Tell me about a Halloween cruise!

KashasMom

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So, we have COVID spreading through the house and for many reasons, moved our Feb 8th cruise (again). We moved to a Halloween cruise out of NYC because it's the ONLY cruise that worked date-wise for us. I remember reading terrible reviews of people grabbing candy and pushing kids - maybe it was better in 2021? Or maybe not. Is the Halloween celebration only one day? Any Halloween activities? Everyone wearing costumes? I'd love to hear your experiences - especially anyone who did a Halloween cruise in 2021. I'm really hoping we have no issues with this cruise - apparently it's the last time we can move our concierge cruise without losing about 80% of our total cruise fare. Thanks for any info!
 
I went on a 4-night Halloween cruise on the Dream in September. Based on that...

The Halloween cruises in 2021 weren't normal. There was no trick or treating at all. Instead, staterooms with kids in them had bags of candy left on the bed during turndown service on "Halloween". Also, most of the Halloween activities were canceled. There were no ghost stories and no stories about the pumpkin tree. They still did the Nightmare Before Christmas "Scream Along", but it was muted and offered at inconvenient times. The Mousequerade party was moved onto the deck instead of the atrium, but it was smaller and took place at the same time as the nightly show, which happened to be Hocus Pocus.

Usually, "Halloween" is night 2 and pirates are night 3, but this time it was all mixed up. The Halloween drinks of the day were still on night 2, but the rest of the Halloween stuff was on night 3, which overlapped with pirate stuff. The cruise director didn't even really mention Halloween at all. Everyone just kind of pretended that it wasn't happening.

All of that said...

1. I took a similar cruise back in 2019 and it was awesome. I don't know if kids were pushing each other to get candy. Probably, because that's what kids do. But the atmosphere and the extra activities were great!

2. Even on this muted Halloween cruise, there was some fun to be had. For instance, we left our stateroom host a "Happy Halloween" drawing with ghosts and bats and then he made a ghost and a bat from towels and hung them from the curtain rails with hangers! They were fantastic! Our server surprised us with an extra chocolate mousse spider for dessert, too. And, there were also some Halloween-themed desserts available at the cafe. So, it wasn't all bad.
 
I second everything Kwami said. I was on a 3 night HOTHS cruise in October 2021 and other than decorations in the atrium, it didn’t feel very Halloween-like. I couldn’t even attend the deck party because it conflicted with other activities. There is no way to know what things will be like 10 months from now so I would keep expectations low and be pleasantly surprised if there is more on offer.
 
I went on a 4-night Halloween cruise on the Dream in September. Based on that...

The Halloween cruises in 2021 weren't normal. There was no trick or treating at all. Instead, staterooms with kids in them had bags of candy left on the bed during turndown service on "Halloween". Also, most of the Halloween activities were canceled. There were no ghost stories and no stories about the pumpkin tree. They still did the Nightmare Before Christmas "Scream Along", but it was muted and offered at inconvenient times. The Mousequerade party was moved onto the deck instead of the atrium, but it was smaller and took place at the same time as the nightly show, which happened to be Hocus Pocus.

Usually, "Halloween" is night 2 and pirates are night 3, but this time it was all mixed up. The Halloween drinks of the day were still on night 2, but the rest of the Halloween stuff was on night 3, which overlapped with pirate stuff. The cruise director didn't even really mention Halloween at all. Everyone just kind of pretended that it wasn't happening.

All of that said...

1. I took a similar cruise back in 2019 and it was awesome. I don't know if kids were pushing each other to get candy. Probably, because that's what kids do. But the atmosphere and the extra activities were great!

2. Even on this muted Halloween cruise, there was some fun to be had. For instance, we left our stateroom host a "Happy Halloween" drawing with ghosts and bats and then he made a ghost and a bat from towels and hung them from the curtain rails with hangers! They were fantastic! Our server surprised us with an extra chocolate mousse spider for dessert, too. And, there were also some Halloween-themed desserts available at the cafe. So, it wasn't all bad.

Oh that is depressing, especially considering we can't move that cruise! I can't believe there is no compensation for cutting back on specialty cruises which are already more expensive. And the pushing I read about was from adults, not kids! :) I really hope that things will be better by then! Thanks for the info.
 

We (me, DW, DS and DBIL) all did the Halloween cruise without kids and had a blast. DW and I dressed as Mr. and Mrs. Incredible as my sister and bil dressed as Mr. and Mrs. Potato Head. We did not see any bad behavior on the cruise from adults or kids. We would do the Halloween cruise again without hesitation. We are getting ready to go on a Fantasy 7 Night Eastern Caribbean cruise on February 5th. Keeping our fingers crossed all goes well.

Steve
 
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At first I was going to say we've only done a Halloween cruise prior to the pandemic...then I realized that wasn't true, I just forgot our October cruise was Halloween because there wasn't all that much Halloween going on. There definitely was a night where people dressed up though. I never saw adults pushing kids for candy even on our pre-pandemic one, but the Halloween festivities did get quite crowded (ah, the good old days). I'm sure you can still have an excellent time, especially if your group decides to do a coordinated costume effort.
 
At first I was going to say we've only done a Halloween cruise prior to the pandemic...then I realized that wasn't true, I just forgot our October cruise was Halloween because there wasn't all that much Halloween going on. There definitely was a night where people dressed up though. I never saw adults pushing kids for candy even on our pre-pandemic one, but the Halloween festivities did get quite crowded (ah, the good old days). I'm sure you can still have an excellent time, especially if your group decides to do a coordinated costume effort.

That's kind of disappointing to read since our new cruise is a day less and more money than the previous cruise so paying a premium for the holiday cruise that isn't really celebrated. Fingers crossed things are better by then! I know our little kids would love the real Halloween experience.
 
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We went in September 2021, on the Dream, and except for the Pumpkin Tree in the atrium, some appearances by Jack and Sally with the showing of “The Nightmare before Christmas,” we didn’t see much Halloween activity. Adult cabins didn‘t get any Halloween candy, but I understand that changed. The window Halloween stickers were around the ship.

640317

I had been on other Halloween DCL cruises that were a lot more fun because of cruise activities like story telling and Trick or Treating, but this had been our first cruise since Pandemic began and it was a lot of fun for us! We did get some safe distance pictures with Jack and Sally and Goofy.

I hope by this Halloween time things are more normal for you, but even if it was like the one we had in 2021, you could have a great time!
 
That's kind of disappointing to read since our new cruise is a day less and more money than the previous cruise so paying a premium for the holiday cruise that isn't really celebrated. Fingers crossed things are better by then! I know our little kids would love the real Halloween experience.
I think you are paying more for the NY embarkation port and the fact that early February is generally very low priced because kids are in school and it is winter/bad weather. If it makes you feel any better somehow, the "holiday" aspect is not what is costing you more. Halloween cruises out of Florida aren't really priced higher than non-Halloween ones with the same itinerary (and in many cases can be cheaper). With your NYC cruise, that is a very specific itinerary that only happens in the fall so you just don't have any non-Halloween ones on that itinerary to compare it to.

We enjoyed our 2021 Halloween cruise on the Dream (and paid less for it than our 2018 Dream cruise in August--again, just goes to show the pricing really doesn't have anything to do with it). The pumpkin tree in the lobby is really cute, they did a character dance party "Mickey's Mouskerade" on the pool deck that my kids dressed up for, and had Halloween arts and crafts. My kids brains just about exploded when they each received bag stuffed full of candy in the stateroom.

That said, I don't think you can really assume anything about 2022 from 2021. Kids under 12 could not be vaccinated back in fall 2021. We really don't know what this year holds in store. You may well get your trick or treating--we don't really know.
 
I think you are paying more for the NY embarkation port and the fact that early February is generally very low priced because kids are in school and it is winter/bad weather. If it makes you feel any better somehow, the "holiday" aspect is not what is costing you more. Halloween cruises out of Florida aren't really priced higher than non-Halloween ones with the same itinerary (and in many cases can be cheaper). With your NYC cruise, that is a very specific itinerary that only happens in the fall so you just don't have any non-Halloween ones on that itinerary to compare it to.

We enjoyed our 2021 Halloween cruise on the Dream (and paid less for it than our 2018 Dream cruise in August--again, just goes to show the pricing really doesn't have anything to do with it). The pumpkin tree in the lobby is really cute, they did a character dance party "Mickey's Mouskerade" on the pool deck that my kids dressed up for, and had Halloween arts and crafts. My kids brains just about exploded when they each received bag stuffed full of candy in the stateroom.

That said, I don't think you can really assume anything about 2022 from 2021. Kids under 12 could not be vaccinated back in fall 2021. We really don't know what this year holds in store. You may well get your trick or treating--we don't really know.

Thanks for the info. I'm not sure about the reference to winter. Our Feb cruise wasn't going out of NY. In any case, since we can't cancel, we'll make the best of it.
 
Thanks for the info. I'm not sure about the reference to winter. Our Feb cruise wasn't going out of NY. In any case, since we can't cancel, we'll make the best of it.
Yeah I just meant all Jan-early March cruises are at the lower end of the price range, so it’s not unusual to pay more for fewer nights later. For example, we recently rescheduled a March 7 night cruise to an April 5 night and are paying about $900 more.
 
Wow - my Sep 2021 trip was a HOTHS cruise. Other than the photos of decorations in the atrium, I have no memory of Halloween experiences. It was such a chill atmosphere with very low occupancy on the Dream.

You are probably right that you pay more for Halloween, Christmas, Star Wars cruises. Along with any cruise that has Disney in the name!

Hope you can make it fun.
 

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