Thanksgiving Cruise Questions

[extractfairy]

We are thinking of booking a Freedom of the Seas (Eastern) cruise Thanksgiving 2010. Do they do anything special for the holiday? Is that a popular/crowded time? Would appreciate any comments/suggestions you can share. Thanks!

[cyscopup]

We are thinking of booking a Freedom of the Seas (Eastern) cruise Thanksgiving 2010. Do they do anything special for the holiday? Is that a popular/crowded time? Would appreciate any comments/suggestions you can share. Thanks!

 

We have done one and have another planned for this year. There really is nothing special done except for dinner on Thanksgiving. One of the options was a traditional dinner. The other thing we noticed was that the ship was decorated for Christmas the next day.

[brenderlou]

We have been on 2 Thanksgiving cruises (Jewel of the Seas). They did have turkey on Thanksgiving in the MDR but that was the only thing "special".

It is a popular time to go on vaca since alot of people have the day after Thanksgiving off. Our cruises were full but we never felt crowded.

[Benita]

We go every year and have been on HAL, RCL, and Princess over Thanksgiving. The dining room is decorated for Thanksgiving. As it happens to fall on a Thursday, which is the second formal night (and lobster night) on the one week cruises that depart on Saturdays, we order the lobster and a plate of turkey for the table (sentimental, huh?).

The prices are a little higher than the week before and the week after (unless you book the Oasis where the prices are about 40% more than the surrounding weeks -silly move if they want to fill up the ship). The crowd is a little younger as people who work can get a longer vacation without taking more days off from work and kids are often off from school. Also, there tends to be more multi-generational family groups.

We spent two Thanksgivings on the Jewel of the Seas, three on the different Princess ships, and we have our second in the row on Holland America's Eurodam, so obviously, we are big fans of that week.

[extractfairy]

Thanks for all your answers! Sounds like there wouldn't really be too much of a difference between traveling in the summer versus Thanksgiving as far as the crowds. I was reading another thread regarding the weather that time of year and it seems alot of people commented they noticed the waters to be a little rougher. I know that can change from day to day- up to mother nature, but did any of you all notice anything like that? Thanks!

 

P.S. :Benita - beautiful name... that is also my mother's name!:)

[megr1125]

we did a Turkey cruise on Ex-9 nights and PACKED! full of kids...

 

the T-day dinner was nice, and they started putting up holiday decorations which was nice to see....

[Alexis]

As everyone else said, nothing special on board except turkey for dinner.

We had a very pretty rolled up and tied, one page menu that they handed us to chose from. We thought we could keep it, but were told they needed it for the next sitting. :(

Some couples managed to talk the waiter into keeping theirs.

Plus, we stopped in San Juan as our port and a lot of the shops were closed because they were also home having their Thanksgiving celebrations. The fort and things were open, so people walked there.

Ours was an 11 night and there were also families on board.

[OHCruisinDad]

We did the 6 day Independence for last Thanksgiving and other than the turkey option for dinner, it was business as usual. There were a lot of families onboard but no more than spring break. We found it enjoyable and a nice time of year to take a break. We didn't find the water any rougher than other times of the year. It was a bit cooler in FLL for the day before the cruise departure but Florida weather can and does vary that time of the year.

[swmichigan cruiser]

We used to do a cruise over Thanksgiving week and always had a good time. We were fortunate on one of those cruises to have dinner with the captain on Thanksgiving night. That was a definate highlight. A few years ago I noticed the prices seemed better for cruising the week after Thanksgiving so we switched. We now fly to the port on Thanksgiving day and have a mini vacation before we even board the ship. That works well for us but we enjoyed cruising over Thanksgiving week as well.