Which holiday?

[jtlund]

I am in the process of booking Dis Cruise. We did WDW in 2008 for Halloween and loved it. I want to book Fantasy or Dream and am not picky on ports. It's me (single mom) my 12 yr old son. My dad recently passed away and he was the rock/planner of all family holidays. Now that he's gone, my mom moved and is spending winters south and my brothers are doing stuff with I laws. I NEED to do Halloween, Thanksgiving or Xmas with my son and create some new family tradition for us.

Anyway, for those of you who have cruised Disney on a holiday, which would you recommend?

Thanks in advance!
Judi

 

[starvenger]

Whichever of Thanksgiving or Christmas is THE family get together holiday for you, do the other one.

Up here in Canada Thanksgiving is not as big a deal so I personally would go with that one. I've done New Years cruises and those can be fun and I suspect Christmas can be the same.

 

[Jpepper2]

I am looking into a Halloween cruise now.

 

[jdb in AZ]

I would do Thanksgiving, then make new memories at home for Christmas. As much as we loved cruising at Christmas, there's the hassle of hauling any gifts onboard. They can't be wrapped when they go through airport security, so you'd have to wrap them on the ship.

Halloween is fun but the activities vary from ship to ship, really not that much going on, and some kids would rather be home trick-or-treating with their friends. The parties at WDW and DLR do a lot more than the ships.

 

[Club Disney Chandler]

I would do Christmas because I love Disney at Christmas. We drive over to DL every couple years on Christmas to spend about a day and a half there just because the decorations and costumes are so amazing. Just my $.02

 

[jlynch924]

The New Year's cruise is awesome!

 

[Neesy228]

I would agree with thanksgiving.

Halloween is fun, but at 12, your DS won't be very interested in most of the Halloween festivities on the ship.

Christmas...well...I can't imagine not being at home for Christmas, so I'm a little biased on that one. I love visiting Disney during the holiday season to see the decorations/displays/shows, but I wouldn't want to be on the ship on Christmas Day.

Thanksgiving will give you a new tradition, some new memories and some R&R before the chaos of the holidays really kick in to full swing.

My sympathies on the loss of your father. I hope you and your DS are able to start some new traditions and make some wonderful memories.

 

[jtlund]

I would agree with thanksgiving.

Halloween is fun, but at 12, your DS won't be very interested in most of the Halloween festivities on the ship.

Christmas...well...I can't imagine not being at home for Christmas, so I'm a little biased on that one. I love visiting Disney during the holiday season to see the decorations/displays/shows, but I wouldn't want to be on the ship on Christmas Day.

Thanksgiving will give you a new tradition, some new memories and some R&R before the chaos of the holidays really kick in to full swing.

My sympathies on the loss of your father. I hope you and your DS are able to start some new traditions and make some wonderful memories.

thanks all! I am leaning toward Christmas only because I want to not be here. It would just be my son & I here so pretty lonely. I was in hospital last thanksgiving, Christmas & New Year's Eve so I want to go all out this year. Again, thanks MUCHO! Love this board!

 

[nearlyfallinstar]

I think I would go with Christmas. Christmas is more noticeable if your family is busy with other events. Nothing closes down for Halloween or hardly for Thanksgiving any more so you could easily find other things to do around home. If home is going to be sad during Christmas I would go on a Disney cruise!

I'm sorry for the loss of your dad.

 

[aggiedog]

If it will just be you and your ds home for Christmas and no other good friends or family to celebrate with, that would be a good time to go. Dh and I have done Christmas away from our large family and it was depressing. It's easier to gather friends together for Thanksgiving also, so you wouldn't necessarily be by yourselves for that holiday if you shop around a bit for what we call "orphan friends." We almost always have 2 or 3 non-family members over at Thanksgiving. We have traveled over Christmas before and it can be a lot of fun, usually to WDW. We are actually doing the Dec 24 cruise this year as a surprise for the kids.

And the cruise doesn't have to be the tradition. The travel could be. There are other places that "do" Christmas that would be interesting to visit - New York city, European Christmas markets, WDW, etc.