The News Herald (Willoughby, OH)
Christmas at sea a tradition for some
Spending Christmas at sea a time-honored tradition for many reasons, ships’ passengers say
Sandra Montague was spending Christmas on a Panama Canal cruise (see bit.ly/2rfOhkv for that story) with her adult daughter, Holly. Seated in a comfortable chair in the ship’s Deck 10 Exploration Lounge, she looked up from her embroidery as we spoke. She was creating an elaborate four-season piece she intended to frame.
I told her I was aboard as a writer to learn why Christmastime cruises are such a popular choice. Although fares usually are higher then, most cruise lines accept bookings months in advance and fill their cabins with holiday celebrators at sea. I asked her about her reasons.
“Since I was widowed two years ago, I’ve traveled a good bit, mostly with family,” she explained. “I just spent three months with my grandchildren in Cuenca, Ecuador, and now I am spending Christmas on this cruise with their mother.”
She lives in St. Louis, and her adult children live on the East and West coasts, she told me.
The grandchildren, who are 3, 8 and 16, all learned some Spanish while the family lived in an apartment in the town of Cuenca. She said they all mixed and mingled with Ecuadorian children and other people during their stay.
“They’re homeschooled, so I was given their lessons for the time we were away,” she said. “They’re at home with their dad and his wife for the Christmas holiday.”
Holland America’s Zuiderdam sees many regulars on its holiday-season cruises. Some of them are extended families, such as the 13 members of the Robertson family. Robert and Elaine Robertson live in Baltimore while their three children, and 10 grandchildren are scattered around the country, living cities that include Phoenix, Atlanta and Buffalo.
“It’s great for my kids to get to know their cousins,” said Rob Jr., as he watched a trio of the youngest — 6-year-old twins and a 4-year old — cavort around the Lido deck swimming pool. It was a warm December afternoon, and the ship was headed for Aruba after spending a day in Curacao.
“The oldest kids are a little bored,” said his brother, Mike. “They loved being on Half Moon Cay, but this is a cruise more aimed at older people. I doubt there are more than a couple dozen kids aboard.” (See my story at bit.ly/2CkxMaj.)
“We let the two oldest go ashore together by themselves in Curacao,” Rob said. “But that was a mistake. They’re both 16 and found out they could get served in bars there.”
Instead of being free to roam around, the cousins were barred from going ashore in Aruba, he said.
“And the ship’s staff knows they aren’t to be served in the bars.”
Others in the Robertson clan will be taking a shore excursion on a guided fourwheel drive adventure in the back country of Aruba.
“They’re lucky there is so much else to do on the ship,” he said.
Many passengers brought their Christmas celebrations aboard with them, decorating their stateroom doors with wreaths and twinkle lights and even bringing small Christmas trees for their cabins. Passengers wore holiday T-shirts, jewelry and even decorated socks. On some of the sockless, pedicured toenails sported candy canes, miniature pine trees and colored bulbs.
Being a single passenger, I asked the maitre’d to seat me with interesting people at mealtime for my story. One dinner, I joined Joseph Lesak and his kids, Randy, 13, and Elizabeth, 15. They were playing cards as they waited to be served.
Their mom and dad are divorced, so the kids spend Christmas with their dad, who usually takes them on a cruise. They live in Vermont and said they were enjoying the break from winter weather. Days aboard the Zuiderdam were in the low to mid-80s and mostly sunny.
“I like Holland America,” said Lesak. “We’ve taken several cruises with the Zuiderdam, including one to Alaska.”
They weren’t the first passengers I’d met who not only had a loyalty to the cruise line but to this specific ship.
Elizabeth said she wants to go on a Mediterranean cruise, while Randy hopes to go back to Alaska.
“I’m interested to see the Panama Canal,” Elizabeth said. “But so far we’ve spent most of our time watching movies in our stateroom.”
Films changed daily and also were shown in a screening room on Deck 3.
Beth Sams and Martha Zigfield, longtime friends from Raleigh, North Carolina. Both are widowed and without family, so they dreaded spending the holiday alone.
“We joined a group of six women from our book club on this cruise,” Sams said. “It’s my first cruise, and I thought I’d feel claustrophobic, but there’s plenty of room and lots to do.”
The women were playing bridge, attending 6 p.m. classical music concerts and going to the evening stage shows together. I caught up with the pair in the Ocean Bar, with its curtained porthole-style window views of the sea. We’d attended a port lecture together and agreed to go shopping together the next day in Aruba, where Sams hoped to buy an emerald ring or necklace.
It was Christmas Eve day when I met Elaina DuBois and her sons Ryan and Holden in Limon, Costa Rica. We had adjacent seats on the small bus taking us on a shore excursion to a jaguar rescue sanctuary. (See my story at bit. ly/2JumYix.) One son was on a winter break from college, while the other took off work to be with his family.
The three Californians were cruising with her mother, who was in her late 80s and, according to DuBois, dying of cancer.
“She has just a few more months to live,” DuBois told me. “It’s hard to believe because she’s tired but not really very sick. But she wanted us to join her on this cruise so we could spend her last Christmas together and she could tell us about her will and her end-of-life wishes.”
The older woman wasn’t going on shore excursions, spending her time instead sitting in the sun, taking in films and other shipboard diversions. She also joined a regular group meeting mornings in the top deck Explorer’s Lounge to play chess.
“She was affected by her radiation therapy,” DuBois said. “And she’s trying to stay sharp.”
She said the older woman would be living with them in San Diego when they returned home.
The cruise line goes all out for the holiday, inviting its staff and officers to bring their families aboard to spend Christmas together. Decorated trees are everywhere, along with wreaths and other holiday decor. Visits with Santa are a big part of Christmas Eve.
I met Lester McNaughton in the atrium, where he was watching a model train, set in an elaborate wintertime scene, go through tunnels, around bends and through towns decked out for the holidays. It was near a decorated tree soaring two decks up past the winding central staircase. I introduced myself and told him about my mission aboard.
“I’m traveling alone, too,” he said. “Now that I’m retired, I’d hoped to take cruises with my wife, but she died in September. It’s really lonely for me since we were married 45 years and I was her caregiver the past two years when she was sick.”
The couple had moved to a retirement community near Fort Lauderdale just before his wife became ill. And they hadn’t gotten to know many of their neighbors, he said. “Christmas was always her favorite season,” he said. “And I didn’t want to be alone.”
McNaughton was filling his days with activities, such as shuffleboard on the Observation Deck and the Texas Hold ‘Em tournament in the casino. He asked me to join him for afternoon tea, set for 3 p.m. in the Deck 3 dining room.
Later that day I met him outside the dining room, and we were taken to a table for eight to taste dainty sandwiches, sweets and a variety of teas. We were seated at the same table where Raleigh widows Sams and Zigfield were sitting with some of their bookclub friends.
Lively conversation ensued once introductions were made. After checking the daily “When & Where” publication left in our staterooms, we learned that afternoon tea was a daily occurrence.
Onboard friendships came easily from the first day, when most passengers went ashore for a beach day on Half Moon Cay in the Bahamas.
There were meetups organized for first-time cruisers, kids, singles and LGBT passengers. Dancers onboard moved to the hits with a DJ in B.B. King’s Blues Club, while 20-somethings got to
know each other during circuit training in the fitness center, wine tastings and the organized bar hop.
Mass was celebrated every day, and a Hanukkah celebration and candle lighting took place daily in the Hudson Room on Deck 3. One man I met said he chose this ship because the onboard priest was so dynamic. Midnight Mass took place Christmas Eve on the Main Stage, decks 2 and 3, while an interdenominational service was in the Hudson Room on Deck. 3.
I met a number of foodies in the America’s Test Kitchen cooking classes on Deck 2, discovering secrets to buying and preparing salmon and getting a good introduction to genuine Parmigiano-Reggiano and prosciutto de Parma in two separate sessions.
I chose Christmas Eve as my evening to enjoy Canaletto, a small extra-charge dining room framed around artistically prepared small plates ideal for sharing. By then I’d made the acquaintance of several among the ship’s 1,900 passengers. Those in the main dining room could dine traditionally on turkey, ham or goose or choose from a menu that changed daily.
By the time the 10-day cruise was finished, I understood why many passengers choose this way to celebrate the holiday season year after year.