Sell me on a Thanksgiving/Merry time cruise

KGmomoftwins

DIS Veteran
Joined
Jun 25, 2017
Well DH has given me the go ahead to book a second vacation for 2021 we have an Alaskan cruise booked for August. Upon searching I see the Magic has a 5 night western out of Miami that is over the week of thanksgiving and is labeled as a merry time one! The only small downside I’m a teacher and would have to take 2 days off unpaid plus worry about the sub plans I leave. Also I bit worried about booking another cruise perhaps an Airbnb on some beach might be a better second vacation. we are a family of 4 and dds will be 9. Oh and did I mention Punzel and Eugene are our favorites. Sell me on this cruise what’s it like to be on one for Thanksgiving and a merry time one at that.
 
This is a tough one. We have done Thanksgiving ones and cruised the week after. We prefer the week after.

Thanksgiving cruise
Cons - Extremely expensive, Very Crowded
Pros - Thanksgiving Characters (dressed that way only for Thanksgiving), If you're lucky Thanksgiving or Black Friday on CC, Thanksgiving Dinner is unique and only served on Thanksgiving (of course turkey but Disney style), your cruise can span the days off you have (thus why its more expensive), on Thanksgiving (on the Dream class ships we were on) they close over a pool and show NFL games all day on Funnel Vision (sit in the sun enjoy your team).

For us (we're from PA) we would do Thanksgiving and lose only 2-3 days (depending on the year). We found that the week after was cheaper (by a lot) and we lost only 4 days of school (in our school district the Monday after Thanksgiving is a holiday). So for a week on the Fantasy the week after Thanksgiving was roughly the same as a Thanksgiving cruise on the Dream ( I forget if it was 3 or 4 days, you get the idea.)

MerryTime cruises are great. Xmas characters, Santa, CC decorated in island Xmas theme. Again I've only been on Dream class, but there's a Gingerbread house (life sized), lighting the tree ceremony, Xmas story time. Our family uses the cruise for our Xmas pictures. We love being in the Caribbean during the winter weather. We love the MerryTime.

Hope this helps.
 
We've only taken 3 Disney cruises and all of them have been over Thanksgiving week on the Dream (it is a 4 night - Mon through Fri). Our most recent was this past Thanksgiving. We love the Merrytime cruises! So much festivity and that week is just so much fun. Our kids are now 11 & 9 and the first time we went they were 5 & 3 and were as excited this past year as then! They serve a traditional Thanksgiving meal at dinner so you do not feel like you are missing out at all. Usually Tgiving week is the big premiere week for many Disney movies so it was great to watch Frozen 2 this past one. We live in FL and while we love the beach and that can always be a great vacation, we are hoping we can cruise in late Oct 2021 and try out the halloween cruises for a change but would definitely do one over Tgiving again!
 
We sailed Thanksgiving week on a 7 night on the Magic out of NYC in 2018. We loved it and I don't remember it being overly expensive. (I mean, it's DCL so it's expensive, but I don't remember it being EXPENSIVE! if that makes any sense.) We stopped in Castaway Cay and Port Canaveral for a day at WDW and then sailed back to NYC. From the sail away with gorgeous views of the skyline of NYC and going right past the Statue of Liberty, it was amazing! The ship is decorated for Christmas, tree lighting ceremony, snow falling in the atrium, characters in winter costumes, Thanksgiving costumes of Thursday, hot cocoa, decorating gingerbread cookies, Santa in the atrium, holiday crafts and activities, Castaway decorated for Christmas..... We had a great time and would go again in a heartbeat. But that trip hasn't been scheduled since 2018. So yeah, a Thanksgiving DCL cruise gets a big thumbs up from us!
 


We sailed Thanksgiving week on a 7 night on the Magic out of NYC in 2018. We loved it and I don't remember it being overly expensive. (I mean, it's DCL so it's expensive, but I don't remember it being EXPENSIVE! if that makes any sense.) We stopped in Castaway Cay and Port Canaveral for a day at WDW and then sailed back to NYC. From the sail away with gorgeous views of the skyline of NYC and going right past the Statue of Liberty, it was amazing! The ship is decorated for Christmas, tree lighting ceremony, snow falling in the atrium, characters in winter costumes, Thanksgiving costumes of Thursday, hot cocoa, decorating gingerbread cookies, Santa in the atrium, holiday crafts and activities, Castaway decorated for Christmas..... We had a great time and would go again in a heartbeat. But that trip hasn't been scheduled since 2018. So yeah, a Thanksgiving DCL cruise gets a big thumbs up from us!
Oh my I would love that itinerary! We are 3 hours north of NYC and plus a day at WDW! Yes I would have to agree the pricing is not that bad! Thanks for the info!
 
This is a tough one. We have done Thanksgiving ones and cruised the week after. We prefer the week after.

Thanksgiving cruise
Cons - Extremely expensive, Very Crowded
Pros - Thanksgiving Characters (dressed that way only for Thanksgiving), If you're lucky Thanksgiving or Black Friday on CC, Thanksgiving Dinner is unique and only served on Thanksgiving (of course turkey but Disney style), your cruise can span the days off you have (thus why its more expensive), on Thanksgiving (on the Dream class ships we were on) they close over a pool and show NFL games all day on Funnel Vision (sit in the sun enjoy your team).

For us (we're from PA) we would do Thanksgiving and lose only 2-3 days (depending on the year). We found that the week after was cheaper (by a lot) and we lost only 4 days of school (in our school district the Monday after Thanksgiving is a holiday). So for a week on the Fantasy the week after Thanksgiving was roughly the same as a Thanksgiving cruise on the Dream ( I forget if it was 3 or 4 days, you get the idea.)

MerryTime cruises are great. Xmas characters, Santa, CC decorated in island Xmas theme. Again I've only been on Dream class, but there's a Gingerbread house (life sized), lighting the tree ceremony, Xmas story time. Our family uses the cruise for our Xmas pictures. We love being in the Caribbean during the winter weather. We love the MerryTime.

Hope this helps.
Love the pro and cons list. We are not that big football fans but I'm sure there will be other things for us to do. I was just thinking about I wonder if they show the Macys day parade at all. On Thanksgiving the itinerary is for Cozumel. Thank you!
 
We've done the NYC-San Juan Very Merrytime cruise on the Magic twice and love it!! We've also done a Very Merrytime cruise on the Fantasy and one on the Dream. Overall the Fantasy is my favorite Disney ship but there is something almost cozy about the Magic's VM cruise. I don't think you can go wrong with either the Magic or the Fantasy. Dream's cruises are too short. We haven't been on a Thanksgiving cruise so can't comment but highly recommend a VM cruise!

Very Merrytime is SO much fun...lots of activities from making ornaments to decorating gingerbread cookies. Tree lighting ceremony in the atrium with the characters and Christmas carols, Winter Wonderland Ball with Santa, Mrs. Claus and snow in the atrium. The ship is beautifully decorated with a huge tree and gingerbread house. Characters are decked out in their holiday finest. Families getting their photos taken in ugly Christmas sweaters and/or Christmas pajamas. It's a week long celebration!

Also you can order special holiday decorations that will be in your room when you arrive - and also a special Christmas blanket and pillow to take home.

If you cruise from Port Canaveral, spend a day at WDW for Mickey's Very Merry Christmas Party and another day at Epcot for the Candlelight Processional. The parks are also wonderfully decorated for Christmas.
 
Last edited:


Oh my I would love that itinerary! We are 3 hours north of NYC and plus a day at WDW! Yes I would have to agree the pricing is not that bad! Thanks for the info!

Not to be a debbie downer, but they didn't offer any of these cruises in 2020 or 2021. It seems like they weren't super popular so I wouldn't count on them coming back.

Never say never though.
 
We were on the Fantasy cruise over Thanksgiving in 2019 and I would never pay the inflated price again. There was nothing more than Thanksgiving dinner to even differentiate that is was over Thanksgiving. The characters did not wear the special Thanksgiving costumes on Thursday and the dinner was nothing special IMO. I even asked about the costumes because I had heard they would be dressed up for Thanksgiving and was told that those costumes weren't onboard. Of course, the Christmas decorations were up and the special Merrytime Cruise activities were going on, but that's not exclusive to Thanksgiving. The cruise itself was fun and we had a good time, but it was not worth paying for Thanksgiving week, other than not missing a week of school. Overall, we were disappointed with the Thanksgiving aspect of it. I would definitely stick with the surrounding weeks and just do the Merrytime Cruise over a non-holiday week and not pay for Thanksgiving week.
 
We were on the Fantasy cruise over Thanksgiving in 2019 and I would never pay the inflated price again. There was nothing more than Thanksgiving dinner to even differentiate that is was over Thanksgiving. The characters did not wear the special Thanksgiving costumes on Thursday and the dinner was nothing special IMO. I even asked about the costumes because I had heard they would be dressed up for Thanksgiving and was told that those costumes weren't onboard. Of course, the Christmas decorations were up and the special Merrytime Cruise activities were going on, but that's not exclusive to Thanksgiving. The cruise itself was fun and we had a good time, but it was not worth paying for Thanksgiving week, other than not missing a week of school. Overall, we were disappointed with the Thanksgiving aspect of it. I would definitely stick with the surrounding weeks and just do the Merrytime Cruise over a non-holiday week and not pay for Thanksgiving week.
TBH the price is really not that bad way cheaper than a 5 night double dip in July on the Fantasy which I was also looking at. I'm still not sold on it although DH wants me to book it. I think I'd rather put that travel money towards a destination we have not been too.
 
Oh my gosh! Is this the magic? I really want to do this because it's on the magic but it's only 5 nights and I wish it was going places we have not been to.

Dream. If you look closely at the first picture on the right hand side, you can see Admiral Donald Duck in his pose.

The Atrium statue is always a dead giveaway on the ship even if you do not see anything else in the picture. :-)

I do not remember if this was a 3 day or 4 day. Either way, just Nassau and CC (+/- a sea day). As I recall, I was using it as a filler cruise to get my gold status.
 
Dream. If you look closely at the first picture on the right hand side, you can see Admiral Donald Duck in his pose.

The Atrium statue is always a dead giveaway on the ship even if you do not see anything else in the picture. :-)

I do not remember if this was a 3 day or 4 day. Either way, just Nassau and CC (+/- a sea day). As I recall, I was using it as a filler cruise to get my gold status.
We were supposed to be there this year! :( :(
 
There’s nothing like a Disney Christmas cruise. For our family, vacation is all about making memories, and the Christmas cruise stands out as unique, beautiful, memorable. It’s already a time for peace and relaxation, but adding Disney magic/service to that relaxation is like nothing else. We enjoyed the decorated Castaway; beautiful tree. The weather was cooler than we prefer, so we would not do it regularly, but not a single regret on the lasting memories. It stands out above our other Disney Cruises.
 
We are considering moving our Feb 21 bahamian cruise on the Wonder to the Thanksgiving double dip on the Fantasy. However, my 2 nephews are huge pirate fans and have been looking forward to pirate night. Does anyone know if pirate night still happens on the Very Merrytime cruises? Thanks!
 
We are considering moving our Feb 21 bahamian cruise on the Wonder to the Thanksgiving double dip on the Fantasy. However, my 2 nephews are huge pirate fans and have been looking forward to pirate night. Does anyone know if pirate night still happens on the Very Merrytime cruises? Thanks!
Yes still happens from what I’ve seen on old navigators. I’ve been really researching the Thanksgiving merry time and seems like a good band for you buck with all the things going on. Still a little worried to have 2 cruises booked for 2021.
 
This is what I posted in a thread asking Very Marrytime or April. The pictures are from the Fantasy.

Over the last few years my wife and I have been doing two cruises a year. We would do one in April then we would do a Very Merrytime cruise. We have also done Halloween cruises. We loved both times of the year. It is just the two of us, no kids so that let us go when prices were the lowest for that time of the year. We would do a seven day cruise for each. We normally go on the western Caribbean itinerary. November 2019 was the first time we went on the eastern itinerary in nineteen years.
That's a little background.
With that said I absolutely love going on the Very Marrytime cruise. Christmas is our favorite time of the year.
The decorations on the ship make the cruise all that more special. A lot of people also decorate their cabin doors with holiday decorations. We bring our own little Christmas tree and a do it your self Ginger bread house for our room. The atmosphere is something special for me and my wife.
I vote for very Merrytime.

This was our door last year
532645


Our little tree lit up in our window
532647


The lobby all decorated

532648


The ginger bread house in the lobby

532649


We even brought some friends with us

532651
 

GET A DISNEY VACATION QUOTE

Dreams Unlimited Travel is committed to providing you with the very best vacation planning experience possible. Our Vacation Planners are experts and will share their honest advice to help you have a magical vacation.

Let us help you with your next Disney Vacation!








Top