Sailing during Halloween?

[Brenkel]

My family will be sailing out of San Juan on Oct. 28 this year. Our DS 10 and DD 8 are very excited but our DD wondered if she would get to dress up for Halloween. Our DS is trying to decide if he is too cool to dress up this year. If someone who has sailed during Halloween could let me know what to expect that would be great. Also how rough are the seas on the southern itinerary? Yes, I know that we are going during prime hurricane season. We have an OV on the Riviera deck near the front of the ship. I really wanted a midship IS cabin but there are NO IS quad cabins left.

 

Thanks,

Christal

[jleq]

Did two such sailings. Both on Conquest--but I assume things are the same/similar fleetwide. Among other things:

...decorations

...trick-or-treat [thru Camp Carnival]

...costume parade/party

...one lounge decorated as "haunted house"

...many wore costumes to dinner

[Jacky4]

We did a cruise during Halloween and I didn't want to have to pack too much so I bought my 10 year old son a Red Sox jersey and he wore his own baseball pants (simple enough) and my 8 year old daughter had a Pocahontas costume that she wore. Camp Carnival had a costume party with music and dancing that the kids loved. They also did trick or treating on the ship (with parents). There was an adult party also and I was surprised how many people dressed up and how elaborate some the costumes were.

[EydieG]

Are the activities only the week of Halloween or the whole month of October?

I can't seem to get any info on this. I e-mailed Carnival and was told there is no way to know before we sail.

[Dawn125408]

I inquired about this on another thread and was told that Carnival celebrates Halloween the whole month of October.

[AdmiralJohnson]

Sailed on halloween in the early nineties, we had a costume party, pretty good one at that given there was no Walmart down the block.

[Brenkel]

Thanks for the replies! My DD was excited to learn that she gets to dress up.

[EydieG]

I inquired about this on another thread and was told that Carnival celebrates Halloween the whole month of October.

 

Thanks. Does anyone know specific activities? I mean are there times when adults would need a costume or even teenaers? I hate to be a pest, but I just want to be prepared.

 

thanks again.

[Mysticks1]

Hallowen 2005 on the Conquest there were more adults in costumes than kids. Not so many teenagers but I guess they are too "cool" for that anyway.

There was a large costume parade, costume contest and a haunted house as well as activities for the kids.

[crazycruzer68]

We were on the Inspiration 2 weeks before halloween and there was trick or treating, and what they called a costume party but only about 6 ppl were dressed up. The dancers taught a dance to Thiller and they all dressed up, but nothing big. My DD was 11 at the time, she took her costume and when she saw not many others wearing theirs she took it off. It was mainly the small kids. I think Carnival could do more to advertise this as we did not know untill the day before we left and then read about it on here.

[turkeytoes75]

We went on the Victory last year(2006) for Halloween. They had trick or treating for the kids (camp carnival). They also did a midnight buffet with a costume contest for the Adults. (There were a lot of Adults dressed up, including our whole family!) The only thing I didn't like was that we were in port and they waited to do the kids stuff until everyone would be off the ship. So we didn't have a lot of time in that port!

[flygrass]

We sailed the Fantasy out of NOLA Halloween 2006 and we loved it,I have attatched some pics and capers from that 5 day cruise.( It will give you a idea of what to see. IT WAS A BLAST. We are looking to book again this Halloween. ( we = Wife and I 35 ish and son 16 )

 

[hilltopfamily]

we were also on the Conquest last year over Halloween (Hi jleg!) and we have 3 kids who participated at different levels. Halloween fell on a sea day for us. I had packed costumes for everyone in our family (glad I included me and DH, as it ended up being fun!) but it took one suitcase just for them! DH and my costume kind of "went together" in theme. We went back to our room after our dinner and changed into our costumes, although I saw several people in the dining room already "in costume".

 

MANY people onboard dressed up, especially adults! My DD 16 and DD 9 dressed up and had fun doing so. DD 9 participated in the costume contest. There was a parade of costumes that we participated in. My DS 13 decided at the last minute not to wear his costume (something about the "coolness" factor :p ). Although we all had fun and the ship was really well decorated, my DD 9 is glad our cruise on the Conquest this fall is the week before Halloween because she did miss not getting to trick or treat with friends in our neighborhood.

 

Oh, for added fun we took a bunch of Halloween decorations (purchased at the Dollar Tree for very little $$) and applied them all with tape to our doors (we had 2 rooms with doors right next to each other). We got so many fun comments from people along our hallway all week long, plus it made it really easy to identify our rooms! Just a suggestion for added fun and festivity! Have fun!

[St. Louis Sal]

I really appreciated seeing the Capers from last years Fantasy cruise over Halloween. We will be sailing on her this year (leaving Oct 29). It never even occured to me that anyone would dress in costume. Thanks for the heads up. By the way I will be sailing with my husband (we're 58 & 68), my sister-in-law & brother-in-law as well as a group from my church. I think there are around 20 of us so far. This will be my 8th cruise but my first one sailing with friends.

 

Thanks again Flygrass.

 

St. Louis Sal

[blindbandit]

I was on the Inspiration Halloween 2006 and a LOT of people were in full costume. Quite a sight and fun. Enjoy!:)

[Montycruiser]

Hey St. Louis Sal, we will be on the same sailing. We always sail the last week of October for my birthday, seeing children and adults in costumes is really nice, some people really go all out. Can't wait until October:D

[Brenkel]

It is good to hear that my DD won't be out of place if she dresses up. I'm not sure if I can talk my DH into dressing up, but it could be fun! Could any one tell me if a lot of people dress up on Destiny cruises?

[jlfuzzbutt]

So who do the kids trick or treat?? Other passengers? Do passengers take treats with them on board to distribute??

 

*thinking ahead here LOL*

[St. Louis Sal]

Good to hear from someone else on the Oct 29 Fantasy cruise. My in-laws are so excited since it is their first cruise. Afew others from my church group are also first timers but a lot of us just love to cruise. We cruised once before from NOLA on the Sensation-we drove down for that one but right now we're thinking about possibly flying down.

 

from your fellow cruiser

St. Louis Sal

[hilltopfamily]

So who do the kids trick or treat?? Other passengers? Do passengers take treats with them on board to distribute??

 

*thinking ahead here LOL*

 

Staff on board gave out a bit of candy....didn't see a "ton" of that happening, which may explain my DD wishes to trick or treat at home this year! :p She loves to load up and then trade favorite candy with her girlfriends.

 

Along with the Halloween decorations I mentioned above, I bought 4 big bags of candy at home and took them on the cruise with us, then carried them in a bag that night and handed them out to kids I saw all over the ship. Since we had kids in Camp Carnival and Club O2, we never had problems finding kids (we like to hang around areas where ours are, kind of keeping them in our "radar" so to speak). And I avoided buying chocolate to bring along due to worries about it melting.