Celebrity Cruises - Christmas Cruise

[FunandSunPeeps]

Okay....this is our 1st Christmas Cruise. What can we expect on a Celebrity Ship during the holiday season?

[jgnova]

Okay....this is our 1st Christmas Cruise. What can we expect on a Celebrity Ship during the holiday season?

 

See scanned copies of the dailies from our cruise last year - linked in our signature below.

 

j

[eponine1974]

My husband and I cruise with his family every year for Christmas (we will be on the Eclipse this year as well!). Last year we were on the Solstice. You can expect a pretty full ship, with more families and kids than at other times during the year since most schools are on vacation. But you can also expect a very festive atmosphere, with the ship decorated and lots of Christmas music. It's unfortunate that this year Christmas is on the very last day as we will have to worry about packing and disembarking. But it will also make it so that the entire trip has the "holiday feel." You will love it - we do!

[drfun48]

One of the things I've enjoyed on Christmas cruises was caroling with passengers and crew followed by Midnight mass -Santa arrives for gifts and pix in the a.m.

[kelmac]

Our first Holiday cruise with Celebrity was back in 1993. It was Lauren's first cruise and I wanted to make it special -- We Loved every minute!

 

Since 2002, we have cruised every Holiday. We've done the Century, the Veendam, the Volendam, the Galaxy, a BtoB matching the Millennium and Westerdam, the Maasdam, the Constellation, Oceania's Regatta and this year Cunard's Queen Mary 2.

 

We don't even remember what it is like to spend the Holidays at home any more. Certainly, a new tradition for us! For 2011, I just found a "smoken deal" on Oceania's new ship the Marina.

 

There is just something very special spending winter break at sea in the Caribbean. Seems like we use to spend about the same amount of money staying home and doing the whole holiday thing!

 

Enjoy!

Kel:)

[Infi]

Since 2002, we have cruised every Holiday. We've done the Century, the Veendam, the Volendam, the Galaxy, a BtoB matching the Millennium and Westerdam, the Maasdam, the Constellation, Oceania's Regatta and this year Cunard's Queen Mary 2.

 

Kel:)

 

Kelmac, how would you describe or compare the Celebrity and HAL holiday experiences? We have cruised Princess for the last three Christmases and have been very pleased with (and probably a little spoiled by!) all of their little holiday touches and activities. Lately we have been considering itineraries on X and HAL for next December. What kind of activities and things do X and HAL do for the holiday?

[kelmac]

Kelmac, how would you describe or compare the Celebrity and HAL holiday experiences? We have cruised Princess for the last three Christmases and have been very pleased with (and probably a little spoiled by!) all of their little holiday touches and activities. Lately we have been considering itineraries on X and HAL for next December. What kind of activities and things do X and HAL do for the holiday?

 

Hi Infi,

 

Both Celebrity and HAL break out all the decorations; prepare specials menus; and make a big deal out of Santa hitting the ship for the little guys.

Celebrity's New Years' parties are the best! Both lines are very similar in most areas, however, Celebrity wins in overall in cuisine! Having said that, I like HAL's Turkey dishes a bit better. Both lines do the sing along caroling on the 24th and gifts for the children early on the 25th.

 

Can't make a mistake with either line!

Enjoy!

Kel:)

[Infi]

Hi Infi,

 

Both Celebrity and HAL break out all the decorations; prepare specials menus; and make a big deal out of Santa hitting the ship for the little guys.

Celebrity's New Years' parties are the best! Both lines are very similar in most areas, however, Celebrity wins in overall in cuisine! Having said that, I like HAL's Turkey dishes a bit better. Both lines do the sing along caroling on the 24th and gifts for the children early on the 25th.

 

Can't make a mistake with either line!

Enjoy!

Kel:)

 

Thanks, Kelmac - that's exactly the kind of info I was looking for. :) We really like what Princess does for the holidays (DD is a big fan of their gingerbread house building contest) and were hoping X and HAL had those special touches too. Love both lines in general and it sounds like they do a nice job on the holidays, so deciding between them will be tough!

[jgnova]

Beyond what's already been mentioned, I recall a door decorating contest and a "Twelve Days of Christmas" themed scavenger hunt. For each day, the contest was to find something on the ship that had a connection to the song. I think that they stuck something on one of the pieces of artwork for one day. The daily TV show had each day's clue and the answer for the previous day.

 

j

[DCguys]

Our Ecilpse cruise is at the beginning of Dec, will we get any holiday decor?

[adlrc]

The Celebrity line has changed drastically, the food is less than 2 stars - just came back from seven days aboard the Summit - everyone was complaining about the food in the dining room and the buffetts. they served heinz bake beans for breakfast - compressed something together and called it sausage for breakfast - keep running out of pancakes, the buffet at night remained the same everyday - chinese food and curry indian food....the stir fry got my friends sick from the buffet - we sent more dinners back at the dining room than we ate - when my husband finally threw a plate across the table, the matre d could not identify what was on it - the restaurant manager came to our table and offered to cook for us - whatever we wanted - it didnot win us over- i had eighteen on the cruise and no one wants to go back -

tile is falling everywhere inthe pool area, the handrails are splintered, the doors were dirty and rugs were work and dirty -

 

in essence, celebrity has become Royal Carribean - what a shame !!!

no longer even a three star.:mad: