Christmas and New Years OnBoard.

[Robjame]

We are deposited on a Riviera Caribbean Christmas and New Years cruise and wondering what it is like onboard?

is it very low key as cruisers are trying to escape festivities or are there special events and meals?

New Years dances? Parties?

We notice Dom Perignon Reserve is offered Christmas Day and New Years Eve which got us thinking.

 

Thanks for sharing any experiences you may have had.

[KS&JW]

I did this cruise in 2018. For Christmas there was a special dinner in the Grand Dining Room.  It was overwhelmed with most people on the ship trying to get in.  There was a New Years Eve party on the pool deck.  We did not stay long so don't know how long it lasted.  There were a few Christmas trees and wreaths scattered about, but not excessive.   You knew it was the holidays but it was still quiet, in that Oceania way. 

[Brentwood Bay]

We had a wonderful Christmas/New Years on the 2019/2020 circumnavigation of Australia aboard Regatta.  The ship was tastefully decorated with festive adornments (Christmas trees, Gingerbread Village, cards/messages on cabin doors etc).  The MDR hosted seasonal fare (turkey, ham, Christmas pudding etc) for Christmas Eve and Day.  There was a great evening party on the pool deck for New Year's Eve.  The hot tubs were drained and filled as giant ice buckets with complimentary "champagne".  The excellent house band played for several hours.  New Years paraphernalia (hats/masks/horns/whistles etc) were provided.  All in all a super party finally winding down after midnight.  We danced and danced under there stars.  Covid protocols will probably impact celebrations in the near term.

[BrocktonCruiser]

We spent a lovely Christmas on Insignia in 2019.  The ship had tasteful decorations and trees.  On Christmas Eve there were carols in the atrium and a visit from Santa Claus with gifts for each of the handful of children on board.  Oceania left a small commemorative gift in our Penthouse as well.  Bakers put out a spread of holiday cookies and Gingerbread houses.  We were in the Caribbean, so also enjoyed some Christmas decor and shopping in our ports of call.  It was festive, yet not over the top.  We thoroughly enjoyed it.

 

[Robjame]

8 minutes ago, Brentwood Bay said:

 Covid protocols will probably impact celebrations in the near term.

 

You had me hooked..... then you had to add that last sentence! LOL

 

😪

[IWantToLiveOverTheSea]

6 hours ago, Brentwood Bay said:

We had a wonderful Christmas/New Years on the 2019/2020 circumnavigation of Australia aboard Regatta.  The ship was tastefully decorated with festive adornments (Christmas trees, Gingerbread Village, cards/messages on cabin doors etc).  The MDR hosted seasonal fare (turkey, ham, Christmas pudding etc) for Christmas Eve and Day.  There was a great evening party on the pool deck for New Year's Eve.  The hot tubs were drained and filled as giant ice buckets with complimentary "champagne".  The excellent house band played for several hours.  New Years paraphernalia (hats/masks/horns/whistles etc) were provided.  All in all a super party finally winding down after midnight.  We danced and danced under there stars.  Covid protocols will probably impact celebrations in the near term.

That was my last Oceania cruise, and such a fabulous one!  I can be a bit of a scrooge when it comes to New Year's Eve.  But even I had a lot of fun that night.  And Santa got on in Bali for Christmas...

[IWantToLiveOverTheSea]

Somewhere between Adelaide and our next port, we said hello to 2020 with big ice sculptures.  Little did we know what 2020 would bring....ugh.   

[clo]

10 hours ago, KS&JW said:

There were a few Christmas trees and wreaths scattered about, but not excessive.   You knew it was the holidays but it was still quiet, in that Oceania way. 

We were on Marina pre-Christmas and that's how I would describe it. Very nice.

[cruiseaholic78]

Its quite a way away but this really makes me look forward to our circumnavigation Australia on the Regatta in 2022.

Rosalyn

[Robjame]

2 hours ago, cruiseaholic78 said:

Its quite a way away but this really makes me look forward to our circumnavigation Australia on the Regatta in 2022.

Yes it’s wonderful to have something to look forward to - particularly when the cruise news is so changeable.

 

Thank you to all who have shared their memories and pictures.

[Mrs f.]

13 hours ago, cruiseaholic78 said:

Its quite a way away but this really makes me look forward to our circumnavigation Australia on the Regatta in 2022.

Rosalyn

Hopefully we shall get there

[PhD-iva]

On 9/2/2021 at 5:15 PM, IWantToLiveOverTheSea said:

Somewhere between Adelaide and our next port, we said hello to 2020 with big ice sculptures.  Little did we know what 2020 would bring....ugh.   

Fabulous! Thx for sharing!

[GeezerCouple]

On 9/2/2021 at 11:36 AM, BrocktonCruiser said:

We spent a lovely Christmas on Insignia in 2019.  The ship had tasteful decorations and trees.  On Christmas Eve there were carols in the atrium and a visit from Santa Claus with gifts for each of the handful of children on board.  Oceania left a small commemorative gift in our Penthouse as well.  Bakers put out a spread of holiday cookies and Gingerbread houses.  We were in the Caribbean, so also enjoyed some Christmas decor and shopping in our ports of call.  It was festive, yet not over the top.  We thoroughly enjoyed it.

 

[emphasis added]

 

We were on Oceania several Christmas/New Years Eves ago, for a Caribbean cruise.

 

The bolded section above from BrocktonCruiser captures it perfectly!

it was exactly what we would have hoped for and expected from Oceania.  Definitely a holiday atmosphere, but "not over the top".  The NYE party around the pool was just right.  Some NYE supplies, some bubbly, and a generally happy and festive vibe.

 

Alas, the two special holiday dinners seemed underwhelming.  For one of them someone at our table had something like fish (it was very pale in color, which is part of this issue), and there were white potatoes, on a white plate. Nothing for contrast.  Not even a sprig of parsley or perhaps even a few decorative red/green dots somewhere??.  It was the most boring presentation, and for a [not!] festive holiday meal?  And we both felt that our meals - the food - those two main evenings were... mediocre...

We thought they must have been rushing too much to get everyone in? It was definitely *not* the same as other dinners.  Typically we *really* enjoy all of the meals.

 

However, we wouldn't hesitate to go on another Oceania holiday cruise.  Fortunately, DH decided to take time off when it was *not* "holiday time", so for the next cruise, we went just before Christmas, avoiding lots of the holiday rush and crowds, including at airports and hotels.

 

We seem to have started a new tradition, for us, of taking that pre-holiday cruise in early December more recently.  Our most recent cruise was on a different line, in New Zealand and Australia.  That ended in mid-December, 2019, and ... well... 2020 arrived... 😞

 

GC

[WESTEAST]

On 9/2/2021 at 8:36 AM, BrocktonCruiser said:

We spent a lovely Christmas on Insignia in 2019.  The ship had tasteful decorations and trees.  On Christmas Eve there were carols in the atrium and a visit from Santa Claus with gifts for each of the handful of children on board.  Oceania left a small commemorative gift in our Penthouse as well.  Bakers put out a spread of holiday cookies and Gingerbread houses.  We were in the Caribbean, so also enjoyed some Christmas decor and shopping in our ports of call.  It was festive, yet not over the top.  We thoroughly enjoyed it.

 

Agree with above posting. We also enjoyed our holiday cruise onboard the Sirena along the Pacific coast.  One warning, we ate in the GDR on Christmas Eve and when we saw turkey dinner with the trimmings on the menu, we asked if turkey would be served again on Christmas Day.  To our surprise, turkey was only on the menu for Christmas Eve.   Our PH experienced faulty plumbing and drenched our closet carpeting. Luckily, no damage to our clothes/shoes. Oceania (GM) apologized and provided SBC and wine for our inconvenience. 

[Robjame]

If you had a chance to do the Dom Perignon Experience at La Reserve, would you choose to do it December 25 or December 31?

[Kate-AHF]

New Year's eve.

 

[BBQ Lover]

We were on Riviera's last Christmas cruise. There was some decorations scattered around the ship, a Christmas Eve show in the theater, Santa in the atrium on Christmas morning, and special dinners in The MDR. As someone else has already said, The MDR was overwhelmed on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day, which made the special meals kind of underwhelming. Our room steward also left us a Christmas gift on our bed for Christmas Eve turn down service. It was a nice little clock.

 

We did not stay up late enough for New Year's Eve festivities. There was a sea day brunch on Jan 2.

 

Everything was pretty low key and we had fun. Our flights to Miami were double what they would normally cost.

 

 

[maccrate]

We were on Panama Canal Transit voyage during the holidays of 2019.  Very Christmasy on board with Gingerbread Village up the whole time, carolers daily, etc.  Christmas brunch was wonderfully done, no holds barred.  New Year's Eve celebration was in the theatre.  Very nice.  Oceania style, but all of the crew not on duty got to participate for awhile; very fun.

[jwitt2]

We were on our first Oceania cruise on the Riviera over the holidays almost 8 years ago. My birthday falls during this time. Our friends had gone the previous year and raved about it. The ship was beautifully decorated and there were special events. We were surprised at how many children were on board, because we had heard they don't usually travel on Oceania, even at the holidays. There were almost 100, so they had to hire special staff for them because there normally are no programs for children. Some of them didn't go to those activities though and seemed to be underfoot. There was a nice visit with Santa for them complete with presents. On New Years Eve, many of them were running around up in the lounge on the dance floor which was annoying. We went on the holiday cruise on the QM2 several years ago and it was not as overwhelmed with children. We probably won't do Oceania over the holidays again. 

[BrocktonCruiser]

1 hour ago, jwitt2 said:

We were on our first Oceania cruise on the Riviera over the holidays almost 8 years ago. My birthday falls during this time. Our friends had gone the previous year and raved about it. The ship was beautifully decorated and there were special events. We were surprised at how many children were on board, because we had heard they don't usually travel on Oceania, even at the holidays. There were almost 100, so they had to hire special staff for them because there normally are no programs for children. Some of them didn't go to those activities though and seemed to be underfoot. There was a nice visit with Santa for them complete with presents. On New Years Eve, many of them were running around up in the lounge on the dance floor which was annoying. We went on the holiday cruise on the QM2 several years ago and it was not as overwhelmed with children. We probably won't do Oceania over the holidays again. 

We did Christmas 2019 on Insignia and had only 6 children on board and I only saw any of them at the special visit from Santa when they received gifts.

  I think the experience of 100 is  likely an anomaly.  

[Harters]

OK, reading this thread has convinced me to add a Christmas cruise to the bucket list. Due to family circumstances, we've never been away from home over the festive period. But, things have changed and next year we'll be in Spain for two weeks - flying out on 21/12 and returning 31/12. And we have plans for the following year for a luxury hotel break in the UK. Both ideas have been on the bucket list for years. But the year after that.........

[Robjame]

16 hours ago, jwitt2 said:

We were surprised at how many children were on board, because we had heard they don't usually travel on Oceania, even at the holidays. There were almost 100, so they had to hire special staff for them because there normally are no programs for children. Some of them didn't go to those activities though and seemed to be underfoot.

That is so interesting. Thanks for sharing. 

This year, 2021, might be a good year for Christmas on Oceania as, at this point in time, no unvaccinated persons are being accepted as guests. This would seem to exclude children under 12 as I know of no children being vaccinated in this age group.  

[Kate-AHF]

33 minutes ago, Robjame said:

That is so interesting. Thanks for sharing. 

This year, 2021, might be a good year for Christmas on Oceania as, at this point in time, no unvaccinated persons are being accepted as guests. This would seem to exclude children under 12 as I know of no children being vaccinated in this age group.  

 

FWIW, Dec 2019 on Marina.... there were very, very few children on board.  So much so, I don't remember a single child other than the Santa visitation in the atrium.  Which was fun.

[clo]

On 9/14/2021 at 8:25 AM, Kate-AHF said:

 

FWIW, Dec 2019 on Marina.... there were very, very few children on board.  So much so, I don't remember a single child other than the Santa visitation in the atrium.  Which was fun.

We were there pre-Christmas and I remember one pre-teen boy with his dad. Nice guy.

[watercruise]

Do guests get more dressed up on Christmas Eve and New Years Eve?