Thursday, November 6, 2025
Last year, on the flight home from the first Hallmark Christmas Cruise, we registered for the lottery to get a cabin for this year. I was shocked that not only did we get a spot, but we got a very early spot and we were able to get a forward facing suite! The ship was bigger this year and we were anxious to see how it would all work. I wasn't sure if the bigger ship would mean less of a chance to meet the stars, but I decided, regardless, it was still going to be so great to see all the shows and see all the Christmas Hallmark magic again.
We got priority boarding for the ship so we arrived at our appointed time for check in. We waited maybe an hour or so and then they started the boarding process with group 1 - us! I barely got into the line before I saw Wes Brown and Rachel Boston! I saw some others too, but these two were accessible for meet and greets and pics! Guess I was going to get to meet some stars afterall!
Our room was ready shortly after we boarded, but we used our initial time on the ship to get lunch and walk around. They always have such amazing decorations.
After taking a little walk around the ship, we headed to our room to check it out. It was bigger than I thought it would be. We had a bedroom separate from the living room and a very large bathroom. We also had a balcony, but if I am being honest, it was a bit of a disappointment. It was so tiny and it was not forward facing. It faced the side. Our front view was obstructed a bit by the bridge, where the captain and such were.
No time for sitting around! Before we knew it, we had to head up to the top deck for the Sail-e-bration party. We lucked out with a spot very close to the stage and we had great views of all the stars!
The grand finale of the show was the lighting of the Christmas tree...which turned out to be kinda funny. One string of lights was out! But it was still super fun.
Then after the show, I headed straight to the line for cruise merch to make sure we could get the items and sizes we wanted. While in line, I met Santa and Mrs. Claus! And we got merch. I got a blanket and this adorable reindeer!
But our fun wasn't over yet. One of the things new this year was that we got assigned to attend certain events to make sure we all got to see them and make sure we weren't standing in so many lines. So, our time for Festive Feud was tonight at 10pm. This is such a fun show and Jonathan Bennett really makes it great. One team also had Brendan Penny and Heather Hemmens (and her sister) and the other had Andrew Walker (and his wife) and Ashley Williams. The show was terrific. And that brought an end to our very festive first day on the ship. Two more to come and more festive adventures to have!
