Celebrating Christmas on board Carnival Spirit

Our cruise on Carnival was advertised as a Christmas cruise so obviously I was expecting the Christmas to be special on board.

As soon as we walked onto the ship, I could see that they had beautiful Christmas decorations everywhere. It actually felt like Christmas all the time we were on board.

Definitely, Christmas day was very special. We had sea day on the 25th of December so everyone was on the ship. They had announced the previous day that they were going to have special Christmas lunch so we were looking forward to that.

On Christmas morning, after a quick workout at the gym, we went to the buffet area for breakfast. Most of the staff and some of the cruisers were already wearing Christmas hats, ties, headbands and earrings. The environment was very festive and there were tables full of families enjoying the Christmas breakfast.

All the dining areas had watermelons craved with figurines like, Merry Christmas, Santa’s face, flowers and other the Christmas decoration. Also there was an area where they built a gingerbread house, some snowmen and it looked really pretty.

We had our usual breakfast and as it was nice and fresh. When we were done with breakfast, we saw that a few staffs were craving something on a big block of ice.

We went back to our room and on the way back we saw many rooms door decorated with Christmas decoration. Actually, they were giving prizes for best-decorated doors.  Once in the room, we had a shower and went back to the buffet area again and was surprised to see this beautiful ice carving of Santa with his reindeers and it looked absolutely amazing.

The staffs on board worked really hard to make sure the ship had full Christmas vibe. The captain of the ship was walking around wishing everyone a Merry Christmas and we managed to take some photos with him too.

After admiring all the decoration on that floor, we went around to find more activates. Everywhere we saw people in Santa hats and red outfits. I felt like I was in a mall somewhere, not on a ship.

There were photographers capturing family photos with Santa and Christmas tree and there were families enjoying their time together. For me and AS, we didn’t want photos with Santa so we kept on roaming around until we found the hall where bean bag throwing competition was about to start. It was going to be Men Vs Women.

I wanted to take part so went and had my name written down. After a few minutes, game started. 4 males vs 4 females.  They gave us 4 bean bags about 10 inches square and it had to go inside a board with a small hole around 15 feet away.

It was a fun game. The first few times, all my bags were either on the floor or on the board but once I got the hang of it, I scored a few points. It was entertaining for everyone watching as well but unfortunately, the male group won the game.

By that time, it was time for us to go to the restaurant (Empire dining room) for our Christmas lunch.

When we arrived at our table, there were already Christmas crackers on the tables and the staffs were in a festive mood wishing everyone a very Merry Christmas. Rest of the couples from our table arrived and we started the lunch.

They told us that they used to have Christmas dinner before but for the first time, they were organising Christmas lunch because that is an Australian tradition and they wanted us to enjoy an Aussie Christmas. It was really thoughtful of the management and staff because it was extra hard work for them to organise the special lunch.

The menu was even more aussiefied with crusted lamb roast, prawns and pavlova on the menu. We loved the food and it was fun popping Christmas crackers and wearing the hat. I have to admit, they made us all feel special on the special day.

After lunch, both of us were so stuffed that we went to the upper deck and just relaxed on the lounge. We enjoyed the beautiful sunset on the horizon before going to the room to get ready for dinner.

Like every day, the Empire dining room served one of the best dinners and we were happy with the service and food.

After dinner, special Christmas show was organised in the main hall (Pharaoh’s Palace) so we went there.

The Christmas show was fun with Christmas carols from the singers and some kids, followed by Christmas song, Christmas story and many more entertainment and of course Santa Clause.

Overall, AS and I had a splendid Christmas on board Carnival Spirit.

On the way to our room we had a quick stop at the casino and had some fun :).

We were both tired after a while and were off too bed.

Hope all of you a great one too.

Take care everyone,