Have you sailed on a Christmas cruise?

[rkacruiser]

If so, do you have a "ritual",  maybe better considered, as events that you try to attend during your cruise that are Christmas related?  

[BklynBoy8]

We always thought it would be interesting to try one but heard they could be hairy on board with all.

 

I know a couple that went twice and the second time was the decision not to return.

 

It was good the first year with great shows, the ship decorated to the nines, even a snowfall in the Grand Lobby of the QM2 singing Christmas Carols and Songs.

 

But there was a difference the following year. Oh well......

[rkacruiser]

18 hours ago, BklynBoy8 said:

But there was a difference the following year. Oh well...

 

I wonder why?  My experience has been that there is a consistency of activities, at least on HAL ships.  There are some small differences from ship to ship, but the basic events are always held.  

 

My first Christmas cruise was in 1986 on the original Royal Princess.  Their program had a few things that were different from those that I have experienced in the past few years.  One of the memorable ones was that there was a small evergreen tree tied to the top of the mast.   

 

18 hours ago, BklynBoy8 said:

but heard they could be hairy on board with all.

 

I am not clear as to what you mean by "hairy on board".  

[shipgeeks]

We did a couple of Christmas cruises years ago, and loved them, but stopped when they were "discovered" and became quite expensive and quite full.

We enjoyed the extra formality (more dress-up occasions), the crew show, the decorations, and the carol sings.

We were booked on MSC Armonia for this Christmas and New Year, but, unfortunately, all the US Armonia cruises were cancelled.

It is still a happy Christmas here, with my one nearest and dearest.

[Dolcevita Diva]

My only Christmas cruise (thus far) many years ago (1994) was also the most memorable cruise I’ve ever been on.
 

 I joined my parents for a 2-week Caribbean cruise aboard a moderate -size (at the time) 800 passenger ship that departed Fort Lauderdale a day or two before Christmas. .  The ship had just completed refurbishment after serving as a floating hotel in St. Petersburg, Russia and this was its inaugural post-refurbishment voyage - and the inaugural voyage for the crew. 

 

All the holiday stress melted as the festively decorated ship sailed away. Our first port was to be St. Thomas on the 26th.   We enjoyed a great day at sea and a quiet Christmas Day. Santa came to visit, Christmas dinner was lovely and we were looking forward to our first port call the following day.   And then - at 3 a.m., we were awakened by an announcement on the loudspeaker. “Ladies and Gentlemen - This is your Captain speaking. Please proceed to lifeboat stations immediately. This is not a drill. Repeat - this is not a drill.”

Reached over to turn on the light. But it did not turn on, so blearily realized there was no power and that the ship was silent other than the repeated announcement from the Captain.  Searched for clothes and dressed in the dark, debated for a brief moment whether to take my purse/wallet (no - don’t know what’s happening - are we sinking?, room key - no), put on my life jacket, exited the cabin and knocked on my parents’ door to be sure they were awake.  Crew members with flashlights lined the hallway and directed  us to the doors leading to our lifeboat station.   Before we exited to lifeboat stations,  crew members checked that our life vests were properly secured and asked if we had brought any necessary medications with us.  My Dad had not brought his nitro-glycerin pills - they would not let him go back, but asked where they were and sent a crew member back for them.

 

In the lifeboat station, the crew checked us off on the roster and sent crew members to cabins to locate anyone who was not present.  A number of passengers were in their pajamas.The crew demonstrated how to position our arms/ bodies in the event that we needed to jump overboard.  The situation was very tense and several passengers were crying.
 

After a bit, the Captain announced “Ladies and Gentlemen, there was a small fire in the engine room, but it is now out. You will need to remain in stations for now; we will let you know when it is safe to return to your cabins.”   Everyone breathed a huge sigh of relief and chatted - one of the crew pointed out the lights of several cruise ships in the distance that were “standing by” in case we had had to board the lifeboats. 

And then- the Captain came on the loudspeaker and shouted  - “Down NOW- flat on deck” . The crew motioned us all to sit down and lie flat on the deck. At the same time, the doors to the lifeboats swung open and the lifeboats were lowered to boarding level. 

More to come…
 

 

 

 

 

 

[rkacruiser]

20 hours ago, Dolcevita Diva said:

More to come…

 

I am waiting the next installment of this saga.  

[badaple92]

I'm waiting too

[Dolcevita Diva]

23 hours ago, rkacruiser said:

 

I am waiting the next installment of this saga.  

I realized that I had left out an important detail in the first installment.   

 

A bit before before the Captain's abrupt order to "hit the deck", he had made a second announcement. "Ladies and gentlemen, this is your Captain speaking. Thank you for your patience.  We had a small engine fire but it is now under control."    Despite the two bottles of wine and after dinner liqueur we had enjoyed at our festive Christmas dinner, the brain cells were alert enough to note Hmmmm....didn't he say before that the fire was OUT?????   A few others picked that up as well and started asking the crew, who just said that the Captain will keep us informed.   

 

And then the Captain's "Down NOW" announcement had us all lying face down on deck as they lowered the lifeboats.   The crew remained standing and started counting us off in groups and directed that we were only to get up and board when they called us.   Somebody cracked "Can I be in the lifeboat that goes to the Radisson Diamond?"   Then the loudspeaker crackled again with the Captain's voice  - "STAND DOWN."

 

The crew looked at each other and told us to stay on the deck but it was OK to sit up.  After what seemed like an eternity, the Captain eventually came back on and let us know that the fire had been successfully put out.  However, the fire doors were still in place inside, so we could not go back to our cabins for some time but were welcome to go to the pool deck.   It was still pitch black outside (around 5:30 a.m.), so the crew led the way to the pool deck, where we made ourselves as comfortable as possible on the chaise lounges and tried to get a little rest until the sun peeked over the horizon.  In quintessential cruise crew hospitality,  as dawn broke, the dining room staff started to offer bottles of water and pass around platters of cookies and brownies.  🙂

 

Around 7 am or so, the Captain made a lengthier announcement to let us know the situation.   The fire had successfully been put out, but because it was an engine fire, we had no propulsion or power, which of course impacted many ship systems - no working air conditioning, refrigeration, cooking equipment,  etc.  

 

We were approximately 180 nautical miles from San Juan, Puerto Rico and would be towed there, but first they needed to confirm enough tugboats...and it was taking time to reach the tugboat operators because of course it was quite early the morning after Christmas.  And ladies and gents following along, remember - this was 1994 -  the internet was not yet broadly available as a communications tool, much less on a ship.  Due to the distance (did you know a tugboats' top speed is around 15 knots?) - well, you do the math. The tugboats needed to reach us, hook up to the ship and then tow us to San Juan.   They were also working on communication with the CEO and headquarters staff and would provide a fuller briefing in the theatre at 10 a.m.   

 

In the meantime, (cruise ship priorities - feed the passengers!) we could enjoy a continental breakfast buffet.   As someone who at the time had never been a coffee drinker, it was frightening to witness the impact of caffeine addiction when passengers in the buffet line realized that no power meant no coffee or tea...

 

Interested in another installment?

 

 

  

 

Edited December 27, 2021 by Dolcevita Diva

[rkacruiser]

2 hours ago, Dolcevita Diva said:

Interested in another installment?

 

Surely.  You are writing interesting fiction.  

[highplanesdrifters]

15 hours ago, Dolcevita Diva said:

Interested in another installment?

 

Yes please, I love a good Christmas Story.