Cruising over Christmas with RCCL

A couple of quick questions about cruising over the Christmas holidays on an RCCL ship:

1. Does the MDR (or any specialty restaurant) serve a traditional Christmas dinner? (If so, what is that considered to be on RCCL bearing in mind different countries have different traditions?)

2. Do the ships do anything extra over the festive period to make your Christmas cruise that extra bit special?

Yes, I know I'm planning early but if I need to book in advance, when the "window of opportunity" opens I want to be ready with all my reservations!

Christmas decorations start to go up the day after Thanksgiving. I've seen the doecorations up as late as the first week of January.

On Christmas Day there is a turkey dinner as one of the options in the MDR. Can't comment any more about it as we dine at a specialty restaurant that night. Something about turkey on a cruise ship just doesn't appeal to me.

We were on Explorer about 8 years ago. 600 children. Lots of Brits. Xmas morning there was a parade at about 8 or 8:30. It was not well attended, probably because of the early time. They handed out eggnog. I believe there was eggnog in the breakfast buffet also. Everyone followed Santa to the ice skating ring. Children took turns visiting Santa with snow falling from the ceiling. Santa gave them a small present. Probably a photo opportunity.

I also remember before Xmas there was open Xmas carols in the promenade. We did not participate, but we happened to walk through the corridor of deck 8and the carols reverberated through the ship. Hard to describe but it made my spine tingle.

If you have a port on Xmas day, be prepared for everything to be shut tight. We may have been in Puerto Rico.

Hi we were on oasis last christmas.

Christmas Day we ate in MDR and whilst there was a 'Turkey dinner' it wasn't traditional in terms of UK tradition. It was Turkey mashed potatoes and some brocolli. The deserts were not what what I'd class as traditional christmas either pretty much standard desserts..

The ship was decorated with trees and lights and looked beautiful. Everyone seemed to make extra effort in Christmas Day and there were lots of sequins and glittery outfits!

Xmas eve there was carol singing with fake snow falling that was fab and the ice show felt extra special at that time of year!

Christmas Day we were in port (cozumel) everything was open as normal we walked around and has cocktails ashore.

There was a santa visit on Christmas morning for the kids which was held in the ice rink and each child recieved a small gift.

IMHO I was overall a little disappointed with how Christmassy things felt I don't know why can couldn't put my finger on it but was expecting a bit more christmas tradition some how.. but that said I really don't want to be negative it was a fantastic cruise none the less maybe I just had a fairytale too built up in my head!

We were on Explorer last Christmas and the decorations on the ship were spectacular. Complete with a giant Christmas tree in the Promenade. There were roving Christmas caroling on the promenade and several church services available. There was something special Christmas day when we were at Labadee. The Captain invited a group (20-30) Haitian children on board for a visit with Santa, presents, and a lunch at Johnny Rockets. Just a really nice thing.

A couple of quick questions about cruising over the Christmas holidays on an RCCL ship:

 

1. Does the MDR (or any specialty restaurant) serve a traditional Christmas dinner? (If so, what is that considered to be on RCCL bearing in mind different countries have different traditions?)

 

2. Do the ships do anything extra over the festive period to make your Christmas cruise that extra bit special?

 

Yes, I know I'm planning early but if I need to book in advance, when the "window of opportunity" opens I want to be ready with all my reservations!

You nailed it right there. What is traditional to one culture is not to another. Heck, even here in the US what is traditional for my family is completely different to what is traditional to my friends' families.

You nailed it right there. What is traditional to one culture is not to another. Heck, even here in the US what is traditional for my family is completely different to what is traditional to my friends' families.

Tell me about it [emoji23] .... That's why I needed to post so that we could forward plan our dining options!

Thanks for all the comments, this has helped us a lot. Thank you!

We were on Explorer last Christmas and the decorations on the ship were spectacular. Complete with a giant Christmas tree in the Promenade. There were roving Christmas caroling on the promenade and several church services available. There was something special Christmas day when we were at Labadee. The Captain invited a group (20-30) Haitian children on board for a visit with Santa, presents, and a lunch at Johnny Rockets. Just a really nice thing.

Super cool! I hope we experience something as nice this Christmas/NY on Mariner!

Super cool! I hope we experience something as nice this Christmas/NY on Mariner!

It would be great if you could feedback your experiences too! Thanks in advance!

We've been on 2 Christmas cruises and we're cruising again this Christmas. We also usually cruise in December just before Christmas so it seems the ships are always decorated for us. For the Christmas cruises we were on there were always special Christmas shows. On the Mariner there was a special Ice show as well. They show Christmas movies in the theater, on CCTV and the pool deck TV. On the Mariner there was Christmas caroling in the promenade. They passed out sheet music for everyone to join in. We even received a very nice piece of luggage as a gift on one cruise.

I'm not sure how he does it but Santa seems to find his way onto the ship as well.

We have cruised 10-12 years in a row on Christmas cruises. There are always plenty of Christmas decorations. Santa visits on Christmas morning. The children are always given a gift from the cruise line. They have a room for those children that want to see Santa and another room for kids to get a holiday gift not wrapped in Christmas paper. All children get a gift if there parents take them in the morning.

The ship does celebrate Christmas, but many cruising do not celebrate Christmas. Sometimes Chanukah celebrations are the same week on a Christmas cruise and we could not even get to the area, because the cruise line underestimated the demand and hundreds were in the hallway trying to get in the room for the celebration.