Christmas on Royal Caribbean

[sbaker]

We're taking our family on a cruise over Christmas this year. We'll be on Navigator of the Seas.  For those of you who have experienced Christmas on Royal Caribbean, can you tell me if they do anything special for Christmas (i.e. activities, deocrations, food, entertainment etc.)?  Thanks!

[Tee & Chilli]

Decorations go up after Thanksgiving 

[ONECRUISER]

1 minute ago, Tee & Chilli said:

Decorations go up after Thanksgiving 

Yup. Most my Cruises Thanksgiving/Thursday nite, wake up Friday to Ship all Decked out. And Santa is there each Cruise threw Xmas. 

[bonsai3s]

2 hours ago, sbaker said:

We're taking our family on a cruise over Christmas this year. We'll be on Navigator of the Seas.  For those of you who have experienced Christmas on Royal Caribbean, can you tell me if they do anything special for Christmas (i.e. activities, deocrations, food, entertainment etc.)?  Thanks!

Last year, Christmas cruise on the Navigator...

 

* Massive Christmas tree, promenade, in front of Playmakers and Sorrentos.

 

* Children received gifts from Royal Caribbean..

 

* Free egg nogs...alcoholic and non-alcoholic.

 

* Large, intricately decorated Christmas cake in the Windjammer.

 

* Crew members wearing Santa hats.

 

* Tree lighting ceremonies on the pool deck and promenade.

 

* Christmas service/mass held in tbe theater.

 

* Christmas songs played in the promenade.

 

Just a few things that I can remember.

I can't remember if we had a special menu...too much egg nogs.

[Surfguyxxx]

We had done 2 Christmas/New Years cruises with RC and it was fantastic.  Bonasi3s is spot on with the events aboard.   The vibe on the ship was so much fun.  I brought a little pop-up Christmas Tree that I set up in the room and at each port, I bought an ornament to put on.  

[twangster]

I've done a few Christmas and/or near Christmas sailings.  Since you are on Marner I'll pull some pics from my photo vault from a similar class of ship.  Here was Indy in 2017 on a 9 night Christmas cruise:

 

 

 

The ships will usually do some sort of gingerbread display.  Typically this grows over time starting soon after US Thanksgiving ends.  Over the weeks leading towards Christmas the display gets more and more elaborate.

 

 

 

 

Some islands choose to decorate as well.  Unsure what Mexican ports will do on the West coast.

 

Labadee:

 

 

 

St. Maarten on Christmas Day:

(one of the first ship visits back post-hurricane Irma earlier that year)

 

 

 

 

 

Christmas music typically replaces the normal background music piped throughout the ship and in the elevators.

 

In the MDR they will usually include a turkey entree on a special Christmas Day menu.  The menu design has changed since 2017 but here is an example of a Christmas Day MDR menu.

 

 

There will be typically be more children and families on holiday cruises but that's part of the fun.  typically everyone is in a good mood.  Christmas cruises can be a lot of fun.

[LEMJMcC]

Christmas decorations were very nice and crew wore Santa hats.  "Holiday music" was played throughout the ship, but we quickly became tired of the same songs being played over and over again;  mind you, there were no traditional carols played at all on Mariner and there was absolutely nothing sacred about Christmas onboard - except for some cabin doors decorated by cruisers.  If you're looking for a secular Christmas completely devoid of its true meaning, then a Christmas cruise can be a blast.  If you highly value the more traditional aspects of the holiday, you might be a bit disappointed.

[1ballerina]

Christmas and New Years are one of our favorite times of year to cruise !! Enjoy …

[Surfguyxxx]

6 hours ago, 1ballerina said:

Christmas and New Years are one of our favorite times of year to cruise !! Enjoy …

We had done holiday cruises 2 years in a row and it was amazing. The mood of the ship was high, the music, the tree, the door decorations; all fantastic.  I did however feel a bit sad for some of the crew members as they're away from their families.  

[Tatka]

I’ve been on various Christmas cruises, but will compare similar class - Explorer. We had amazing Christmas show on ice

 

 

 

Also we had amazing Carols singing session. I’m not a Christian, but we had fun.