Just wondered if anyone has cruised this time of year or not. Thinking it would be fun to spend one or the other on a cruise. What was your opinion. Is it worth spending the extra $ at this time of year.

Spent New Year's this year on a Holland America cruise - it was fantastic watching the fireworks from the middle of Acapulco Bay. Ship had grand festivities - live band...was like a wedding...champagne, hats, noisemakers, huge balloon arches. Great fun. Perfect weather.

I did a Carnival Cruise over New Year's a few year's back. They didn't even change the schedule to make New Year's Eve a formal night. It was a lot of fun, a great party--but it was the same party going on as if it hadn't been New Year's.

My vote is save your money and go earlier or later. First two weeks of December or January after NYE can save you 50% or more...

I too did a Carnival cruise on New Years. They had a party up on the main outdoor deck with dancing, lots of free champagne, etc.
At midnight we were still at sea and they could not shoot fireworks since it could be viewed as a distress signal, but they did fire numerous white flares that we kind of pretty.
I guess having done it once I too would save the money and do it a little later. Other than that one party it was pretty much the standard activities as on any other cruise.

Thanks all for your replies. My husbands father just passed away a few weeks ago and kind of wanted to do something to take our minds off of the loss next Christmas. THere is only 3 of us and my son swims in college and can only be off the week of Christmas/New Years. I do have a problem with the money. So I think I'll have to rethink things.

Had a totally unrelated thought for you owinsmom.

Almost any vacation destination gets VERY expensive over the New Years holiday, and many, like cruises have also become expensive at Christmas as well.

There is one destination that gets VERY cheap over the Christmas holiday (non-cruise related). Believe it or not, it's Vegas. Their slowest week of the year is the week of Christmas and their busiest is New Years. You can get un-believable deals the week of Christmas in Vegas.

So, if you're just looking to get away and money is an issue, that might be an option.

Again, I know this has nothing to do with cruising, but you said you were trying to do something to take your minds off the loss of a loved one over Chistmas and money was (is) an issue.

Hope this helps and that you have a good holiday, no matter where you end up taking it.

Owinsmom:

I'm very sorry for your loss.

One thing to add: while cruising is more expensive over New Year's than other times of the year, that doesn't mean it not still a good value compared to other options. I'd still recommend checking prices and see...

I was on the QE2 Sunshine Holiday cruise, from Dec. 18th through January 3 of this year. We had the 24th in port in Gibralter (after change in itinery due to bad weather), cruised on the 25th and had New Year's Eve in the harbor at Funchal, Madeira. I have mixed feelings about the cruise overall. It was my very first cruise so I 'm not sure if it lived up to my expectations. But as regards the "holidays" specifically, I was very surprised by the lack of holiday or Christmasy atmosphere on the ship. I had expected the QE2 to be decked out in real style. Unforntunately, when we boarded there were only a few Christmas trees scattered around and tiny poinsettias on the dining tables (some of which were dying of thirst I might add). The day of the 24th brought out more decorations such as garlands around the archways and displays of gingerbread houses and baskets of cookies. The Midnight Gala buffets on the 25th and New Year's Eve were spectacular in terms of food preparation (food literally turned into works of art), but not much else. Neither my parents nor I ever really felt we'd had a Christmas. There was no beautiful pagent with the ship's entertainers singing lovely carols; only a half-hearted daytime effort by the cruise director and some staff to get passengers to sing-along. We attended the nominally Christian service in the theater; it was very brief and although the guest reverand had a nice "sermon," it all seemed rushed and very informal. Funchal was gorgeous and the famous fireworks display was awesome. It was a nice way to end the trip. But it almost felt during the trip like people didn't really want to be reminded of Christmas and just wanted to get away and catch some rays. One of my most memorable moments was walking through the main street of Gibralter at night (we spent the night in port) and coming upon a lovely church with a beautiful manger scene. Inside the church the choir was practicing for Christmas Day services. My parents and I sat in the pews and listened for a while; the only time we felt as if it were Christmas.

We've all said we'll never VC during Christmas again because it's our favorite time of year and we do feel we missed out. One other passenger mentioned to us that P&O Cruise Line had a much more festive atmosphere so it would seem we weren't the only ones disappointed in that respect.

The Holland America ship we were on had a huge...and I do mean huge...Christmas tree in the dining room as well as garlands + poinsettias all around the ship. We had many laughs at every dinner watching the 20+ foot tall tree sway from side to side.
So glad we were sitting on the top tier.