15 day Christmas?NYear's Cruise??

[pris993]

Considering doing a holiday cruise. We have never done one. Love being home for the holidays but a holiday cruise might be fun too.

 

Wondering a longer cruise, 15 days would be less likely to be over run with kids? Have read some reveiws of holiday cruises in the past that did not sound like they were as wonderful as they could be with kids running wild.

 

So thought I ask those of you who have done a holiday cruise, especially longer ones what your experience has been.

[1 HappyCruiser]

If you seriously want to cruise at that time of the year it's doubtful they'll be 400-600 kids aboard like a 7 or 10 day trip. It much to expensive an option for most families.

[MicCanberra]

If you seriously want to cruise at that time of the year it's doubtful they'll be 400-600 kids aboard like a 7 or 10 day trip. It much to expensive an option for most families.

Agree, Xmas on board is quite special but really only for the one day, pre and post xmas is just like other cruise days.:D

[Gabrielle R.]

My DH & I cruise every year at Christmas/New Years- have done this for the past 10 years. We don't have kids and both of us work in schools, so our only common time off is at this time. We found that longer cruises have less kids. The ship is nicely decorated. Christmas Eve and Christmas Day they do some special things. Caroling in the atrium on Christmas Eve. Special dinner on Christmas Day. Santa DOES show up for the kids on board. It really is cute to see the kids. OK, I'll admit I like to see Santa. (By the way I'm a high school teacher so for me to say it is cute, I am being honest, I don't like to spend a lot of time around 'little kids'.)

It always seems like the kids are kept busy. Some ships do a better job of keeping kids busy than others. HAL actually ws the worse for not keeping kids busy. RCCL & Princess does a nice job. RCCL has more kids on board than does Princess. (It seems like that is the case.)

Your cruise choice also depends on how far over Christmas break extends. In MN our time off starts the weekend of Dec. 22 and we are back by January 2 to school. So, if you go further into January OR if the trip starts earlier in the week of Dec. 17 you may have less kids too. Hope that answers a few of your concerns.

Gabrielle

[pris993]

Thanks for the info.

[Pythian]

We have done a 14 day Princess Thanksgiving (Panama Canal full transit) cruise that was super. We celebrated Thanksgiving day in the Panama canal. We have also done a 9 day Princess New Years cruise which was really fun. I'd guess the average age on the New Years cruise was a bit lower than normal, with a lot of folks in their 30's (some with kids) and others with their 20 something children in tow (well, the 20 something's seems to have a good time together).

 

I don't know if I'd be keen on a Christmas cruise, but I'll for sure do another New Years. Princess threw a fun party!

[Infi]

If you're looking to avoid kids on a holiday cruise, a 15 day itinerary is a great bet. We took a 14 day Panama Canal full transit last year and there were only 150 or so kids onboard, the least out of all of our holiday cruises. Other Christmas cruises (10 day Southerns) had anywhere from 400-500 kids. Princess does a good job of keeping the kids entertained in my experience, and the most you'll see of them is on Christmas day when Santa arrives, or when they have a kids' holiday fair in the atrium.

 

Princess does a great job with the holidays, as other posters have described above. Just wish they'd do a better job at varying their itineraries from year to year - we are running out of new options for this Christmas! :o

[geoherb]

We've taken several Christmas cruises. The 10-day ones have had fewer children than the 7-day ones, so a longer cruise should have even fewer. It also can be advantageous to pick an older, smaller ship. Family groups tend to go for the newer, larger ones.

[MicCanberra]

We've taken several Christmas cruises. The 10-day ones have had fewer children than the 7-day ones, so a longer cruise should have even fewer. It also can be advantageous to pick an older, smaller ship. Family groups tend to go for the newer, larger ones.

 

Unless you want to be around the families as you may be bringing your kids as well. Its horses for courses really.:D