Christmas/Chanukah Week Cruise Advice?

[TechMarcom]

We're new to cruising, and thinking of taking the family (kids ages 10 and 7) on a cruise during the week starting December 20. Christmas and Chanukah both occur that week this year.

 

Has anyone ever cruise during this week befire? Is there anything special about it (positive or negative) other than the obvious lack of any price breaks? ;)

[cb at sea]

HA ha! Price breaks!!!! Not during holidays! I guess the "special" will come from the decorations....

[DEL67]

On the Carnival Liberty they had a "show" on Christmas afternoon featuring the Camp Carnival children singing along with the singers and dancers.

[thegotogirl]

Every week on a cruise is like a holiday, you just get lots more kids when you travel on certain weeks of the year. Considering you have school-age children, you can be assured that there will be lots of kids their age on board. We were on RCCL one Christmas/Chanukah week, and the ship was a full 1/3 children! It sounds like a win/win to me....that way you can just give them the cruise as their holiday gift and call it a day! It is a PERFECT time for you to go. Have fun!!!:) By the way....as far as I'm concerned, there is never a down-side to cruising with kids....they have a great time because there is always something for them to do with either kids their own age, or with you as a family. And we all know a mom is only as happy as her least happy kid!!!

[forensic]

We are cruising at Christmas and our DD, SIL, and GD, & GS are thinking about coming with us. One of our problems is that our grandchildren still believe in Santa Claus. With the luggage limits we are not sure how to have Santa deliver his presents aboard the Solstice. Has anyone ever done Santa's visit aboard ship?

[NJBelle]

Hi, this is not easy. I would guess that my "heroic efforts" may have contributed to my daughter being one of the few "Santa virgins" in her 6th grade class. When we were going to be gone over the Christmas holiday during a cruise (left about Dec 19 and returned about Jan 5), I took great pains to be sure that our stockings were hung up at home, but that we also carried additional stockings for the ship. Before we left home, I ran back into the house, supposedly to turn off the iron or something similar, but really ran back in to remove Christmas presents for her from the closet to the fireplace mantel. That way, when we returned from our cruise, our daughter saw the Santa stuff by the fireplace and we could pretend that while he brought some items (very small which would fit into stockings) to the ship, he still brought most things to the house, etc.

 

It was much easier this Christmas when we acknowledged that there was no Santa, but that we would mostly focus on gifts/contributions to outside organizations, like St. Judes, Heifer, and local food banks. We just brought very small items like CDs, books, gum, etc on board the ship for our stockings and had a much more enjoyable Christmas.

 

However, for the younger ones, I still think it is worth it to do the extra work to support the Santa theme. You just have to decide when the right time is to move to the next phase.

 

Best, NJBelle

[thegotogirl]

Hi, this is not easy. I would guess that my "heroic efforts" may have contributed to my daughter being one of the few "Santa virgins" in her 6th grade class. When we were going to be gone over the Christmas holiday during a cruise (left about Dec 19 and returned about Jan 5), I took great pains to be sure that our stockings were hung up at home, but that we also carried additional stockings for the ship. Before we left home, I ran back into the house, supposedly to turn off the iron or something similar, but really ran back in to remove Christmas presents for her from the closet to the fireplace mantel. That way, when we returned from our cruise, our daughter saw the Santa stuff by the fireplace and we could pretend that while he brought some items (very small which would fit into stockings) to the ship, he still brought most things to the house, etc.

 

It was much easier this Christmas when we acknowledged that there was no Santa, but that we would mostly focus on gifts/contributions to outside organizations, like St. Judes, Heifer, and local food banks. We just brought very small items like CDs, books, gum, etc on board the ship for our stockings and had a much more enjoyable Christmas.

 

However, for the younger ones, I still think it is worth it to do the extra work to support the Santa theme. You just have to decide when the right time is to move to the next phase.

 

Best, NJBelle

 

 

Based on the spelling of Chanukah by TechMarcom, I am not sure that "Santa" is a concern. Perhaps I am wrong, and if so, then I too would go to great length that you did.

[NJBelle]

Did you not see the note right above mine that asked "What did you do about Santa Claus?".

[thegotogirl]

Did you not see the note right above mine that asked "What did you do about Santa Claus?".

 

As you did not post the quote you were answering, I thought it was to the original question....

[Lowie]

who said there are no deals for christmas cruises? i don't know if there is availablity still, but on MSC out of fort lauderdale, kids sail free and the christmas cruise was SUPER cheap when i checked. i'm going on their new years cruise and for the 4 of us was very reasonable!

[buddyjo143]

We cruised with our extended family over Christmas in 2006. The kids wrote to Santa and let him know that they would be on a cruise. Their moms told them that Santa would leave their big presents at home and bring stockings and small gifts to the cruise ship since he knew they would be flying home.

 

Being the good auntie that I am :p I packed my own Build a Bear penguin because my niece asked Santa to bring it for ME! She was so surprised when he showed up in my cabin on Christmas morning.

 

I can tell you that for die-hard New Englanders we had a hard time with no snow on Christmas. ;) But we are sailing at New Year's 2009 so I guess it wasn't too bad a time.

 

The ships are nicely decorated, they will have special dinners, Carnival had free egg nog (spiked and plain) in the buffet. Holiday music played throughout the cruise. It was very fun and festive.

[cantwait2cruize]

What do you mean there's no Santa:eek: .

[Putterdude]

We did this year over Christmas and New Years. It was a great venue for families and extended families who got to enjoy the holidays without the pressures of plannning, cooking and cleaning up. The ship was very well decorated and there were lots of Christmas events. There are no price breaks over this period and in fact there is a premium that can be as much as $1000 pp. We enjoyed it but would not do it again in a hurry but know of people who will because it works for them.

[Morgsmom]

We did a family Christmas (self & DD, brother & his family, parents) a couple of years ago on the Grandeur. It was a 4 nighter and we got it for $399 each for Oceanviews which I thought was supercheap as it sailed over Christmas day. (the NYE sailing right after was at least double that.) We agreed as adults that we were not going to exchange presents that year and I brought stockings for DD & myself as well as some dollar store window clings to put the holiday spirit in the cabin.

 

On Christmas morning I put an IPod shuffle (the original one when they first came out) and some tiny presents/candy in her stocking. She thought she'd gone to heaven and it didn't require me checking a box of presents -- only to have to bring them back again!!!

 

if the OP is celebrating Chanukah, I suggest "small" sized presents, though we all know that with electronics there is an inverse dollar to size ratio! :rolleyes:

[silentbob007]

I"ve cruised over Christmas with both Royal Caribbean and Carnival and had positive experiences. Carnival offered an extra show on Christmas eve and caroling that night in the piano bar. When I was on the Grandeur a few years ago, they had caroling in the centrum on Christmas day with free egg nog. Santa then made an appearance and handed out gifts to all of the kids on board.

[cruiselover57]

HA ha! Price breaks!!!! Not during holidays! I guess the "special" will come from the decorations....

 

Hi there,

 

I beg to differ with you. After checking many websites, I found a wholesaler that saved me $700 off of the Xmas/New Year Golden Princess to Hawaii for 12/08. IMO, I have often found that by booking holiday cruises in advance, you can sometimes get a better price. Had it happen many times. Case in point: Last year, got an outside cabin on the Summit for the price of an inside during Xmas/New Year 15-day Summit to Hawaii. It was a 3-day special for Californians only because we didn't need air. I sure jumped on that band-wagon! Lesson learned: Start searching early for those holiday cruises (especially if you need a 3rd or 4th berth) as they sell out fairly fast.

 

Laurie

[cruiselover57]

We're new to cruising, and thinking of taking the family (kids ages 10 and 7) on a cruise during the week starting December 20. Christmas and Chanukah both occur that week this year.

 

Has anyone ever cruise during this week befire? Is there anything special about it (positive or negative) other than the obvious lack of any price breaks? ;)

 

Been doing holiday cruises every year now for who knows how long! For Hanukkah, they'll have services and for the first two nights, they will have lots of goodies to eat like latkes (of course, I only go for the food LOL)! As for Xmas, there will be a santa aboard and he will usually bring gifts for the little ones (I'm not sure what the cut-off age is)! I remember being 17 many moons ago and even I got a present!

 

Laurie

[Cruisin' Chick]

We're new to cruising, and thinking of taking the family (kids ages 10 and 7) on a cruise during the week starting December 20. Christmas and Chanukah both occur that week this year.

 

Has anyone ever cruise during this week befire? Is there anything special about it (positive or negative) other than the obvious lack of any price breaks? ;)

 

Based on the spelling of Chanukah by TechMarcom, I am not sure that "Santa" is a concern. Perhaps I am wrong, and if so, then I too would go to great length that you did.

 

I don't understand the comment about the spelling of Chanukah. (BTW, there are several acceptable ways to spell it; as you will read below, mine happens to be Hanukkah).

 

As for the OP, yes, we were on a Christmas/Hanukkah/New Years cruise back in December/January 2005-6, round trip to Hawaii on the Island Princess. Yes, the price goes up from early December, but basically because the demand is higher, just as the cost of most cruises increase during the week prior to Easter and any cruise from mid-June to late August. Obviously, because it's easier for families to go when school is out.

 

When we stepped aboard the ship on 12/22, we found the ship completely decorated. Holiday music playing constantly until after 12/25. There was a madrigal group performing the first day in the grand atrium, and my little one joined in when they sang "O Hanukkah."

 

The kids made plenty of holiday-oriented crafts. On Christmas day, there was a kids' party in the Wheelhouse Lounge. During that time, my hubby and I were eating lunch in the buffet, when we heard a PA announcement from the "bridge" noting that there was a strange sight in the sky. A few more announcements followed the "sled" and Santa's landing on the ship. The kids got the visit with toys for each of them. In our cabin, there were little stockings with candy. Each cabin door was decorated with a pine cone decoration and many passengers added their own decorations such as mini wreaths or bows.

 

Christmas Eve was a formal night at dinner, and there were holiday oriented fare as well as "crackers" that we all had fun opening. The buffet did serve matzo ball soup one day but I didn't try it.

 

We went to the first night of the Hanukkah candles and found that many families brought a menorah to the lounge. The rabbi onboard asked all the kids to come up and help him with the blessing. There were latkes, but we didn't stay afterwards to check them out.

 

There was also a reverend and a priest onboard who led services for Christmas.

[soontobemrsL]

I'm actually going on a cruise during this holiday season. I've been on a couple of cruises, but for my honeymoon (getting married 12/20), we will leave on RC's Navigator for 10 days starting Christmas Eve. I expect there will be many families with children. I think it will be one of the most memorable holidays I'll ever have! And I CANNOT wait for New Year's Eve. :D

[NCTribeFan]

This December will be the third year in a row that we've sailed at that time of year. But I intentionally go in mid-December because it is MUCH cheaper than going the week of a holiday, there aren't as many kids, and when we get home, I get a few days off for the holidays to "rest" up from the vacation.

 

Ships are decorated; they do holiday stuff. But I'm not much into celebrating holidays.

 

I can say that it is very cool to be sitting on a tropical beach somewhere, in the sun, looking out over the incredible blue water and realize that it's the first day of winter!

 

:D

 

For the difference in the prices (on the cruises I've sailed), with going the week prior to the holidays, I can sail a 2nd time. Since DD is now 22, these December cruises have been her Christmas present to her, and mine to myself.

[simplelife]

Based on the spelling of Chanukah by TechMarcom, I am not sure that "Santa" is a concern. Perhaps I am wrong, and if so, then I too would go to great length that you did.

 

I spell Chanukah just like the OP; I don't see how that says anything about my beliefs.

[Cruzman]

If you can deal with the high cost of a Holiday cruise, and the knowledge that as many as 30% of the passenger complement will be kiddos, you should otherwise have a great time. Special menus, and beautiful holiday decor will abound.