Christmas Parties at Sea

Every year cruise.co.uk host our Christmas party on a short break cruise. We are so lucky to have this opportunity and I was even more pleased to find it wasn’t on my daughters birthday this time which meant I could go. The last 2 years I had to miss and I was not happy.
Usually it is a short break cruise from Southampton to Bruges but this time was different.
We boarded the Fred Olsen Boudicca in Liverpool on the 15th December which was sold as a 1 night party cruise designed for Christmas parties. The ship stayed in port but everything else operated as normal.

They don’t offer the drinks package on these party nights so you just purchase drinks as normal from the bar. We were given an 80’s theme which was just for our company so I put the leg warmers on and crimped my hair ready to party.

Some of the costumes were brilliant but I think Prince Charles and Lady Di was the best.

The following day we stayed on board and set off on a 2 night mini cruise to Dublin.
This was amazing as I have never made it to Dublin and have always wanted to go.
Our time was limited so we did a morning city tour before heading off to sample a few Irish bars.
I thought Irish bars were traditionally lively bars with live music but this was not the case at the first stop we made. I was told this was a traditional Irish bar and the bars with live bands were tourist bars where you will rarely find Irish people. We had a few drinks there then went on to Temple Bar.
The atmosphere there was amazing. The bars were full of people having a good time and there was live music playing Irish music and Christmas songs. Eventually we made it back on board to continue the party.

Fred Olsen are not known for their nightlife but there were a lot of us and we had a really fun evening.

Short break cruises are very different to the longer cruises.
You tend to find they are more lively and would have groups of people who are looking to party. The bars and nightclubs are much busier than normal and during the spring/summer months even attract large hen and stag parties.
Therefore it is not a good idea to try a short cruise to see if you like a ship as it doesn’t give you a true reflection of what you can normally expect.

I found the Boudicca to be a lovely friendly ship. We had the drinks package for the 2 night cruise and the bar closed earlier than the previous night but maybe that wasn’t a bad thing with having to be up and ready for Dublin the following day.
The food was disappointing for me in the main restaurant. I was on Balmoral a few years ago and the food was a much higher standard. I am not sure if it is because this was a mini cruise but really the standards should be the same on any cruise.

I would highly recommend this cruise if you are looking to celebrate Christmas in style. Whether you are a family, couple or group of friends/colleagues this would suit all.