Christmas cruisin questions

[FutureMrsF]

Hi

I've had a look for trip reports but there don't seem to be any for sailings over Christmas itself. Please would my fellow Dissers be able to answer some questions for me as we are thinking of booking for Christmas 2016 but are unsure as it is very expensive.

Does anyone have any experience with the weather, I know it won't be as hot as our May sailing but are the kids still likely to be able to use the pools onboard and in ports?

My other main question is what do people do Christmas eve/day regarding their children's gifts from Santa etc?

Thank you

Andrea

 

[MinnesotaMouseketeers]

We sailed over Christmas last year on the Fantasy and loved it. Weather can change drastically one day to the next; let alone year to year but we always seem to have very good luck with the weather. We have done several early December cruises as well. There was never a day that was too cool to take a swim in a pool or run around in the splash zone (depending on the age of your children). The only time we felt the chill of the water was at CC's swim areas if you choose to get in the water there. But we always acclimated quickly once we started to move around. The air temperature on CC was never an issue for us.

Our son was 22 years old for our Christmas sailing so Santa wasn't an issue. He knew that the cruise was not only his (ours also) Christmas gift but birthday as well. And DW and my anniversary and Mother's/Father's day too. As you stated, it isn't cheep cruising over Christmas. Not sure what exactly you're asking about the gifts. But remember Santa's reindeer can land anywhere in order for Santa to get those gifts delivered. If we did sail when he was younger the gifts would have been small enough to fit in the luggage without adding a bunch of weight.

Maybe someone can answer this but, don't some people send things down in advance by post or delivery service to make things easier? And where to send it to?

 

[MarleneP]

We cruised Christmas 2014. Loved it so much we booked the christmas 2015 cruise. I thought the weather was perfect but we were coming from a cold NJ. My kids wore shorts everyday and our excursions were all water based and it was plenty warm enough. At night my husband usually wore pants but we saw a lot of people in shorts.

As far as "Christmas"... I ordered the cabin decorations...which I was really happy with. I brought along a very small tree with battery powered lights. My kids knew that Santa would bring one small gift onto the ship for them to open Christmas morning. Upon our arrival home all the rest of their gifts were left under our tree at home. Santa did make an appearance on board for some special photos. At first my DS (10) was not thrilled with the idea of not being at our house on Christmas morning but loved the cruise and still got all the gifts when we go home.

We saw a lot of people celebrating by opening a lot of gifts in the common areas Christmas morning. To me this would only work if you were not flying home. We even saw people carrying on pretty big fake christmas trees.

I'm happy to answer any other questions!

 

[FutureMrsF]

Thank you so much for these replies it really helps.

We are from England so should be warm enough for us from what you've said fingers crossed.

We love Disney cruises so much we can't think of a more magical place to be so we will make the pressies and Santa part work.

Do they do something special or different on Christmas day activity or food wise?

Thank you

 

[MarleneP]

Thank you so much for these replies it really helps.

We are from England so should be warm enough for us from what you've said fingers crossed.

We love Disney cruises so much we can't think of a more magical place to be so we will make the pressies and Santa part work.

Do they do something special or different on Christmas day activity or food wise?

Thank you

I do not recall the food in the MDR being any different for Christmas specifically. We did receive in the evening a special box of chocolates. Our port-of-call that day was Cozumel and we spent the day ashore. There are a lot of Christmas things to do each day on the cruise. We did gingerbread house decorating, christmas door hangers, other christmas themed crafts, Santa pictures. We received special gifts in our cabin also: a mini cruise santa hat (I topped our tree with it), chocolates, a large Minnie & Mickey picture. There are also special performances in the atrium with caroling and "snow", cookies and other treats.

 

[jdb in AZ]

If you do bring presents in your luggage, they should remain unwrapped until they go through airport security.