Have you/would you book for thanksgiving?

[Nick Needs To Know]

Just curious, has anyone ever done a Thanksgiving cruise? Would you do it again? Thanks, we're kind of thinking of a Thanksgiving cruise for 2007, just would like some feedback.

 

Nick

[GMoney]

Holidays at sea are the best. I have spent Thanksgiving, Xmas and NY on cruises. The ships are nicely decorated and everything's just a bit more festive. Just keep in mind that you may have to deal with higher airfare and crazy airports.

[PhoenixCruiser]

Way too many kids for us :eek: ;)

 

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[westcoastvecs]

Have done and love it! It makes for a whole week of festive! On RCCL it's great because dining is assigned-it is definitely not so great on the cruiselines that have personal choice type dining-it is hard to get 1 table for larger family groups.

And you get to avoid the shopping frenzy of the Friday after Thanksgiving and yet still get a jump on Christmas shopping in the ports!

[cruisin4kicks]

We were on the Voyager last year over Thanksgiving. It was great... would do ANY holiday again in a heartbeat. Let someone else do all the work.

 

That being said, it was just my wife and I.

 

Tim

[ntsurf]

Our family just did Thanksgiving 2005 on Enchantment and loved it!! Just make sure you are ahead on Holiday shopping, etc... I didn't want to come back to earth when we arrived back home!!!

[PSCruiser]

Have done the Grandeur repo over TG, and would do it again in a minute! They do serve turkey as one of the entrees- wasn't bad!

[sbell1]

We did Thanksgiving on Navigator last year. Would not do it again only because of the extremely high air fare for flying home the weekend after Thanksgiving. Booked air fare nine months ahead and it was still twice as much our normal March price.

[Baxter]

No way. Higher fares combined with way too many kids makes us book at other times.

[Fang]

My family and I have been on four cruises over Thanksgiving. We love them and would do them again, if Celebrity had a cruise available.

 

Hopefully, Thanksgiving of 2007 for us.

 

There is something about being at the pool on Thanksgiving morning, having a bloody mary and know that everyone else that I know, is hopefully, dealing with a lot of snow and cold weather!!!

[heartofamerica]

We did Serenade last Thanksgiving. Spent Thankgsiving day in Barbados. I'd do it again in a heartbeat.

[michaelc1957]

Did a Thanksgiving cruise many years ago on the Song of America. Eastern Caribbean itinerary. We were at St. Thomas on Thursday and found many shops closed for Thanksgiving.

 

No problem for us just something to consider.

[beachnative]

One of my (favorite, of course!) aunts surprised my brother's and my family with a fully paid gift (including air) of a Western Caribbean cruise. We had a ball. The ship was packed with families, was more "alive" than on any of our other cruuises, and we never observed anything unruly.

 

The ten of us were given one table in the dining room which made every meal seem like Thanksgiving. That was ten years ago and it is still one of our favorite family memories.

 

We would cruise again at Thanksgiving without a hesitatiion. Actually, our son (now with his own family) called last night and said that he thought we should book a cruise for this Thanksgiving.

[swmichigan cruiser]

We've cruised 3 or 4 times on Thanksgiving week and really enjoyed it once we were lucky enough to eat with the captain on Thanksgiving night. Now what we do because pricing seems to be better and less hectic we start our cruise on the Saturday or Sunday after Thanksgiving. Seems to work really well for us. We fly on Thanksgiving day to get to the port so we have time to relax and I'm still not having to use vacation days on that Thursday and Friday. We did this on the Serenade this past November and were booked on the Adventure of the Seas this year. Just seems to work better for us.

[pandvsmith]

We did Thanksgiving on our first cruise which was a transatlantic. It was great! We spent the day in Nassau and had Thanksgiving dinner that evening with all the trimmings!

[debandbill]

The trick for doing Tksgiving cruises is to take the longer cruises, if you can. If you can swing a 10 or 11 day cruise, it cuts out a lot of the families traveling with kids that can only be gone a week. Everything else about traveling during this time is wonderful...weather nice from Florida, Turkey Day meal cooked for you...usually go a few days before the holiday and come home way after so less air traffic...its our favorite time to cruise!

[windjamming]

Definitely a thumbs up for a Thanksgiving cruise- we were on the Navigator last year, and there's nothing like being in shorts on Thanksgiving Day. Because the cruise was Saturday to Saturday the airports were not as crazy as they are on the Wed and Sun surrounding the weekend. Best of all, it's a real family vacation that everyone can enjoy- and no one has to do the dishes!

 

Have a great time-

[firedog001]

If you want to make this a family vacation go for it. I would never do it as a couple again. Way too many kids on this cruise. My DH and I went on the Nordic Empress probably 8 years ago, St Croix was our stop for Thanksgiving, luckily we did a hotel/beach excursion, then went into town to shop. Hardly any shops were open. Back on the ship for dinner, only thing i ate was the turkey, rest of it was way to gourmet me. Did not complain, just asked for something else. After having 10 cruises under our belt, we learned from our mistakes. But again, if i would be taking my family, yes i would do it.

[pacurnl]

We did a Thanksgiving cruise in 2000, out of San Juan. Not very many people fly kids to PR, so not too many on board. I was with my brother and sisters, so I was still with family on the holiday. My kids managed to fend for themselves(adult), so it was very fun. We were in Grenada that day, and they don't celebrate Thanksgiving, so it was just another Thursday to them. I was at Grand Anse Beach, wading in the surf, thinking,"I'm usually up to my elbows in a turkey at this time--boy, this sure beats that!" They had filet on the menu that night, and I didn't even feel honor-bound to eat turkey! It was wonderful, and not having to cook was the icing on the cake! I was afraid flying home would be awful, as we had connections in Atlanta, but it wasn't bad at all, even on Sunday.

[RobNC2001]

Just curious, has anyone ever done a Thanksgiving cruise? Would you do it again? Thanks, we're kind of thinking of a Thanksgiving cruise for 2007, just would like some feedback.

 

Nick

 

The very first cruise I ever took and the one that got me hooked was a Thanksgiving Cruise aboard the Golden Princess. It was very special because my entire family, about 20 of us, several generations in all, from all over the country, were together in one place. One of our relatives had been diagnosed with cancer and, though in the early stages, was terminal. So we all made a special effort to be there and we had an absolute blast. It was a very special cruise for that reason.

 

That being said, I don't think I would do it again unless under similar circumstances. You always pay a premium to sail on a holiday and the ships are crowded, often with children who aren't always as well behaved as some would hope. In addition, though our family had a special time together, it really didn't seem like Thanksgiving. They had Turkey and stuffing and mashed potatoes in the dining room that night, but that was about it, and in the middle of the Caribbean it just wasn't the same. Thanksgiving is a pretty traditional time for our family and I really missed those traditions at sea.

 

So, bottom line, IMHO, if you can use it as a special time for your family to all be together when that might not otherwise happen, then I would go for it, otherwise probably not.

[HappyFamilyNJ]

Hi,

 

We did the Thanksgiving cruise on the Voyager last year. It was a repositioning cruise (NJ to Miami) so we actually got a great deal. Thanksgiving was one of the formal nights, but otherwise it seemed pretty much like a normal day at sea in the Caribbean. The turkey was so-so, but I did enjoy having the family together without having to cook. There were a lot of kids on the cruise because of school holidays. If the price is right, I'd say go for it! Personally, I wouldn't pay a premium to cruise on Thanksgiving though, JMO.

[mompus]

We did Thanksgiving on the Explorer with our 4 children. It just so happened it was our 20th anniversary on Thanksgiving Day and we wanted to celebrate and had an absolute blast! Yes, there were a lot of families, but both my DH and I commented on how well behaved everyone was! We had a balcony and two inside rooms and yes...they did serve Thanksgiving Dinner on a special menu! We would not hesitate to do it again!