgiving and I'm really pulling for LeBistro instead of a MDR.

 

They usually will start decorating for Christmas the day after Thanksgiving. They will get a lot done if it's a port day and most passengers are off the ship.

[Red-Sol]

The Thanksgiving "decorations" were the cheesy cardboard ones taped to walls, so don't get excited. Traditional thanksgiving food is served in the buffet and MDRs. I've heard you could get it in the specialties, but I would never do that. Mainly because I don't care too much for the traditional dishes, though the ham was okay. This year, my birthday is on thanksgiving and I'm really pulling for LeBistro instead of a MDR.

 

They usually will start decorating for Christmas the day after Thanksgiving. They will get a lot done if it's a port day and most passengers are off the ship.

 

Birthday Dinners trump Thanksgiving Dinners every time! :D

[LrgPizza]

We thought the decorations looked like something that might hang in a kindergarten classroom. To be honest, if we hadn't looked for them, I doubt we would have noticed. We ate Le Bistro, since I'm not a big fan of Thanksgiving or the food served on that holiday. I heard lots of people complain that the food wasn't like home. What did they expect? Few, if any, of the people fixing these meals have ever eaten a traditional Thanksgiving dinner. Don't get me wrong, that won't stop American passengers from saying "Happy Thanksgiving" to people of all nationalities since the world revolves around us. /sarcasm

 

We disembarked on a Sunday, 3 days after Thanksgiving, and no Christmas decorating had started yet.

Edited April 17, 2016 by LrgPizza

[jackparts]

We have cruised over Thanksgiving the last 8 years. On Ncl, the main dining rooms served only decent food so we go to the buffet. They have hand carved Turkey and for some reason the other foods taste better there. Also, it's a lot faster than the usual 90+ minutes in the mdrs.