Christmas Cruises

[invisible777]

Hi,

 

I tried to use the Search but it never works... was just wondering if anyone here who has been on a Christmas Cruise would be able to describe some of the cool stuff they may do on the ship... I'll be on Mariner going Eastern C. leaving Christmas Eve!

 

Thanks!!

[cruzobsessed]

hi invisible, have been on several christmas cruises and just so happens......:rolleyes: we'll be on yours as well.

so....who are you? who's in your group? how many cruises have you taken and WHY HAVEN'T YOU POSTED ON OUR ROLL CALL? o.k. enough of the 3rd degree and back to your original question:)

1st of all....the ship is decorated beautifully. on christmas day, santa pays the kids a visit and everyone gets a gift. christmas day is usually the day at sea and if i remember correctly it is the 1st of 2 formal nights and the meal is a "roast dinner".

there are services and carrollers onboard and it is very festive. having said that.....we're jewish so we might not be the best people to ask this question of.

we are 2 families traveling together. my family is from new jersey as well. i'm 50, DH is 61, and 2 teen sons. the other family (who we've cruised with before and we met on cruise critic!!) is from england and they have a daughter (13) and son (15).

hope to see you soon on the roll call thread

[w8ng 2 cruise]

Hey invisible777.....

 

Here is the link to our Mariner Christmas Roll Call!

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=367319&page=4

 

C'mon join us!

[Jakie710]

Our last Christmas Cruise on Mariner was great -- but I did have one compliant. No offense to the Jewish cruisers, but the ship seemed much more interested in celebrating Hannukah than Christmas. While I have no problem with celebrating them both equally, they went to the extreme in not even planning a Christmas or Christmas Eve service while there were Hannukah celebrations every night. Luckily there was a Baptist minister who asked if they could give him a space in which to hold a service and we had a very nice (albeit small since no one knew about it) service and sang some carols and had some Bible readings. Also, a Methodist minister I knew from the church I used to attend was there and he and his family joined us Christmas Day. We had to check with the front desk and they had to "find out" from about three people before they could tell us yes, there was one in the very bottem of the ship in a tiny cold room that wasn't being used.

The ship is beautiful and my son (10) who was above such things as Santa Claus still humored me and posed with him and recieved a great RC backpack. We recieved a nice rolling carryon left in our cabin and a set of eight dessert plates with the logos of the voyager ships. (From what I understand, different cabins get different gifts and those plates where HEAVY!) There are a lot of families, but not as bad as Spring Break IMO.

ENJOY!

[RDeagazio]

I've cruised the holidays on RCI for the past 15 yrs and the ships were always very festive and decorated beautifully. The only disappointment was last yr on the Explorer- this ship wasn't very festive nor was it decorated that much. They also did not give special Christmas gifts to each cabin like on the previous years.

[w8ng 2 cruise]

I've cruised the holidays on RCI for the past 15 yrs and the ships were always very festive and decorated beautifully. The only disappointment was last yr on the Explorer- this ship wasn't very festive nor was it decorated that much. They also did not give special Christmas gifts to each cabin like on the previous years.

 

Bummer!:(

 

Well, I hope the Mariner (12/24/06) keeps its traditional festive decor and celebrations! ...... the gifts are a nice touch too!

 

I believe Hanukkah falls on December 16-23 of this year. The Hanukkah celebration will probably take place on the cruise before this one. JMHO

[jenny368]

We did a Christmas Cruise 2 years ago. The cruise lines are very careful not to offend anyone. I was a bit disappointed until a friend of mine explained this to me. There are so many different races, religions, origins on board (including staff and passengers) that they are very careful not to offend anyone. Yes, Santa did visit and the ship was beautifully decorated but not what I expect for a Christmas cruise. Remember that this is a holiday cruise and not strictly a Christmas cruise. If you go into this with an open mind you won't be disappointed like I was. Don't get me wrong. We still had a fabulous cruise but we just won't do this again and be gone on Christmas Day until our kids are grown.

[maxs mom]

Hi Invisible!

 

We are on your cruise as well. Please join our roll call. This will be our first holiday cruise and we are looking forward to it. I believe we will be on Coco Cay on Christmas Day. What fun! Looking forward to chatting with you on the roll call. Come on over!

[cruzobsessed]

last christmas on the serenade.....the atrium was stunningly decorated. the entrance to the schooner bar had an entire village made out of gingerbread at the entrance. it was fantastic. on christmas eve as well as christmas day there were people (i believe from the entertanment staff) dressed festively and singing carrolls.

i know for sure that there were services that were posted in the compass and a sign up sheet in the library for anyone who wanted to participate in anything "chanukah'ish".

santa was there in the atrium on christmas day and all the passengers received a gift. after reading the other posts i thought that i didn't have a clear memory but i asked my family.

[GMoney]

Here's what HAL is doing for the holidays. I'm sailing the 11night Noordam.

 

http://www.hollandamerica.com/media/newsRelease.do?fileName=/200609/21_Corporate_01.xml

[sandune]

Does anyone know when they actually do decorate the ships? We are on Jewel-Dec 2,2006 out of Ft Lauderdale....I am hoping that it is all decked out by then. :confused: Susie

[WendyinOC]

I was on Monarch 04 holiday sailing.

Santa came by speedboat! Very cool for the kids!

Our gift was a nice overnight luggage piece.

I went to Midnight mass on a cruise ship!

It was beautiful with over 15 Christmas trees.

Watched Elf in the showroom on Christmas Day.

They also had a nice Holiday dinner and Holiday show.

 

I really enjoyed the Holiday Cruise. The staff was not as friendly since they missed their family. Tip bring a Christmas tree! I had a little one on our table in the room.

Also, we did not exchange gifts due to the cruise. I compared my bill from 05 and the cruise was cheaper! It was nice to spend time with my family.

[ladylawyer]

DH and I did a Christmas cruise on the Vision, a couple of years ago. On Christmas Eve, people gathered on the balconies around the Centrum (3 or 4 decks) and we sang Chrismas carols ... while it snowed down the Centrum! OK, it was *foam snow* ... but it was really pretty. I still have my RCI Book of Carols.

 

I was on the Monarch, last year, a couple of weeks before Christmas. It was very decorated ... both for Christmas and Chanukah.

[cruzobsessed]

where are you? there are 3 of us chatting on our "roll call".

where are the rest of our fellow passengers?:confused:

[w8ng 2 cruise]

.

Hey Cheryl! Love your new avatar! lol

 

.

.

Wondering where all Freedom's First Christmas Cruisers are?

 

C'mon ..... join the Roll Call!

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=424047

[ladyw]

We did the Christmas cruise on the NCL sun last year. I think you have to make it fun and festive yourself. The ship was decorated (trees, and large gingerbread houses). But nothing like I was hoping for either. But for us, we decorated out door with ribbon, so that it was like a present and added christmas cards. We bought a cheap plastic mini tree and at each port stop bought an ornament that we added to the tree. We brought twinkle lights to put up in our room. For the first 2 days we were the only ones on our floor (aft) that had anything. After the first day in port, almost all of the doors had something.

The best thing my DD and I did (that I will never forget) WE went to the Midnight mass on Xmas eve (we are catholic). It started out pretty sad (not many people -- less than 100), but as mass went on the theater filled up with crew and ships officers (including the captain). By communion the theater was packed with crew and it was the most fulfilling service I had ever been too. Here we were not a ship with guests and crew, but 1 group celebrating the mass together. I just can't explain it, but even my 10 year old thought that it was really cool.

 

So don't worry about decorations -- just go and have a great time!

[sisocialworker]

I'm doing a 12 night panama christmas /new year cruise for 12/07. we only have 3 people posting. it can't be that earlier, can it???

come on by

 

barry

[Creole Girl]

We sailed on a New Year's cruise on Carnival for our honeymoon. When we came aboard on the 30th they still had the Christmas decorations up, but they were down by the 31st.

 

This year for our 5 year anniversary we are doing the 8 night eastern caribbean on the Radiance that departs 12/23. I am excited on two parts. First, to be away for Christmas because my husband and I have never been apart from our families during the holidays. Second, this is our first RCI cruise and I am looking forward to the experience of sailing a new line.

[nanfromatlanta]

We sailed on a New Year's cruise on Carnival for our honeymoon. When we came aboard on the 30th they still had the Christmas decorations up, but they were down by the 31st.

 

This year for our 5 year anniversary we are doing the 8 night eastern caribbean on the Radiance that departs 12/23. I am excited on two parts. First, to be away for Christmas because my husband and I have never been apart from our families during the holidays. Second, this is our first RCI cruise and I am looking forward to the experience of sailing a new line.

 

Don't forget to sign up for the Meet & Mingle. You will love the Radiance. This will be our third time on her, and the second time during Christmas.