Christmas Cruise

[dibati2]

I'm considering a Christmas cruise for our family. Our sons are 20/17 and past the Santa Clause stage.

 

The cost is considerably more and I'm wondering if it's worth it. Is the cruise experiance enhanced in anyway because of the time of year or is just the same cruise for twice the price.

 

Thanks for your comments, much appreciated

[AF-1]

Holiday season brings higher prices. The ship will be decorated and they will do a few extra things to make Christmas nice for the passengers. You may want to travel right after the holidays when the prices will drop. Look at what prices are in Dec verses late jan early feb.

[sross6019]

We have done 2 Christmas cruises in the caribbean. They are more expensive and a lot more people on board. The shows are geared more toward a Christmas theme, there was a church service on the first one but not on the second one, and the ship is decorated. Santa came, but only on Christmas morning. There was a time for singing Christmas caroles led by the Captain. Other than that we did not see as much difference. There are more families, so finding a quite place was harder. The weather in the ports was wonderful (80-90 degrees). Meeting new people was fun. The last one, about half were from other countries than the US and we made some good friends from Wales. Our next cruise will be the week prior to Christmas and rates will be cheaper. Both of our sons will be in college then, so we will have the luxury of sailing at a cheaper time. If you decide to go, book as early as possible for the best rate.

[Putterdude]

We did the Christmas/New Years cruise to Hawaii on the Diamond Princess out of LA this year. No question you pay a large premium at this time of the year. In return it is a very festive experience, the puplic areas are very nicely decorated, there are lots of Christmas activities, carol singing, masses, church services, Santa, ginger bread houses, holiday themed menus,.......... It is a great venue for a family or an extended family to enjoy themsleves and the holidays without the pressures normally attributed to the holidays and best yet no one has to clean up after everyone has left.

All of that said, we found the ship very crowded, lots of unsupervised and unruly children, some dreadfull teens drinking, doing durgs and yelling obscenties at the top of their lungs and parents who were in such a festive mood didn't really care what their children did so long as they didn't bother them. So it really didn't work for us and we have booked two 14 day cruises over the next 18 mos but they won't be at Christmas. However we do know that many families do it year after year and one family that we got to know on our cruise and admire a great deal are doing exactly the same cruise this year.

[lovebug33]

If you want to save money, think about the week before Christmas. DH and I did that because it was too expensive over Christmas. We still got a ship totally decked out for the holiday (including the formal pictures), a great cruise, and got to be home for Christmas. It cost us 1400 dollars for the week. Christmas would have been double.

[eandj]

The first cruise AFTER Xmas week is also a better deal. Once you get further into Jan the rates go up again.

[LV2COOK]

We have cruised at least 6 times for the Christmas holiday. It is when we can close our business and vacation with our daughter. It is more expensive. We really enjoy going, our daughter always meets some neat kids to hang out with. Ships vary on what they have for Christmas, but overall it has been festive enough, and Church services are offered for different denominations. We are going again this Christmas and New Year's. If you can go at another time do it....but if your going because it's the kids time off from school you'll be fine. You have to book nearly a year in advance to get a good price and good cabin. :)

[Krazy Kruizers]

All the cruises raise their prices for the holidays -- especially Christmas -- New Year's and Easter.

 

And Christmas and Easter attrack a lot of families with children.

 

We used to cruise at that time of the time -- not any more.

[silentbob007]

The first cruise AFTER Xmas week is also a better deal. Once you get further into Jan the rates go up again.

 

Unless it's a new years cruise ... those are usually more than Christmas.

 

I like Christmas cruises ... have been on two previously and will go on one this year. What I do is wait for rate drops (senior, residency, etc) and then book so that the Christmas cruise is usually a comparable price. I honestly would never pay double for the cruise otherwise.

[ehfl]

They have the ship decorated, and there are some holiday events. The main reason it's more expensive is that a lot of people are off from work and school, so demand is higher.