Christmas Cruise - Never Again

[DCPIV]

8 minutes ago, cpa09 said:

My kids commented that towards the end of the cruise, they were getting sick of the Christmas songs.

 

I sympathize.  I love Christmas music . . . for about an hour or so.  Days upon days of it sound more like punishment than celebration.  Now, I wouldn't mind if it were more folded into all the music, but they just do one playlist or another.

[cured]

16 minutes ago, A&L_Ont said:

Maybe the nativity scene was in need of maintenance and not put out. 🤷‍♂️

I vote Covid. Perhaps the three kings were in quarantine?  

[shipgeeks]

OP, I'm sorry your experience didn't meet your expectations. When we've done Christmas cruises in the past, it was primarily to get away from all the commercialization on land.  Non-stop ads for "diamonds for everyone on your list", neighbors continually asking "Have you finished your Christmas shopping?", everyone stressed out with office parties and shopping.

Being on a ship, the music (including secular), decorations, etc. seem much more in keeping with the true spirit, at least to us.  And we enjoy the chance to take part in carol singing, Mass, and other activities.

We probably won't do Christmas cruises again, now that they've been "discovered" as a way for multi-generation families to be together (hence, crowded), but we really enjoyed them in the past.

 

[DCPIV]

8 minutes ago, shipgeeks said:

We probably won't do Christmas cruises again, now that they've been "discovered" as a way for multi-generation families to be together (hence, crowded), but we really enjoyed them in the past.

 

I agree with you on that, as well.  The closest thing we've done to a Christmas cruise was 15 years ago, a sailing from December 18-23, so we weren't even over Christmas.  It was rather delightful, actually.  Very relaxed with a very emotionally warm feeling about it.  However, that was on the Splendour of the Seas, a smaller ship that isn't even in the fleet any longer.

 

Nowadays, with these mega-ship floating amusement parks and shopping malls, the holiday cruises have become a zoo.  Were we to do another Christmas cruise, it wouldn't be on such a ship.

[OnTheJourney]

2 hours ago, LEMJMcC said:

Everything was over the top secular with not a hint of the sacred.

Do you know if there was a Catholic priest onboard?  My in-laws often cruised over Easter and typically were able to go to Mass. We've been on cruises where there was sometimes a non-denominational Sunday service. Would there have been any chance for you to go ashore (if the itinerary allowed it) for a service?  

[mjkacmom]

36 minutes ago, OnTheJourney said:

Do you know if there was a Catholic priest onboard?  My in-laws often cruised over Easter and typically were able to go to Mass. We've been on cruises where there was sometimes a non-denominational Sunday service. Would there have been any chance for you to go ashore (if the itinerary allowed it) for a service?  

The OP said there was a Catholic Mass, but as much as he wanted some religion for Christmas, I guess not enough to go to Mass.

[karena1]

3 hours ago, LEMJMcC said:

Taken by itself, the cruise on Mariner of the Seas over Christmas was okay.  No doubt it would have been better without having to deal with masks - I really found them to be quite an annoyance and they took much away from our experience.  Mariner seems to be a tired ship needing some much needed maintenance and upkeep - which I realize is a challenge when the ship docks and redeploys in one day, week after week.  Still, you'd have thought that RCI would have taken the opportunity to do some much needed maintenance and "brightening" of their fleet while it was not sailing.

 

Though not at full capacity it still seemed crowded, especially the promenade and the track on deck 12; we did find a pleasant walking experience on deck 4 thouogh with the exception of the smoking area on the port side.  The Windjammer was crowded and just seemed really busy each time we visited it.  We did like having crew handle the serving of the food!  We felt much less cramped on Oasis back in 2018.

 

Speaking of food, our food in the MDR was quite good and this is the dirst cruise that we took all of our evening meals in the MDR.  Service was good and we had very amenable and pleasant dinner mates.  The quality of the food was above good, but not quite great, except for the Beff Stroganoff and the Oso Buko which I found to be delectable!

 

The crew was for the most part very friendly, though I did run across a few who seemed almost annoyed to serve; I felt like I was I was inconveniencing them when it came my turn at the counter; particularly at bars.  Our cabin attendant and waiters were all very good; top notch I must say.  We enjoyed one lunch at Johnny Rockets and Vlad was a hoot!  The only downside was that I became a bit ill in the stomach after that one meal and didn't feel like eating agani until the following evening after returning from Cozumel.

 

Now, as far as Christmas is concerned, it was more like Christless.  Everything was over the top secular with not a hint of the sacred.  Not one traditional Crhistmas song was played on Mariner - though when docked alongside Brilliance at Cozumel we did hear some on that ship!  Nor did we see one manger scene or anything that referred to the reason for the season.  For some perhaps this is not even a consideration, and my wife did ask me what I had expected.  Perhaps I did have unrealistic expectations, but I would have thought that somewhere on the ship the whole reason we have the High Holiday of Christmas would have been acknowledged in some public manner.  They did have Catholic Mass, but as we are not Catholic, we did not attend.  We feel like we literally missed Christmas this past year, though as Dickens states, we try to honor it in our hearts all the days throughout the year regardless.

 

In summary, we will never again take a Christmas cruise; but will likely embark on cruises at other times during the winter seasons to come, once Covid and all its variants are just bad memories.

 

Regards.

We just got off Freedom for Christmas and other than having to wear masks, it was a fantastic trip.  Band played great Christmas sounds and also the canned music was many times Christmas.  Ships was beautifully decorated, loved the gingerbread village in the WJ.  Food was very good, service amazing as always.  We always cruise over Christmas and absolutely love it. 

[ZoeyVictoria]

1 hour ago, shipgeeks said:

OP, I'm sorry your experience didn't meet your expectations. When we've done Christmas cruises in the past, it was primarily to get away from all the commercialization on land.  Non-stop ads for "diamonds for everyone on your list", neighbors continually asking "Have you finished your Christmas shopping?", everyone stressed out with office parties and shopping.

Being on a ship, the music (including secular), decorations, etc. seem much more in keeping with the true spirit, at least to us.  And we enjoy the chance to take part in carol singing, Mass, and other activities.

We probably won't do Christmas cruises again, now that they've been "discovered" as a way for multi-generation families to be together (hence, crowded), but we really enjoyed them in the past.

 

We feel the same way.  None of our family lives close to us and usually we have close to nothing in the way of Christmas.  We always sail in early December to get away from the commercialization, and this year we added a three-night cruise over Christmas because this was the one year there weren’t crowded large family groups (as Carnival allows only 4% unvaccinated children and there was not enough time for eligible children to be fully vaccinated before Christmas).  
 

Edit:  Oops, hit save accidentally.        We enjoyed decorations and a Christmas show with Santa hats, jingle bell bracelets, Santa, and the Grinch.  Plus a nice Christmas dinner that I didn’t have to prepare or clean up after.  So for us, this was a lot more Christmas than we are used to and we enjoyed it.

Edited January 3, 2022 by ZoeyVictoria

[TravelGirlinDallas]

I'd love to do a Christmas cruise. I'd just bring my own Nativity for our cabin and read our own Christmas story on Christmas morning just like we do at home. And even though we're Protestant and regularly attend, I've gone to Catholic mass with my husband's family many times, including on Christmas Eve, which was absolutely lovely. Try doing that next time. 

[neverbeenhere]

We don't discuss religion on cruises. Happy Holidays! 🙂

 

[homedepot124]

2 hours ago, BND said:

John and Katrina Blair lead one on the ships they're on, but those are the only times we've seen it.  They've been our CD and AD on 3 or 4 cruises out of Baltimore.

John and Katrina Blair do lots of things that other CD's and AD's don't do.  Such as the Neil Diamond show or simply interacting with the passengers.  Too bad RCCL can't have a John and Katrina on every ship. 

[karena1]

17 minutes ago, TravelGirlinDallas said:

I'd love to do a Christmas cruise. I'd just bring my own Nativity for our cabin and read our own Christmas story on Christmas morning just like we do at home. And even though we're Protestant and regularly attend, I've gone to Catholic mass with my husband's family many times, including on Christmas Eve, which was absolutely lovely. Try doing that next time. 

I bring a small Christmas tree and put decorations on our cabin door.  Love doing a cruise over Christmas.  We have no family close to spend Christmas with, so cruising  is fun!

[OnTheJourney]

24 minutes ago, karena1 said:

We always cruise over Christmas and absolutely love it. 

Not sure how much I'd enjoy it. I do believe I'd miss being home, going out to the Christmas tree farm to cut down and bring home a tree, the decorating,  and so forth. Not to say this couldn't be done anyway but if away for an extended number of days the tree would lack for water. One time, many years ago, we had a Rose Parade trip scheduled, which left the day after Christmas. It never happened being that my daughter got sick Christmas evening. One other time we did go away over Christmas when our daughter was quite young.  Stayed at the Inner harbor in Baltimore -it was a unique experience. Never did anything like that since. I truly WOULDN'T miss some of the busy church music preparations and some of what goes along with all of that. So...maybe some time worth trying. 

[OnTheJourney]

1 hour ago, DCPIV said:

Nowadays, with these mega-ship floating amusement parks and shopping malls, the holiday cruises have become a zoo.  Were we to do another Christmas cruise, it wouldn't be on such a ship.

This is a good point. I'd not enjoy a real crowded ship....any time of the year for that matter. 

[karena1]

3 minutes ago, OnTheJourney said:

Not sure how much I'd enjoy it. I do believe I'd miss being home, going out to the Christmas tree farm to cut down and bring home a tree, the decorating,  and so forth. Not to say this couldn't be done anyway but if away for an extended number of days the tree would lack for water. One time, many years ago, we had a Rose Parade trip scheduled, which left the day after Christmas. It never happened being that my daughter got sick Christmas evening. One other time we did go away over Christmas when our daughter was quite young.  Stayed at the Inner harbor in Baltimore -it was a unique experience. Never did anything like that since. I truly WOULDN'T miss some of the busy church music preparations and some of what goes along with all of that. So...maybe some time worth trying. 

We have a fake tree and it is up the first weekend in Nov!  I totally go all out and decorate for Christmas, so by putting everything up early (takes a long time), we get to enjoy it.  We always cruise the first week in Dec also, so if I did not decorate early, it would not be worth the work.  

[Ferry_Watcher]

1 hour ago, OnTheJourney said:

Do you know if there was a Catholic priest onboard?  My in-laws often cruised over Easter and typically were able to go to Mass. We've been on cruises where there was sometimes a non-denominational Sunday service. Would there have been any chance for you to go ashore (if the itinerary allowed it) for a service?  

HAL usually has a priest on board to lead Mass for crew and passengers. 

 

[DallasGuy75219]

2 hours ago, cured said:

I vote Covid. Perhaps the three kings were in quarantine?  

The Nativity turned into a super spreader event when they couldn't social distance by 6 feet in the manger.

[livingonthebeach]

8 minutes ago, DallasGuy75219 said:

The Nativity turned into a super spreader event when they couldn't social distance by 6 feet in the manger.

They needed to keep Covid numbers down so they offloaded the entire Nativity set, animals and all. 

[cured]

5 hours ago, LEMJMcC said:

Taken by itself, the cruise on Mariner of the Seas over Christmas was okay.  No doubt it would have been better without having to deal with masks - I really found them to be quite an annoyance and they took much away from our experience.  Mariner seems to be a tired ship needing some much needed maintenance and upkeep - which I realize is a challenge when the ship docks and redeploys in one day, week after week.  Still, you'd have thought that RCI would have taken the opportunity to do some much needed maintenance and "brightening" of their fleet while it was not sailing.

 

Though not at full capacity it still seemed crowded, especially the promenade and the track on deck 12; we did find a pleasant walking experience on deck 4 thouogh with the exception of the smoking area on the port side.  The Windjammer was crowded and just seemed really busy each time we visited it.  We did like having crew handle the serving of the food!  We felt much less cramped on Oasis back in 2018.

 

Speaking of food, our food in the MDR was quite good and this is the dirst cruise that we took all of our evening meals in the MDR.  Service was good and we had very amenable and pleasant dinner mates.  The quality of the food was above good, but not quite great, except for the Beff Stroganoff and the Oso Buko which I found to be delectable!

 

The crew was for the most part very friendly, though I did run across a few who seemed almost annoyed to serve; I felt like I was I was inconveniencing them when it came my turn at the counter; particularly at bars.  Our cabin attendant and waiters were all very good; top notch I must say.  We enjoyed one lunch at Johnny Rockets and Vlad was a hoot!  The only downside was that I became a bit ill in the stomach after that one meal and didn't feel like eating agani until the following evening after returning from Cozumel.

 

Now, as far as Christmas is concerned, it was more like Christless.  Everything was over the top secular with not a hint of the sacred.  Not one traditional Crhistmas song was played on Mariner - though when docked alongside Brilliance at Cozumel we did hear some on that ship!  Nor did we see one manger scene or anything that referred to the reason for the season.  For some perhaps this is not even a consideration, and my wife did ask me what I had expected.  Perhaps I did have unrealistic expectations, but I would have thought that somewhere on the ship the whole reason we have the High Holiday of Christmas would have been acknowledged in some public manner.  They did have Catholic Mass, but as we are not Catholic, we did not attend.  We feel like we literally missed Christmas this past year, though as Dickens states, we try to honor it in our hearts all the days throughout the year regardless.

 

In summary, we will never again take a Christmas cruise; but will likely embark on cruises at other times during the winter seasons to come, once Covid and all its variants are just bad memories.

 

Regards.

Not everyone believes in Christ. It is the "reason for the season" for only 30% of the world. That leaves 70% of the world who might not appreciate their vacation bombarded with someone else's religion.  We celebrate the "Christian version of the reason for the season" but as an international company with customers who celebrate a range of religious holidays or even none in December, I would never, ever expect Royal Caribbean to single out one religious holiday in December (there are over 16 holidays from different religions in December) to emphasize.  It does sound like there was at least a religious mass offered that you could have partaken of. For you, as a Christian, Christmas is the reason for the season. For a pagan, the Winter Solstice is the reason for the season.  For many, it is Kwanza, or Hannukah, or even the Grand High Climax (satanism.)  I actually applaud Royal Caribbean for its diversity.  There is enough Christmas for everyone who celebrates, but not so much religion that it would be annoying to non-Christians.

 

It is great that you had an almost wonderful cruise otherwise!

Edited January 3, 2022 by cured

[time4u2go]

I always thought the "reason for the season" was because the earth is tilted in relation to its orbit around the Sun. 🤔😁

[cyntil8ing]

We were on Anthem last week. There was a midnight mass, as well as an interdenominational service Christmas morning. There was a caroling event, but we didn't attend, so I don't know which types of songs were included.

 

It doesn't get much more traditional Christmas than O Holy Night, which was featured in the Christmas Show. This was recorded at that show and posted by the performer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R2Vel-x8Q30

 

We were a bit surprised when all the decorations came down before we left the ship on New Years Eve.

 

This was our third cruise on the actual holiday, on three different lines -- Carnival Pride in 2017, Celebrity Edge in 2019 and now Anthem in 2021. They were all a good mix, at least in our opinion, of the traditional and the secular. 

 

[mugtech]

2 hours ago, cured said:

Not everyone believes in Christ. It is the "reason for the season" for only 30% of the world. That leaves 70% of the world who might not appreciate their vacation bombarded with someone else's religion.  We celebrate the "Christian version of the reason for the season" but as an international company with customers who celebrate a range of religious holidays or even none in December, I would never, ever expect Royal Caribbean to single out one religious holiday in December (there are over 16 holidays from different religions in December) to emphasize.  It does sound like there was at least a religious mass offered that you could have partaken of. For you, as a Christian, Christmas is the reason for the season. For a pagan, the Winter Solstice is the reason for the season.  For many, it is Kwanza, or Hannukah, or even the Grand High Climax (satanism.)  I actually applaud Royal Caribbean for its diversity.  There is enough Christmas for everyone who celebrates, but not so much religion that it would be annoying to non-Christians.

 

It is great that you had an almost wonderful cruise otherwise!

And let's not forget Festivus for the rest of us.

[deliver42]

I can't believe the Mariner is that worn down. Royal spent around $165 Million to refurbish and update the ship a few years ago. I believe it was 2018, but I could be wrong.

[MISTER 67]

8 hours ago, LEMJMcC said:

Taken by itself, the cruise on Mariner of the Seas over Christmas was okay.  No doubt it would have been better without having to deal with masks - I really found them to be quite an annoyance and they took much away from our experience.  Mariner seems to be a tired ship needing some much needed maintenance and upkeep - which I realize is a challenge when the ship docks and redeploys in one day, week after week.  Still, you'd have thought that RCI would have taken the opportunity to do some much needed maintenance and "brightening" of their fleet while it was not sailing.

 

Though not at full capacity it still seemed crowded, especially the promenade and the track on deck 12; we did find a pleasant walking experience on deck 4 thouogh with the exception of the smoking area on the port side.  The Windjammer was crowded and just seemed really busy each time we visited it.  We did like having crew handle the serving of the food!  We felt much less cramped on Oasis back in 2018.

 

Speaking of food, our food in the MDR was quite good and this is the dirst cruise that we took all of our evening meals in the MDR.  Service was good and we had very amenable and pleasant dinner mates.  The quality of the food was above good, but not quite great, except for the Beff Stroganoff and the Oso Buko which I found to be delectable!

 

The crew was for the most part very friendly, though I did run across a few who seemed almost annoyed to serve; I felt like I was I was inconveniencing them when it came my turn at the counter; particularly at bars.  Our cabin attendant and waiters were all very good; top notch I must say.  We enjoyed one lunch at Johnny Rockets and Vlad was a hoot!  The only downside was that I became a bit ill in the stomach after that one meal and didn't feel like eating agani until the following evening after returning from Cozumel.

 

Now, as far as Christmas is concerned, it was more like Christless.  Everything was over the top secular with not a hint of the sacred.  Not one traditional Crhistmas song was played on Mariner - though when docked alongside Brilliance at Cozumel we did hear some on that ship!  Nor did we see one manger scene or anything that referred to the reason for the season.  For some perhaps this is not even a consideration, and my wife did ask me what I had expected.  Perhaps I did have unrealistic expectations, but I would have thought that somewhere on the ship the whole reason we have the High Holiday of Christmas would have been acknowledged in some public manner.  They did have Catholic Mass, but as we are not Catholic, we did not attend.  We feel like we literally missed Christmas this past year, though as Dickens states, we try to honor it in our hearts all the days throughout the year regardless.

 

In summary, we will never again take a Christmas cruise; but will likely embark on cruises at other times during the winter seasons to come, once Covid and all its variants are just bad memories.

 

Regards.

We sailed with Princess Christmas week and though I didn't see a manger anywhere, I would say half the carols played during the cruise were what we would call religious, I was surprised but very happy. There was a non-denominational service held in the main showroom on Christmas morning.

A very nice touch was on Christmas Eve when the Cruise Director read "Twas the Night Before Christmas" in the Explorer Lounge.

Edited January 4, 2022 by MISTER 67

[zeppgirl]

Christmas nowadays is a very secular holiday, especially when it comes to cruise ships. We are Jewish and always cruise over Christmas and we love the decorations and festive songs.  We wouldn’t mind a manger scene but from the perspective of someone who doesn’t celebrate Christmas, the balance was good. Loved the tree, gingerbread houses, themed activities. 
 

I would suggest that as you mention, if this is important to you, you forgo a cruise and opt for something more religious on Christmas like a service at a church.