Thanksgiving Cruising

[jsion]

Has anyone taken a Carribbean cruise over the Thanksgiving holiday? I am interested in comments on weather, ship crowds, etc. Is this a good week to cruise?? Thank you!

[gizmo]

My Aunt has cruised on Hal many times over Thanksgiving. The ship are usually full and there are lots of kids.

[zaandam_2]

I was on the Zaandam 10 night last Thanksgiving. It was a sold-out ship. There were a few kids, but i wouldn't say a lot. Turkey was so-so (from a roll) but the sides were very good. It was fun explaining the meaning of Thanksgiving to my mostly Canadian table.

[ricksandy]

We did Thanksgiving 2004 on the Zaandam, Thanksgiving 2005 on the Zuiderdam and we are booked for Thanksgiving 2006 back on the Zuiderdam. It's the perfect time for us because we have a 13 year old daughter and she doesn't have to miss school. We enjoy the crowd make-up. I do believe that it is a little "younger" than a non-holiday week, but I think that would be true on any cruise line. There are absolutely kids, but I wouldn't even begin to say they were an annoyance or problem. We found the water temp. in the Western Caribbean to be a little chilly. It didn't stop us from swimming etc., just took a minute to get used to it. The Eastern Caribbean water temp was perfect. I agree with zaandam_2, the turkey is so-so, but everything else is awesome.

 

I, for one, never intend to cook my own Thanksgiving dinner again - or eat it on land!:D

[Bill S]

During Thanksgiving week of 2000, we sailed on the Maasdam to the E. Caribbean. We became fans of sailing over Thanksgiving. True, there were a higher number of kids on board than other cruises we have taken at other times, but our experience has been that in general the cruise staff does a decent job of keeping the kids entertained. We have done 2 more Thanksgiving cruises since then.

[molly361]

Thanks for the info- I am thinking of Thanksgiving 2007 but they are taking no booking as of yet- don't kow when they start for November 2007- Thanksgiving week is a good week to take off - only need to use 3 of those precious vacation days:D

[Krazy Kruizers]

We were on the Ryndam over Thanksgiving 2005 - there were quite a few children considering that this was a 10 day cruise.

 

We had special dinner menu that day.

 

The ports weren't crowded considering that we were doing a Mexican Riviera cruise.

[Djptcp]

DH and I used to mostly cruise the weeks of Thanksgiving or Christmas and sailed on the HAL Zaandam during Thanksgiving 2004. There were several hundred kids on board which we weren't expecting on HAL and the pool experience on "at sea" days were pretty much ruined for me. There were constant cannon balls, jumping, etc., plus infants with diapers in the pool. Despite that, we loved the Zaandam and everything about the HAL experience except for the unruly kids around the pools every day. So, we are now sailing at non-holiday times in hopes of not encountering so many kids and have booked the Zuiderdam for a week between Thanksgiving and Christmas this year.

We have always found the Caribbean weather during Thanksgiving week to be wonderful and would definitely recommend it. Have a great cruise!

6 days until our Celebration (Carnival) cruise :D

NCL - 1994, 1996, 1997, 2003

Holland America - 2004, 2006

Carnival - 1995, 1998, 2006

Royal Caribbean - 2002

[booboo29]

DH and I sailed on the Maasdam this past Thanksgiving and had a great cruise. There were a lot more children than I was used to and they needed more to keep them busy. The pool was closed on many of the sea days because of rough seas, so it seemed the kids were everywhere and VERY bored.

 

The Thanksgiving Dinner was OK, but if I sail over Thanksgiving again, I would get steak!:)

 

Jennifer

[flashdog_1]

I'm surprised at the comments that there are more children than usual on a 10-11 night cruise. Can they really take off from school so long?

 

I was on Summit for Thanksgiving 2004 and saw only one child. Perhaps Celebrity kept them busy in their activities.

 

I lived in St Thomas for 7 years and knew that it could be a rainy cruise, and it was, on and off, but mostly just foggy with lots of moisture but not hard rain. A meteorologist I'd met at breakfast said he stayed on his balcony to watch the lightning.

 

Although it's at the end of the hurricane season, judging from last year's erratic hurricane season, that is something else you must consider before booking a cruise in the Caribbean in November.

[booboo29]

I'm surprised at the comments that there are more children than usual on a 10-11 night cruise. Can they really take off from school so long?

quote]

 

Flashdog,

 

I was suprised by the number of kids on the 10 day cruise as well. I asked a couple of the Mom's how they managed to take the kids out of school for so long. They said they were within driving distance to Norfolk and their kids had a fall break for the whole week of Thanksgiving. Since the cruise left on Wednesday, the kids only missed 2 or 3 days of school.

 

Jennifer

[akur23]

We've done it twice, since DH's b-day is Nov. 20 and mine is Nov. 28th. It's never been too crowded, and they'll probably give you the Thanksgiving day menu as a souvenir. :D

[dsawyer]

We have done only 1 cruise at Thanksgiving. We personally did not like it because we are "Home for the Holidays" type of folk. We missed having Thanksgivng with family members. :(

 

Of course, not everyone is like us so I wouldn't advise against it.

 

I am looking into a New Years cruise, this year however. Its not so much a family holiday for us and I think it would be more fun than being on the road with the drunks. :D