How does one non-Christmassy family celebrate the holidays their way? On a fabulous P&O cruise around the South Pacific, that’s how! Join Karryon’s Brooke McRae as she shares tales of Santa at sea, the biggest nut bush on the water, and no Christmas Day cooking or washing up!
On 18 December, close to 800 kids, 2,400 adults, and 1,200 crew set sail on the P&O Pacific Adventure, bound for the South Pacific. Lured by the promise of six sea days, three shore days (to Mystery Island, Noumea, and Lifou, no less), and Christmas Day at sea, away from the hubbub of life back home.
Dressed for the occasion
Santa at sea didn’t mean it was a cruise full of Christmas grinches. Many groups of friends and families embraced seasonal merriment dressed in Christmas dresses and shirts, and several cruisers spruced up their cabin doors with festive posters and messages. The crew adorned Naughty and Nice t-shirts with Santa hats, and even the ship was in the spirit, with the atrium and restaurant Christmas trees creating a festive vibe for the sailing.
Cruise highlights
This being my second cruise (we cruised earlier in the year with P&O on the Pacific Explorer to the Solomon Islands and Papua New Guinea) I’m not much of a cruiser, but I know what I love about them already: shore days!
On my first trip, hands down the best part was visiting Kiriwina Island in Papua New Guinea. On this Christmas Cruise, it was half a day on Lifou on Christmas Eve, where we were lucky enough to snorkel with a turtle!
Cruising control
What I’m not a fan of? Sea sickness! My goal on sea days is to manage potential nausea and to stay distracted.
For my second cruise, I was slightly less nervous about being out at sea, and the medication I packed successfully managed any sea sickness. I kept distracted with a good book, onboard activities, and good company (we brought friends this time).
Activities on board that proved the perfect distraction? These:
- The sailaway party departing Sydney Harbour was fun as we left from White Bay, so cruised under the Sydney Harbour Bridge.
- Being gifted (thanks, P&O!) passes to the Byron Beach Club. I really enjoyed the Byron Beach Club as I love to swim, and it was less busy, whereas the family pool and outdoor pool often felt chaotic.
- Cruise Director Trivia: did you know the ship can’t set sail without three specific people onboard? And it’s not the captain or senior engineer!
- Dining at the included restaurants, Waterfront, Angelo’s, and Dragon Lady
- Nightly shows in the Marquee with the kids
- The various musicians playing across the ship’s 23 bars
- Did I mention 23 bars?
Happy family, happy life
My two girls (aged 9 and 7) went to the Kids Club just a few times on this trip (as opposed to every day on the last cruise). With so many kids on the cruise, the Kids Club hit capacity and turned children away this time. That’s a key thing of note if you’re travelling during the school holidays versus term time.
While disappointing, P&O tried hard to counter this issue by hosting several special Christmas activities for children in different venues across the ship. They had a choice of activities like being given chef hats and all the ingredients to decorate Christmas cookies, a Christmas colouring competition at Altitude Nightclub, and a special children’s show with the ship mascots – Skipper and TC in the Marquee.
For small and big kids at heart, the Let it Snow party in the atrium with snow machines and dancing was a blast.
Other activities on board the Pacific Adventure included:
- Waterslides
- Ziplining
- Bingo
- Cocktail tasting
- Cheese tastings
- A casino (although I chickened out of playing blackjack on a busy table as I’m a novice)
- Christmas carols in the atrium
- An 18+ comedy show
Christmas Day at Sea
P&O maintained the magic of Christmas. First, two days before 25 December, Santa delivered a letter to each child onboard.
On Christmas Eve, Santa’s helper delivered a present to each child’s cabin (a water bottle wrapped in their Christmas colouring in).
And Santa himself came out on the Lido deck for a fabulous meet and greet on Christmas Day. He later visited the Black Circus for family photos.
It was nice to see some cabins put signs up to the room cleaning staff to say they’re happy to not have their room made up for the day to give some of the staff a little break. Many cruisers showered extra gratitude to the staff, as we recognised they were away from their families.
One of the most enticing elements when booking the cruise was not having to cook a Christmas meal (or clean up for that matter)!
The same Christmas dinner menu was served in all three (included) ship restaurants. The meal included lamb and mint sauce, turkey with cranberry, and a delicious pavlova.
P&O also delivered presents to the local children of Mystery Island, Noumea, and Lifou.
Boxing Day at Sea
The fun didn’t stop on Christmas Day. On Boxing Day, one of the funniest moments was the Make a Sleigh competition. Participants had to make a floating sleigh that could cruise one lap of the swimming pool while holding six soft drink cans. We also attempted the biggest nut bush at sea.
Spreading the Christmas cheer
We’re not a particularly Christmassy family, but we each discovered a little bit of Christmas magic from our time at sea.
My oldest daughter discovered new Christmas movies (including Elf) and has been playing Christmas carols at home (and we’re now well into the new year). My littlest discovered, deep down, that she doesn’t need more than one gift from Santa to make a Christmas special.
My partner discovered the family traditions of matching Chrissy PJs (and that they wore them to breakfast on the 25th!).
And me? I learnt that I really love not cooking and cleaning on Christmas Day! Thanks, P&O!