Holidays on Ships

Let's talk today about spending a holiday at sea?  I've done this a couple of times.  It's a lot of fun.  I once went on a Caribbean cruise on Freedom of the Seas out of Miami over Halloween.  It was pretty cool to be on the ship on that day.

Halloween was a couple of days into the cruise and it was on a day at sea.  So you had plenty of time to get ready and a lot of people were dressed in costumes all day long and having a great time goofing off on the ship. As you passed cabins along the halls, many of the doors had been decorated.  Some people were even walking up and down the halls trick or treating although based on their demeanor I would guess that more alcohol than candy was distributed.

I took along a Pirate Wench costume and didn't don it until dinner time that evening.  Some of the costumes on board were quite elaborate while others were obvious after thoughts.  But everyone had fun.  That night following the second dinner seating there was a costume judging contest.  I didn't even come close to winning.  If I remember correctly the winners were a huge group of people traveling together who came dressed as the zombie crew of the Loveboat.  You haven't seen anything until you have seen Julie McCoy as a zombie.

Following the costume judging they had everyone dressed in costume walk down the Promenade in a parade while the guests who hadn't dressed in costume threw candy and beads at us.  It was fun and I cleaned up in the candy department.

I was reading comments on Cruise Critic yesterday when they posed the question about dressing for Halloween on board ship.  One man said that he had been on a Mediterranean cruise once and the day that they visited Rome was Halloween so everyone came to dinner that night wearing the sheets off of their beds as togas.  He said it was totally impromptu but there were more people wearing togas than normal dining attire. I, on the other hand, put a lot of thought into my Pirate Wench costume.  I thought it was totally appropriate for a shipboard costume and if you know me, you know that I'm a little obsessed with all things pirate anyway. But a toga would be a great costume for a ship leaving Rome on Halloween.

I also spent Thanksgiving on board a ship once.  This was during the Mediterranean cruise that my travel buddy Jenny and I went on several years ago.  On Thanksgiving day our stop was Palermo, Sicily.  That night dinner was formal.  Everyone at our dining table was American so I think we all ended up choosing turkey and dressing for our main course.  But I remember thinking that the other dining options were pretty interesting as well.  A good portion of the ships passengers were European and of course they weren't celebrating a holiday.  But the ships crew did a great job of making the holiday as American as possible.  I will tell you that Sicily doesn't seem to look any different on Thanksgiving than any other day of the year.

I have read that Disney Cruise ships do holidays better than any other afloat and I can believe that.  Can you imagine what Halloween would be like on a Disney ship?  I imagine it would be like Pirates of the Caribbean coming to life.  I've read that Christmas on board is amazing!  I think if I was going to do a Disney Cruise, I would definitely choose to go on Halloween if possible.

Once I was in the Caribbean just a few weeks before Christmas on a Princess cruise.  You haven't lived until you have seen wreaths hanging on doors in Grand Cayman and decorated palm trees.  I can't justify (for myself) ever going on a cruise over Christmas since the prices usually double that week.  But I think it would be so much fun if you did.

Time for me to get back to work now.  If you are of a mind to experience a Halloween Disney Cruise next year, I can hook you up.  Have a safe and Happy Halloween!