Holiday cruising questions

[woollys]

Hi- I am trying to decide about taking a cruise that covers both Christmas and New Years. I want to give it to my mom as a gift but had a few questions.

Is it really worth it to pay the extra for the holiday cruises?? Do they have special dinners and such? Please advise- thanks:)

[lovelyladi]

There is one major problem (depending on your point of view of course...it could be a good thing) Lots of kids on board.

 

We have been on cruises where the number of kids running wild at Christmas holidays ruined the trip for everyone else (Tahitian Princess innaugural saling 2002) and times where it just added a family feel (but still kids in all pools and areas even though defined and posted as adult only...Celebrity Mercury Christmas 2005)

 

Check the percentage of passangers under age 18 (30 % is way too much)

 

Good luck and make your own decision

[caribill]

Do they have special dinners and such? Please advise- thanks:)

 

 

On Xmas they will have a special menu for dinner. SHip will be decorated with Xmas trees and other decorations. Some ships will have a gingerbread display.

 

On New Year's Eve they will celebrate both on the open deck (weather permitting) and in the atrium (piazza). Also likely that New Year's Eve will be a formal dress night for the dining rooms.

[Toto2Kansas]

Holiday Cruises are quite a bit higher in price. As said, lots and lots of families onboard and hundreds of children.

If your mom isn't dead set against cruises after the holidays, the prices are much better in January and the hundreds of kids will be back in school. ;) As a mom, IMHO, January sounds a heck of a lot better than over Christmas and New Years. ;)

We actually looked into a Holiday Cruise this year, and without even considering the higher prices, decided we would wait until after the kids go back to school. Spring Break one year was more than we could handle. We are sailing on January 2nd.

[karatemom2]

Well for us taking a cruise over Christmas and New Years was well worth it. It was a welcome break from the stress and demands of a holiday at home and allowed me to focus on just enjoying my family. There were lots of families with children onboard, but we found it wonderful. Most of the children were well behaved and just having a great time. It was lovely to be a part of it all.

 

Being onboard during the holidays just added so much to the whole experience. The ship was beautifully decorated, they had "snow" falling in the atrium on several evenings and there were many special Christmas/New Year activities. Here are just a few:

• Christmas crafts (pins, wreaths, bookmarks, etc.)

• Gingerbread House building competition judged by the Captain and Chef

• "Gift of the Magi" Special Holiday Production Show just for this cruise

• Caroling in the Atrium

• Virtual Fireplace on our Stateroom TV with constant Christmas music

• Christmas movies

• Christmas eve and Christmas morning religious services

• Holiday Fun Fair for kids (cookie decorating, games, face painting) and most importantly a visit from Santa Claus with a nice present for each child.

• New Year's Eve festivities all over the ship with hats, streamers, horns, champagne and balloon drop in the atrium.

 

There was a special feeling onboard, kind of like a big family celebration. I loved sitting in the atrium with my daughter singing Christmas carols with fellow passengers, officers and crew on Christmas Eve while the "snow" fell from above. At the risk of sounding completely sappy, it felt almost magical.

[ronl]

What do you think if you just took a New Year cruise? Leaving on the 30th and getting off on the 9th> do you think there will be a lot of kids on that cruise?

[karatemom2]

What do you think if you just took a New Year cruise? Leaving on the 30th and getting off on the 9th> do you think there will be a lot of kids on that cruise?

 

Many kids will be back in school before the 9th, so there would probably be less children during this time frame than the week of Christmas. However, since it's still the holidays, there will probably be some families with children onboard.

[karmacruiser]

I hope I'm not highjacking the thread by asking, but does anyone feel that cruises over Thanksgiving are equally busy? Thanks! We were trying to decide between Christmas and Thanksgiving for 2009. We don't mind the kdis but dislike long lines for anything.

[Toto2Kansas]

I hope I'm not highjacking the thread by asking, but does anyone feel that cruises over Thanksgiving are equally busy? Thanks! We were trying to decide between Christmas and Thanksgiving for 2009. We don't mind the kdis but dislike long lines for anything.

 

Anymore, each ship is sailing full. Lines will be there no matter what ship, what itineary you sail, or any time of the year.

During Holidays (especially Thanksgiving and Christmas) you will just find many more families and young children onboard in those lines.

[karmacruiser]

Thanks Toto. Do you think I would see the same mix on a 10 day cruise?

[lovelyladi]

Both of the cruises I spoke about at Christmas were 10+ days.....lots of kids. Now when I also had young children I kind of liked it because it was the only time we could all be together and the kids had playmates. it depends on what you want, but it is a different atmosphere than other times

[Toto2Kansas]

Thanks Toto. Do you think I would see the same mix on a 10 day cruise?

 

A 10 day Caribbean Cruise will still sail full...as all the others. (I swear anymore that except for the very long, exotic cruises, Princess ships all seem to sell out with waitlists for those wanting to be onboard).

 

We have found less families on a 10 day cruise compared to a 7 day, but it depends also on if you are talking Thanksgiving or Christmas and the actual date of the sailing. If it coincides with school breaks, then yes, you will still have hundreds of small children/families onboard.

Christmas seems to be the one that many target to cruise with families, plus the holiday sailing prices are quite a bit more than just before or after the Christmas Season.

Friends decided on a 10 Day Christmas Cruise a couple of years ago, they said they could handle it. They came back and said, NOPE, never going that route again, we just couldn't handle it.

So, it all depends on what you want in a cruise. If you are looking to sail mostly with adults and a hundred or so kids onboard, then any time but school breaks are the best time.

Personally, we are booked for January 2, 2009. Figured that would be a safer time to cruise on a 14 day itineary in the Caribbean (if that tells you anything). ;)

 

And just for the record, we adore kids, we both have quite a few of them who in turn gave us double that amount of grandchildren. But when onboard a ship, we have just ran into too many kids that are turned loose with no supervision. I realize nobody here on CC would ever do anything like that, but most cruisers do not belong to Cruise Critic. ;)

[Putterdude]

We were on the the same cruise Karatemom2 and agree with her remarks and assessment. We think it is a great venue for families and extended families who want to enjoy the holidays without the planning and stress that goes along with same. However it is important to recognize that this also comes with a price both from a financial point of view and from having a very crowded ship. We very much enjoyed our cruise but we probably wouldn't rush to cruise over the holidays anytme soon but we are of an age where we are no longer tied to a calendar.

[karmacruiser]

Thanks again Toto. You are a wealth of information:) We might try the 10 day Panama, FLL to ACA over Thanksgiving (if that is available in 2009) and stay home in the snow for Christmas. Maybe starting the Wednesday before Thanksgiving will mean more adults. We dont mind kids either, but prefer to stay away from large groups of teenagers and college kids.

[Cruisin' Chick]

We were on a holiday cruise a couple of years ago that covered Christmas, New Years and Hanukkah. The only problem was a group of unsupervised kids that belonged to the same extended family from some country in South America. The parents were also troublemakers. None of the other kids (about 250) caused any problems as far as I know. So unless we ever sail with this same awful family onboard again, we wouldn't have a trouble with going on another holiday sailing.

[CruiseObssessed]

Hi- I am trying to decide about taking a cruise that covers both Christmas and New Years. I want to give it to my mom as a gift but had a few questions.

Is it really worth it to pay the extra for the holiday cruises?? Do they have special dinners and such? Please advise- thanks:)

 

New Years was amazingly fun, well worth the surcharge to us.....but that being said only you can say if it's worth it to you. It probably wouldn't be a quiet cruise (tho it's impossible to predict your future fellow cruisers), it's mostly families at this time of year. With lots of kids, as the others said. I'm trying to remember how many teens they said were on ours, but the number was well into the hundreds, on one of the smaller ships. Plenty of younger ones too, with the energy they bring. It was exciting, fast paced, and party-like the whole 7 days.

 

Don't worry too much about a true "spring break" atmosphere. As one of the comedians on the ship joked, "A teen tried to tell me he was having a wild spring break. I said cmon kid, the kids in Florida are having spring break. You're sharing a stateroom with your Grandma and eating dinner with your parents every night."

[woollys]

Thanks everyone- this really helps make up my mind. I think I will go for somewhere in between- we are looking at the panama canal 14 day LA to FT Laud or reverse. I was on Crown at thanksgiving and it was really fun and I did not notice larger amounts of kids, but I would imagine there are more for Xmas. Maybe I will use the extra I save to fly her there first class!

[2ndsailing]

We sailed a couple of years ago over New Year's with our family. We had a great time...so much so that this year we're cruising over Christmas/New Year. I'm the one having the hardest time thinking about not being home for Christmas. Our children our in University now and the Christmas break is the only time that we can travel with them now.

 

What I did notice on our New Year's cruise was the number of extended families on board. I never found the children to be a problem...it was a great cruise.

[Pam in CA]

My daughter and I did Christmas cruises for quite a few years in a row. For us, it was worth it to get away from the snow and cold for a few days and being a teacher, she doesn't have a lot of flexibility. Most of our Christmas cruises were out of Florida (FLL or MIA) and they were all crowded so we made our own fun. It didn't matter whether it was a small or a large ship. Sometimes there were really obnoxious people and kids, sometimes there weren't. Then, two years ago, we took the Sapphire out of LA for a Mexican Riviera cruise and loved it. Surprisingly, even though there were lots of kids onboard, it was a completely different atmosphere. Hard to explain but perhaps it was more West Coast people who were more relaxed. I don't know. Now that I'm in CA, we're doing Christmas out here but if we were to do it again, we'd do a Mexican Riviera or a Panama Canal cruise. I'd never do a 7 day Christmas cruise in the Caribbean again.