Tell me about Thanksgiving on a cruise

[ourfamilylovescruising]

We cruise almost every Thanksgiving for us it is the cheapest time to cruise with the kids not missing any school.

 

plus there is no cooking, cleaning making everyone happy serving over 30 people in my house we did a Thanksgiving cruise once and have  been doing them ever year since.

 

ps . No cooking and no cleaning Best Thanksgiving ever LOL

 

Edited November 18, 2019 by ourfamilylovescruising

[CruisinNole]

On 10/27/2019 at 2:53 AM, Tee & Chilli said:

Is the UDP offered on Thanksgiving and Christmas Day? I think those days are restricted.

Does this mean that if you have the UDP, you cannot dine in a specialty restaurant on those nights? If so, what about the other dining packages -- 3 or 5 night? I see in the T&Cs that Holiday Celebration Dinners are excluded but I don't know what those are.

Edited November 18, 2019 by CruisinNole

[AshleyDillo]

1 hour ago, CruisinNole said:

Does this mean that if you have the UDP, you cannot dine in a specialty restaurant on those nights? If so, what about the other dining packages -- 3 or 5 night? I see in the T&Cs that Holiday Celebration Dinners are excluded but I don't know what those are.

 

You can't dine in the specialty restaurants that are offering a Holiday Celebration Dinner.  When you book a holiday cruise you will see these available in the cruise planner.  I've seen it typically offered for Chops.  It's usually a special menu (lobster is included) and free champagne or something for the low price of $89.99/person 😂  On that evening you can't use the UDP at that restaurant, but you can use it any another specialty restaurant that isn't having a special upcharge holiday meal.

 

My Thanksgiving Oasis cruise doesn't show any of these special holiday celebration meals.  However my NYE Freedom cruise has one at Chops and Giovannis:

 

https://secure.royalcaribbean.com/royal/media/royal/shared_assets/pdf/menu/ChopsGrille_HolidayMenu_2019.pdf

 

https://secure.royalcaribbean.com/royal/media/royal/shared_assets/pdf/menu/GiovannisTable_HolidayMenu_2019.pdf

 

 

The only available booking is December 31.  So with the only three specialty restaurants on Freedom being Giovannis, Chops, and Sabor, it appears that Sabor is where the UDP would be honored on NYE.

 

Edited November 18, 2019 by AshleyDillo

[jeanneful]

So will my Dec. 1st cruise have lots of kids? I do love kids but not when Im cruising with just me and hubby!

[Clarea]

22 minutes ago, jeanneful said:

So will my Dec. 1st cruise have lots of kids? I do love kids but not when Im cruising with just me and hubby!

 

Probably many fewer children than the week before or the holidays.

[CruisinNole]

3 hours ago, AshleyDillo said:

 

You can't dine in the specialty restaurants that are offering a Holiday Celebration Dinner.  When you book a holiday cruise you will see these available in the cruise planner.  I've seen it typically offered for Chops.  It's usually a special menu (lobster is included) and free champagne or something for the low price of $89.99/person 😂  On that evening you can't use the UDP at that restaurant, but you can use it any another specialty restaurant that isn't having a special upcharge holiday meal.

Thanks. I checked the Cruise Planner for my cruise next week and don't see a Thanksgiving Holiday Celebration Dinner.

[AshleyDillo]

1 minute ago, CruisinNole said:

Thanks. I checked the Cruise Planner for my cruise next week and don't see a Thanksgiving Holiday Celebration Dinner.

 

I don't think they consider the Thanksgiving sailings as holiday sailings.  Or at least they weren't marketed as such..and pricing for the Oasis Thanksgiving sailing was ridiculously low priced compared to what I'm seeing for the Christmas and NYE cruises.

[Tatka]

  This will be our 3rd TG on Anthem in a row and probably 6-7 with all companies.

 

   Anthem is great for TG. It has amazing Solarium and on TG surprisingly it is easier to find space there as there are many families with kids and they are not allowed in Solarium, but ... but there is another indoor pool right next to it and it is nice.

 

   We find it one of the best weeks to cruise (we do 5-6 a year and to spread vacation days we always attach them to holidays). Also this year I do not have vacation days left (we will have two more cruises for Xmass and New Year) so with only 3 work days that week we decided to book a cruise and I will work there. 🙂

 

 

[LESLIEKURZ]

3 hours ago, jeanneful said:

So will my Dec. 1st cruise have lots of kids? I do love kids but not when Im cruising with just me and hubby!

I hoping less too.  That's why we changed our week.  Anthem TG 2017 was just way too many kiddos.  

[Cruiser_1977]

I am not going to comment on anything other than the parade on tv. Technology is not 100%. Weather, signal, electrical glitches, or just the cruise line not paying the fee could all lead to it not being available. If that is a deal breaker, I wouldn't book.

[CruisinNole]

1 hour ago, AshleyDillo said:

 

I don't think they consider the Thanksgiving sailings as holiday sailings.  Or at least they weren't marketed as such..and pricing for the Oasis Thanksgiving sailing was ridiculously low priced compared to what I'm seeing for the Christmas and NYE cruises.

I think you're correct. When we made our reservations, it didn't even dawn on us that we'd be cruising over Thanksgiving. Fare was very good also.

Edited November 18, 2019 by CruisinNole

[Gaynors]

We are booked on the same 9 night sailing on the Explorer that you are looking at.  We have cruised over Thanksgiving many times and it is a family tradition at this point.   I love it because there is no cooking, or cleaning, or getting caught up in holiday traffic.   I also save a lot of money by NOT being home on black friday.

 

We've sailed multiple different cruise lines over Thanksgiving and they all do things a little different.   We have never seen the Macy's parade shown on an RCI ship, however, we were docked next to a holland america ship in san juan one year and they were showing it on their big screen (we kind of tried to watch from our ship but the angle and lighting didn't really work).

 

If traditional NFL Thanksgiving football is important to you - they show those games on Princess and we saw them last year on Celebrity but they are not usually shown on the big screen on RCI.

 

As others have said they will have minimal decorations mostly just in the Windjammer - because the Christmas decorations will be going up at full speed.

 

They always offer ham and turkey in the main dining room on Thanksgiving Day (it is a unique menu so you'll miss the regular one in the rotation).   As others have said it isn't quite like home cooking and "chef" thanksgiving isn't really our traditional type of thanksgiving.   However, my nephew orders the turkey every year and always loves it.   However, since he has grown up cruising on thanksgiving he doesn't really have the same traditional food memories as the rest of us.

 

They usually will have some sort of black friday sale on the ship - but isn't usually anything special.

 

We are mostly looking forward to the wonderful 9 night itinerary for next year!!   We did the same itinerary on the Navigator and it was awesome!

Edited November 18, 2019 by Gaynors

[Tatka]

59 minutes ago, Gaynors said:

They usually will have some sort of black friday sale on the ship - but isn't usually anything special.

 

I love it!!! Less people in Solarium and pools. 🙂

[powelweb]

One year on Celebrity's Summit for Thanksgiving, we docked in St. Thomas for black Friday, and were able to get most of Xmas shopping done....