Cruising ON Christmas

[kathi]

So we are veteran Disney cruisers and have sailed Merrytime cruises before - but never actually ON Christmas. This year we will be sailing on the Fantasy over Christmas. Are there any special things DCL does for the Christmas cruise? If you have sailed on Christmas, what did you most enjoy? What did you do to make it a special holiday? (This is the first time in 53 years of life that I have not been in my home for Christmas).

 

[DisneyPiPhi]

I really love reading trip reports written by @Timon, who has cruised on the Disney Wonder during Christmas week the last few years. I found her detailed reports super useful when we were planning our first MerryTime sailing. Her trips have been from Galveston on the Wonder, but I think you'd have a similar experience on the Fantasy. Check out her reports!

You might also go look at past Christmas week Navigators on the DCL Blog.

 

[allashore]

we will be on the Fantasy too on Christmas day.
For us its just nice for all of us to be together as a family for the week, no worries, relaxing, no planning meals, etc
Another vacation for all of us, besides increase in cost, for us it's basically the same, excursions, trivia, movies, shows.....
here is another thread https://disboards.com/threads/cristmas-cruising.3765718/

 

[kathi]

Thank you both for your responses. "All" of us is just my husband, my daughter. and me. My mom passed 2 years ago and Christmas just isn't the same. We thought it might be good for a change of venue. She loved to sail Disney with us. I'm sure it will be wonderful to spend time together.

 

[LambertLion]

We sailed last year and Christmas day was a sea day and we had so much fun!!! Now, we don't have another merry time cruise to compare it to, so we don't know if anything special was done. It was just magical to wake up at sea and do all the fun cruise stuff, plus see Santa and the Disney take on Christmas at sea.

 

[heggy]

If you have sailed on Christmas, what did you most enjoy?

My family sailed on Christmas Day on the Dream in 2017. I enjoyed Christmas morning the most. Snow was falling in the atrium. Santa and Mrs Claus were there, along with hot cocoa and Christmas cookies. Christmas Eve and Christmas Day service was available. Sorry but cannot recall if the services were held in the Walt Disney Theatre or the Buena Vista Theatre. Familes dressed in matching robes or PJs, strolling in the atrium and sampling the cookies and cocoa was wonderful. Disney present gifts to cruisers under 18. The gift was a tervis type mug.


Hope this helps,
glen

 

[Timon]

As the lovely DisneyPiPhi mentioned above, we've sailed on the Wonder over the last 3 Christmases and have a fourth booked for this year. Before these sailings, Christmas was pretty crappy for me as I lost my Mom at Christmastime many moons ago. Since we have begun this new tradition, I have found my Xmas Spirit again, which is so amazing to share with my family now

They've taken me out of the normal routine in my hometown where I just feel sad and they have given me a wonderful new routine with my family where there's no sadness, only joy. I highly recommend it!

The best thing to do is look at the Navigators from previous years Christmas cruises here: https://disneycruiselineblog.com/personal-navigators/

They won't be exact but give you a good example of what you might experience. Nothing but names of acts and times of certain events have changed over the past 3 years.

 

[dprincessmom]

Thank you both for your responses. "All" of us is just my husband, my daughter. and me. My mom passed 2 years ago and Christmas just isn't the same. We thought it might be good for a change of venue. She loved to sail Disney with us. I'm sure it will be wonderful to spend time together.

The first Christmas after my husband died, my daughter and I sailed over Christmas. Everything was magical. The family games, movies, change of scenery and knowing that I was fulfilling the one promise he made me make (that our daughter would get to travel) let me smile on what I feared would be a horrible trip. Christmas was huge for us, and he promised me he would make it through his last Christmas - he died at 12:15am on Dec 26th.

There are a few extras on December 25th that you will get "invited" to, the Gingerbread house will be open for exploring. Go and allow yourself to have a wonderful time.

 

[dprincessmom]

My family sailed on Christmas Day on the Dream in 2017. I enjoyed Christmas morning the most. Snow was falling in the atrium. Santa and Mrs Claus were there, along with hot cocoa and Christmas cookies. Christmas Eve and Christmas Day service was available. Sorry but cannot recall if the services were held in the Walt Disney Theatre or the Buena Vista Theatre. Familes dressed in matching robes or PJs, strolling in the atrium and sampling the cookies and cocoa was wonderful. Disney present gifts to cruisers under 18. The gift was a tervis type mug.

View attachment 452082View attachment 452083
Hope this helps,
glen

We were on this sailing

 

[kathi]

The first Christmas after my husband died, my daughter and I sailed over Christmas. Everything was magical. The family games, movies, change of scenery and knowing that I was fulfilling the one promise he made me make (that our daughter would get to travel) let me smile on what I feared would be a horrible trip. Christmas was huge for us, and he promised me he would make it through his last Christmas - he died at 12:15am on Dec 26th.

There are a few extras on December 25th that you will get "invited" to, the Gingerbread house will be open for exploring. Go and allow yourself to have a wonderful time.

Thank you for sharing you story. Love to you and your daughter this Christmas.

 

[kathi]

As the lovely DisneyPiPhi mentioned above, we've sailed on the Wonder over the last 3 Christmases and have a fourth booked for this year. Before these sailings, Christmas was pretty crappy for me as I lost my Mom at Christmastime many moons ago. Since we have begun this new tradition, I have found my Xmas Spirit again, which is so amazing to share with my family now

They've taken me out of the normal routine in my hometown where I just feel sad and they have given me a wonderful new routine with my family where there's no sadness, only joy. I highly recommend it!

The best thing to do is look at the Navigators from previous years Christmas cruises here: https://disneycruiselineblog.com/personal-navigators/

They won't be exact but give you a good example of what you might experience. Nothing but names of acts and times of certain events have changed over the past 3 years.

Thank you for your response Timon - I hope that this will be new traditions for us as well.