Christmas cruises

[sunnygirl 0]

Hi,

Ive been on one Christmas cruise to the Caribbean on Princess. 

Whilst it was a fabulous cruise there was very little  Christmas celebration .

Im aware that the americans do celebrate Thanks Giving .

Has anyone been on a p&o Christmas cruise and if they have what was it like. We are thinking of going this year but will be disappointed if christmas isnt celebrated .

 

[Mayway 98]

Have been on several P&O Christmas cruises and the latter ones quite frankly were nothing to write home about - definitely wouldn't do it again.  In fact we haven't used P&O at all since our last Christmas cruise in 2014.    I am sure there will be many to come along to tell you how great the Christmas cruises are and way back when I would have agreed.    However, our last was awful and we will never cruise P&O again.

[sunnygirl 0]

Thank you for your info. I am so sorry to hear that.

What ship did you go on? Please can you tell me what was so awful about it?

[*Dancing Queen* 394]

We have been cruising over the Christmas period for thirty years now and we thoroughly enjoy them in fact we have just returned from Queen Victoria which was superb.

Obviously Mayway hasn't enjoyed Xmas but tbh any cruise is what you make it although I would agree we found P&O to be lacking in recent years hence our move to Cunard, I also think we probably expect too much from the cruise lines .. after all at home Xmas is basically 'one day' now and if you blink you will miss it.

There will certainly be a Christmas atmosphere  on board with P&O and especially if you are planning on going on a child friendly ship, give it a try it sure beats staying at home.

[Mayway 98]

 

Sorry, I specifically answered the question with regard to P&O as that is what you requested - not any other cruise line.  I am sure there are many cruise lines out there who offer a wonderful Christmas experience, I just don't think P&O are one of them.   What was awful - well all I can say is that food wise and 'special guest' wise and ambience wise, it was very, very ordinary.  As Dancing Queen says, Christmas is basically one day now - it's a shame that P&O couldn't even pull the stops out and make that one day on board special.   You pay a premium for a Christmas Cruise and frankly I expect more than a gingerbread village.  As I said earlier, I only answer this from a P&O perspective as that is what you asked.

32 minutes ago, *Dancing Queen* said:

 

[Davybe 529]

13 hours ago, Mayway said:

 

Sorry, I specifically answered the question with regard to P&O as that is what you requested - not any other cruise line.  I am sure there are many cruise lines out there who offer a wonderful Christmas experience, I just don't think P&O are one of them.   What was awful - well all I can say is that food wise and 'special guest' wise and ambience wise, it was very, very ordinary.  As Dancing Queen says, Christmas is basically one day now - it's a shame that P&O couldn't even pull the stops out and make that one day on board special.   You pay a premium for a Christmas Cruise and frankly I expect more than a gingerbread village.  As I said earlier, I only answer this from a P&O perspective as that is what you asked.

Just returned from a Christmas cruise on Ventura, and the crew did try their best for the children with special shows etc, but as we had so many older couples and plenty of singles on the cruise it was not what I expected,The Christmas and New year dinning arrangements were a complete farce, and the food bland at best.,entertainment patchy how many production shows do you want to see.

As a Cruise it was OK as a Christmas cruise disappointing .....Davybe

[mitch 325]

i did a xmas cruise sometime ago on ncl and whilst it was a good cruise in the carribean and there were several events laid on for the children and the decorations were superb i wouldnt say it was a special cruise warranting the mark up in price.

it did make a pleasant change to the usual xmas at home. i am slightly biased as xmas isnt what it used to be for me as my wife died on the 16th  december in 2003 so since then xmas hasnt been the same even now.

[sunnygirl 0]

Thank you so very much for all your feed back, it is very much appriciated.

[littlemousa 26]

Hi Sunnygirl,

We have done 2 Christmas cruises with P and O. The first in 2010 was a complete disaster. An adult only ship sailing from Southampton to the Mediterranean, it was like spending Christmas in an older persons home. Add to that poor weather and an outbreak of Norovirus and you get the picture.....

However in 2016 we tried again on Azura in the Caribbean and we loved it. I thought that there was a great Christmas atmosphere on board and there was a really good age range on the ship. My favourite thing was the nativity play performed by the children. It was a real hoot! And of course if you had enough of Christmas stuff there was the glorious sunshine to enjoy. We loved it so much we are going again for 2018 and we would have gone in 2017 but for family commitments.

[graphostar 10]

Well my mother and I were on the Ventura this Xmas and despite the bad weather, we really enjoyed the cruise. The alternative at home would have been far less exciting. As for the entertainment, we rarely watch the production shows because we find most of the guest entertainers are much better. The food isn't brilliant but it hasn't been so for a while on P and O but we met some lovely people, had some great nights and Xmas day was certainly different - but in a good way. The atmosphere was fairly festive, the decorations were superb and our greatest criticism is really only a bit tongue- in- cheek - the piped christmas carols went on and on and on ......but we're about to book for this year.

[cruise addict 164]

We have done several p and o Christmas cruises. Our favourites being the ones.to the Caribbean however last year we were on the Oriana which visited the Canary Islands. We enjoyed it, went with an open mind and wanted to enjoy ourselves which we did.