Christmas Cruising on Emerald Princess

[johnmik1]

Can anyone who has cruised over Christmas and New Years advise whether on not Princess has any special menus on Christmas Eve,Christmas Day and New Years Eve?Thanks!

[ALWAYS CRUZIN]

1 hour ago, johnmik1 said:

Can anyone who has cruised over Christmas and New Years advise whether on not Princess has any special menus on Christmas Eve,Christmas Day and New Years Eve?Thanks!

Nothing special at all for Christmas. They do deck out the ship though. As for New years towards midnight everyone goes tot he pool deck and the Champaign is flowing. party hats, light sabers etc. The count down on the TV screens and the big screen. Will stay home for both now.

[Waynetor]

As noted the menus don't change much for Christmas.  The main thing then is the decorations and Santa will stop by to visit the kids after making his overnight rounds.  Not a whole lot of Christmas theme music but have seen a staff choir do an event. 

 

For New Years there will be parties in several locations - lounge, pool area and atrium.  There used to be a big balloon drop but that seems to have stopped. Never seen any real deals on drinks - have as much as you like as long as you keep showing your card/medallion. 

[bstrauss3]

We've done several holiday cruises. Usually one runs over Xmas and then the next runs over New Years.

 

For us the fun is watching as each day some additional decorations show up. You wake up one morning and there are a dozen holiday theme Gingerbread houses that weren't there the day before.

 

Another morning and the staircases are all covered with garlands and lights.

 

But nothing specifically with the menus.

[caribill]

8 hours ago, johnmik1 said:

Can anyone who has cruised over Christmas and New Years advise whether on not Princess has any special menus on Christmas Eve,Christmas Day and New Years Eve?Thanks!

 

See below for Emerald Xmas day menus from 2018.

 

The ham and the turkey main dishes, although usually offered on other nights of a cruise, are special to the Xmas menu. The dessert menu has a couple of special ones for Xmas.

 

The New Years Eve menu (not shown)  was a standard formal night menu. Nothing special for that night, mains or desserts.

 

 

[Tak8]

Princess offers a traditional Christmas dinner and my favorite Princess dessert Gingerbread souffle.  I've only seen this offered at Christmas.  Also eggnog at breakfast.

[Sea Hag]

Gingerbread souffle? That sounds like a good idea.

[cruisequeen4ever]

Yes, Christmas offers regular Princess options as well as traditional Christmas offerings like turkey, ham, and an assortment of European Christmas desserts. 
 

 

[sttopmh]

German Stollen bread, (or they call it Christmas bread) is available on the pastry trays at breakfast in the MDR.

[rdsqrl]

On 8/5/2020 at 12:47 PM, Sea Hag said:

Gingerbread souffle? That sounds like a good idea.

It's fabulous!   It's worth waiting a whole year for. 

[Fletch1]

I agree!.......a Xmas cruise is well worth it. My wife and I love the decorations, huge Xmas tree in the Atrium, Xmas carols on Xmas eve by the choir and the Xmas music in the background in public areas. Not to mention Santa coming on Xmas day for all the (big) kids! 

 

Just love it. 

Edited August 9, 2020 by Fletch1

[phabric]

We will be going Dec 13-21.

 

Will they have some decorations up at that time?

[PescadoAmarillo]

Lots of information, menus and photos of a Christmas decorations from 6 or 7 Christmases on Princess ships, including the Emerald Princess can be found here:

 

Christmas at sea

[memoak]

I hope you are all talking about Christmas 2021 because Christmas 2020 cruises are not going to happen. 

[geoherb]

11 hours ago, phabric said:

We will be going Dec 13-21.

 

Will they have some decorations up at that time?

 

Yes. They usually start decorating the cruise after Thanksgiving. I was on the Caribbean Princess last December (10-20). I did not take a lot of photos of the decorations, but here's one of the piazza showing a few of them. We have taken several Christmas cruises on Princess, Celebrity, Royal Caribbean, and Holland America. They sort of blur together. But they've always had a special menu for dinner one night, either Christmas Eve or Christmas. 

 

The gingerbread display comes out for just the Christmas cruise. We've seen them preparing for it on cruises that have ended the one before Christmas when taking the galley tour. We've seen the performers do special shows of Christmas music. Princess had singers dressed in Victorian garb performing carols in the atrium for the afternoon of embarkation the last time we took a Christmas cruise.

 

Our New Year's cruise on Princess was a shorty. I think it was 4 nights long. We did it back-to-back with a 3-night one. We ate dinner on New Year's Eve at the Crown Grill. We skipped most of the celebrations and just enjoyed New Year's by ourselves.

 

Our last Christmas cruise was in 2010. We have not gone the past 10 years because DH's father died, and he doesn't want to leave his mother alone at Christmas.

[miagirl]

On 8/9/2020 at 12:34 PM, PescadoAmarillo said:

Lots of information, menus and photos of a Christmas decorations from 6 or 7 Christmases on Princess ships, including the Emerald Princess can be found here:

 

Christmas at sea

 

Hi!  Thanks for the delightful memories of Christmas Day!  We enjoyed the holiday at sea so much that we are/were booked on a Christmas and New Years going through the Panama Canal this year.  We have our doubts about it really sailing now.  

 

Truly hope all is well with you and G and your family.  Anthony and I are "fine". 👌

[Travlin grrl]

One day I really want to go on a holiday Christmas cruise. Just so I can experience the decorations and festivities. Actually I really would like to do Thanksgiving. I think it would be fun to have a few families together and no one has to clean or cook!!

I feel like you clean for days, prep, cook, and everyone it's in like one hour. 

[Thrak]

On 8/9/2020 at 5:38 AM, phabric said:

We will be going Dec 13-21.

 

Will they have some decorations up at that time?

 

We disembarked one cruise on December 7. They were starting to put up the Christmas stuff as we were disembarking.  You should have the full setup by December13.