Just booked a dream cruise!

[PumpkinPatches]

Hello! My family (myself, husband + 2 kids) have just finalized our booking for the Island Princess Panama Canal Ocean to Ocean sailing for Christmas & New Years December 2025!

We are so excited!!! We spent the holidays last year on Celebrity Silhouette and LOVED the holiday sailing experience.

 

Can anyone provide any insight as to what the Christmas and New Years experience is like w/ Princess?

[villageidit]

Sailed just before Christmas last year on the Majestic. Crew decorated the piazza with a huge tree and numerous other garlands, ribbons etc. 

[karatemom2]

Christmas and New Year’s are a wonderful experience on Princess. First, the ships are beautifully decorated. Christmas celebrations generally include caroling, gingerbread house building contests, formal evening on Christmas Eve with Christmas Crackers at your place setting at dinner, a reading of The Night Before Christmas, Fun Fair for kids with activities including cookie decorating, and visit from Santa with a gift. These are just some examples - different CDs will add other things from ship to ship. 
 

New Year’s Eve is a giant party. Also a formal night, you will get hats at your dinner place setting. There are multiple parties staged throughout the ship with the largest generally on the top deck, weather permitting. There is a huge countdown at midnight and lots of music and dancing. 
 

I don’t have a basis of comparison as I’ve never spent a holiday with any line but Princess, but I can’t imagine anyone else does it better. Princess makes it a very special experience. 

Edited May 5 by karatemom2

[Arizona Wildcat]

Did your cruise last year.  Never ever again 

 

The ship will be at maximum capacity with often 3 and 4 people to a cabin.

 

Our issue was approximately 400 children and 800 teens that roamed about in herds.  Looking only at their phones.  I was knocked down once - am 6'+ and 200lbs.

 

Dining was chaotic for two nights and the theatre packed 30 minutes before show time.

 

Tender ports obviously dreadful unless you are Elite. Cabo was a 3 hour wait unless on a ships tour.

 

The lectures on the Canal were excellent and food good.  Cartagena wonderful short taxi ride to town, but the Canal since expansion felt like cruising on a long lake.  The old feeling truly gone.

[karatemom2]

Sounds like this is really a dream cruise for you and I agree - a full Panama Canal transit is on our bucket list and I think doing it over the holidays will be magical!

 

Yes, there will be lots of children - traveling happily with extended families. Often you will find multiple generations traveling together. I love children - raised two of my own on Princess cruises and we made great holiday memories with them on the ship. Sharing Christmas with children is a joyful experience for me. We raised our children to be respectful and never had any real issues with other children onboard. 
 

Of course, kids will be kids at time and do some annoying things like hit a few extra elevator buttons or congregate in the stairwell. That was about the worst we experienced from the younger crowd.

 

However, the stories I could share about the rude adults onboard over the years we have cruised far outweigh any bad behavior from kids. And yet, I don’t let any of it deter me from enjoying my experience. 
 

Princess does a great job providing activities for the kids that keep them busy and having fun. And seeing their shining faces with Santa is pure joy. 
 

Go and enjoy your dream cruise and don’t be deterred - no cruise is ever perfect, but we have done 6 holiday cruises with Princess and they have all been wonderful!

Edited May 5 by karatemom2

[Treasure Hunter]

The Island Princess was built to transit the old locks so perhaps your cruise will do that. We did that cruise the first year she sailed. It was magical. My kids are now 50 and 47 and were raised sailing holidays on Princess. I remember when they had fireworks on New Years Eve. The would string lanterns all over the top deck. Sigh. What I would do to repeat those memories. 

[trvlwrld]

Totally agree with sailing over the holidays is a disaster…won’t do it again…between the strollers and walkers it was not an easy stroll from one end of the ship to the other…great for generational families, but for couples or singles not so much

Enjoy-you will have a great time with your family!

[cookok]

My family of 9 did a wonderful weeks Caribbean cruise Christmas 2022, LOVED it.  Three  siblings and spouses, 2 nephews and a wife. Ship was decorated beautifully throughout!!  Special music and menus.  Personally I find it a much less stressful experience than doing it at home. We drew names and exchanged ornaments on Christmas morning.  Have also done the Panama Canal on sister ship Coral and loved that also!  Enjoy!

[DCThunder]

I was on Island last year doing a TA arriving in FLL on Dec. 21st.  The ship had minimal decorations during the lead-up to Christmas (a couple of Christmas trees here and there and some garlands in the Piazza), but we were told that it would be all dolled up for the Christmas cruise departing the day we disembarked.

[Beamafar]

Would anyone have copies of Christmas Eve/Day, New Year’s Eve/Day menus?  
 

(It’s unfortunate that the time of year wasn’t included in the thread title). 

[Kay S]

Have fun.  The Panama transit is just magical!

[PumpkinPatches]

3 hours ago, DCThunder said:

I was on Island last year doing a TA arriving in FLL on Dec. 21st.  The ship had minimal decorations during the lead-up to Christmas (a couple of Christmas trees here and there and some garlands in the Piazza), but we were told that it would be all dolled up for the Christmas cruise departing the day we disembarked.

That makes sense... they probably need the same crew to come onboard to set up the deorations and then take down after the holidays. Would be hard to do before a TA.

[SCX22]

Wouldn't let the grumpies ruin your expectations.  It's the holidays and it the time of the year that's meant to be spent with family of all ages.  The cruise will be great!

[cruisequeen4ever]

Congratulations! Spending Christmas and New Year’s at Sea on Princess is the very best! It’s so magical with crew wearing Santa hats, Christmas music piped throughout the ship, the crew and passengers in extra jovial spirits, Christmas carols sung by the crew and passengers in the Piazza, a special menu for Christmas and New Year’s, Party favors for New Year’s, a big party for New Year’s, Gingerbread house making other Christmas crafts, and passengers dressed up in fun Christmas attire, with some even in Christmas jammies. Have a blast! 

[edspec]

Since Covid school attendance isn't a priority for many.  You will see lots of children all times of the year, not just school holidays. Don't let the downers dissuade you, have a wonderful time!!!!

[spethstation]

Be prepared to be inundated with Christmas music 24/7, both live and piping through the speakers everywhere on the ship. But the cruise sounds amazing!

[NavyVeteran]

@PumpkinPatches, you didn't say how old your kids are. The Princess kids clubs will have a lot of extra activities for Christmas and it should be a magical time for them. There will probably be plenty of kids onboard, so you can divide the time - have as much familty together time as you want and have some couple time with the kids in the clubs.

Off the subject of Christmas and New Year, I strongly recommend you read David McCullough's The Path Between the Seas. It is the definitive history of building the original locks of the Panama Canal. Depending on the ages and interests of the children, they may or may not be fascinated by the Canal itself.

[warthog2608]

I have to put myself in the fun category. We did a Christmas cruise on the Grand in Dec '15. Then we did a New Years cruise just before Covid hit on the Royal in Dec '19. Both were great, the ship was decorated to the hilt and the whole theme was magical. 

We've also done a couple Canada Day cruises (which just happened to overlap with the holiday for you Yanks) as well as Thanksgiving and Halloween. I really enjoy all the decorations. Have fun on your cruise.