Christmas cruises

[IRGolfer]

What special activities are usual on a Christmas cruise?

[Hlitner]

That would depend on the cruise line, ship, and the specific cruise director.  Out of our many cruises we have only done 1 Xmas cruise cruise and it was somewhat different then most other cruises because of the passenger demographics.  There was an unusual number of extended families aboard along with a different group of couples without children.  The activities aboard (it was a Carnival ship) were pretty typical of any cruise.  The crew did try to project the Christmas spirit with lots of onboard decorations and a roving Santa.

 

Hank

[whogo]

Years ago we had carols in the atrium, Santa arrived, presented Holland America backpack presents to children on the main stage while the photographer took pictures for sale. The ship was packed with people, lots of third and fourth beds filled in staterooms.

 

Holiday cruise prices are higher. I would do another if I could get out of decorating the house and all.

[donaldsc]

Lots of families w lots of kids running all over the place and taking up the pool.  Also probably higher fares because it is Christmas and people can take the cruises.  I personally would not want that atmosphere.  Think about it.  Go ahead - call me a Scrooge.

 

DON

[rkacruiser]

I have been fortunate in enjoying a few of these cruises on HAL and Princess.  Each ship does it a bit differently, but, all have been most enjoyable and memorable.  Examples of what have taken place:

 

Lighting the Tree Ceremony in the Atrium with Stewards serving Hot Chocolate, warm Apple Cider, and Christmas cookies.  The entertainment staff is present; carols are sung by those present.

 

Decorations throughout the ship with a Gingerbread Village, probably with a small train, round around the village.

 

Christmas Eve (and maybe Christmas morning) services for all who wish to attend.

 

A late night multi-national Christmas program may be presented with a Crew Choir(s) and the participation of the ship's Master.  

 

Christmas Morning presentation of Santa arriving (by video) in the Main Theater, Santa's attendance, and the children are all presented with a gift.  (On the Prinsendam, there were only a few children, but, there were many gifts.  The kids got more than one.)  (On one cruise, the CD asked each child what he/she wanted for Christmas as they approached Santa.  The older the child became, the more funny their requests were with one teen-age boy requesting something that he ought not to have requested.  The audience broke out in more laughter than I have heard when some comedians perform while the CD was nearly speechless.)  

 

Special Christmas Eve menus (maybe Christmas Day as well) with the Lido Restaurant's cookie area being well stocked with a variety of Christmas cookies including Gingerbread Men.  

 

Christmas music was played, but, not to excess.  Staff (Stewards, etc.) will probably be wearing Santa hats.   

 

On the original Royal Princess, tied to the top of the mast was a small pine tree.  

 

And, if Hanukkah is being celebrated at that time, there will be a Menorah and most likely a Rabbi.  

 

Christmas cruises may cost a bit more/day.  But, they are worth it in my opinion.  

 

 

 

 

[iancal]

We have done last minute Xmas cruises on Celebrity and on NCL.  They were slightly different but very much along the lines as described above.

 

On both a combo of extended families and older couples.  Just the two of us.   Do not remember poolside being a zoo....and we spent a fair amount of time there.  

 

The one downer for us was both times we felt sorry for the crew who were so far away from their families.   We were too however it was by choice.

[navybankerteacher]

On QM2 out of New York Cunard had a lot of seasonal accents:  a huge tree in the atrium, caroling, Santa, fancy Christmas dinner, etc.  There were quite a few families with children.  One thing I did not really understand was the set of characters from "The Wind in the Willows" centered around the Christmas -tree - with no logical Christmas connection at all.

 

It was really more of a Winter festival than a Christmas theme -- but, then, Christmas is increasingly becoming a shoppertunity and folk festival rather than retaining any real tradtional meaning.

[rkacruiser]

1 hour ago, CHPURSER said:

Your mileage may vary.

 

As mine has.  

 

2 hours ago, iancal said:

we felt sorry for the crew who were so far away from their families. 

 

On YouTube, there is a video titled "Westerdam Crew Christmas Video".  Every time I watch it, particularly during the holidays, my eyes become moist.

[whogo]

10 hours ago, CHPURSER said:

I have worked 32 of the past 34 Christmas Cruises, on ships ranging from Mass Market to Luxury, small to very large, and very old to very new.

Great post, CHSPURSER.

[SbbquilterUT]

We have sailed earlier in December and loved it - ship is decorated beautifully.  We did one holiday cruise - carols were sung, Chanukah was observed and there were hoards of large family groups with hoards of kids who seemed to take over many of the public spaces/bars as if they were the only passengers on board.  Having said that we do love. Raising early December or January .

[ldubs]

3 hours ago, SbbquilterUT said:

We have sailed earlier in December and loved it - ship is decorated beautifully.  We did one holiday cruise - carols were sung, Chanukah was observed and there were hoards of large family groups with hoards of kids who seemed to take over many of the public spaces/bars as if they were the only passengers on board.  Having said that we do love. Raising early December or January .

 

I'm not following.  If a large group wants to be in a public space, what should they not do or do differently? 

[donaldsc]

4 hours ago, SbbquilterUT said:

We have sailed earlier in December and loved it - ship is decorated beautifully.  We did one holiday cruise - carols were sung, Chanukah was observed and there were hoards of large family groups with hoards of kids who seemed to take over many of the public spaces/bars as if they were the only passengers on board.  Having said that we do love. Raising early December or January .

 

If you decide to cruise at any time when kids are not in school or on a school holiday, you will have "hoards" [sic] of kids and families.  That is the nature of cruising.  They have as much right to be in public spaces as you do.  That is one reason that I travel on lines and ships and also on longer cruises which tend to have fewer kids.  

 

DON

[SbbquilterUT]

On 5/25/2022 at 4:39 PM, ldubs said:

 

I'm not following.  If a large group wants to be in a public space, what should they not do or do differently? 

I realize how that sounds - sorry.  In that case they would camp out in the lounge all day long making it difficult to even sit and have a drink without feeling like we were disrupting their family party.

[navybankerteacher]

On 5/25/2022 at 6:39 PM, ldubs said:

 

I'm not following.  If a large group wants to be in a public space, what should they not do or do differently? 

Members of groups tend to amplify their presence -- three family members might have a conversation, but thirty of them - on a reunion - are likely to be significantly louder, and overwhelm smaller gatherings.

[pris993]

I have cruised in December.  Have done New Year cruises too enjoyed a lot.  This year, doing first Christmas and New Year cruise.  Travelling with small group of seniors, 6 of us.   One of the things I learned years ago, if something is not working or enjoyable, do something different.    Say that reference large groups.  I guess if I run into this issue, I will look for less crowded areas to enjoy, some areas of a ship are less used than others.  Will see how it goes.   Really love how decorated the ships are during the holidays.    I am lucky will be going out of home port so don't have to fly and I am not looking for snow.  Happy Holidays and Happy Cruising. 

[rkacruiser]

19 hours ago, pris993 said:

Say that reference large groups.  I guess if I run into this issue, I will look for less crowded areas to enjoy, some areas of a ship are less used than others.  Will see how it goes.   Really love how decorated the ships are during the holidays.

 

The ships are beautiful!  And, there is just enough Christmas music so that it does not become excessive.  (At least for me.)  

 

I should have done what you suggest on NYE aboard Royal Princess.  Three different venues for the NYE party and I chose the one where hundreds and hundreds of my "closest" friends chose.  

[pris993]

5 hours ago, rkacruiser said:

 

The ships are beautiful!  And, there is just enough Christmas music so that it does not become excessive.  (At least for me.)  

 

I should have done what you suggest on NYE aboard Royal Princess.  Three different venues for the NYE party and I chose the one where hundreds and hundreds of my "closest" friends chose.  

What venue was that on the Royal?  I will be on the Royal this NYE.  Will try to avoid it, LOL.  By the way, we did a TA on the Royal some years ago, sat on the rail of the Champagne bar, at a table for 2,  to watch some activities one night.  Would never do that again.  We had folks literally hanging over our shoulders with drinks in their hands to see what was going on down below.  My DH had on a white dinner jacket, he finally told one woman to back up before she spilled her drink on him.   

[rkacruiser]

18 hours ago, pris993 said:

What venue was that on the Royal?  I will be on the Royal this NYE.  Will try to avoid it, LOL

 

The Atrium.  The issue was, at least for me, that's where the balloon drop was going to be at Midnight.  Lots of musical entertainment preceded the Midnight hour.  It was a good party atmosphere.  I had a seat in one of the lounges that I had selected because I thought it would provide me a good view of the central part of the Atrium and as much of the ceiling as possible.  (Had planned to get a bar seat would would have had a better view of the Atrium, but,  there was no room at the bar.)  As the Midnight hour approached, more and more of my "closest friends" arrived.  One dare not leave one's seat; it wouldn't be there when one returned unless someone held it for you.  There were so many people standing in front of me that when the balloon drop occurred, I saw the balloons coming down and that was it.  I did consider moving to one of the higher decks that overlooked the Atrium (as you described), but, getting close to the rail?  Ha!  I'd have been 3-4 rows back, at least.  

 

There are advantages to these large ships, but, there surely are some disadvantages as well.  

[rkacruiser]

18 hours ago, pris993 said:

I will be on the Royal this NYE. 

 

Another experience that may be useful for you:

 

I had fixed seating dining for this cruise.  Arrived at the dining room at the appropriate time.  Could not be seated; gave me a pager; I went to a lounge and enjoyed another pre-dinner drink.  It was 2 hours (!) after I was given the pager for me to be called to dinner.  It was explained to me that there were so many who had been dining elsewhere (both open as well as fixed) that the dining rooms could not efficiently handle the crowds and they had to mix the open and fixed people to accommodate them all.  As a solo cruiser/diner this time:  I was "shuffled off to Buffalo" to use an old cliche where I was seated.  A small table set for one (only one chair), not my usual table/servers, service was slow/poor, and the food was disappointing.  

 

I recommend that if you are considering booking a specialty restaurant during your cruise, this would be a good night to do so.  I expect the restaurants' Maitre d's would have better control over their restaurant's dining operation than what I found in the MDR.

 

I know that I have "painted" a gloomy picture of NYE on Royal Princess, but, I want you to understand that I enjoyed it if for nothing more than it was another "cruising experience".  If this had been my first NYE at sea, I probably would have thought it was just simply wonderful.  

[Seasick Sailor]

We love Christmas cruising. We were on the new Rotterdam for 34 days Dec/Jan. We will be on the Rotterdam again 34 days this holiday as well. We didn't have any problems with dining. Specialty dining was busy but we never had to wait. Christmas trees, garland, music. Santa. It's fun!

 

 

[broadwaybaby123]

I volunteered to work in the kids club one year (I was studying to be a teacher) and I got to help the kids prepare for their Christmas Concert for the families.

[MBP&O2/O]

Like CHPURSER, I have worked many a Christmas at sea and been away from family etc. As a watchkeeping officer I very rarely had a drink, and still had meals at odd times, usually alone,  so Christmas was just like any other day at sea. One Christmas we crossed the IDL, advanced the clocks 24 hours and  thus cancelled Boxxing Day 😁

When I came ashore it was a similar scenario, but at least I saw the family.

As a passenger I think Xmas at sea would be amongst my worst nightmares .... not for me at all. 

[rkacruiser]

57 minutes ago, MBP&O2/O said:

Like CHPURSER, I have worked many a Christmas at sea and been away from family etc. As a watchkeeping officer I very rarely had a drink, and still had meals at odd times, usually alone,  so Christmas was just like any other day at sea. One Christmas we crossed the IDL, advanced the clocks 24 hours and  thus cancelled Boxxing Day 😁

When I came ashore it was a similar scenario, but at least I saw the family.

As a passenger I think Xmas at sea would be amongst my worst nightmares .... not for me at all. 

 

An interesting perspective.  Thank you for posting it.  

[pris993]

19 hours ago, MBP&O2/O said:

Like CHPURSER, I have worked many a Christmas at sea and been away from family etc. As a watchkeeping officer I very rarely had a drink, and still had meals at odd times, usually alone,  so Christmas was just like any other day at sea. One Christmas we crossed the IDL, advanced the clocks 24 hours and  thus cancelled Boxxing Day 😁

When I came ashore it was a similar scenario, but at least I saw the family.

As a passenger I think Xmas at sea would be amongst my worst nightmares .... not for me at all. 

 

20 hours ago, MBP&O2/O said:

Like CHPURSER, I have worked many a Christmas at sea and been away from family etc. As a watchkeeping officer I very rarely had a drink, and still had meals at odd times, usually alone,  so Christmas was just like any other day at sea. One Christmas we crossed the IDL, advanced the clocks 24 hours and  thus cancelled Boxxing Day 😁

When I came ashore it was a similar scenario, but at least I saw the family.

As a passenger I think Xmas at sea would be amongst my worst nightmares .... not for me at all. 

What is the point of your post?   

[pris993]

Just now, pris993 said:

 

What is the point of your post?   

Oh, now I see did not see last statement.  Passengers are not working, so totally different experience.