We were on the Queen Victoria cruise immediately after yours (V430) and the Christmas vibe got dialled up more and more during the week. There were no mince pies, but there were seven Christmas themed cocktails (my wife loved the Tipsy Reindeer) and the Christmas decorations increased throughout the journey, with a very impressive display of gingerbread houses (including a castle) in the Queen's Room. There was also Christmas music in most venues basically any time there wasn't a specific show on, and the theatre team did a Christmas themed show with the Queen Victoria band towards the end of the cruise. I think if you'd gone a week later you'd have had a very different experience! Paul and Carol were on the same cruise as us, so keep an eye on their coverage because I am sure they'll cover it when their blogs come out!
We were on QM2 14/12 to 21/12 and was very Christmassy, mulled wine and Christmas biscuit handed to us as we came out of security, little Christmas tree in each room. A Christmas decoration on each cabin door. Christmas cocktail menu in the Golden lion, chart room and Queens room. No mince pie though! Also mid week a massive gingerbread house display appeared and a few classes for decorating gingerbread houses.
We went on last December for a 12 night cruise again no mince pies or mulled wine but we did have some Christmas cocktails. This year we went to Seefeld in Austria with its snow capped mountains lots of mulled wine and sausages and apple strudel
The mini router would share/repeat the cruise line WiFi - so router logs into cruise WiFi as a single device, then multiple devices could connect to the mini router. This would be ‘stealing’ internet from the ship hence a cyber crime… 22:29
That is absolutely true, it would let them share the cruise wifi if they connected it to that. It seemed, from the story at least, it was the cellular ones (using 5G) that they had the issue with. Like people bringing on the Star Link Mini's, it bypasses there own version which the cruise lines make good money on, and to a degree, it is easy to understand them wanting to protect this investment.
@ I think the story (in typical fashion with any technology and reporters) has got their information a bit wrong. If it was a 5G router it wouldn’t save anyone any money as it’ll still be connecting to the maritime network, and what difference would that be than each persons phone connecting to 5G as normal - RC doesn’t care about the phones connecting to 5G….
Just got back from the Carribbean on Sun Princess and the festivities ramped up more the second week with Victorian style singers greeting you onboard. Whilst there were plenty of decs and a big tree there was no festive food or drinks (other than Thanksgiving)
Thank you Kimberley, interesting that Sun hasn't put out the full festive things yet, as they put a press release out a few weeks ago about the Christmas cocktails and such onboard. Not sure why they are leaving it so late into December to do that. Nice that there was the victorian style singers though.
I'm with you Linzi. For a festive cruise, I would expect some traditional Christmas food (mince pies, stöllen, yule log, gingerbread etc) and drinks. I'd want sherry and mulled wine by the gallon tbh 😂 And it would be so easy to do cranberry based cocktails, or spicy ones with ginger in. On somewhere like Cunard id expect there to be subtle xmas music (eg. Piped piano music but playing xmassy songs), christmas quiz, Michael buble-style crooner etc. Seems odd that they seemed to do nothing other than decorate. A missed opportunity for them, i think.
Thank you :) you've just made us realised there was also no Yule log, Stollen or Mulled Wine onboard either 🤣 Apparently this current Queen Victoria cruise (the one after ours) has Christmas cocktails, but still none of the other bits. Maybe they save those just for the actual Christmas cruise?
We went on 3 Christmas Markets cruises and 1 Christmas/New Year cruise with P&O between 2005-2012. They were serving minced pies and mulled wine on the promenade deck during the Southampton sail away on each cruise. I would guess that this is no longer the case with P&O and other cruise lines due to cost cutting. The Christmas Markets cruises were particularly magical in those days with visits to ports such as Oslo, Gothenburg, Copenhagen or Aarhus, Hamburg, Amsterdam or Rotterdam and Zeebrugge.
😅I was on Ambassador last year at beginning of December, no mince pies, decorated with gingerbread houses and trees, one evening xmas carols, otherwise not very festive
Maybe I need to stick with a Disney holiday cruise, because I would be very disappointed if my festive cruise didn't have holiday treats and cocktails/beverages as well as holiday activities. Holiday crafts and trivia, etc
Disney really do know how to do Christmas don't they, at sea or in the Parks. We stayed at a Disney resort once over Christmas, and they had us sat round a campfire reading Christmas Carol and we toasted Marshmellows.
I could listen to you two read a dictonary. Main reason why I watch your videos.
Thank you Julie :) Episode 23 of the Cruise Cast: Linzi & Mark Read Encyclopedia Britannica, Volume 1🤣
We were on the Queen Victoria cruise immediately after yours (V430) and the Christmas vibe got dialled up more and more during the week. There were no mince pies, but there were seven Christmas themed cocktails (my wife loved the Tipsy Reindeer) and the Christmas decorations increased throughout the journey, with a very impressive display of gingerbread houses (including a castle) in the Queen's Room. There was also Christmas music in most venues basically any time there wasn't a specific show on, and the theatre team did a Christmas themed show with the Queen Victoria band towards the end of the cruise.
I think if you'd gone a week later you'd have had a very different experience!
Paul and Carol were on the same cruise as us, so keep an eye on their coverage because I am sure they'll cover it when their blogs come out!
Sherry trifle, we’re in!
You would have loved this one, you'll see it on the dining review in Jan for QV, it was soooo good.
We were on QM2 14/12 to 21/12 and was very Christmassy, mulled wine and Christmas biscuit handed to us as we came out of security, little Christmas tree in each room. A Christmas decoration on each cabin door. Christmas cocktail menu in the Golden lion, chart room and Queens room. No mince pie though! Also mid week a massive gingerbread house display appeared and a few classes for decorating gingerbread houses.
Love those lights on your tree! The effect on the ceiling is so pretty
Thank you Gina, we love the projected ceiling lights too.
We went on last December for a 12 night cruise again no mince pies or mulled wine but we did have some Christmas cocktails. This year we went to Seefeld in Austria with its snow capped mountains lots of mulled wine and sausages and apple strudel
We were on queen anne 15th Dec they had xmas cocktails but not a mince pie in sight totally agree with your comments
What's with the lack of Mince Pies on cruise ships this year (not just Cunard). Was there a global shortage?
The mini router would share/repeat the cruise line WiFi - so router logs into cruise WiFi as a single device, then multiple devices could connect to the mini router. This would be ‘stealing’ internet from the ship hence a cyber crime… 22:29
That is absolutely true, it would let them share the cruise wifi if they connected it to that. It seemed, from the story at least, it was the cellular ones (using 5G) that they had the issue with. Like people bringing on the Star Link Mini's, it bypasses there own version which the cruise lines make good money on, and to a degree, it is easy to understand them wanting to protect this investment.
@ I think the story (in typical fashion with any technology and reporters) has got their information a bit wrong. If it was a 5G router it wouldn’t save anyone any money as it’ll still be connecting to the maritime network, and what difference would that be than each persons phone connecting to 5G as normal - RC doesn’t care about the phones connecting to 5G….
Just got back from the Carribbean on Sun Princess and the festivities ramped up more the second week with Victorian style singers greeting you onboard. Whilst there were plenty of decs and a big tree there was no festive food or drinks (other than Thanksgiving)
Thank you Kimberley, interesting that Sun hasn't put out the full festive things yet, as they put a press release out a few weeks ago about the Christmas cocktails and such onboard. Not sure why they are leaving it so late into December to do that. Nice that there was the victorian style singers though.
I'm with you Linzi. For a festive cruise, I would expect some traditional Christmas food (mince pies, stöllen, yule log, gingerbread etc) and drinks. I'd want sherry and mulled wine by the gallon tbh 😂 And it would be so easy to do cranberry based cocktails, or spicy ones with ginger in.
On somewhere like Cunard id expect there to be subtle xmas music (eg. Piped piano music but playing xmassy songs), christmas quiz, Michael buble-style crooner etc.
Seems odd that they seemed to do nothing other than decorate. A missed opportunity for them, i think.
Thank you :) you've just made us realised there was also no Yule log, Stollen or Mulled Wine onboard either 🤣
Apparently this current Queen Victoria cruise (the one after ours) has Christmas cocktails, but still none of the other bits. Maybe they save those just for the actual Christmas cruise?
We went on 3 Christmas Markets cruises and 1 Christmas/New Year cruise with P&O between 2005-2012. They were serving minced pies and mulled wine on the promenade deck during the Southampton sail away on each cruise. I would guess that this is no longer the case with P&O and other cruise lines due to cost cutting. The Christmas Markets cruises were particularly magical in those days with visits to ports such as Oslo, Gothenburg, Copenhagen or Aarhus, Hamburg, Amsterdam or Rotterdam and Zeebrugge.
It does seem that cost cutting on cruise lines has done away with those nice extra treats such as those you mentioned Damian. Such a shame.
😅I was on Ambassador last year at beginning of December, no mince pies, decorated with gingerbread houses and trees, one evening xmas carols, otherwise not very festive
Such a missed opportunity when they don’t do these festive cruises right Rose.
Maybe I need to stick with a Disney holiday cruise, because I would be very disappointed if my festive cruise didn't have holiday treats and cocktails/beverages as well as holiday activities. Holiday crafts and trivia, etc
Disney really do know how to do Christmas don't they, at sea or in the Parks. We stayed at a Disney resort once over Christmas, and they had us sat round a campfire reading Christmas Carol and we toasted Marshmellows.