Cruising Over Christmas: Answers To 7 Common Questions

My family has made it a tradition to cruise over Christmas, usually on long itineraries to bucket list destinations like the Panama Canal, the Sea of Cortez, New Zealand, South America/Antarctica, and Hawaii (this year’s destination) . And while many family members, friends, and blog followers have been supportive or even envious of our holiday adventures at sea, we’ve also received lots of questions from those who are a bit more…skeptical.

So today I’m going to answer some of the questions I’ve received about cruising over Christmas.  Let’s get to the most important one right away, because if you’re considering a Christmas cruise (especially with kids), you undoubtedly want to know how Santa is going to find you so far from your chimney (or whatever his usual point of entry is – in our case the balcony door of our high-rise apartment in downtown Seattle).

Question 1: How will Santa find us on the ship? 

Truthful answer: “Santa” will be played by the crew member with the most demerits.  “Mei, you were late for the dinner shift five times last month, didn’t meet your quota of wine packages, and drizzled vanilla sauce directly into your mouth instead of onto the soufflé of Barbara from Indiana at Table 103.  Congratulations, you’re Santa this year!”  “But I’m a 101 pound woman!”  “Here’s your beard.  Stuff a pillow in the red suit.  And start smoking pipes – there’s a one inch spot on deck 8 where you’re still allowed to do that.”

Kid appropriate answer: “Santa knows everything.  Like when you tell me you’re still on the potty but are really disassembling the sink plumbing.  Also, you can mention from his lap that you’ll be cruising or write him a letter.”

Also: The Captain will track Santa with his/her navigational equipment and will make announcements with his whereabouts so you can tailor your dinner warnings: “You better not slingshot that spoonful of mashed potatoes at your sister – Santa was just spotted over Illinois!” Seriously though, on every one of our Christmas cruises, the Captain has come over the ship’s intercom system to make periodic announcements regarding Santa’s current location. It’s really fun and exciting for the kids (and kids at heart).

Question 2: Will Santa make an appearance on Christmas?

Answer: Yes.  Not only will Santa find you to deliver gifts, he’ll also make a public appearance on Christmas day. On every one of our Christmas cruises, Santa was available for you to hoist your screaming kid onto.  He appeared Christmas morning or late afternoon (depending on the itinerary for the day) and presented each youth with a gift (some of the gifts have included t-shirts, stuffed animals, kaleidoscopes, and portable chargers).   

What about photo ops with Santa on my cruise? If you want to purchase a professional photo with Santa, ship photographers will take one for you.  However, if you’re too cheap, you are allowed to take one yourself. Here are a few phone photos I’ve taken of my son over the years (I prefer “thrifty” to cheap):

And here’s my all-time favorite, from last year’s New Zealand cruise on Holland America’s ms Noordam:

Question 3: Will my cruise ship be decorated for Christmas?

Answer: Yes!  Beautifully.  Every ship will be decorated with Christmas trees, garlands, and lights. And depending on your specific ship, you may also enjoy special displays like a gingerbread village, a train, or a wreath display with one wreath made by each department on the ship. 

You can also bring items to decorate your cabin (a travel Christmas tree is a must) and cabin door.

There will also be holiday related activities on most cruise lines and ships for the entire month of December. Here’s what Carnival offered last year to give you a sense of what to expect (I’ll post this year’s schedule as soon as it’s released):

Question 4: Will there be a traditional Christmas dinner offered in my ship’s main dining room on Christmas?

Answer: It depends.  If your tradition is Tofurkey like mine (I can practically hear my husband making retching sounds as I type that), then no.  If it’s regular turkey or ham, then yes!

Extra Credit Pro Tip: Order two of everything and a bottle of expensive wine from Mei (so she doesn’t have to play Santa again next year) – it’s Christmas!

Here are some sample cruise ship Christmas dinner menus:

Carnival’s 2023 Christmas Dinner Menu (Click link to see menu)
Holland America’s 2022 Christmas Dinner Menu (Click link to see menu)

Question 5: How will we ever fit Joey’s modest number of gifts (n=94) into our luggage? 

Answer: There are a four ways to approach this. 

1) You can jam them all into 13 suitcases and invite your portliest acquaintances over to bounce and then sit on each bag while you “ziiiiiiiiip!” Then you can rent an extension van to get them to the airport, pay hundreds in fees to fly them to the ship, hand the porter $26 in tips after turning scarlet and answering “yes, but it’s Christmas” to “this is all yours?” and then stack them in the extra stateroom you’ve purchased as a storage unit until Joey opens it all and proceeds to play with a cardboard box for the next 6 days.  Or…

2) You can bring only a few smaller items and leave a note from Santa with a promise of a surprise under the tree when you get home (or take printed photos of the larger items put together and waiting at home).  Or…

3) You can buy less and gift “experiences.”  Maybe a pricier shore excursion or meal at a specialty restaurant. One of the gifts we’re giving our son this year is an “arcade pass” so he can play unlimited video games in our ship’s arcade.

4) Give your kid coal from Santa, but remind him that it doesn’t matter because you’re on a cruise!

There’s no question about it though, packing for a Christmas cruise can be particularly challenging, which is why I dedicated a whole post to it. Here are my 5 Packing Tips for a Christmas Cruise:

Question 6: How can I rub in the fact that I’m cruising over Christmas to my friends and relatives (and dogs) stuck in sub zero temps at home?

Consider a cruise or destination-themed Christmas card. Here’s one of ours from few years ago when we cruised to Hawaii over Christmas:

Question 7: What’s the best part of cruising over Christmas?

You don’t have to cook or clean and you can avoid losing the spirit over heated dinner conversations with your liberal or conservative (depending on your political persuasion) relatives: “We wish we could invite you over this year to compare corporations we’re boycotting, but we’re going on a cruise.”

So with that…

Merry Christmas…cruising! And…

Class Dismissed!

Homework (10 points): Discuss the following questions in the comments: Have you been on a Christmas cruise?  Would you do it again?  Why or why not?  Do you have any tips for those considering a Christmas cruise? For those who haven’t cruised at Christmas, are there any remaining questions you have?

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*I’m a member of Amazon’s affiliate program and receive a small commission at no extra charge to you when you purchase a travel tree or Christmas cruise door decorations through the links in this post. All funds go to maintain the blog. Thanks so much for your support!