Christmas cruise

[newkie]

Hi! I'm new to this part of the boards, but my parents have just booked us on a cruise with them! We are on the Radiance of the Seas leaving from Sydney in Dec 2015, cruising the South Pacific. Our trip takes us over Christmas, so I'm very excited, but also a little apprehensive how I'm going to create some Christmas Day magic for our 4 kids. The cruise is my parents Christmas present to us, so I can't say the trip is their present and at least one, possibly more of my kids will still believe in Santa, so how on earth am I going to stage the whole Santa thing? :lol: I'm not sure if I want to lug things like stockings with us!

What have other people done for their kids on Christmas cruises? We will have (then) DS12, DD10, DD9 and DS5. Any ideas on easy to transport gifts for those age groups?

 

[jump4joy]

Newkie,

While I have not done this, I have had a lot of clients that have. Most of them are staying at a hotel prior to the cruise and will ship what ever they need to the hotel so they do not have to fly with them. I had one client where Santa left their major gifts at home and only delivered a few or one small gift plus stockings to the ship. He left a note that because he knew they had limited space, he delivered their stuff to their house. Just make sure you're the last one out of the house and set everything up. Then it will be ready when you walk in the door after your cruise.

 

[newkie]

That's not a bad idea actually! The cruise gets back into port on the 26th, so we could pull off a Santa surprise at home, I hadn't thought of that as a possibility.

 

[drb116]

We have don a couple of Christmas cruises and have two young boys. We ended up bringing stockings and a few smaller toys with us each time. The first time, we had a letter with a picture of Santa by our Christmas tree showing him putting a bike and a train under and explaining that he left some presents by the tree. The second time, the kids just knew that most of the presents were at home.

It does make for more packing, but it is ok. The packaging gets thrown away, which creates more space for your return home.

The one problem we ran into is that the kids tend to want to go home and see their presents right away, instead of enjoying the cruise. I am sure they still enjoyed the cruise, but several times a day they would ask when they are going home to get the rest of their presents.

Either way you do it, you and your kids will have a great and memorable vacation!

 

[woody73]

. . . I had one client where Santa left their major gifts at home

. . . Just make sure you're the last one out of the house and set everything up. Then it will be ready when you walk in the door after your cruise.

Or have a friend or relative set everything up while you are away.

Woody