Why You Should Cruise Over Halloween

Making the decision to cruise over a holiday is always a big one, especially if there are children to consider who might miss being with their friends and extended families for those holidays.

Halloween is a great time to cruise, whether you’re traveling with your significant other or all of your children. Many cruises with itineraries near and over Halloween, indulge in some kind of festivities. These are different depending which cruise line, but if you can plan which cruise ahead of time, these can be the perfect spooky getaway for the season.

One of the biggest cruise lines to offer Halloween festivities is Carnival Cruise Line. From decorated ships to pumpkin carving contests, trick or treating and costume parties to adult-only events, Carnival puts on a tremendous product for families looking to experience something different this Halloween. Carnival celebrates Halloween throughout October, so no matter which ship or where you’re going, you’re bound for a spooky time.

While Norwegian Cruise Line does not have anything outlined as clearly as Carnival, ships do fun things like host family-friendly Halloween parties on deck and boast haunted houses put on by crew members.

Disney Cruise Line is another line that offers great options and itineraries for the Halloween season. Predictably, many of the things are geared toward kids. Mickey’s Mouse-querade Party is a family-friendly event where Halloween-dressed characters meet with passengers while kids trick or treat, dance and play games. The ships are also filled with activities the whole family can enjoy, like pumpkin carving, mask making, movie viewings and more. Ghost stories around a fire on deck up the creepy factor for kids who can brave the experience.

Disney doesn’t only cater to kids, however. Most ships offer an adults-only party, including a costume contest. This year, Disney is offering four Halloween itineraries through most of September and October.

Princess Cruises has themes and itineraries for most holidays, including Halloween. Like other major options, Princess Cruises offers a party for adults and a number of other activities suitable for the entire family like pumpkin carving, a costume parade and tons of candy. Many of the Princess itineraries departing in October offer Halloween programming. Princess Cruises also offers programming for Chinese New Year, Valentine’s Day, Easter and Passover, Mother’s and Father’s Day, Christmas, New Year and Thanksgiving.