New Year’s Eve means a lot of different things for different people, to some a new year means new beginnings, a clean slate, promises of a better year, healing, traveling many things but there is one thing we can all agree on A New Year should be celebrated. Growing up my parents looked for any excuse to get us all in the car together and travel somewhere new. Required time off from school and work was the perfect excuse. As a family we used to travel almost exclusively during the Holiday season, which meant we were always on the road for New Year’s Eve. The best part about this is that we always celebrated the New Year in a new place. I’ve celebrated everywhere from a Motel 6 in Massachusetts to Times Square to watch the ball drop. I had never however, experienced New Year’s Eve on a cruise. As a travel agency this is always our busiest time and the most popular requests. We have clients booking their New Year’s cruises a year in advance. I never understood the hype until I experienced it for myself.
This year I had 80 clients on the MSC Divina sailing out on December 27th – January 11th doing the Panama Canal itinerary. For those not familiar with that itinerary it’s not one that is done all of the time, so it was something new for everyone. The ship sailed out of Miami and it stopped in Ocho Rios, Jamaica; Cartagena, Colombia; Colon, Panama; Puerto Limon, Costa Rica; Costa Maya, Mexico; and MSC’s new private island Ocean Cay in the Bahamas. I had the opportunity to be a guest on this sailing to escort my clients and deal with any issues that might occur on board also, it gave me a reason to check out what the fuss was with New Year Eve sailings and let me tell you it was definitely worth the hype.
Now I know it’s not just me that loves how everything is decorated for the holidays and everyone is a little extra nice everywhere you go. Except if you’re in the hospitality industry now if you’re in the same industry as I am then you don’t mean to not be extra festive, you’re just so stressed out and overworked you’re exhausted. Lol. The cruise ship has holiday decorations all over the place. Everywhere you look there’s an extra Christmas tree, or Christmas pillows strategically place. Even in the dining room they put ornament balls hanging from the lamps to make the dining room a bit more festive. There’s nothing like coming out of room and having everything tastefully decorated to get you in the Christmas spirit. Every crew member is constantly wishing you a Happy New Year and is constantly in a good mood, so it ends up rubbing off on you regardless if you want it to or not.
Now to talk about what really matters, how do the cruise handle the countdown? And the parties? Now if you’ve been on a cruise before you know they find any excuse to throw a party, literally there’s a party every other night regardless of the occasion. Now it being a holiday cruise there was a special event and several parties every night. For New Year’s Eve they had the big event up on the 14th floor where the pool is located. This particular party was the “white” party. Everyone dressed in all white, if they choose to of course I stuck to my sparkly gold outfit I had pre-planned, there were 2 bars set up besides the main bar in the center and there were also several members of the wait staff prepared to take your drink order or your chair order. Speaking of, chairs were a scarcity however they had waiters that would specifically get a chair for those in need seeing how seating was on a first come first serve basis.
Cruise ships have so many little details that you don’t necessarily think of but at the end of the day those are what make your experiences memorable. After dinner in both dining rooms and after each seating there was a table set up with boxes and boxes full of colorful accessories, such as noise makes, hats, glasses, streamers, you name it they had it! As you were walking out of the dining room you passed by the table to pick out your desired accessories.
The countdown was aligned with the east coast since we had just arrived in Cartagena, being at sea and visiting so many different countries in different time zones sure does get confusing. The party was huge, it was bigger than any other white party that they have had because everyone was anxious to celebrate the coming year. The party was attended by guests and crew alike, this is the one night of the year when everyone remembers at the core, we’re all human and we all want the same thing. Tomorrow everything changes and it’s back to business as usual, but everyone enjoys celebrating the New Year in style.