{"id":40859,"date":"2025-12-15T20:11:26","date_gmt":"2025-12-15T20:11:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/agooka.com\/news\/usa\/i-spent-christmas-and-new-years-eve-on-a-cruise-with-a-few-family-members-i-doubt-id-ever-do-it-again\/"},"modified":"2025-12-15T20:11:26","modified_gmt":"2025-12-15T20:11:26","slug":"i-spent-christmas-and-new-years-eve-on-a-cruise-with-a-few-family-members-i-doubt-id-ever-do-it-again","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/agooka.com\/news\/usa\/i-spent-christmas-and-new-years-eve-on-a-cruise-with-a-few-family-members-i-doubt-id-ever-do-it-again\/","title":{"rendered":"I spent Christmas and New Year&#8217;s Eve on a cruise with a few family members. I doubt I&#8217;d ever do it again."},"content":{"rendered":"<figure><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/i.insider.com\/65a6fa09dcdb354a985803dc?format=jpeg\" alt=\"Author Erin Yarnall smiling on a cruise in front of a glacier\"\/><figcaption>One year, I spent the holidays sailing past Antarctica on a 22-day cruise with a few of my family members. <\/p>\n<p>Erin Yarnall<\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<ul>\n<li>I spent the holidays away from home for the first time by going on a 22-day cruise over Christmas. <\/li>\n<li>I woke up on Christmas to views of Antarctica, but I missed my traditions and the rest of my family.<\/li>\n<li>Though the cruise was unforgettable and nice, I probably wouldn&#039;t travel over the holidays again.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Despite traveling fairly frequently, I&#039;d never been away from home for Christmas until recently<\/p>\n<p>In 2023 (into 2024), I spent Christmas and New Year&#039;s Eve on a 22-day Holland America cruise around South America and Antarctica.<\/p>\n<p>I traveled with my grandma and cousin, and our cruise began in Buenos Aires, Argentina, and ended in Santiago, Chile.<\/p>\n<p>I felt hesitant about booking a cruise that took place over the holidays, but I figured it&#039;d be worth missing my traditions for one year to wake up to a view of Antarctica on Christmas morning.<\/p>\n<p>Though Holland America had fantastic decorations, unbeatable views, and fun holiday-themed events, I felt homesick.<\/p>\n<h2><strong>It didn&#039;t feel like Christmas in the week leading up to it<\/strong><\/h2>\n<figure><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/i.insider.com\/65a6fabedcdb354a9858048b?format=jpeg\" alt=\"Lights in the shape of a christmas tree in a town square\"\/><figcaption>Puerto Ays\u00e9n, Chile, was one of the most festive ports that the ship stopped in.<\/p>\n<p>Erin Yarnall<\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>It was so hot in many of the ports that we stopped at, like Buenos Aires and Puerto Madryn, Argentina, because it was summer in the Southern Hemisphere.<\/p>\n<p>It felt extra strange because I was traveling from Chicago, where we always have a chilly Christmas.<\/p>\n<p>Due to the warm weather, it was easy to forget that Christmas was just around the corner \u2014 and it felt odd, but delightful, to see decorated cities.<\/p>\n<p>One of my favorite stops was in Puerto Ays\u00e9n, Chile, where the town&#039;s main square was filled with lights and decorations depicting Santa and reindeer.<\/p>\n<h2><strong>Fortunately, the boat was extravagantly decorated<\/strong><\/h2>\n<figure><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/i.insider.com\/65a6fa4a43bb77284b9d8a4b?format=jpeg\" alt=\"Cruise ship deocrated with gingerbread houses and a large Christmas tree\"\/><figcaption>My favorite decorations on the ship were the extensive gingerbread village and the ship&#039;s main Christmas tree on the first floor.<\/p>\n<p>Erin Yarnall<\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>One of the most striking features on board was the ship&#039;s gingerbread village. The elaborate setup was just one of the beautiful decorative areas on the ship.<\/p>\n<p>Several Christmas trees were also displayed throughout the boat.<\/p>\n<p>It wasn&#039;t just the Holland America crew that decorated \u2014 other guests brought tinsel, ornaments, and small decorations to hang from their room&#039;s doors and mailboxes. It added to the ship&#039;s festive spirit.<\/p>\n<h2>There were festive activities, and <strong>Santa visited the ship<\/strong><\/h2>\n<figure><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/i.insider.com\/65a6fafc43bb77284b9d8add?format=jpeg\" alt=\"Stack of presents on table next to green paper origami tree\"\/><figcaption>We brought presents for each other and placed them near a paper tree that we had made in one of the ship&#039;s classes.<\/p>\n<p>Erin Yarnall<\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>There were plenty of holiday-themed activities to take part in on the ship, too, like decorating gingerbread ornaments and creating origami Christmas trees.<\/p>\n<p>We used these to decorate our room, and ended up placing the presents we&#039;d brought near a small origami tree. Having our room slightly decorated helped us feel less homesick and more excited for the holidays.<\/p>\n<p>It was also nice that, after breakfast on Christmas Day, the captain announced that there was an unidentified object flying over our ship.<\/p>\n<p>Minutes later, it was identified as Santa, who would be stopping by to bring presents to the children on board. Santa and some elves then appeared on the ship&#039;s main stage, handing out small gifts to kids and hot chocolate to adults.<\/p>\n<h2><strong>Festivities continued on New Year&#039;s Eve<\/strong><\/h2>\n<figure><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/i.insider.com\/65a6fbab6979d7371823c131?format=jpeg\" alt=\"Hot tubs filled with ice, lights, and Champagne bottles on a cruise\"\/><figcaption>The lido deck&#039;s hot tubs were filled with ice and bottles of bubbly for the ship&#039;s New Year&#039;s Eve party.<\/p>\n<p>Erin Yarnall<\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>As the clock ticked down to midnight on New Year&#039;s Eve, there was a bustling party on the Oosterdam&#039;s lido deck.<\/p>\n<p>It featured the house band playing hits from several decades and complimentary flutes of sparkling wine.<\/p>\n<p>The party took over the pool area, so there was no swimming, but the hot tubs were still in full use as ice-packed coolers for bottles of bubbly.<\/p>\n<h2>I had a great time on the cruise, but I don&#039;t think I&#039;d ever travel over the holidays again<\/h2>\n<figure><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/i.insider.com\/65a6fb83dcdb354a98580536?format=jpeg\" alt=\"Erin Yarnall giving a thumbs up in front of a glacier while on a cruise ship\"\/><figcaption>Seeing Antarctica was unforgettable, but I love spending the holidays at home.<\/p>\n<p>Erin Yarnall<\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Being away from home during the holidays was tough, but getting my first view of Antarctica on Christmas morning was an unforgettable gift.<\/p>\n<p>That morning, we were greeted with a close-up view of Elephant Island, one of the furthest reaches of Antarctica&#039;s South Shetland Islands.<\/p>\n<p>It was a dream come true being there, but when it comes to the holidays, my heart will always be at home.<\/p>\n<p><em>This story was originally published on January 16, 2024, and most recently updated on December 15, 2025.<\/em><\/p>\n<p>Read the original article on Business Insider<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>One year, I spent the holidays sailing past Antarctica on a 22-day cruise with a few of my family members. Erin Yarnall I spent the holidays away from home for the first time by going on a 22-day cruise over Christmas. I woke up on Christmas to views of Antarctica, but I missed my traditions [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[20],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-40859","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-usa"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/agooka.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/40859","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/agooka.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/agooka.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/agooka.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/agooka.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=40859"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/agooka.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/40859\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/agooka.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=40859"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/agooka.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=40859"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/agooka.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=40859"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}