The best Christmas cruises

For some people, Christmas isn't a time of joy and happiness, it's a little bit of a nightmare. Stress builds up, tensions boil over and before you know it, you're giving Albert Square a run for its money in the 'who can have the worst Christmas?' contest.

If that's you, we say sod the sprouts and forget the fairy on the tree. Why not book a cruise for Christmas and let someone else worry about cooking, cleaning and entertaining everyone instead?

Whether it's relaxing in the sun or exploring icy new landscapes, there's plenty of choice. Here's a few ideas to get you started. 

Southern summer on Crystal
Close your eyes and imagine this: 16 nights spent sailing from Auckland to Melbourne, taking in the best that the Southern Hemisphere has to offer with sunshine and blissful blue skies all the way.

The highlight is a private chartered catamaran trip to watch the famous fireworks light up the Sydney Harbour Bridge at midnight on New Year's Eve.

Copyright: Tourism NSW Robert Wallace

Relax and enjoy the luxury of life onboard Crystal Symphony where you can brush up on your language skills, learn to play the piano, perfect your golf stroke with a PGA pro or just enjoy a blissful massage in the Crystal Spa. Departs 20th December.

French Polynesia on Paul Gauguin Cruises
Enjoy a white Christmas with a difference; sugar-white sand between your toes on the pristine beaches of French Polynesia.

Head off on 22nd December - just as everyone else is beginning to work themselves into frenzy - and escape for a whole week of cruising around Tahiti and exploring the colourful world of post-impressionist painter, Paul Gauguin.

You'll overnight in exotic Bora Bora and Moorea as well as scoring a glam night in LA. PG cruises offer a five star service on a smaller ship, so you can visit out of the way ports that larger ships can't reach.

Learn to scuba or snorkel and get up close in crystal-clear waters with colourful parrot fish, cute clownfish and graceful sea turtles.

Antarctica with Orion Expeditions
Take a journey in the footsteps of epic explorer Sir Douglas Mawson on an 18-night voyage that crosses the Antarctic Circle and visits Cape Denison, the site of the hut from his historic 1911-1913 expedition.

You'll be one of the privileged few in the world to have visited - more people have stood at the top of Everest than have visited Cape Denison.

You'll experience the magic of the sub-Antarctic wildlife; emperor and Adelie penguins, elephant seals, sea lions and the endangered wandering albatross. This isn't just a cruise, this a voyage of discovery as you watch icebergs and explore the most inhospitable region on earth - wrapped up in comfort and with great service. Definitely a once in a lifetime white Christmas.

Cape Verde with Fred Olsen
Pack up the family and get ready for a truly relaxing Christmas. That's right, we said 'relaxing' and 'Christmas' in the same sentence. Set sail on an 18-night cruise from Southampton on 19th December, leave all your troubles and the chill of winter far behind.

Spend Christmas day at sea with that rare of pleasure of no cooking, and best of all, no washing up either. It's a traditional family celebration onboard with carols, a pantomime, silly quizzes and a visit from Father Christmas.

Spend New Year in Santa Cruz, Tenerife and enjoy the best fireworks in the Canary Islands. Calling in on Madeira, the three jewel-like Cape Verde islands, and Portugal too, this could be the start of a whole new Christmas tradition.

Norway with Hurtigruten
Experience a traditional Christmas Norwegian-style with Hurtigruten as you cruise Norway's breathtaking coastline on a 13-day voyage.



This is a fun hands-on cruise as you get to join in with the crew to help decorate the ship and make decorations onboard. You'll learn Norwegian carols and discover the joys of their traditional festive food like ‘Julekake’, a sweet Christmas bread with raisins, candied lemon peel, nuts and cardamom and ‘Julegrot’, a Christmas porridge.

But don't worry, a full British Christmas buffet is served in the restaurant too. This year sees solar activity at its maximum so there's a good chance that you may see the Northern Lights shimmering above you as you sail along.

One of the highlights is an excursion to Camp Tamok, on a winter safari through the Arctic from Finnsnes to Tromsø on dog sledges, snowmobiles and reindeer sledges. Magical!