Christmas Cruise - Were you sad or glad?

Personally, I want to be home for Christmas Day. I have taken cruises that leave the next day, though. That "letdown" week after Christmas cruising, gives me something to look forward to!!

Ships are very decorated and festive for the Christmas cruises. They do charge a $ premium for these cruises though. Many enjoy a Christmas cruise to be able to enjoy all the decorations etc. without having to decorate & put a tree up themselves.

The only thing I did not enjoy about my holiday cruise was the number of kids aboard. I was looking for a nice, peaceful trip and the ship was really a zoo.

For me, this is enough not to want to do it again.

We took our family of six, including two boys, on the Christmas Mexican Riviera, Holland America Ryndam. I thought it was sensational!!! It was a REAL vacation for my daughter and myself, although we had both decorated our homes for the holiday. The ship was extremely festive. The whole staff wore "Santa caps" much of the time, even though most of them were Buddhist/Muslim. The dining room was absolutely gorgeous on Christmas Eve/Day when they covered all the chairs with white brocade slipcovers, turned down the lighting, added loads of candles everywhere, beautiful. Santa arrived for the younger children. I never even saw most of the children except at dinner time. Our two were pretty much involved in the ship activities, we hardly saw them. They definitely did not overrun the ship at all, I guess they weren't allowed or so inclined to run around the ship......I would do this again in a minute!!1

desertduds: We are looking at a similar cruise to the Western Caribbean. Did you find that people tended to "dress up" a little more because of the holiday season or was it still typical casual cruise attire during the day?

Very casual during the day, shorts, etc........it was warm and somewhat humid.....dress for dinner was as usual, but I think more tuxes than I've seen on other cruises.

We have been traveling as a big family now for the past 6 years at Christmas. It is usually my sister/hubby and their kids, me and my older sister and times our parents and my brother in laws mom. Other families have joined us at this time. We will be on our 4th cruise. @ on Carnival and 1 on RCCL. This coming Xmas will be the Splendour once again for 11 days of sun and fun. I feel its such a wonderful time to spend together. You see many families - grandparents, kids and grandkids enjoying their time together. Life is short so make this wonderful time of the year memorable. We are counting the days until this cruise. We are about 5 months away. I think its a choice you make. We love leaving out of San Juan since the weather is usually better than leaving out of Florida.
That is my 2 cents in on this post.
Merry Christmas,
Kari

We also went over Christmas and everyone loved it. Santa was there and they had a large Santa hanging off the back of the ship. They had trees. I brought the kids presents already wrapped in 1 suitcase and we would go again in a second over Christmas!

Thanks for your replies.

Did the cruise you were on have a Christmas service/Mass?

Even though we do not celebrate Christmas, I do remember caroling around the Christmas tree and I am not sure about the mass. I just recently threw out all my daily itinerarys after scrapbooking the pictures. I would think that they would have a small mass. I do remember people dressing up more on Christmas Eve. Tuxes and fancy dresses is what people wore. It really is special.......

Hope you make the right decision for the family. I do remember that people used decorations to decorate their windows in their room. I have to make sure that I remember to bring some with me so my niece and I can find our rooms from the outside. Also we always celebrate my birthday on the cruise which is always special.

Hope this helps,
kari