Tell me about your Christmas cruise

[engle]

Dh and I just booked the Magic out if Miami Dec 23. We will be sailing over Xmas. For those of you who sailed over the holiday, did you find the weather okay...stopping at Key West and Castaway. Also, what can I expect different from a regular cruise?

 

[wallawallakids]

Dh and I just booked the Magic out if Miami Dec 23. We will be sailing over Xmas. For those of you who sailed over the holiday, did you find the weather okay...stopping at Key West and Castaway. Also, what can I expect different from a regular cruise?

We did it this year and weather was amazing every day but one. It was warm on deck the entire time, even during the night. It was in the 80's in Key West, Grand Cayman, and Castaway Cay. Our only "bad" weather day (and I say "bad" in quotations because it wasn't awful but worse then the other days) was our Cozumel port day. We hit a little storm overnight, seas were a bit high, and the weather was more cloudy. No rain, but because of the swells, red flags were put up around the island and all water activities were canceled. Because of the clouds, it was 78 but felt much cooler and it was windy to boot.

I wouldn't hesitate to go again during that time. We hit a snag one day, but that can happen any time of the year and our other days were absolutely gorgeous. My kids swam every day, even on our Cozumel day. It was really a perfect week. I was sad about Cozumel, but more because that was Christmas day and we couldn't do our planned activity but again, just random luck.

Good luck OP!

 

[Kimosabe]

We have been on a Christmas cruise on the Fantasy -- not actually on Christmas, but about a week and a half before. Huge tree (with lighting ceremonies)....big gingerbread house...characters are decked out from time to time in Christmas outfits. I'm a big Goofy fan, and Santa Goofy makes a meet-and-greet appearance. (Tried to let that be our kids' Santa picture for the year, but my wife wasn't as convinced!) One of the coolest things was at Castaway Cay, where everything is decorated, including the tram, which is turned into a reindeer (red nose, antlers, etc.). No detail left undone.

This was a couple of years ago, and now they're actually calling these holiday cruises something like Very Merry Christmastime (or something like that), so I'm guessing they've done even more. But in any event, they definitely have everything decorated and in the spirit of Christmas.

Castaway Cay was obviously not as warm as in the spring or summer, but we still got in the water and did some snorkeling. A little chillier than in August, but workable. We had pondered taking "shortie" wetsuits, just in case, but it ended up being too much to pack.

 

[holula]

Dh and I just booked the Magic out if Miami Dec 23. We will be sailing over Xmas. For those of you who sailed over the holiday, did you find the weather okay...stopping at Key West and Castaway. Also, what can I expect different from a regular cruise?

We did the Wonder from Miami this year. Embarkation day was hot and humid. Castaway was on the cooler side - it was a little windy but not too bad. We went to Cozumel, not Key West. Seas were smooth other than leaving Cozumel one night.

There is a tree lighting ceremony in the atrium, gingerbread house making, Santa's Winter Wonderland ball, Deck the Deck party, storytime with either Santa or Mrs Claus (I don't remember which). We didn't do many of the holiday themed activities because they were always very crowded. You also get the characters dressed in Christmas outfits which makes for cute pictures.

 

[jburge12000]

We were on the Dream last month that returned the Monday before Christmas and the weather was some of the best we have every had on our trips to CC and Nassau. Very little breeze, and about 80 degrees with no clouds. Seas were very calm. My kids love to snorkel and we had the best visibility in the water yet. We spend a day at Epcot when we got back and the weather was a lot different, very cool.

I would recommend you head strait over to guest services when you board and see what events need tickets. By the time we got to our stateroom and looked at the navigator to find out you needed the free tickets to the gingerbread house making, they had already given them all out.

 

[Love2Cruz]

We did the Dream and we got outstanding weather. The water was a little too cool for my taste (but we are Floridians, so it may be okay for everyone else) although that didn't stop us from doing Pelican Plunge. It did however stop us from looking for the underground Mickey and snorkeling but it was great for catching sun rays and being on deck in the pools.

The boat itself was beautiful and all decked out for Christmas, that was really something special.

Enjoy your cruise.

 

[mareed]

We were on the Wonder XMAS cruise and the one following it. There were several times that there were some yummy snickerdoodle cookies and hot chocolate offered, but not a single snickerdoodle anywhere on the 2nd cruise, so I'd say it must have been special for XMAS. Also on XMAS day, there was a beautiful dessert table with lots of cookies and treats and some beautiful display cakes in the atrium lobby, along with Santa available for pictures by the tree. I say they were display cakes because they weren't cutting and serving them when we went by, but I don't know if they may have later in the morning. We saw all of this by chance when we passed through after breakfast on our way back to our cabin before heading out to Castaway Cay. I don't think it was listed on the Navigator (Santa may have been, but I don't think the treat table was).