New Years Cruise

[EmilyS92003]

Hey!
I’m looking at a cruise that leaves between Christmas and New Years. I’m curious as to what separates this from a normal cruise as it’s not Merrytime. Do the characters still have holiday costumes? Is the tree up? Any Christmas/ Holiday Activities?
Any inside you can provide would be much appreciated!

 

[Marc D]

The presence of decorations will vary each time. We did two NYE cruises. One still had the decorations for the entire cruise - they started removing them on the last night - and the other had nothing when we boarded. You will not have any Christmas activities if it’s not a Merrytime cruise, but there will be a special party and in stateroom gift if you are sailing on NYE. I don’t remember if characters still had their Christmas costume.

 

[tvguy]

We did a New Year's cruise on the Magic, December 27 to January 3rd. All the decorations were still up. I don't recall seeing the characters in costumes though.
One of the highlights of disembarkation day was standing in line to leave the ship and watching two burly guys smash the huge gingerbread house .
But as @Marc D noted, it does seem to vary from year to year and ship to ship.

 

[BrandyMcD]

Our Disney cruise was probably my favorite New Years Eve ever! The Merrytime decorations were still all up when we boarded on Dec 28. They were taking them down when we were disembarking the last day. NYE was our formal night and there were (extra!) fireworks that night, along with champagne at midnight for all the adults. There were also special gifts in our stateroom -- party hats, chocolates, and a special print we have framed. Even though it wasn't technically a Merrytime cruise I thought it was really special and would recommend it to anyone who can swing it.

Came back to add: The characters were in their formal wear and Goofy was posing for photos in a Father Time costume.

 

[cmph]

We did a NYE cruise on the Wonder a few years ago (12/30 departure) and there was almost nothing Christmas-related left on board. It was a 7-day, after another 7-day that had to have included Christmas Day itself, so they took the decorations down speedily! There were leftover Christmas-themed paper beverage cups for the first day or two, and that was about it for Christmas.

We had all of the same NYE things as the PP above and really loved that experience. The fireworks were part of a celebratory deck party, and the wait staff walked around with both drinks on trays AND hors d'oeuvre (just in case anyone was hungry again lol). There were noisemakers being handed out shortly before the fireworks, but you had to happen upon them as you came out of elevators or stairwells; I am guessing they did not want to put them in rooms and have people blowing them at dinner. It was a great kid-friendly way to celebrate NYE!

 

[aboveH20]

We’re going on the NYE cruise this year. What do gentlemen wear?

(We just got off the Pride of America Hawaii cruise and somehow I missed that there was a dress up night. We were not prepared - and I don’t think anyone cared, but we were a tad self conscious.)

 

[cmph]

We’re going on the NYE cruise this year. What do gentlemen wear?

(We just got off the Pride of America Hawaii cruise and somehow I missed that there was a dress up night. We were not prepared - and I don’t think anyone cared, but we were a tad self conscious.)

I do think more people were dressed up for NYE than you'd otherwise see on DCL on formal night, but definitely not everyone dressed up. The men in our party wore suits. However, they changed after dinner, b/c we ladies in the group were going to freeze to death in our nice dresses on deck and they definitely did not think they needed to be the only ones dressed up! We had 2nd seating for that cruise, so we were nicely dressed for drinks and photos in advance of the show.

 

[kathi]

We sailed a B2B on the Fantasy last year for Christmas and New Year. They took ALL the holiday decorations down between cruises. (We found 2 small trees on the bar at Bon Voyage that has survived and had new year decorations on them.) It was sad to see it go from festive to blah in a matter of hours.

 

[Cheburashka]

Hey!
I’m looking at a cruise that leaves between Christmas and New Years. I’m curious as to what separates this from a normal cruise as it’s not Merrytime. Do the characters still have holiday costumes? Is the tree up? Any Christmas/ Holiday Activities?
Any inside you can provide would be much appreciated!

Does the cruise include New Years itself?

I've cruised twice over New Years (one Magic and one Fantasy) and both times the ship was decorated for Christmas for the entire cruise- trees and life-sized gingerbread house included. They started removing the decorations on debarkation morning. From what I've read, this is typical for Florida cruises, whereas Galveston cruises (the Wonder) tend to take decorations down earlier.

Characters are not in Christmas costumes, but on the evening of NYE they dress up in fancy clothes which makes for great pics.

There is a NYE party with fireworks, as well as a separate Pirate's Night party with fireworks, so you get two fireworks nights on New Year's Eve cruises.

 

[Cheburashka]

We sailed a B2B on the Fantasy last year for Christmas and New Year. They took ALL the holiday decorations down between cruises. (We found 2 small trees on the bar at Bon Voyage that has survived and had new year decorations on them.) It was sad to see it go from festive to blah in a matter of hours.

But your second cruise began after New Year's was over. Just want to clarify that for the OP, who is asking about a cruise that begins before New Year's.