by Jason Leppert
Last updated: 1:00 PM ET, Tue September 13, 2016
From Halloween to New Year's Eve, cruise lines have your 2016 holiday vacations ready to set sail, and we've gathered a sampling of upcoming festivities to look forward to from several of them.
Carnival Cruise Line
A Fun Ship would not be so without a ready disposition to celebrate holidays, and Carnival Cruise Line puts on a party for them all. Halloween will kick things off with Halloween activities on most of its ships on October 31 before spreading out a Thanksgiving feast fleet-wide for turkey day.
Chanukah and Christmas will also be celebrated with religious services, Menorahs and other holiday decorations and entertainment. At the end of the year, New Year's Eve and 2017 will be rung in with a traditional countdown, live music and a fiesta complete with noisemakers and party favors.
Also, as part of its Seuss at Sea program, Grinchmas will be fleet-wide aboard Carnival with appearances by The Grinch, even extending to the Green Eggs and Ham Breakfast. Plus, there will be special arts and crafts, face-painting and film screenings of "Dr. Seuss' How The Grinch Stole Christmas" to enjoy.
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Celebrity Cruises
For Christmas, Celebrity Cruises is already pulling out the stops with its return to the Caribbean as four of its ships gather together at St. Maarten for a rare group rendezvous. The Celebrity Eclipse, Celebrity Equinox, Celebrity Reflection and Celebrity Summit, departing between December 19 and December 24, will join on the 28th for a special live performance from Demi Lovato in the tropical destination.
The Lovato show is available exclusively to Celebrity guests with tickets for purchase on the premium line's website. What's more, meet-and-greet opportunities will also be available with the musical artist.
Disney Cruise Line
Meanwhile, Disney Cruise Line prepares for the holidays with its signature Halloween on the High Seas and Very Merrytime Cruises. Sitting out the fun on October 31 will be the Disney Wonder as it is extensively redesigned during that time, but the rest of the fleet will feature Mickey's Mouse-querade Party and more.
For Thanksgiving, Hanukkah, Christmas and the New Year, all the ships will be set to celebrate with special decorations and activities from Mickey's Tree-Lighting Magic to a Deck the Deck Holiday Party.
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Norwegian Cruise Line
Norwegian Cruise Line is also looking forward to Thanksgiving, Hanukkah, Christmas, the New Year and yes, even Festivus. Besides the usual holidays, Norwegian playfully recognizes the fictional one from the famed "Seinfeld" television series, saying, "It's a Festivus miracle. We can't promise a Festivus pole, but we will have gingerbread making contests and special menu items." Of course, the other holidays will feature activities befitting their traditions as well.
MSC Cruises
As MSC Cruises brings the Mediterranean to the Caribbean, it also brings European holiday traditions like a Christmas Market onboard besides special menus, a Gingerbread Village, nightly Menorah lightings, an arrival from Santa, parties, decorations and more. The MSC Divina will celebrate Thanksgiving, Christmas, Hanukkah and the New Year.
Royal Caribbean International
Last but not least, Royal Caribbean International celebrates onboard and is specifically gearing up for Christmas and New Year's with Santa and the DreamWorks characters along for the ride for Deck the Holidays on its Caribbean-based ships. It will snow in the ship's Centrum, Royal Esplanade or Royal Promenade, and trees will be lit and decorated as well.
Plus, come New Year's Eve, New Year's on Deck will set up a ship-wide party with confetti and party favors in every venue, including a massive balloon drop in the center of the ship.
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