I love Christmas and I love cruising, so putting them together sounded like a perfect combination.
But was it? This past Christmas, I convinced
my partner, Mark, that we should do a seven-night Holland America cruise to Mexico out of San Diego.
While he was excited about escaping cold, wintry London, he raised four
big fears as we made our plans. They're things that I should
have paid more attention to. It was though through meeting
people on the ship, like Liz and her group of 11, which later helped me understand who's
right and who's wrong for Christmas cruising. Welcome aboard. I'm Gary Bembridge. It's my
goal to make it fun, easy to plan, discover and enjoy unforgettable cruise vacations.
Before I come back to Liz, what was the first fear that Mark raised? The cost.
Christmas cruises are much more costly than at any other time.
That's partly because Christmas cruises are in such high demand, and they sell out quickly.
But did we get more value for the higher price of a Christmas cruise? Not really, no.
Certainly, there were Christmas decorations up, like all cruise ships do at this time of year,
and a particularly beautiful gingerbread village. There was also Christmas lunch on the
menu, and Santa Claus arrived. But we didn’t get significantly more.
We were simply paying more to be on a ship at Christmas. If we’d gone two weeks earlier,
we’d have had the same itinerary, the same cabin, and entertainment.
The daily program would have been pretty much the same and the food the same too.
But it would’ve cost 30% less. That’s a really important consideration because you’re going to
pay much more for cruising over Christmas for not much more. But, was it worth it for other reasons?
The second concern Mark had was would the passengers be completely different at Christmas.
Holland America mostly caters to couples who are perhaps a little older. That’s the appeal.
Although I’m in my early sixties, I am often among the younger group on their cruises.
I don't usually find many families on board and there’s not a big party atmosphere.
People often joke that Holland America is a dead zone after 10:00 at night. I think
that’s a bit unfair, but it definitely is a much quieter, calmer experience.
Going on our Holland America cruise at Christmas was completely different to usual.
Many chose this trip because it had a good itinerary sailing out of San
Diego. Handy for people on the US West Coast. Families chose it because it was a convenient
Christmas escape on their doorstep. There were over 400 children on board.
The average age was way younger than it would usually be and so the experience matched it.
It was often raucous by the pool, the nightclub was packed late and
there was just much more of a party feel. Even the ‘how to fold your towels into
animals’ class was a vibrant, boisterous event because the kids and teens were piling in.
The entertainment was more family-friendly than usual, with the films shown at the pool
mainly kids Christmas films like Home Alone and the comedy gigs were more PG.
We didn't get a traditional Holland America experience.
Another consequence of the passenger mix was that many things that I would normally expect
on a Holland America cruise didn't happen. There weren't enrichment and destination
speakers. The only things they ran were the standard lectures, which are written at
head office and delivered by the Cruise Director. These were often about the Holland America Origins
story, or the history of board games, but not topics tailored to our specific cruise.
The next key concern Mark had was that Christmas cruises get busy. And it was
a way bigger issue than I expected. The ship was sailing at around about 115% capacity.
The way capacity is measured on ships is based on the number of fixed berths - so
normally with two in a cabin. On this voyage, because there
were so many kids and families, we saw many cabins with third and fourth
occupancy or with groups of friends. That made the experience very busy.
Every event was packed, which if we were doing something like trivia was fun of course,
but even the bingo was spilling over into another room. This was completely out of the ordinary.
The casino was full every evening with only one or two slot machines unused and all
the tables were packed with players. Getting a seat at shows was harder than usual,
and some had standing room only. This was the same at some of the other music venues like the Rolling
Stone Rock Room and the BB Kings Blues Club. Crowds showed up in a couple of more disruptive
ways on this Christmas cruise. Getting a table right away at dinner in the Main Dining Room,
for example, became a challenge. We had booked a Neptune Suite which
gave us access to Club Orange, a private dining area, but even then we often had to plan ahead.
We ended up having to aim to go when we thought it would be less busy.
Sometimes, we had to wait for a table at Club Orange, which
would be unheard of during normal sailings. But when it came to the main dining room,
crowds were an even bigger issue. There were too many people and lines were
commonplace at popular times. We would see many people scattered all around with buzzers, waiting
for a table to be ready in the dining room. If you wanted a table for two, forget it.
That wasn’t possible. On a normal sailing, it would be much easier.
And for Specialty dining on this cruise, the restaurants were sold out.
I’m normally very organised and make reservations weeks before. But even a whole month in advance,
the most popular times were sold out. The other crucial time when the crowds
got too much was when we had a tender port in Cabo San Lucas.
We got off the ship, went to the beach and by the time we came back, the line was enormous. It took
well over an hour to get a tender ride back. It goes without saying too that the pool
deck was overcrowded, with kids even taking over the adult’s pool at times.
We decided before the trip, because we did expect it to be busy, to spend a money on getting away
from it all and book ourselves into The Retreat, which is a private outdoor area with cabanas.
We had to pay a couple hundred dollars to go in there, but it really was worth it.
Because even in the normal quiet zones like the Crow's Nest area or even the adult pool,
it would be overcrowded and packed with kids and passengers.
The other critical thing that Mark raised was,
was this cruise going to be either Christmassy enough, or too much?
Well, there was a Christmas tree - not particularly spectacular - and
there were some decorations around, but it wasn’t a magnificent Christmas experience.
Santa Claus did arrive, but only in the morning when we and many others were on an excursion.
They did have a carol concert, but it was very late at night, and we'd had a busy
day and ended up missing that as well. So, there were some limited Christmas
events but we did end up missing most of them. I have seen other lines though doing much more.
Overall, this experience confirmed one thing about Christmas cruising to myself and Mark.
As we spoke to people, we realised that those having the most magnificent time on board were
people that had come as a family. It was a way of bringing the family
together at Christmas without all the hassle of going to someone’s house.
And this is exactly what Liz and her family did. They were a group of 11 people, ranging from 11
right through to 80 years of age coming together and sharing the Christmas experience at sea.
They all had an incredible time. So, I realised that a Christmas cruise as
a family event was what really made it special. For us as a couple, going on a cruise over
Christmas and paying 30% more was not good value or that special due to the downsides I mentioned.
As an aside, I was struck by a post on this from my fellow vlogger friends Paul & Carole
Love To Travel at the same time. They went as a couple on an Azamara
Cruise to Australia over Christmas and found it really hard being away from their family.
They weren’t sure they would do it again. Emotions were probably magnified by being
surrounded by families together on these trips. When it came to solo travellers, there were some
on the trip and a few in Club Orange. What I realised, as a regular solo
traveller myself, is they appeared much more isolated than they normally would be.
First of all, this is because the number of family groups on this cruise meant
there were fewer opportunities for solos to share tables at mealtimes.
Even going on excursions, families were going together so there were
fewer people that you could get to know as a solo traveller.
Would I do a Christmas cruise again? I don't think I would.
Unless I was going with a big extended group of people and friends, then maybe.
If you found this interesting, why not watch this video where I talk
about what Holland America does well and less well the rest of the year,
starting with exploding the biggest myth about them. See you over there.