Carnival Thanksgiving

[ober134]

Now that things are looking up (re: pandemic) and DH and I are vaccinated, we have 2 future cruises booked and are looking at a Thanksgiving 2022. We've never sailed on a holiday. What's it like (particularly Thanksgiving week)?

 

Also - on a side note, I've previously set up "Price Alerts" here on CC.... Is that feature no longer available? 

[sparks1093]

We did a Thanksgiving cruise on Glory and had a great time. The Christmas decorations were up or going up. They had a very nicely done traditional Thanksgiving meal in the MDR on Thanksgiving day. I would say that we'd do it again, but DW said as much as she liked it she hated being away from family for Thanksgiving (and one of our son's birthdays) so she wouldn't consider it again (unless of course most of the kids went with us). Sorry, I don't know about your last question.

Edited March 12, 2021 by sparks1093

[volfan22701]

the week of Thanksgiving is sometimes priced higher because many families try too book when kids are out of school. also because of that the cruise has lots of young ones. we like going the week after that. usually much cheaper and quieter. we do like that time of year though from late October to about second week of December. weather has usually been great.

[jetsfan58]

Never did a Thanksgiving Cruise but have done a Christmas Cruise. Really enjoyed the atmosphere during Christmas. Carnival gave us all red hats to wear and those who drank alcohol a red drink. Also let's still be careful and wear those masks and not be prematurely fooled by thinking the Pandemic is over.   

[sanmarcosman]

The carved to order whole turkey at the Lido was delicious. The pre-plated turkey dinner in the MDR was pressed turkey roll so it paled in comparison to the bird being carved on Lido. The desserts were fine and a nice assortment. As expected there were many families with young children having a fun time on their Thanksgiving at sea.

[firefly333]

4 hours ago, sanmarcosman said:

The carved to order whole turkey at the Lido was delicious. The pre-plated turkey dinner in the MDR was pressed turkey roll so it paled in comparison to the bird being carved on Lido. The desserts were fine and a nice assortment. As expected there were many families with young children having a fun time on their Thanksgiving at sea.

Agree, the dinner in the Mdr, the turkey is kinda awful. I dont like pressed rolled processed turkey. Wj time. 

[Bostwick girl]

Since nobody answered the 2nd question, as far as I know, the price drop feature is no longer available. I used to sign up for it too.

We sailed in early December in 2019. The ship was decorated beautifully, lots of Christmas trees and caroling. Really enjoyed it.

 

[mredandchis]

I have done 2 thanksgiving Carnival cruises.  Pretty much a normal cruise and they have christmas decorations up.  I wasn't thrilled with the turkey dinner either time and it was the only times I ever ordered something else after tasting it.  But I would go at thanksgiving again, just wont order turkey.  

[iheartmarshall]

We're doing a Thanksgiving cruise on the Magic and I'm excited!  I've been on one the week before Christmas but never during an actual holiday.  Thanksgiving has always been a bit of a forced holiday in my family and we finally decided to stop stressing over it because honestly, the pressure of everything is just not worth it.  So DH and I booked a cruise instead. 

 

 

 

[skrufy]

On 3/12/2021 at 11:13 AM, jetsfan58 said:

Never did a Thanksgiving Cruise but have done a Christmas Cruise. Really enjoyed the atmosphere during Christmas. Carnival gave us all red hats to wear and those who drank alcohol a red drink. Also let's still be careful and wear those masks and not be prematurely fooled by thinking the Pandemic is over.   

You are such a tease. We are long time cruisers and are doing our first Christmas Cruise this December. Can’t wait to just relax for two weeks (B2B) with all beach days and enjoying all the holiday festivities onboard. 

[LHARTWICK]

We did a family Thanksgiving cruise 3 years ago.  Had a blast!  As others have pointed out, there are a LOT of kids during a holiday week. We didn't really have any problems from that aspect, as we don't hang out in areas like the pool during crowded sea days.  The CD announced that there were 1200+ kids on our cruise that week.  Yikes!  Have fun whatever you decide!  And be THANKFUL that you can cruise!

[Jamesatgsu]

I enjoyed it enough to be doing again this year and would do it every year. It is more expensive than surrounding weeks, but cheaper than summer and Christmas.

[jetsfan58]

2 hours ago, skrufy said:

You are such a tease. We are long time cruisers and are doing our first Christmas Cruise this December. Can’t wait to just relax for two weeks (B2B) with all beach days and enjoying all the holiday festivities onboard. 

Wishing you a Great Time!! Our Christmas cruises have been the most memorable. Must be a Holiday Thing.

[BoozinCroozin]

We are on Thanksgiving this year. Our roll call group asked the question on what people's thoughts were for traditional T-day dinner. I said I am thankful for not having to do turkey or the sit down family thing. We have an early morning port day on T-day. If we can, we will do a self walking tour, back on the ship by noon-ish (2PM port leave), grab a cocktail and Guy burger for some NFL football. Much more enjoyable than the work with a lot of family. I hate not being able to have a drink, complaints football is on, and just the general fun-sucker attitudes. For me it is a 4-day mini vacation with Day 1 pretty much ruined because of others' schedules. 

 

If I can, I will be schedule T-day cruises all the time. I don't mind tons of kids around. Who doesn't want to do a cannonball into the pool. We will see how much the two days of my daughter being out of high school are affected. I know high school is important. She has excellent grades. The schools will need to understand flexibility because it looks like Summer vacations are going to be nixxed as well. 

Edited March 17, 2021 by BoozinCroozin

[elcuchio24]

LOVE holiday cruises! I think its a great way to spend vacation. 

[ober134]

Thanks for all the replies. Honestly sometimes being with families is just too hard. Days of prep, contending with politics, special dietary requests, and then all the clean up after they hog down dinner in 15 mins. I'm over it. The only concern I have is the references to number of kids... we don't dislike kids, but I've been on board when kids were running wild everywhere. But we are still seriously considering.

[Jelly_Toast]

Thanksgiving is when we cruise every year (well, outside of last year). My experience is that the ship is always fully booked and always higher than average number of kids on board.

 

We have never seen a ship decorated for Christmas though, every year while we disembark we watch them begin to set things up.  The Christmas activities and decorations are for the cruises after Thanksgiving.

 

Also, while I enjoy dressing up a bit for the MDR, the Lido turkey is a better meal than what they serve in the dining room.

 

Oh, and yes it's more expensive.  I would like to take advantage of less expensive cruises but it's when my kids are both out of school and we can all go together.

Edited March 18, 2021 by Jelly_Toast

[rwilk1129]

Would never do again. Too many kids and large families. They seem to take over large areas

 

[larronry]

We have done 2 Thanksgiving Day cruises on Glory and one on Conquest.  We started the year after my father passed and took my mother with us and have done it every other year until this year.  We are scheduled for  2022. We have a teen who has autism and don't mind the large families or the kids.  I love watching the kids play.  We don't tend to hang on the lido but find a quiet shady spot one deck above to relax and read.  We eat in the MDR because I like being served but the family does agree about the turkey.  I get one of the other dishes offered.

[BoozinCroozin]

On 3/17/2021 at 6:07 PM, ober134 said:

Thanks for all the replies. Honestly sometimes being with families is just too hard. Days of prep, contending with politics, special dietary requests, and then all the clean up after they hog down dinner in 15 mins. I'm over it. The only concern I have is the references to number of kids... we don't dislike kids, but I've been on board when kids were running wild everywhere. But we are still seriously considering.

To me, it is work having to be with so much family. I tend to want to camp in front of the TV with chicken wings and watch football instead of all the other stuff you described that goes with it. That is why I hope our Thanksgiving cruise goes this year. Ours is an early morning stop in OSJ, back on ship at lunch time, and enjoy football all day with cocktails and none of the family drama.