New Years Eve

News Year's Eve Cruise......Yay or Nay??

You will hear many positives from those who do it regularly. Someone else to cook and clean and pour the drinks--and deal with any visiting family members--on a holiday is huge. We have cruised twice over Thanksgiving and expect to do so again.

But New Year's week--and Christmas week for that matter? My vote is Nay. Too big a risk of the cruise becoming a victim of its own heightened expectations--which are mainly due to the heightened fares. Ships are packed with higher than normal third and fourth berth occupancy, and a surprising number of first time cruisers. The crew are hit with the double whammy of being away from home during the holidays and having to deal with huge numbers of much more demanding than normal passengers. There may also be deviations from the expected dinner menu and/or entertainment rotation for a normal sailing of that itinerary as all the focus will be on that one night. If you are looking at a ship that still nominally has "formal nights" they will likely have one on 12/31 but compliance and decorum could be a crapshoot.

I didn't mean to keep making a list of negatives. The main one for me is that if my calendar is flexible, why choose a week with a super-premium fare? If yours is not, and New Year's Week is intriguing, you can weigh the positives that will certainly be listed by someone as you wish.

I have sailed on only two New Year's Eve Cruises, Nieuw Amsterdam this past New Year's Eve and the Prinsendam the previous year's New Year's Eve.

Both were excellent-very good cruises. As to the New Year's Eve events, the Prinsendam wins. Maybe it had to do with our itinerary because we celebrated 2 Midnight parties on December 31st. The first was because we were in the Atlantic Time Zone which was the main Party. The Party then moved to the Ocean Bar and we celebrated again as we watched the Ball Drop in Times Square in the Eastern Time Zone. It has been years since I have had so much fun on New Year's Eve!

The Cruise Director and Cruise Staff's planning is what makes the difference, I think.

Will I do such a cruise again? Yes, I am booked for the Christmas/New Year's Cruise on the Zaandam this year. And, I expect another very pleasant experience and start to 2018!

As to your question: I vote YEA!

We like to be home over the holidays....unless the entire family could go, we wouldn't!

We've done QM2's Christmas/New Year's itinerary for many years running, so I guess for us it's a yay.

There are a lot of others who repeat the trip every year as well, so now we enjoy linking up with table mates from previous years or just running into people at lunch that we met at lunch a year or two ago.

Dining out on land on New Year's Eve is a hassle. The Prix fixe menus are jacked up in price and service is bad. I'm much happier with the service and ambiance of a formal dinner on the ship than I ever was on a night out at home.

Thanks to the last 4 posters..... We have already booked a cruise and have heard both good and bad. We used to go to Las Vegas for New Years Eve, as invited guests at Harrahs; but went to bed as soon as 'our' party was over as it got kinda wild. Then because of health reasons, we stopped going and stayed home with each other and liked that. Friends are going on this particular cruise and we thought it would be nice to join them. BUT after talking with a few people that HAD BEEN ON NEW YEAR's EVE CRUISES....began to rethink!!....:confused::confused: Still have plenty of time to cancel and go later in January. Again thanks for your thoughts. Will continue to keep check on this thread and see other thoughts. Judy

We have done a number of cruises between Christmas and NYE and truly have enjoyed every one. DW and I both have really dysfunctional families and their level of crazy grows exponentially over the holiday season. Our anniversary is on Dec 27th so it gives chance to celebrate and escape.

Granny&Pap,

I your last post, I detected a concern about "too wild" of a NYE. May I suggest something to consider? The cruise line and the cruise ship may influence what kind of NYE experience you might have. On the Nieuw Amsterdam, there were two major celebrations at Midnight. The BB King group performed in the mid-ship's Lido Pool area which, I assume (did not attend) was jammed. In the Crow's Nest, the musical group who regularly performed in the Ocean Bar and who were the band that played for some of the cast shows, was the featured attraction. Our NYE in the Crow's Nest was a pleasant and more sedate one than what I experienced on the Prinsendam the year prior, particularly during our "second" celebration of the arrival of 2016.

My guess is that on a larger ship, such as the Nieuw Amsterdam, there will be more than one venue for a NYE celebration. One could, then, choose which type of entertainment/experience that was desired.

YEA! New Year's Eve on a ship is so FUN! :hearteyes:

Our last three cruises were the Christmas/NYE Hawaiian RTs from LA on Princess.

Most other years, if we're not on a cruise at this time, we'll be home (there's been some times that my hubby had to work on either Dec. 31 or Jan 1 because he was working in a public safety job where the place has to be staffed 24/7. But even if he's off work, we just didn't want to deal with being on the road when people have been drinking in great numbers. On a ship, we don't worry about that, but can enjoy a nice meal and listen to live music leading up to midnight.

Our last three cruises were the Christmas/NYE Hawaiian RTs from LA on Princess.

 

Most other years' date=' if we're not on a cruise at this time, we'll be home (there's been some times that my hubby had to work on either Dec. 31 or Jan 1 because he was working in a public safety job where the place has to be staffed 24/7. But even if he's off work, we just didn't want to deal with being on the road when people have been drinking in great numbers. On a ship, we don't worry that, but can enjoy a nice meal and listen to live music leading up to midnight.[/quote']

 

Yea. We enjoyed manyNew Years cruises. they do a wonderful job with Christmas and new YEARS CRUISES. :)

Thanks to the last 4 posters..... We have already booked a cruise and have heard both good and bad. We used to go to Las Vegas for New Years Eve, as invited guests at Harrahs; but went to bed as soon as 'our' party was over as it got kinda wild. Then because of health reasons, we stopped going and stayed home with each other and liked that. Friends are going on this particular cruise and we thought it would be nice to join them. BUT after talking with a few people that HAD BEEN ON NEW YEAR's EVE CRUISES....began to rethink!!....:confused::confused: Still have plenty of time to cancel and go later in January. Again thanks for your thoughts. Will continue to keep check on this thread and see other thoughts. Judy

With all that said-it would be a yes go.............

We have sailed twice over NYE and loved it. I especially enjoyed New Year's Day as a sea day as opposed to a port day. The ship offered an amazing brunch in the MDR, and our day was well spent just relaxing on one of the upper sun decks or on our balcony.

Did NewYears on HAL one year. Cruise was good and evening was fun, but one negative. Because so many want to stay up late that night they also want to eat late. We are anytime diners who generally go on the late side so waits are usually short. On that night even with a reservation the line stretched forever and the wait was over an hour and a half. I understand why but just warn you that regular cruise dining patterns go out the window, or maybe the porthole on New Year's Eve.