Can anyone tell me about their Christmas cruise experiences?

[digitaldan1]

Hi all,

 

I'm going on a Christmas week cruise on the Pearl and was wondering if anyone could give some insights as to what a cruise this particular week is like. (Crowds, atmosphere, Christmas spirit, special meals, that sort of thing. Also, we're supposed to be in Cozumel on Christmas day. Would you even bother leaving the ship?)

 

thanks,

Dan

[alexkrn46]

I am going on the Gem, Christmas week and I would also like insights from past Christmas crusies.

[Adkmom]

We are on the Sky for Christmas started a thread a week or so ago and got little response. I am still looking or info.

[Addictedtwo]

We are on the Sky for Christmas started a thread a week or so ago and got little response. I am still looking or info.

 

 

 

Have you tried going to the review page, hit some of the NCL ship reviews looking for Dec. cruise dates and see what you can find there.

[unadillasc]

We sailed the Dawn last year the week before Christmas and returned, I belived on the 23rd. The ship had some pretty Christmas trees around, but I saw no other differences.

[lukes]

Christmas on the Spirit 2 years ago was a wonderful experience. Ship was beautifully decorated, trees, hugh gingerbread houses throughout. There was special menus in the main dinning rooms. Christmas day was an optional formal night and at least 75% dressed up. Christmas eve there was caroling singing, midnight mass. Christmas morn Santa was there for pictures and he had a gift for anyone 12 & under.

 

The ship is very busy, very crowded, lots of families, but the atmosphere was very festive.

 

I don't know about Cozumel but we were in Antigua Christmas day. The stores were closed but the beach was still very busy.

[mali06]

We had a marvelous experience at Christmas on a cruise in 2003. Our son and his future bride had just gotten engaged, so it was doubly wonderful. We had a rule that our family had to eat together for dinner each night. Other than that, no rules. But we did spend lots of time together. There were special meals on Christmas eve and day. The ship was decorated to the hilt. Took tons of pictures. They had Christmas theme portrait sessions. There was a special Christmas eve show and on Christmas day they had all the little children put on a Christmas program just like they would have at home. There was also a Christmas Day church service in the theater. Everything was festive and beautiful. We were in Cozumel on Christmas day and everything was open and bustling. You know the old saying, make hay while the sun shines. So when the ships are in port, they are still trying to make hay. Course things may have changed a bit since then, but I would presume that things are still fairly similar. They seem to go out of their way to make Christmas special. After all, it's Christmas for the crew as well. Have a ball! Oh, yes, Christmas music was played all thru the ship as well. Guess that's all I can remember for now. Bigred

[Dolphins]

Expect a lot of kids on board because of the school holiday. We always preferred sailing between Thanksgiving and Christmas because you get to enjoy the beautiful dcorations in a more sedate atmosphere. Ideal setting for taking photographs for next year's Christmas cards.

[crusinmama22]

We boarded the Carnival Miracle Dec 26 and were sailing for New Years.

 

Nice time, weather not the best. TOO COLD!

 

We had a great time -- hard not to on a cruise -- but we decided we prefer the Feb vacation better.

 

It makes the winter go too slow when we went in December.

 

However, I am sure your will enjoy !

[BruceMuzz]

I have been on 28 Christmas Cruises in the past 30 years. If you didn't already guess, I work on cruise ships.

 

Christmas has the most expensive flights and cruises of the year.

Christmas has the most cancelled/delayed flights of the year.

Christmas has the highest number of lost suitcases of the year.

Christmas has the highest number of cruise complaints of the year.

Christmas has the lowest passenger satisfaction ratings of the year.

Christmas generally has the worst weather of the year.

 

Christmas Cruises always have the highest number of drunks, assaults, and domestic disputes. We make a betting pool every year as to how many people the police will take off in handcuffs. Last Christmas my ship had only 12 - a new low for us in recent years.

 

Cruise Line employees absolutely hate working the Christmas cruises. They would rather be at home with their families. Christmas cruisers give the lowest tips of the year, while demanding the highest service levels - because it's Christmas.

 

If you have any problems with your flight, lost bags, cabin problems, credit cards, or just about anything else, all the people who are normally back in the office to fix those problems are on vacation like you are and will not be able to help you until after the first of the year.

 

Christmas cruises have the highest number of children onboard - usually over 30%.

Every pool and jacuzzi onboard will be filled with children for every hour of the cruise.

Elevators are typically dominated by children having elevator races.

It will be nearly impossible to find a deck chair - they will all be saved.

On many Christmas Cruise itineraries, shops, museums, tours, etc will be closed for the holidays.

[Jamrenjer]

We have not been on a Christmas cruise-- did go on one the week before. We loved the decorations etc. I think it would be a bummer to be an employee on board--a previous poster, Bruce just posted.

I guess it will be as good as you make of it as a passenger.

Bruce- what ship do you work on? (That is if you don't mind me asking!:) )

[Adkmom]

I have been on 28 Christmas Cruises in the past 30 years. If you didn't already guess, I work on cruise ships.

 

Christmas has the most expensive flights and cruises of the year.

Christmas has the most cancelled/delayed flights of the year.

Christmas has the highest number of lost suitcases of the year.

Christmas has the highest number of cruise complaints of the year.

Christmas has the lowest passenger satisfaction ratings of the year.

Christmas generally has the worst weather of the year.

 

Christmas Cruises always have the highest number of drunks, assaults, and domestic disputes. We make a betting pool every year as to how many people the police will take off in handcuffs. Last Christmas my ship had only 12 - a new low for us in recent years.

 

Cruise Line employees absolutely hate working the Christmas cruises. They would rather be at home with their families. Christmas cruisers give the lowest tips of the year, while demanding the highest service levels - because it's Christmas.

 

If you have any problems with your flight, lost bags, cabin problems, credit cards, or just about anything else, all the people who are normally back in the office to fix those problems are on vacation like you are and will not be able to help you until after the first of the year.

 

Christmas cruises have the highest number of children onboard - usually over 30%.

Every pool and jacuzzi onboard will be filled with children for every hour of the cruise.

Elevators are typically dominated by children having elevator races.

It will be nearly impossible to find a deck chair - they will all be saved.

On many Christmas Cruise itineraries, shops, museums, tours, etc will be closed for the holidays.

 

Thanks for the encouragement:eek:

We would not normally choose a cruise at Christmas time we usually vacation at the slowest time possible but this year we had not choice. New job no vacation and plant shuts down over the holidays.

So we are looking at as an adventure and want to make a good experience out of it.

So from your experience Brucemuzz what can we do to make the staff better enjoy their holiday. At there specific gifts they would like things they cannot get on the ship that would make our steward have a better holiday?

I would appreciate any ideas. :)

[bluesea777]

Christmas on the Spirit 2 years ago was a wonderful experience. Ship was beautifully decorated, trees, hugh gingerbread houses throughout. There was special menus in the main dinning rooms. Christmas day was an optional formal night and at least 75% dressed up. Christmas eve there was caroling singing, midnight mass. Christmas morn Santa was there for pictures and he had a gift for anyone 12 & under.

 

The ship is very busy, very crowded, lots of families, but the atmosphere was very festive.

 

I don't know about Cozumel but we were in Antigua Christmas day. The stores were closed but the beach was still very busy.

 

Hey! We were on the exactly same cruise you did - Xmas 2006 on Spirit out of NYC - excellent crossing both ways between NYC and Caribbean!

 

Yes, I agree with you about the ship. We even had Russian Xmas dinner in the Windows.

 

Yeah, Xmas day in Antigua was a hoot - we jet-skiied and had Cavalier Rum n Coke. We even had REAL Pina Colada - fresh coconut milk.

 

Incidentally, we're going on our 4th Xmas cruise this year - JADE in the Med.

[bluesea777]

I have been on 28 Christmas Cruises in the past 30 years. If you didn't already guess, I work on cruise ships.

 

Christmas has the most expensive flights and cruises of the year.

Christmas has the most cancelled/delayed flights of the year.

Christmas has the highest number of lost suitcases of the year.

Christmas has the highest number of cruise complaints of the year.

Christmas has the lowest passenger satisfaction ratings of the year.

Christmas generally has the worst weather of the year.

 

Christmas Cruises always have the highest number of drunks, assaults, and domestic disputes. We make a betting pool every year as to how many people the police will take off in handcuffs. Last Christmas my ship had only 12 - a new low for us in recent years.

 

Cruise Line employees absolutely hate working the Christmas cruises. They would rather be at home with their families. Christmas cruisers give the lowest tips of the year, while demanding the highest service levels - because it's Christmas.

 

If you have any problems with your flight, lost bags, cabin problems, credit cards, or just about anything else, all the people who are normally back in the office to fix those problems are on vacation like you are and will not be able to help you until after the first of the year.

 

Christmas cruises have the highest number of children onboard - usually over 30%.

Every pool and jacuzzi onboard will be filled with children for every hour of the cruise.

Elevators are typically dominated by children having elevator races.

It will be nearly impossible to find a deck chair - they will all be saved.

On many Christmas Cruise itineraries, shops, museums, tours, etc will be closed for the holidays.

 

What is the REAL purpose of you posting this message, Brucemuzz? Are you trying to send message to all of us NOT to cruise at Xmas? You sound unhappy to me. Just be careful yourself.

 

P.S. Of course we do give extra tips over Xmas.

[2country4u]

What is the REAL purpose of you posting this message, Brucemuzz? Are you trying to send message to all of us NOT to cruise at Xmas? You sound unhappy to me. Just be careful yourself.

 

P.S. Of course we do give extra tips over Xmas.

i agree with you Bluesea,this year will be our first christmas cruise and i'm sure we will add a little extra $$ being the holidays and all.MERRY CHRISTMAS TO ALL!!

[cruisingamom]

We were on the Spirit last year and had a blast. Was a little worried how 6 year old dd would handle Christmas away from home, but it was fine. The ship was beautifully decorated. Special Chirstmas Eve show that the children in kids club got to be a part of. DD loved practicing for the show and bieng in it. We were at sea Christmas day so can't answer as to how ports are... Christmas caroling around the ship at 10pm Christmas eve (too late for dd). Santa arrived on the ship on Christmas morning with a present for every child and posed for picutres.

There were lots of famileis on board but I nver felt hte childrne had the runof hte ship. MAybe we were lucky and all the well behaved shicldren were on the Spirit last year.

As to previous responses, never met a crew memeber that was unhappy or grumpy. On the contrary, we felt that we recieved excellent servie. The staff couldn't have been more gracious! Would highly recommend a holiday cruise!

[Al_Frescoe]

I have been on 28 Christmas Cruises in the past 30 years. If you didn't already guess, I work on cruise ships.

 

Christmas has the most expensive flights and cruises of the year.

Christmas has the most cancelled/delayed flights of the year.

Christmas has the highest number of lost suitcases of the year.

Christmas has the highest number of cruise complaints of the year.

Christmas has the lowest passenger satisfaction ratings of the year.

Christmas generally has the worst weather of the year.

 

Christmas Cruises always have the highest number of drunks, assaults, and domestic disputes. We make a betting pool every year as to how many people the police will take off in handcuffs. Last Christmas my ship had only 12 - a new low for us in recent years.

 

Cruise Line employees absolutely hate working the Christmas cruises. They would rather be at home with their families. Christmas cruisers give the lowest tips of the year, while demanding the highest service levels - because it's Christmas.

 

If you have any problems with your flight, lost bags, cabin problems, credit cards, or just about anything else, all the people who are normally back in the office to fix those problems are on vacation like you are and will not be able to help you until after the first of the year.

 

Christmas cruises have the highest number of children onboard - usually over 30%.

Every pool and jacuzzi onboard will be filled with children for every hour of the cruise.

Elevators are typically dominated by children having elevator races.

It will be nearly impossible to find a deck chair - they will all be saved.

On many Christmas Cruise itineraries, shops, museums, tours, etc will be closed for the holidays.

 

We were SO close to booking a Christmas cruise this year. I had this insane notion that a lot of people would be home waiting for Santa etc etc. Thanks to CC and posts like yours I booked a cruise in January. Much less expensive too.

 

Thanks for keeping it real.

 

Al

[misscongeniality]

I'm not going to be on a Christmas cruise anytime soon, but I was wondering if anyone has experienced any sort of Hanukkah festivities when on a Christmas/December cruise?

[BruceMuzz]

I am not personally unhappy about christmas cruises.

I have had to work so many that I have become accustomed to them.

I am not a tipped employee so I don't have to think or worry about all the money I would lose during that cruise.

 

Many people have a great time on a christmas cruise. If they didn't, the ships would be empty at christmas. They are not - they are absolutely packed. In fact, they are more full at christmas than any other time of the year. Since the cruise lines charge a higher ticket price and get higher onboard spending at christmas, we pack them in like you have never seen.

Families with many children love christmas cruises. They can let their children run wild for a week and not have to take any responsibility for them.

 

But buyer beware. You are paying top dollar for a cruise that may turn out to be something less than you expected.

The odds that you will have some problems are increased during christmas.

The odds that your problems will not be resolved are increased during christmas.

The odds of encountering disgruntled/rude crew are increased during christmas.

The odds of encountering disgruntled/rude passengers are increased during christmas.

Overbooking/overcrowding/long lines are increased during christmas.

 

The best employees will pull any strings they can to get off the ship before a christmas cruise starts. There is a big business in the Philippines, selling counterfeit death certificates, that allow crew to fly home to avoid the christmas cruise. Regardless of the reasons or the process, we have the "B Team" working on Christmas Cruises.

 

Many of the complainers on a christmas cruise tell me that this is the only time they can cruise. I feel very badly for them - but whose problem is that?

Many complainers on a christmas cruise are school teachers who want to know what all these children are doing on a christmas cruise......................Go figure.

[Fishbait17]

We haven't been home for Christmas in 10 years, we also have difficulty traveling any other time (my daughters have been in different school with different schedules since they were 10). It's expensive and crowded no matter where you go, but great fun. We usually go to Hawaii with a group of teens, one year we had 2 "responsible" adults and 14 kids! Last year we were on the Sun. There was a special dinner in the main dining room, although we ate in Il Adagio. I ran into Santa several times that night. and raised my glass to him every time he passed the casino :D. The kids seemed to be having a great time all over the ship.

 

One thing we have done on every Christmas trip, we celebrate it! I fill an entire duffel bag with small gifts, how expensive depends on how many kids I have that year! I bring stockings and a few decorations, for example we have a family "lollipop house" that Santa fills every year no matter where we are. The "kids" (actually aged up to 23 now) love opening the gifts, and I make sure they can play with them wherever we are - no slingshots on a cruise :D. They get silly putty and matchbox cars and little Lego kits, etc - my favorite still was a dozen "marshmallow shooters" and a few bags of marshmallows. No Christmas is complete without toys. My daughters get gift cards with their designated "gift" written on them. That makes it fun after the trip, they get to select their gifts and pay sale prices!

 

We were in port for a long day in Belize last year, so Santa was kind enough to visit us on Christmas Eve. And there were only six of us, so the gifts were a tad larger and more expensive. Most of them were used extensively on the beach in Cozumel IIRC.

 

Now I have a completely different dilemma. How does one celebrate Christmas at HOME? For the first time this century, I will have to deal with this problem - unless I can find somewhere to go in the meantime!! (My daughters have suggested Amsterdam this year - it's really tough when they grow up! hahaha)

 

Robin

[mali06]

That just reminded me of what we did on our Christmas cruise. I took many different gift cards and every night the kids (adults actually) each got a present every night at dinner. They loved having Christmas spread out over the whole week. I wrapped them in homemade cards and made everything very festive. We even brought small gifts for our waiters and our steward for Christmas eve. They were so thrilled and appreciative. I'm sorry but if those workers were the "B" team, then give me the "B" team everytime. Bigred

[crusinmama22]

We cruised the day after Christmas but left on Christmas Day and spent the evening in Florida then boarded the Constellation (Celebrity) for the week.

 

Had fun, weather not the best, and then it was over.

 

We prefer sailing in Feb. Christmas is busy at home and that is fine.

 

For my $$ we prefer Feb cruising, but to each their own.

 

We found the weather much better in Feb then Dec.-Jan

 

It was cold and we had our heat on Dec 31 2004 in Belize we were freezing and all it did was rain.

 

Feb weather has always been great.

 

We have been cruising since 1978 and only once cruised CHristmas week. We usually cruise Presidents week (HUsband and Daughter are teachers) We prefer Feb.

[Adkmom]

FishBait17 - Well we get to trade places this will be the first Cristmas ever on a cruise and in 42 years I have never spent Christmas any where warm.

 

So do what we do, Decorate the house to the hilt, make lots of cookies, food and muchies. Stock the bar. Invite lots of friends and family to spend the holiday with you. Buy lots of little gifts to fill up the tree. Light a fire in the woodstove and enjoy the cold weather and company.

 

I will for the first time in many years not have to entertain or cook lots of food. Wont have to burn the woodstove to stay warm and will have someone wait on me. It sounds relaxing but I must admit I will miss being at home.

 

What kind of gifts do you think the staff on the ship would apprecitat?

[Greymeowsr]

In 2005, we weren't on NCL, but rather on RCCL Legend of the Seas for a Christmas cruise to the western Caribbean. Christmas was an at-sea day, so we didn't have to deal with that on a shore day.

 

Our cruise had a very large contingent of Jewish folks, but not being Jewish, we did not see how they celebrated their holidays. The Atrium of the ship was nicely decorated, and Santa appeared for the children. Beyond that we didn't see any other Christmas themes.

 

Due to our work schedules, this was the only time we could take a cruise in the winter months (I work for a college and my wife for a public school system). It was considerably more expensive than other non-holiday cruises (about 2-3 times what the January cruise costs). We did not find our flights to be overly expensive but I booked them separately. We tipped the then suggested amounts, plus about an extra $20-$40 per person for our room steward and waiter and waiter assistant. We found the service to be exceptional except for somewhat slow service in bar areas even when not busy. That was easily corrected with an additional tip.

 

There were indeed lots and lots of children, though for the most part we found them to be enjoying their cruise as well, and not a bit troublesome. We found the drunken adults were more troublesome at least for the first couple of days.

 

It was our first cruise ever that Christmas, so we did have our rose-covered glasses on. We found it delightful and agreed after the cruise that it was our best non-family vacation ever. So, when we retire at the end of this year we are going on the NCL January cruise to treat ourselves and celebrate. Actually, I wanted to do Royal Caribbean again, but they didn't have the ship or itinerary we wanted, so we decided to try NCL and the Norweigan Jewel.