Themed cruise or traditional?

[S Frey]

ive been on 5 traditional Disney cruises and am considering The Halloween or Christmas themed trips.
We love traditional Disney, so I’m a little concerned about all the movies/hall music/etc being hijacked for spooky or Christmas themes. Anyone have any thoughts to help me compare?

 

[arlopop]

We did a Halloween. It isn’t particularly spooky. Rather charming. And it isn’t overwhelmingly halloweenish. Primarily decorations, pumpkin tree in lobby, a costume night, if I remember correctly.

 

[bbn1122]

DH and me were on a 4 night Halloween to Canada this past October. To be honest, I did not notice much. If you want to participate in the Halloween festivities, than they are there for the taking.

Except for the tree decorated in the Magic’s lobby and guest wearing costumes on certain nights, I did not notice too much Halloween. Oh, Halloween merchandise too.

That what I love about DCL, there is a lot going on, but if you want to just chill you can.

 

[ej119]

My last unthemed cruise was in 2012. Our trips in both 2014 and 2016 were Very Merrytime Cruises. As much as I like Christmas and like the decorations, I'm excited for our traditional cruise in April.

 

[Laundress]

my dream is to have Christmas on board. I think it would be magical with the beautiful decorations.

 

[aggiedog]

We did a 4 night Merry Time over Christmas 2 years ago. I loved it, mostly because that meant no cooking, cleaning, entertaining for me. It was truly a vacation, since Christmas is always stressful for me no matter how much I try to pare down. The decorations were nice, but not overwhelming. I'm not sure I'd pay extra to cruise just to have some garland on the stairs and a large gingerbread house in the atrium. I would pay to travel for Christmas again, though my kids not so much. I think they were a little weirded out about not being home for Christmas.

 

[dcassetta]

ive been on 5 traditional Disney cruises and am considering The Halloween or Christmas themed trips.
We love traditional Disney, so I’m a little concerned about all the movies/hall music/etc being hijacked for spooky or Christmas themes. Anyone have any thoughts to help me compare?

Have done both Halloween and Merrytime cruises. I do not find either to be over the top. HOTHS had Halloween music only on the day of the costumes contests and the decor is more harvest festival than actual Halloween. There will be many activities onboard that are not Halloween themed.

There is more traditional Christmas decor for Merrytime cruises. But, again many activities not related to Christmas are offered.

With the exception of adding Nightmare Before Christmas to HOTHS sailings, movies and shows will be standard.

The characters do appear in themed costumes, but also have times in their regular costumes also.

 

[WishUponAStarryNight]

We last sailed on a HOTHS cruise with MDAS and a day at WDW (and pirate night). If you've got young kids who want to participate in everything, I think it's too much. We had a lot of fun, but are very much looking forward to our April sailing. Though that one is a SWDAS sailing, we're not much into SW, so it won't make for a much busier day for us. I don't think HOTHS by itself would be problematic. As noted in earlier posts, it's rather tame overall, but if you're looking at a sailing that combines a theme with other events, know that it can be a less than relaxing vacation if you intend to participate in all the activities.

 

[bobbiwoz]

We have enjoyed both Halloween and Christmas themed. We are two adults who have decorated gingerbread houses twice and have enjoyed the Trick or Treating twice as well.

This year we have Halloween cruise booked as well as traditional.

 

[YawningDodo]

We last sailed on a HOTHS cruise with MDAS and a day at WDW (and pirate night). If you've got young kids who want to participate in everything, I think it's too much. We had a lot of fun, but are very much looking forward to our April sailing. Though that one is a SWDAS sailing, we're not much into SW, so it won't make for a much busier day for us. I don't think HOTHS by itself would be problematic. As noted in earlier posts, it's rather tame overall, but if you're looking at a sailing that combines a theme with other events, know that it can be a less than relaxing vacation if you intend to participate in all the activities.

First thought: "That sounds super fun!"
Second thought: "...That sounds exhausting."

That's what, three costume nights/days? Pirates, Halloween, and MDAS. Yeesh. Packing two costumes was already a lot of luggage space (and a lot of time to spend in heavy clothing). Is HOTHS more along the lines of Pirate Night in terms of amount/intensity of activities, though? MDAS was such a packed day; I had a blast but I think it'd be too much to have two days that busy. It seemed to me there really wasn't much to Pirate Night outside of the deck party and a little more time in character lines if you wanted photos in costume.

 

[WishUponAStarryNight]

First thought: "That sounds super fun!"
Second thought: "...That sounds exhausting."

That's what, three costume nights/days? Pirates, Halloween, and MDAS. Yeesh. Packing two costumes was already a lot of luggage space (and a lot of time to spend in heavy clothing). Is HOTHS more along the lines of Pirate Night in terms of amount/intensity of activities, though? MDAS was such a packed day; I had a blast but I think it'd be too much to have two days that busy. It seemed to me there really wasn't much to Pirate Night outside of the deck party and a little more time in character lines if you wanted photos in costume.

Correct on both thoughts. It was a ton of fun, but we were exhausted by the time it was over. HOTHS events take place throughout the cruise, but there is a day/night with costume parties, trick or treating, etc. We were fortunate to be able to drive to the port in NYC, so luggage space wasn't an issue for this trip, but definitely lots of costumes. We were notified at port of a schedule change that meant Halloween and Pirate Night were on the same day (not a great decision IMO). Halloween costume party in the afternoon, followed by trick or treating, followed by a costume change, followed by Pirate Night (and if you wanted to be a pirate and participate in the adults costume party in a different costume, that would have meant another costume change since the adult costume party was after the Pirate Night festivities). It was a little nutty, honestly. If I had learned of the schedule change before leaving, we would have been pirates for Halloween.

 

[YawningDodo]

Correct on both thoughts. It was a ton of fun, but we were exhausted by the time it was over. HOTHS events take place throughout the cruise, but there is a day/night with costume parties, trick or treating, etc. We were fortunate to be able to drive to the port in NYC, so luggage space wasn't an issue for this trip, but definitely lots of costumes. We were notified at port of a schedule change that meant Halloween and Pirate Night were on the same day (not a great decision IMO). Halloween costume party in the afternoon, followed by trick or treating, followed by a costume change, followed by Pirate Night (and if you wanted to be a pirate and participate in the adults costume party in a different costume, that would have meant another costume change since the adult costume party was after the Pirate Night festivities). It was a little nutty, honestly. If I had learned of the schedule change before leaving, we would have been pirates for Halloween.

Yeah, that sounds like too much for one day. I'm actually kind of glad to hear that HOTHS is a bit more expansive than Pirate Night, though; I really enjoy Halloween in general and if I ever do a holiday-themed cruise that'll be the one I want and the one I want most out of. Too bad September through early November is usually a crazy time for me. Someday, maybe/probably/hopefully!

 

[xQuizx]

We have done Halloween and Christmas cruise.

HoTHS wasn't over the top with decorations.

My family loves Christmas, so we really enjoyed this cruise and will go again this year. The decorations are only throughout the atrium. There are Christmas themed shows in the atrium but only for an hour on 3 of the nights. Plus Santa shows up to do meet and greets which the kids loved.