Lots of people love their holiday
traditions: to spend time with friends and family, share traditional meals, admire
decorations and open gifts. Still, those traditions can take a lot of preparation:
shopping, cooking, cleaning, organizing, wrapping, and more.
If your holiday traditions are
beginning to seem more like work than joy, consider an alternative: book
yourself (and as many family members as you like) on a holiday season cruise.
Cruise ships
really get into the spirit of the season, celebrating Thanksgiving, Hanukkah,
Christmas and the New Year with decorations, traditional foods, special
performances and lots of seasonal activities, from caroling to on-board
religious services. And, you can expect to find your ship beautifully decorated
from one end to the other.
Here are
some tips for loving the holidays at sea:
Book soon. As always, your Cruise Holidays personal
cruise expert can help you find the cruise line, ship and itinerary that’s
right for you. Talk with your expert as soon as possible, so that you’ll be
able to get your first choices for ship, itinerary and stateroom.
The
mainstream, family-oriented cruise lines are great choices if you’ll sail with
multi-generational group; if it’s just you and your partner, one of the premium
or luxury cruise lines will provide a quieter, more adult-oriented holiday
celebration.
As for destination,
the holidays are a great time to visit the Caribbean or the Mexican Riviera,
but you could also venture to South America, Hawaii, or the South Pacific. Another option is a European River cruise
that visits some of Europe’s beautiful Christmas markets.
Leave Gifts at
Home. You
don’t want to take up luggage or cabin space with gifts for those who cruise
with you, so leave them at home (and, if the cruise is your gift to other
family members, there’s probably no need for more!). If you can’t imagine going
without gifts, plan to pick up a special small gift for each family member in
the ports you visit.
Bring a Decoration. Cruise lines
don’t decorate staterooms, so you could make yours a bit festive with a tiny
Christmas tree or glittery ornament. No strings of lights, though – cruise lines
consider them to be fire hazards.
A treat for
the crew. Your crew will be away from their homes for the holidays,
and working hard, too. Make their holidays more special with a seasonal card of
thanks or some sweets.
For more tips and assistance with your
holiday cruise, talk with Anita, your Cruise Holidays personal cruise expert.
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