Christmas Cruise...Should we GO??????

[luvtwotrvl]

We (DW and I) are thinking about an Christmas cruise for the first time. We usually cruise at spring break or in the summer because of our work schedulers but now we can get an excellent price on a cruise on HAL Statendam for the week of Christmas. My main concern is that I have heard that Christmas week is the worst time to cruise since the teens/kids or out!! Is it worst than spring break or the summer??? Please help us out.

 

 

Thanks,

David:D

[twinkletoes4445]

We've not cruised over Christmas, but we've cruised over New Year's. What we found were lots of families, but not necessarily tons of kids. The families included grandparents, uncles, aunts, cousins...etc. On spring break, you're not typically going to see that many extended family members...and you'll see more families, but you'll also see more people traveling with other children in tow. At least this is what we saw on ours...

 

This is my own observation of our experiences. I'd cruise over Christmas and New Year's in a heartbeat over spring break, or summer. :)

[luvtwotrvl]

We've not cruised over Christmas, but we've cruised over New Year's. What we found were lots of families, but not necessarily tons of kids. The families included grandparents, uncles, aunts, cousins...etc. On spring break, you're not typically going to see that many extended family members...and you'll see more families, but you'll also see more people traveling with other children in tow. At least this is what we saw on ours...

 

This is my own observation of our experiences. I'd cruise over Christmas and New Year's in a heartbeat over spring break, or summer. :)

 

 

I know what you mean. I have heard that Christmas is the WORST time to cruise but since I have not cruised at Christmas I do not know. I have to agree with you about cruising on Spring break or Summer. We really do not like to do it but our work schedules tells us too.

 

Thanks,

David:D

[cf_chuck]

We (DW and I) are thinking about an Christmas cruise for the first time. We usually cruise at spring break or in the summer because of our work schedulers but now we can get an excellent price on a cruise on HAL Statendam for the week of Christmas. My main concern is that I have heard that Christmas week is the worst time to cruise since the teens/kids or out!! Is it worst than spring break or the summer??? Please help us out.

 

 

Thanks,

David:D

 

In my experience, Christmas is a time to spend with the extended family. Also in my experience, many others feel the same way. Because of this, I would guess that Christmas is a good time to cruise without an inordinate number of children aboard. With the current restrictions on luggage, having Christmas aboard is also a challenge, so Santa will struggle delivering to the little ones. I'd say you're safe if children aboard is a primary consideration.

[cruisencrazy]

We have cruised as Christmas before. LOTS of large families. So, if you will be sad to not be with your whole family, then it's not for you. If you like snow for Christmas, it's not for you. We loved it, except for a few planning things that were all our fault. We are cruising this Christmas and we cannot wait. Kids are 16 and 19 and we are all looking for a very relaxing trip. It's the one time of year when vacations match up and we can get together.

[Hugh0906]

I think I like your chances to be on a pretty much kid free cruise.

 

First off there are lots of other choices on more kid friendly lines that weekend.

 

Second, the kids will be in school on friday. The airline situation now, doesn't make it that easy to book a flight now. They would have to fly saturday, always risky in December. That would make us book a sunday ship departure if we were taking the kids.

 

Third, worse case, you only have two sea days on that itinerary. It is a great itinerary also.

 

Lastly. Here in Texas, our kids will be in school the next week for at least a few days, Looking at the pricing of all the lines, it would appear that they are discounted, and others are in the same situation.

 

I think you will be in a relatively kid free zone that week.

 

Hugh in Dallas

[ekerr19]

We go over Christmas frequently. The cruises that attract more families tend to be the shorter cruises. HAL does not attract as many families as other lines and having been on several Christmas/New Year's sailings, it isn't any worse than cruising in summer months.

 

If your sailing is really discounted or offering reduced or free 3rd / 4th passengers, you may see more families.

 

We are on the 12-day Rotterdam, and I don't think there will be too many kids, though the dates fall exactly when our daughter is off for vacation, so who knows.

 

Lastly, you can always call HAL and see how many kids are going to be onboard. Final payment was due last week for many holiday cruises, so they should have a good count.

 

And finally, how many is TOO many?

[Krazy Kruizers]

We have done a few Christmas cruises -- no more -- far toooooo many children for us.

 

JMO

[Cruise Fanatic]

I have done the Christmas and New Years cruises, it was a two week cruise. Anyway there were lots of families with lots of kids. I am not the most kid friendly person...lol. I did enjoy the New Years Eve party it was fantastic. I would not do a Christmas and or New Years cruise again. Once was enought for me.

[twinkletoes4445]

I know what you mean. I have heard that Christmas is the WORST time to cruise but since I have not cruised at Christmas I do not know. I have to agree with you about cruising on Spring break or Summer. We really do not like to do it but our work schedules tells us too.

 

Thanks,

David:D

 

 

We're lucky in that we can vacation whenever we want, for the most part...but it wasn't always like this. When we were younger, our vacation time was not flexible at all. Now we choose a time of year where there won't be a lot of kids on our cruise...at least we hope not. Not that we don't love kids...we have kids...but we love vacationing in a quiet atmosphere. The kids we did see on our cruise were well-behaved and quiet.

 

Whatever you end up doing, I hope you have a great time! :)

[Rutland Gate]

We were on a 10 day HAL Christmas Cruise, and the kids and their reaction to the programs and decorations were half the fun. Many Officers and Senior Staff had their wives on board, and it was altogether an enjoyable occasion.

[Micmac]

Hi David-

 

We have done 7 Christmas cruises so far - on HAL we have had no issues. The 2 times we were on another line, HUGE problems.

 

As others have posted - you will want to think about several things before deciding on a Christmas cruise. There is definitely a trade off from your traditional Christmas activities. After the first Christmas cruise, I learned to enjoy my NEW traditions. Christmas eve crew show with carols from around the world, Santa boarding the ship in various ingenious methods, drinking eggnog while lying in the sun listening to carols, dressing up for dinner that I didn't have to cook or clean - choices of hundreds of Christmas trees for pictures.

 

While there have always been children, I have been fortunate on my HAL cruises to experience none of the problems others seemed to have encountered.

 

Maybe try it once since it was such a good deal then you can decide if it is for you or not.

 

Happy Travels-

 

Michelle

[world~citizen]

We sailed Christmas/New years on the Amsterdam. It was an 21 day South America/Antarctic cruise. It was the best cruise we have ever taken. (there were no children on our cruise btw)

 

Having said that, all of the comments above are really truly worth consideration.

 

It depends on your itinerary and how you feel about being away over the holidays.

 

I say this because it was a tough decision for us to make, but I am glad we did. Really glad.

 

Hope this helps.

 

Smooth sailing...

[Comptech]

We (DW and I) Mostly cruise over the holidays. This is a great time for us because the college we work at is closed during this time and we are off anyway. We love to spend the time away from all of the normal holiday hassles and let someone else cook dinner. We have never found that a Christmas cruise is intolerable. We tend to book 10 day or longer cruises over this time and I think that limits the number of children on board. The ships are decorated beautifully for the holidays and it is a nice time to cruise. This year we are doing the Ryndam 14 Day Mexico cruise and I can not wait....:D

[Djptcp]

DH and I have cruised at Christmas several times only because we then didn't need to use as much vacation with several holiday days. Still great vacations, but we didn't enjoy them quite as much, however, because there are just too many kids on board. We sailed on the Zuiderdam at Christmas several years ago thinking it wouldn't have as many kids; but there were still too many, although not as bad as our Christmas cruises on Carnival. Most of the kids behave, but there are always those few who don't think the rules apply to them and there are no parents in sight. I would think twice about booking another Christmas cruise unless the price was hard to beat.