Family going on Holiday Cruise

[lookin4sandnsun]

My husband and 2 teens are going on a Cruise on Holland America Nieuw Amsterdam in Dec. Any advise on weather in the Caribbean at that time? What should we pack? What should we expect in terms of "Christmas Spirit" on the ship and the ports (puerto rico, st martin, turks & cacaos)?

[TexasCruiser90]

My husband and 2 teens are going on a Cruise on Holland America Nieuw Amsterdam in Dec. Any advise on weather in the Caribbean at that time? What should we pack? What should we expect in terms of "Christmas Spirit" on the ship and the ports (puerto rico, st martin, turks & cacaos)?

 

I'm curious as well. We are going on the Zuiderdam Dec 20-27th, and it's our first cruise over Christmas so I'm excited to spend the holiday at sea!

[sail7seas]

It is swimsuit and summer weather year round in the Caribbean. Certainly it can rain but you should bring 'summer clothing'.

 

The ship will be decorated for the holidays and there will be Christmas Trees. Times we have sailed over Christmas, the crew chorus sang Christmas Carols in various languages in show lounge and Captain officially lit the tree on Christmas Eve. Sometimes they have made a beautiful buffet and set it out late night after the events in the show lounge all around the railing. When we came out of the Lounge we were so surprised to find beautiful buffet tables set out with all sort of goodies. :)

Santa comes for the young children and has small gifts for them.

It's all quite festive.

 

Christmas Dinner was always lovely.

 

Edited November 7, 2013 by sail7seas

[summersigh]

We did this itinerary the year we "Christmas Cruised" :) We LOVED IT !!

 

The whole ship was decorated. They had a big Christmas Eve dinner as well as on Christmas day. Very festive ...Everybody seemed to be dressed up a little extra those nights.

Caroles were being sung in the piano bar (might have been elsewhere - but we were having so much fun in the piano bar we didn't go to others) :D

There was a big "midnight buffet" in the atrium on the floor where the Ocean Bar is - it seemed each chef was attempting to out do the others with their cooking skills and presentation.

We each took a small sized gift to give on Christmas morning for opening ... and then went off on our San Juan excursion.

Check with your cell phone carrier - but St Thomas and San Juan are both US Territories so we could make our Christmas calls to friends and family back home from both just like we would have in the continental US.

 

Just as a note - we were in San Juan on Christmas and HAL didn't have any excursions listed for that day but we found that there were bunches of tours and cabs just out in front of the pier happily waiting or business :)

[YubaSutter]

Anything onboard for those of us who celebrate Festivus?

[Fouremco]

Anything onboard for those of us who celebrate Festivus?

A Festivus dinner on the 23rd followed by a parade around the Festivus Pole. Cosmo Kramer will be the MC.

 

[YubaSutter]

A Festivus dinner on the 23rd followed by a parade around the Festivus Pole. Cosmo Kramer will be the MC.

 

 

If it includes feats of strength and airing of grievances, I'm there.

[Aqua's Mom]

My husband and I took this cruise last Christmas and we had such a good time he booked the same cabin, same ship, for this Christmas (and he's not a cruise enthusiast)!

 

You can get into as much or little holiday spirit as you choose. Just watch the schedule left in your room. There were holiday cookies at a tree lighting ceremony - very nice. The ship is decorated everywhere - and if you watch carefully, more decorations are added/changed daily. Don't miss the Christmas eve show. Crew members process in and perform in their native language. The captain reads the Christmas story in a most moving way. All in all, it was a fantastic way to have lots of holiday decor and activities without the work for good old Mom.

 

Your stops are definitely summer weather. The ship can get cool, so I wore long sleeve tops/sweaters and Christmas attire.

 

Enjoy! Maybe we'll meet this year.

[BlackJack2]

A lot of cruisers decorate their cabin doors with garland and decorations. Instead of driving around your neighborhood to see the lights, walk around the decks to see the decorated doors!