After difficult three years since the start of the pandemic and the amazing return back to cruising in 2022, the cruise lines have many reasons to celebrate this holiday season. 

Having missed out on Christmas festivities due to restrictions, this year’s celebrations felt normal again for all guests sailing aboard the ships, but also for the crew - the driving force behind the remarkable success of the cruise industry.

For the crew, Christmas is a special time of the year to celebrate with friends and colleagues, as well as one of the busiest working days. The Christmas party for the cruise lines is an important milestone in the calendar, giving workforces to create a new shared memory and making people feel valued. Christmas is also a great opportunity for the cruise lines to recognize the efforts of their team over the year and reward them. 

Crew Center reached out to crew members aboard several major cruise lines and ask them: 

What Christmas gifts they received from the cruise lines?

So let’s open the crew presents from the cruise lines and see what’s inside. 

Viking Cruises

The crew aboard Viking Cruises' ocean-going ships received a wallet with the company’s logo and chocolate. The 50 Euro bill was not included in the gift, as shown in the photo below :)

Celebrity Cruises

A crew member aboard the Celebrity Cruises’ Celebrity  Silhouette said the crew received  Xiaomi Mi Smart Band 6.

Norwegian Cruise Line and Oceania Cruises

Oceania and Norwegian Cruise Line crew members received a 100$ Christmas Bonus on their onboard accounts.

Royal Caribbean International

Royal Caribbean crew received backpacks with the company logo on most of the RCI ships. Allure of the Seas crew members received a backpack and a stainless steel travel coffee mug, while Mariner of the Seas this year’s Christmas gift for the crew was a sweater.

Aida Cruises

A crew member aboard the cruise ship Aida Perla said that this year’s Christmas gift from the ship’s speaker committee was one bonnet, one bath towel, one belt bag, and a neck pillow. He mentioned that the crew on each Aida ship have different Christmas presents.

TUI Cruises - Mein Schiff

The crew on the cruise ship Mein Schiff 3 received a belt bag and a pair of socks with the company logo.

Virgin Voyages

Virgin Voyages crew members received a mystery bag, well it’s not a mystery bag just we don’t know yet what is it. We received this photo of the gift with a nice card from the shipboard Experience Team thanking its extraordinary crew for this year’s amazing achievements.

“Your energy, efforts, and dedication delivering on our commitments does not go unnoticed. Ship, Ship Hooray! We hope you enjoy this token of our appreciation. Now, let's make a splash in #3x23” reads in parts the Christmas card.

Update: the mystery bag is actually a mini sling pouch/bag. Nice and very practical gift for the crew ;)

Azamara Cruises

Carnival Cruise Line

This Christmas Carnival Cruise Line gifted its crew with 2X100 minute vouchers and special food at the mess.

MSC Cruises

A crew member aboard MSC World Europ said that MSC Cruises organized a Christmas Raffle for its crew worth 14.000 Euros in prices. There were no individual gifts for the crew this year.

Disney Cruise Lines

Surprisingly, this year Disney Cruise Lines crew didn’t receive any gifts from the company. A crew member said that there was only a nice dinner served at the mess and that's all. 

Marella Cruises 

This holiday season Marella Cruises crew members received random gifts from the cruise line which included water bottles, coffee mugs, diary and also chocolates were given to everyone. A nice lunch was served at the ship’s dining area.

After three hard years, many of us, especially the crew, learned that the best Christmas gift is celebrating the holidays with friends, family, and loved ones.

Christmas gifts are not that important if you don't have someone to share the joy with. Nevertheless, the crew has shown great resilience and commitment to drive the cruise industry forward and to provide for their loved ones back home. The gifts from each cruise line are a symbolic way to say thank you for all sacrifices and the time they spent away from their homes, especially during the holiday season.

Happy holidays to all the crew and bless you for all your hard work. You are the true heroes.