Christmas Cruise

[QTBabyNurse]

Hubby and I are contemplating spending Christmas on a cruise this year. We are seasoned cruisers, but have never been on a cruise for Christmas. We generally sail out of Miami or Fort Lauderdale. We are in our early 60's and like to have a fun time...we are definitely not the type of people who just want to sit in a lounge chair all day. The ports of call are really not all that important to us as we have already been to most of them already. The ship is the main focus for us.

 

So, having said all that....if YOU have taken a Caribbean cruise for Christmas out of Florida, which ship did you sail and what were the pros and cons of that particular ship? Add any other information you think would be helpful to assist us in choosing an exciting holiday cruise!

 

Thank you!

[www3traveler]

I have done a couple of Christmas cruises out of Miami on The Getaway.  I am planning to be on The Breakaway for this Christmas out of Miami.

 

Be warned that no matter which ship you choose, it will be a very full house with lots of multi-generational families.  I love watching the kids wait for Santa Claus arrival in the lobby.  Lots of families dressed in matching pajamas (Grandparents, parents and grandkids).

 

The Hotel Management will go through the ship singing Christmas carols ending with an audience participation sing-a-long in the lobby.  There will be a Christmas program in the theater on Christmas Eve. 

 

The ship will be fully decorated complete with a huge Gingerbread Village display.

 

For me, Christmas cruises are great fun for a widow in her late 70's.

[Panhandle Couple]

We did a Christmas cruise on the Breakaway this year (Dec 2023).

We brought the "kids" (33 and 28 w/fiancé)  for their present.

 

General thoughts:

The ship was 100+ full.  Maybe 110%  LOTS of kids.  Lots of kids.

Lots of large family groups.  We saw some as large as 18, many between 10-16.  This causes MDR problems, when they all decide to eat together.  Tables are moved, and orders take longer because of the "everyone eats at the same time" approach.  You can wait 45 minutes for a table if you go at the prime time. 

If you are not Platinum (2 free specialty) then consider buying the 2 specialty dinner package to minimize MDR dinners. 

O'Sheehans/Local wasn't crowded for breakfast or lunch, as families opted for buffet.

For the most part the bars weren't too crowded, as kids can't go there, and mom-dad usually had kids in tow.

 

Main theater shows were not too hard to get into.  Most of those kids don't care about them.  Plan for the late show, and you should be OK.

 

Either get Vibe passes, or go to Spice H2O for daytime loungers.  Kids love the pool deck. we never even tried getting chairs there. 

 

For the amount of people, the wait time to get off-on wasn't long in the ports.

Embarkation was actually very fast compared to our Breakaway cruise in Jan 2023.  That might just be timing on our part, or many families driving to NOLA and not getting there until later.

 

Decorations were OK.  Christmas program was good, although the main acts used the same songs in their individual shows.  

[Nola26]

If you're actually onboard on Christmas Day NCL does some nice and festive things. If there's a port stop keep in mind that few excursions will be offered, and shops may not be open.

 

I've been on the Breakaway, Dawn and Pearl at Christmas. I thought the Pearl had the best decor given the grand MDR, but all were good. More recently I've been on the Celebrity Summit near the holiday and the decor wasn't nearly as festive and the NCL cruises were more fun. The NCL trips were 7 nights, Celebrity 4 nights so that likely makes a difference too.

 

Our Pearl trip got extended due to fog in Tampa so keep that in mind, We were delayed 10 hours or so getting back to port because the ship was unable to pass under the bridge if visibility is poor. Lots of ships were impacted that day.