Christmas and New Year - Best Cruiseline?

[chrisandlynne]

We are looking to spend Christmas and New Year on a cruise this year and wonder which cruiseline tends to best celebrate the events. It doesn't matter where in the world we might go to (although Funchal in Madeira on NYE is supposed to be quite spectacular) as long as we have a memorable time. It could be a wonderful experience if the cruiseline / ship gets it right or, equally, very flat and disappointing if it doesn't.

Any helpful guidance and experiences would be gratefully received.

[Azulann]

Come join us on the Celebrity Century.It is a 15 day full transit of the Panama canal from Fort Lauderdale to San Diego from Dec 19-Jan3.

 

We will be going throught the canal on Christmas Eve! And in the port of PV Mexico on New Years Eve.

Christmas Day and New Years Day are a sea days. Past cruisers have reported that the ship will be decorated for the holidays and caroling, visit from Santa will take place. New Years Eve, the ship will have a party on the pool deck with music, ice cravings, food and a countdown to ring in the year 2013.

 

It will be the first time that I will celebrate these holidays in a tropical climate.:)

[Cruzaholic41]

We are looking to spend Christmas and New Year on a cruise this year and wonder which cruiseline tends to best celebrate the events. It doesn't matter where in the world we might go to (although Funchal in Madeira on NYE is supposed to be quite spectacular) as long as we have a memorable time. It could be a wonderful experience if the cruiseline / ship gets it right or, equally, very flat and disappointing if it doesn't.

Any helpful guidance and experiences would be gratefully received.

 

I have been on a couple cruises during the holidays. I have found the Christmas festivities to be reserved. I have found that they do provide the celebration and decorations, but are reserved to respect those on board who do not celebrate it. New Years is much better celebrated. The best I have seen was Royal Caribbean. The Royal Promenade turned in to a street party and this is the best cruise ship venue for NYE.

[Putterdude]

We have done two Holiday cruises and I think they have a place particularly with extended families...no one has to plan, cook or clean up. However the cruises cost $500 to $1000 more per person, every pull down bunk and sofa sleeper is occupied and the ships are full to the gunwales. Unruly children (not the nice ones) are running everywhere and service is slow. With that said, we have not seen a great deal of difference between Princess's and HAL's Holiday cruises although HAL's may be a tad more subdued.

[Jimnbigd]

If you can find a 10 day or longer cruise, you'll probably have less kids.

As for ships, I like Royal Caribbean.

Maybe a B2B (back-to-back) Oasis or Allure of the Seas from Fort Lauderdale, Florida.

Or a B2B on the Navigator of the Seas from New Orleans -- Gives you a chance to see New Orleans too.

And I see the Queen Mary Two has a 12 night cruise Dec. 22 from New York to the Southern Caribbean.

[jocap]

If you want a traditional British Christmas, with mince pies, Christmas cake, Christmas pud, crackers, all the trimmings- and a panto(!), then I've read that you'd be better off to travel on P&O, Fred Olsen or Thomsons.....this is only hearsay, by the way, but I have read comments over the years of people finding a very good meal on Christmas Day, on other lines, but a not very traditional meal- and no brandy flamed pud!

Check out those lines for what people say.....

If you prefer to be child free, then it's three P&O ships which are adult only, or Saga and Spirit of Adventure. Fred Olsen is child friendly, but not many younger people travel with them.

The various cruises to the Canaries over Christmas do seem to try to get to Funchal for NYE, and all reports I've read say how wonderful is the firework display.

I should imagine that Cunard also try to stay traditional, being a trad. line.

Just what I've picked up over the years....;)

Enjoy choosing.:)

Jo.

[sweetcupcakegrl]

Royal Caribbean Oasis of the Seas. we had a blast on this in 2011 for new years, what a great large big beautiful woman she was... best 2011 i had in years... book her or allure its just as same

[Dancer Bob]

The OP was on QM2. If they were happy, Cunard might be a good choice. Putterdude summed it up. Unless the Picadilly line at rush hour is your idea of fun, find the longest and most expensive cruise you can.

[kelmac]

This will make the 12th year in a row, that my wife and I have spent the Holidays at sea! We don't even remember what it's like to stay home mid-December to the first week in January.

Most of our cruises have been with Celebrity, but we have spent the holidays on HAL, Cunard's Queen Mary 2, and Oceania.

In 2012, we will do a BtoB on Celebrity's Silhouette.

 

To us, a white Xmas includes a walk on several Caribbean beaches.

 

Enjoy!

Kel:)

[Cruisin' Chick]

Our last two cruises were exactly (to the day 12/22 sailings) five years apart, on the Princess Hawaiian RT out of Los Angeles. The first one covered Christmas, Hanukkah and New Years. The second one had Christmas and New Years, and despite rainy weather the first couple of days and cool weather on the way back, ranks among our favorite cruises. The NYE's party on the second one was so much better (a music group played for hours in the Piazza, before midnight). A wide range of ages celebrated, from a toddler to those in their upper years. Princess has "snow" falling on the crew members caroling in the Piazza on Christmas.

 

It sure beat being back home and not being able to go to the malls during the last minute shopping rush (trying to find parking).

[EGG]

I have been on a couple cruises during the holidays. I have found the Christmas festivities to be reserved. I have found that they do provide the celebration and decorations, but are reserved to respect those on board who do not celebrate it. New Years is much better celebrated. The best I have seen was Royal Caribbean. The Royal Promenade turned in to a street party and this is the best cruise ship venue for NYE.

 

Agree with above. We've done 3 holiday cruises on different cruise lines. We do not celebrate Xmas. Here is my opinion.

 

My favorite by far was Explorer of the Seas. Xmas morning parade where they handed out eggnog. Followed Santa to the ice skating ring where the children sat on Santa's lap and he handed out presents while snow fell from the ceiling. Ice skating shows fit in with the holidays. Christmas caroling that reverberated through the ship. Great choice of activities leading up to New Year's so we were entertained staying up late. Packed like Times Square on the Royal Promenade for NYE. Loved every minute of it. Free champagne. Loved the balloon and confetti drop. Back in our cabins at 12:15. Tablemates partied until 4. Only 25% of the ship was Americans. Loved the Europeans, especially our British and Irish tablemates. Celebrated NYE several times during dinner when in way New Years in Germany and then England. Much more formal on formal nights.

 

Holland America to Hawaii. I think it was the Zandaam. They didn't have the same level of decorations, probably because of the ships setup. I didn't care for the cruise director and I think while he tried, he did not get the same level of excitement for some of the holiday activities. Probably because of the demographics with fewer children. I was pleasantly surprised that they did a great job of NYE. They moved the seats in the theatre to make a dance floor and the social staff did a good job adding excitement to the lead up to NYE. Like the other cruise lines, balloon and confetti drop.

 

Cunard Queen Victoria to Hawaii. Just too formal a cruise for me. Because every night was "dress up" the formal nights were nothing special. Nice holiday music during cruise, they had string quartet and small choral group on board. Xmas caroling in main atrium and on all levels overlooking atrium. Decorations were nice and tasteful. Rather than one large tree like RCL they had several throughout the ship. Xmas eve was a themed night in the theatre with readings by the cabin and Xmas music. Holiday services (Jewish, Catholic, Protestant). Don't remember such a big emphasis on religious services on the other cruise lines. We were very disappointed in NYE. They had 2 venues. One was the Queens ballroom where we were able to sit so we went there. No lead up to NYE. We got up to be on the dance floor for the balloon drop and the 10 minute lead up to NYE was swing music. Maybe NYE would have been better in the main atrium but we did not go there since we wanted to sit. Not a lot of activities that interested us leading up to NYE. Free chanpagne.

 

Obviously, part of my opinion is based on which cruise line I like best.

[MrsNancyG]

Hi,

 

We did a Celebrity cruise to Hawaii and specifically planned it for the holidays onboard. As stated earlier in this thread, Christmas was nice but rather low-key. New Year's, however, was a bit much for us. (Not bashing Celebrity even a little bit! Just talking personal preference here.) I think the biggest problem for us was that even with our early seating for dinner (we were with our pre-teen children at the time, so it was the best seating choice for their tummies and home schedules) the noise-makers and all that were sitting at the tables in the MDR when we arrived. Normally this would be no biggie, but this cruise had a LOT of younger kiddies who just could not be expected to control their excitement and normal instincts to partake...constantly...nonstop...with playing with them. Come to think of it, I'm sure there were plenty of adult revellers doing the exact same thing. In any event, my family found it impossible to speak to oneanother muchless enjoy our beautiful the meal that we decided to have dinner in our room instead. Our waiter was great and had our entrees delivered to our room for us. Now remember, this is NOT a bash of any kind. Just saying that for myself and our family, had we realized how early the revellry began onboard, we would have opted in advance for a different dinner venue.

 

Thanks and happy cruising!

 

PS and as an aside, when planning this particular cruise, I took a few hours to go to our local Big Lots! and found some truly lovely picture frames that had a recording function and I picked up about 10 of them. I wrapped them up elegantly and presented them to our favorite service personnel, (which, I believe was ALL of them we came in contact with...) who were away from their families, as Christmas/Holiday gifts. I believe it was truly appreciated that we remembered it was THEIR holiday as well, even if they spent it at work.

[Azulann]

MrsNancy,

What a thoughtful idea for remembering the staff.

 

I will do something like that on my upcoming Holiday cruise.

[chrisandlynne]

Thank you to all who have answered my post.

There are some great suggestions here - both what to do and what not to expect. We do not have young children as the youngest of our 4 is now 28! So, something without unruly children would be favoured.

[kelmac]

Thank you to all who have answered my post.

There are some great suggestions here - both what to do and what not to expect. We do not have young children as the youngest of our 4 is now 28! So, something without unruly children would be favoured.

 

Most holiday cruises will have more families. I would suggest the longest cruise possible, and the earliest departure in the month of December, or a cruise that runs towards the middle of January (dates that overlap release dates of schools; or dates after schools return to session).

 

The least number of children will be on Oceania or Azamara, as they have little to offer families. The Queen Mary 2, out of NYC, has some families. All seven day cruises out of Maimi or Ft Lauderdale will have hundreds of children on board.

 

HAL and Celebrity will have increased numbers of kids during this time period. Avoid Carnival, NCL, Royal Caribbean, MSC, Costa, and Princess -- these lines are much more family friendly.

 

Good Luck!

Kel:)

[Cruisin' Chick]

Thank you to all who have answered my post.

There are some great suggestions here - both what to do and what not to expect. We do not have young children as the youngest of our 4 is now 28! So, something without unruly children would be favoured.

 

Except for one cruise (due to an extended family with absent parents and bratty kids -- all the other kids onboard were well behaved, even my 8-yr-old), all the kids on the cruises I've been on seemed very involved with the kids' program and weren't running around unsupervised.

 

One reason there's plenty of kids on the holiday cruise is that school-aged kids have that time off. And believe me, work loads in schools have changed drastically in the last ten years -- even kinder has homework! I don't begrudge children having a nice vacation.

[Jimnbigd]

When looking for a longer cruise, be careful that it is not 2 cruises back-to-back (b2b) instead of truly a long cruise. I've seen some 14-day cruises that are really two 7-day cruises b2b. So, you'd probably still have more kids on this, since either 7-day cruise can be booked. Just look at the itinerary. If it returns during the cruise back to the home port, then I'd say for sure this is two cruises b2b.