Even though we've been on 15+ cruises (including 3 Thanksgiving cruises), this was our 1st Christmas cruise.The ship was lovely - decorated with a lots of poinsettias and a huge tree on the promenade deck and greenery in the MDR, but that's where it ended. We've never seen such grouchy RCI crew members. They were sad and grumpy - obviously not wanting to be working on a holiday cruise. A crew member told me that she would prefer spending Christmas with her family than working. That was probably a very true statement, but I really didn't want to start feeling guilty for making her work during the holiday. While walking through the MDR on Christmas Day, I said " Merry Christmas" to a ship officer. The reply given was a very loud GRUNT! Thankfully our room steward, head waiter and assistant waiter in the MDR were very friendly and welcomed us with smiling faces every day.
We didn't feel that the on-board activities were anything special for the holiday - just your usual belly-flop contest and disco parties. The trivia contests were the usual topics like 80's music and Michael Jackson music. The ship did offer a Christmas carol sing-a-long, but it was held at 11:00PM. I don't know about you, but I'm usually winding down by that time of the evening. Then, if you were lucky enough to be walking through the Promenade deck at 7:45AM on Christmas morning, you could grab a drink of spiked eggnog. Santa came for a visit on Christmas day but they hid him on deck 3 in Studio B. And if you didn't get the kids there before 11AM, you missed the whole thing. There was "ask the captain questions" time on Christmas day, so we asked why there was no Christmas music played on the ship. The answer was that they didn't want to offend anyone, Isn't that why people go on a "holiday cruise" during Dec 25th - - to experience everything the season offers The whole world celebrates Christmas in one way or another. It's a shame RCI felt it offensive to offer some Christmas spirit/cheer on Christmas!