Decking the Decks and Doors

You can have it all when you Caribbean cruise at the holidays—sun and sand, and sizzle, sparkle and Santa. Here are just a few ways the ships don holly and make jolly:

Eye candy from Harmony of the Seas' gingerbread village

Light and bright. From Princess’ glittering piazza railings to Royal Caribbean’s ceiling-suspended stars and massive ball-laden trees, eye candy abounds.

Pointing to the holidays. As Christmas nears, poinsettias dot many a deck. On Celebrity’s Constellation, they line the grand staircase. On the Regal Princess, they’re everywhere.

Figuring it out. Holiday figurines pop up here and there, like around Guest Services on Harmony of the Seas.

Guests get into it. Then there are the passengers. Like the ones who wear Santa hats. Or the teens with the reindeer headbands. Those who do up their doors.

It takes a galley to create village. The frosting on the cake, though, is when the gingerbread village appears. The Constellation’s houses with their gumdrop tops was the centerpiece in a common area. Harmony’s frosty, candy-coated village was planted in the Promenade.

It took a galley to create this village on Celebrity's Constellation

The gingerbread village brings out the cameras—and the kid in us all. It reminds us how sweet and surprising cruising—and life—can really be. Happy holidays from Musing About Cruising!

Have Yourself a Cruise Christmas

If your ideal Christmas is on a liner bound for the Caribbean, this posting’s for you. Here are 10 ways to make yours a Cruise Christmas—whether or not you’re actually going to be on a ship:
 
Take a cruise over Christmas! Bask in the lights when you’re not in the sun. The ships do it up with trees and lights, poinsettias and more. Get in the mood by doing up your door.

Oasis of the Seas at Christmas

Book one today for tomorrow. Got some time off this holiday season? Use it for planning. The best way to start the New Year is with a cruise already lined up! See the posting, Cruising the Web, for the best sites for research.

Owl ornament from Bonaire

Buy a gift for the cruiser on your list. See Christmas Shopping for the Cruiser for a slew of ideas for your favorite mariner.

Don the port ornaments. Time to take out those ceramics bells and baubles from Cozumel and painted gourds from Bonaire.

Conjure up the Caribbean with eggnog. Make up a batch of chaudo (eggnog) with a splash of island rum. 
 
Speaking of booze...Is there St. Maarten guavaberry, blue curacao or Jamaican rum gathering dust in your closet? Time for a toast!

Pull out the popcorn. Those cruise videos will look great on your big screen TV.

Do above, but invite that you’ll-never-get-me-to-cruise friend or family member.  Who knows—when they see how much fun you had, you might just get him/her to try one.

Month-by-month memories. It’s fast and easy to make a calendar with your cruise photos on many of the sites out there. Our favorite is Costco’s—you get a really nice one for $10 and can even pick it up at your local store.

Kick off the New Year with a blog. It’s easy and fun. And did I mention, it’s also free? Check out Blogger to begin sharing your stories in the Google world.

For this final posting of 2015, Musing wishes you for the coming year the brightest sunshine, the bluest skies, the calmest seas and an endless horizon of possibilities.

Christmas Shopping for the Cruiser

Help has arrived to find the perfect gift for the cruiser on your list! It’s not hard to find something for the cruising aficionado—deciding from all the choices is the challenge. Just a handful that come immediately to mind:
 
One if Buy Land

The practical stuff. Tablets and readers are the perfect choice for those who like to laze around the pool. And who can take a trip without a camera (or the smart phone version)?



St. Maarten's guavaberry liqueur dressed

for the holidays

Want to spend less? Walkie-talkies, which you can pick up at Walmart or a sports store, will help cruisers stay connected to their companion. Or, help them hide away that smart phone with Home Depot’s neat new travel safe.

Want to spend even less than that? With some colorful luggage tags, they’ll be able to tell their black bag from someone else’s.
 
Or, go nautical (or “nausical,” as they say in retail) with something for their home or to wear. Like a print of a palm tree or beach scene for their wall.  Blue-and-white striped something or other. Charm bracelet with an anchor, sunfish or sand dollar.
 
The fun stuff. There are gifts that keep on giving, like Cruise Travel or Porthole magazines. Or Cruise Critic logo stuff like lanyards, bags and bottles.
 
Keep them in the mood with calypso or steel drum, Jimmy Buffett or Harry Belafonte CDs.
 
More work but no less appreciated—turn their cruise photos into something else. A photo book or calendar. Mug or mouse pad.

Two if Buy Sea

 

The best place to get a gift for the cruiser may just be while you’re on the ship. There are chains by the inch, and the clothing and jewelry sales; see Catch ‘Em While You Can. You’ve got a ton of choice in the ship’s logo stuff—from mugs to model ships and teddy bears too.

The ports also have a plethora of possibilities. Food and booze are always welcome; see Of Chocolate, Rum and Spice: Food Souvenirs of the Caribbean. 

Then there’s the ubiquitous Cariloha and its clothes and such made from bamboo, and the color-changing tchotchkes of Del Sol.

And you can still find some handmade crafts if you know where to look—from mahogany bowls in Roatan to baskets in Dominica to ceramics in Cozumel; see Caribbean Crafts by Way of China.

But that ultimate gift? A new cruise, of course!

 

Getting into the Holidays—or Not

Going on a cruise may to some feel like an odd thing to do over the holidays, but actually, it’s quite ideal, for these five reasons:
 
Family time…or not. It’s a fabulous way to be with your family. Think about it: no one has to cook. No one has to clean. And no one has to drive. Everyone’s in a good mood. And you can see each other as often (or as little) as you want. Or, if you can’t be with family, a cruise is a great way to leave the holidays behind.
 
Do up your door…or don’t. Some folks like doing up their cabin doors during the holidays. It’s not only festive, but the only way to pick out your room from hundreds that look just like it (especially after a few hours at the bar). On the other hand, unlike your neighborhood back home, no one’s going to notice if you don’t hang a wreathe on your stateroom door.
 
Enjoy the festivities…or laze by the pool. The ships do their best to bring the holidays to you while you’re at sea. They get all sparkly, dressing banisters with lights and garlands, adding decked out

The Emerald Princess glistens at the holidays

trees in lobbies and such. There are services and ceremonies for those who want to go. On one Celebrity trip, “Pilgrims” roamed the ship, doling out “Happy Thanksgivings” to anyone who’d listen.
 
But aside from the holiday décor, it’s still a cruise ship and you’re in the Caribbean. Cuddle up on a cushy couch with a book. Hang out at the pool bar in your flip-flops. Grab a slice of pizza at the buffet. Oh, did you say it was the holidays?
 
Christmas in the Caribbean—You get a different glimpse of Caribbean culture at holiday time. Sorrel, which blooms this time of year, crops up in the farmers’ markets. While somewhat surreal at times, trees, lights and plastic figures call attention to themselves there among the tropical plumes

Christmas Bonaire-style

and plantings. My all-time favorite is the Santa-hat cactus tree in a front yard in Bonaire. But you can easily escape it all with a trip to the nearest beach. Or on a catamaran sail. Zip-line though the forest, tram up a mountain…
 
Then there are your fellow cruisers. You can count on them to amuse you. In a recent post, I talked about the white-bearded, big-bellied fellow who walked around in a red stocking cap our whole December trip. Then there are the women with the reindeer headbands and Santa earrings down to their shoulders. Don’t feel like being with your fellow cruisers? There’s always TV and room service (free).

This is one of the neat things about cruising: we may be all together on one boat, but we can each have our own personally designed, get-into-the-holidays—or not—kind of trip.
 
Have you enjoyed a holiday at sea? Tell us about it!