How to Celebrate Holidays Aboard a Cruise

Avital Andrews, SmarterTravel's editor-at-large, is a travel and lifestyle journalist who is also a contributing editor for AAA's Via magazine. Her stories have been among the 10 most emailed or viewed on the Los Angeles Times, Outside, Sierra, and SmarterTravel websites, and have also appeared in USA Today, HuffPost, Apple News, Business Insider, and many other nationwide outlets. Her travel book, sold at bookstores and on Amazon, is in its fourth edition, and her journalism gets national media attention, including from The New York Times, The Atlantic, Time, NPR, and MTV. She's currently working on her first children's book. Follow her on Twitter @avitalb.

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Celebrating a major holiday aboard a cruise ship might seem a little strange, until you start thinking through the benefits: no intense home preparation, no cooking deep into the night, no elaborate coordinating of schedules with relatives. In short, a holiday away takes the pressure off and lets you just enjoy the celebration while staffers do most of the work.

Add to that the standard pleasures of cruising—ocean views, all you can eat and drink, impressive entertainment, and stops at some of the world’s most interesting places—et voila, you’ve got yourself a recipe to replace holiday stress with relaxation and joy.

The catch is, you have to book way in advance—at least nine months out to get ahead of the crowd, secure lower rates, and nab adjacent cabins if you need them. Keep in mind, too, that the winter holidays are a very busy (and expensive) time for cruising, so if you prefer to be on an emptier ship, choose a holiday that doesn’t coincide with a school break.

Once you book a spot, the mental and physical energy that you would have put toward holiday planning, shopping, cooking, and cleaning will magically be available to you again. Come winter, let the snow pile up at home while you toast to Caribbean or Mediterranean waters. During other seasons, make the holiday you’re celebrating that much more meaningful by being in a place that’s relevant to the occasion.

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New Year's Eve and Day

"The most popular holiday cruise is on New Year's Eve," says Rebecca Brooks, who co-founded Alter Agents, a research firm that represents cruise lines. "Which makes sense, given that you have a big, fun party right outside your door and you won't have to worry about having to drive after a night of drinking." Though New Year's Eve cruises tend to be on the pricier side, Brooks says the revelries are typically included in your rate, so you won't face sticker shock at the end of the night.

John Drabkowski, the CEO of Red Hot Cruises, recommends Viking River Cruises' 13-day New Year's in the Mediterranean itinerary, which lets passengers ring in the new year at sea, then explore Rome, Florence, Monte Carlo, Malta, Tunis, and Barcelona.

There's also Celebrity Cruises' newest "signature event sailing," called New Year's Fireworks in Dubai. It's a 14-night voyage across the Arabian Sea and to India. The itinerary promises you'll "ring in the new year aboard the coolest party afloat, mesmerized by the record-setting fireworks that light up downtown Dubai from the world's tallest building, the Burj Khalifa."

Or you could go for North Star Cruises' Sydney Rocks: New Year Spectacular to be among the first in the world to welcome 2017, and to check "see the iconic fireworks over the Harbour Bridge and Opera House" off your bucket list.

Most other lines do fun New Year's stuff too: Azamara hosts a White Party on deck, while Carnival hosts what it calls the "largest party at sea" with free champagne and noisemakers, plus a balloon drop in the atrium. Crystal lets you make your own party hats and noisemakers and offers fancy New Year's Eve midnight snacks, a kids' New Year's Eve party, and a separate celebration for teens.

New Year's Eve and Day

Valentine's Day

There are surprisingly few multi-night Valentine's Day-themed cruises, probably because cruising is such a romantic activity that not much needs to be added to make it a lovefest. Still, a few lines do offer some mushy mid-February fare.

Princess Cruises, for one, brought bestselling romance novelists Sylvia Day and Meredith Wild onboard this year for a seven-night Valentine's Day Cruise through the Eastern Caribbean aboard the Royal Princess. Activities included readings, signings, and meet-and-greets with the authors. No word yet on whether this 2016 event will be offered again in 2017, but it's worth keeping an eye out for.

If you happen to be aboard any Carnival cruise on February 14, there'll be free hugs stations, Valentine's editions of shows, kiss cams, cupid-themed contests, a Valentine's-themed nightclub event—and in dining rooms, all women get a free flower, and everyone gets a special dessert.

And if you're looking to add a touch of romance to a cruise whose itinerary touches Valentine's Day—or any day, really—you can usually pay a bit extra to have chocolate, champagne, or roses waiting for your sweetie in your room. Just call your cruise's reservation line and tell them you have a special request.

St. Patrick's Day

In 2017, the small cruise line Saga will offer a weeklong voyage that lets you party in the streets of Dublin on March 17 as the city celebrates with a parade and festivals full of Celtic dancing, lilting music, and general Irish pride. The cruise also stops in County Cork (where you can kiss the Blarney Stone) and Liverpool, England.

If you'd rather spend mid-March in the Bahamas, the Salty Dog Cruise is an annual at-sea party hosted by the Celtic punk band Flogging Molly aboard the Norwegian Sky over St. Patrick's Day weekend. It departs from Miami and hits Nassau and Great Stirrup Cay with a raucous crowd that likes to head bang to modern Irish music—think bagpipes, fiddles, and kilts mixed with mosh pits and bikinis. It's a traveling music festival, featuring live performances on the boat and on the beach. Alcohol is included, so partake in the whiskey tastings.

Though not many other cruises plan their itineraries around St. Patrick's Day, if you're onboard one of the major lines on March 17, you're likely to get green beer, shamrock decorations, and, for the little ones, leprechaun-themed entertainment.

Easter

If you're a Christian traveling around Easter, you might as well visit the Holy Land. Though we couldn't find a cruise that can have you in Bethlehem (where Jesus was born) or Jerusalem exactly on Easter day, there are a few that come close: Royal Caribbean's 16-night Suez Canal cruise stops in Jerusalem on April 13, 2017, and in Haifa on April 14 (Easter is April 16). Seabourn's 19-day Arabian Gems & Holy Land departs Dubai the day after Easter and is in Israel two weeks later. Holland America's 33-day Grand World Voyage visits Jerusalem on April 10. Several companies, including Genesis Boutique Travel, offer shore excursions that let you walk the path of Jesus's final steps along the Via Dolorosa to the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, where he was crucified.

If you decide to cruise elsewhere with the major lines on Easter day, you'll likely have access to onboard religious services, a traditional Easter brunch, and, for the kids, Easter egg hunts photos with the bunny. (On Disney Cruise Line, you can preorder chocolatey Easter treats to be waiting for your child in the room.)

For those who celebrate Passover, many of the major cruise lines, including Royal Caribbean and Regent Seven Seas, offer rabbi-led Seders, and during the eight-day Passover period, offer kosher foods, including matzo ball soup, upon request.

Independence Day

Fans of cruising can't do much better on Independence Day than boarding the American Queen Steamboat Company's Mississippi River steamboat for its Memphis to St. Louis trip spanning July 3 to 11. The cruise line says you'll "celebrate the birth of our nation aboard a genuine national treasure, the iconic American Queen. Before you embark on your river journey to the charming ports of authentic America, relish your time in Memphis as the city will be abuzz with patriotic festivities, live music, and local vendors. Delight in a fabulous pre-fireworks dinner, then head up to the top deck where you will be treated to unobstructed views of the city's grand fireworks display against the backdrop of the beautiful Memphis skyline."

Cunard, too, has an intriguing Fourth of July offering this year: Political experts Mary Matalin and James Carville will be aboard the newly refurbished Queen Mary 2 as it sails roundtrip from New York (departing on July 1), stopping at Halifax, England, and staying overnight in Boston to catch the city's famous Independence Day celebration. The Democrat-Republican married couple will give talks onboard and lead a discussion called "Perspectives on the Modern Presidency."

Other cruise lines mark the holiday with red, white, and blue celebrations: American flags throughout the ship; barbecues and deck parties; and views of either real fireworks or fake ones on the boats' big outdoor screens.

Halloween

Halloween could easily be the most fun holiday to celebrate on a cruise, for both adults and kids. Pack a costume—or don't, since most ships have costumes available so that you can improvise something to wear—and climb aboard for costumes parties and contests, trick-or-treating, haunted houses, face painting, and pumpkin carving. (Plus, late October is a not-too-crowded time for cruises, so you'll have room to stretch.)

As you'd imagine, Disney does it best. During Disney Cruise Line's Halloween on the High Seas which spans September and October, all the DCL ships get as decked out as the theme parks, with pumpkin, ghost, and cobweb decor. There's "Mickey's Mouse-Querade Party," during which the beloved characters show up in costume, "pirate night," and a "Nightmare Before Christmas" show followed by a meet-and-greet with Jack Skellington and Sally.

Costa Cruises also celebrates Halloween, presenting festivities all day long on October 31, through dawn on November 1. The boats' lounges are decorated with spider webs, skulls, bats, and jack-o-lanterns. Activities include a treasure hunt, a "horror dance mob," and demonstrations showing how to carve giant pumpkins. For kids, there's trick-or-treating, face-painting, and a costume parade.

For those looking for love, SinglesCruise.com's weeklong Halloween Cruise is always the site's most popular offerings. It takes the Carnival Dream to Cozumel, Belize, Roatan, and New Orleans, and more than 600 singles of all ages dress up for parties, dinners, and speed-dating.

Thanksgiving

Most cruise lines offer Thanksgiving dinner onboard: Fleet wide, Carnival serves 50,000 pounds of turkey, 200,000 pounds of potatoes, and 30,000 servings of pumpkin pie on Thanksgiving Thursday. And SeaDream Yacht Club's highly trained chefs source ingredients from destinations' local purveyors whenever possible—its Thanksgiving dinner includes slow-roasted tom turkey on bread stuffing, with green peas and silver onions in a cream sauce, asparagus, sweet mashed potatoes, and gravy.

A few operators offer Thanksgiving-specific itineraries as well: Vantage Deluxe World Travel's Thanksgiving on the Seine: Paris & the Heart of Normandy includes a full-day Normandy and World War II tour, including the D-Day beaches. The evening of Thanksgiving, the boat's master chef prepares a traditional turkey dinner.

If you'd rather stay stateside, the American Queen Steamboat Company offers a weeklong journey aboard its iconic Mississippi River steamboat from New Orleans to Memphis, exploring plantations and Civil War and Antebellum sites, and landing in beautiful, historic Natchez, Mississippi, in time for Thanksgiving. There, you'll take in the quintessentially American sights via a hop-on-hop-off tour during the day, then head back to the American Queen for a memorable Thanksgiving dinner.

If you're traveling with children, consider being on one of Disney Cruise Line's ships on Thanksgiving: Characters dress up in pilgrim costumes, there's a turkey dinner with pumpkin soup or corn chowder, and the boat is done up in Thanksgiving decorations, including towel animals in the staterooms. Also, because Disney owns ESPN, there are live, satellite-streamed football broadcasts.

Christmas

This is a biggie—Christmastime cruises are a staple of most lines' offerings, and it's impossible to list them all here. The best strategy is to book with the line you like best, or the line that best fits your budget, since all boats have fairly extensive offerings on and around Christmas. Check out offerings from Royal Caribbean, Carnival, and Disney. Expect impressive Christmas trees, Santa appearances, carolers on deck, wreaths and mistletoe, holiday jingles, a midnight mass, and shows featuring the Grinch (Carnival), Shrek (Royal Caribbean), and Santa-hatted Disney characters.

Jen Cron, a CruiseOne travel agent, spent Christmas 2015 on the MSC Divina. "They did a great job making it festive for everyone," she said. "The decorations were top-notch, all of the crew were in the holiday spirit and wearing Santa hats, and the Christmas dinner was very traditional. On Christmas day, they had Santa arrive in the theater, take his place on the stage, and then every child on the cruise lined up, got on stage, was given a gift—a real gift, not MSC merchandise or anything—and got their picture taken with Santa and Rudolph."

In 2016, highlights of MSC Divina holiday celebrations include two affordable Caribbean options: a Christmas cruise, and a sailing over Hanukkah, during which there'll be a nightly menorah lighting as well as traditional Hanukkah foods. (Many other cruise lines honor Hanukkah as well—Carnival, for example, offers nightly candle lightings, latkes, and dreidel games.)

One particularly popular Christmastime option is visiting the twinkling holiday markets on the banks of European rivers. Abercrombie & Kent offers this on the Danube and Rhine aboard 24-guest luxury boats, while Tauck brings you to the markets along the Rhone. Uniworld offers many itineraries on the Seine, Rhine, and Danube; Crystal Cruises does too.

For a more adventurous Noel, book the three-night option on the Australis ship Stella, which cruises Patagonia between Punta Arenas, Chile, and Ushuaia, Argentina, over Christmas—children under 17 sail free to see the calving glaciers, Magellanic penguins, and elephant seals. There'll be a Christmas tree on deck; on December 25, Santa bring gifts for all.

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Avital Andrews also covers travel for USA Today, the Los Angeles Times, Outside, Sierra, and Frommer's. Follow her on Twitter @avitalb or on Facebook.

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