A large group of Dis'ers sailed on the 7 day Magic over Christmas 2003 and many brought personal decorations. We all shared ideas and came up with some pretty cool decorations. The ship was also incredibly beautiful. Simply breathtaking with huge trees and lighting and a 5 or 6 foot gingerbread house by the staircase leading up to Shutters.
Some of the Dis'ers brought Christmas tree lights for their portholes or verandas. You have to bring the hooks with suction cups because you don't want to mar the wood in the staterooms.
Others brought little trees with decorations. We ordered a pre-lit tabletop Christmas tree from Shirley at the Perfect Gift and, also, a tabletop sleigh with fresh cut greenery so we had that Christmas scent in our stateroom. Shirley (as always) did a beautiful job and our stateroom looked lovely. I bought a very inexpensive Christmas runner in Holiday Red and then put the decorations on that on the sideboard as you walked into our room.
We also brought garland and other non-perishable decorations from the local Party store and used them in the room and on the railings outside our door. We also made Magnets for our door which were personalized for our family and no one took them. The bonus was that this was the easiest cruise ever to find our stateroom!!
One of the highlights of the cruise for us was decorating our gingerbread house. That was such a fun family activity and I believe (although I may be wrong) that they offered it on the cruises throughout December. Talk about making the room look festive plus DH, DD and I had a great time. That house went in between the two florals pieces. Word to the wise: Sign up early!
On Christmas Eve, we decorated our table and put out the small presents we had hand-carried for DD and DS. The one request that DH made was that we brought our family stockings so we laid those out, too. Our steward made a beautiful towel angel as a surprise and the angel became part of our tabletop display.
We brought gift bags and tissue paper flat in our suitcase (for our presents to the children and each other); I can't speak for Santa's magic and how he wrapped his presents. DD wanted me to make sure I told you that, somehow, Santa was able to deliver some presents on board the ship. Is he not amazing? They also offered gift wrapping on board for gifts purchased in Mickey's Mates or Treasure Ketch.
When we disembarked, we left the inexpensive party store decorations there which allowed extra space in our suitcases for new purchases. I am so glad that we took the time and effort to plan ahead to decorate our room. It really did bring its own special magic. I hope this helps with some decorating ideas.
Since it was our first time on the ship, we thought that we were lost when we saw it. It was only after we checked the digital pictures from the day before that we realized what had happened.
