“It feels like I jumped into my television and I’m actually living in a Hallmark movie” was one phrase overheard many times over four days on the 2025 Hallmark Christmas Cruise, which marked its second year in a new annual tradition for the network. 18 of Hallmark Channel’s biggest stars joined 4,000 diehard fans for a four-day journey from Miami to Cozumel and one thing was clear: it’s all for the fans.
There’s something special about the Hallmark community, both within the talent pool and among the fans around the world. This is a group of actors who fully understand the impact they have on their followers and go above and beyond to return the appreciation right back to them. After hosting two cruises on a smaller boat last year, the network upped the ante for 2025, booking a ship with double the capacity and bringing more stars along for the biggest holiday celebration of the year.
Holiday singalongs, exclusive movie screenings, an ugly Christmas sweater contest, live game shows, a Broadway-style variety show, panels with the talent, and so much more made this the ultimate destination for Hallmark Channel’s biggest fans.
JustJared.com was along for all the fun this year, and we had an all-access pass to bring you a behind-the-scenes look into how everything came together.
Head inside to read about the full experience…
All photos by Allister Foster for Hallmark Media
The holiday cheer was already evident upon arrival at PortMiami, with most fans dressed in custom t-shirts created specifically for the cruise. Sixthman, the company that creates curated cruises with every immersive theme you can think of, transformed the ship in a matter of hours to become a Christmas wonderland, decorated with festive trees, lights, ornaments, and gingerbread houses wherever you looked. The fans took it one step further by decorating their cabin doors in the most creative ways and bringing stocking stuffers to hand out to their fellow cruisegoers. The stocking on our cabin door was stuffed with more items every time we returned to the room!
It was clear that everyone was in the holiday spirit by the time the “Sail-ebration” event began on night one. As the Norwegian Joy sailed away from Miami, all 18 actors gathered on stage to kick off the cruise with a welcome party hosted by Jonathan Bennett and Nikki DeLoach, complete with a tree lighting ceremony and a singalong to “All I Want For Christmas Is You.”
Having 18 famous stars on a cruise ship alongside 4,000 of their biggest fans sounds like a logistical nightmare and a possible security risk, but the Hallmark and Sixthman teams handled it with ease. The actors had their own sanctuary at the top of the ship in the special “Haven” area, a section of the cruise ship that is usually available for Norwegian guests to book for a VIP experience, but was held exclusively for the talent on this sailing. The actors used a series of secret hallways and private elevators to get from event to event, but often stepped through the main areas of the boat and were greeted by delighted fans.
While every guest on the cruise was assigned a time to take a professional photo with a group of actors, the talent also spent hours upon hours across the four days trying to greet as many fans as they could, often sticking around after their scheduled events to snap an endless amount of selfies and listen to stories from their biggest fans. We spotted Ashley Williams taking every free moment that she had during the cruise to pop into the general areas and surprise the fans. She estimated that she took at least 1,000 selfies across the four days!
Every day on the ship came with its own theme, including a pajama day on Friday, a sparkle and shine night on Saturday, and an ugly Christmas sweater day on Sunday.
For a panel under the stars that JustJared.com hosted on Friday night, Ginna Claire Mason, Sarah Drew, Taylor Cole, and Ashley Williams were all dressed in matching PJs from Printfresh. Let’s just say, it was definitely the comfiest and coziest day of the whole cruise!
The creativity of Hallmark fans is unmatched, which was evident during the Ugly Christmas Sweater Contest held on Sunday. Hallmark stars went into the crowd during the event to pick out contestants to represent them on stage, with the audience ultimately choosing the winner of the contest. One winner had a working shower/tub attached to his sweater!
Cruisegoers had the opportunity to extend that creativity while on the ship at workshops hosted by actual Hallmark artists. “Create & Learn” workshops included Christmas cookie decorating, letter writing, canvas painting, and more.
While there were all-day movie marathons of Hallmark movies across the ship, fans were also treated to the exclusive premiere of a brand-new movie that no one else in the world had seen yet – including the actors themselves. Everyone on the ship got to watch Three Wisest Men over a week before its network debut. During one of the five screenings, cast members Tyler Hynes, Andrew Walker, Paul Campbell, and Kimberley Sustad even popped in to watch with the audience!
Paul told the crowd, “We were given a link to watch the movie last week and we refused because we wanted to see it for the first time with you guys.”
A highlight of the cruise was the “Festive Feud” game show, which was held five times throughout the trip to ensure every guest had a chance to attend. Jonathan Bennett hosted every edition, bringing different actors together for each round alongside some lucky fans. Non-stop hilarity ensued each time and Jonathan proved why he’s Hallmark’s go-to host. (If you’re not watching Finding Mr. Christmas right now, you’re truly missing out).
Some memorable moments included Taylor Cole dressed in a snowman suit and playing in character as “Froze,” Heather Hemmens bringing up her period panties collection Galifornia Undies, and Tyler Hynes jumping on stage to hug a contestant who revealed she works as a hospice nurse.
Jonathan hosted multiple events built around Finding Mr. Christmas, including an early episode screening that ended in a cliffhanger because Hallmark wouldn’t let him spoil the ending.
There was also a “Finding Mr. Shipmas” game show that was an hour full of laughs. Eight men vied for the title of “Mr. Shipmas,” competing in challenges that had them decorating Hallmark stars as Christmas trees and performing scenes alongside them as well. The final round of the contest featured the Top 2 guys performing an improvised skit with actual Hallmark actresses and let’s just say, the winner deserved that title after a perfectly performed scene!
Ginna Claire Mason, who filmed her first Hallmark Channel movie while simultaneously playing Glinda in Wicked on Broadway, spearheaded a Saturday night variety show that added some Broadway-style flair to the vacation.
“I thought, what does every cruise ship have? A Broadway night! So I pitched the idea of having an evening of song and dance,” Ginna Claire told us. “I wanted to pull out some classics that everyone would know regardless of whether or not they’re theatergoers. Music that people could sing along to, that would spark feelings of nostalgia… I’m grateful to be part of this Hallmark family, and incredibly inspired to collaborate and Dream Big with this group of remarkably kind and talented humans.”
The actors stayed on board during the Saturday afternoon stop in Cozumel to rehearse the show, with Andrew Walker and Rachel Boston leading the cast in “Summer Nights” from Grease, Sarah Drew taking lead on “Lean on Me,” Jonathan Bennett and Heather Hemmens teaming up for “Suddenly Seymour” from Little Shop of Horrors, and Ginna Claire obviously giving fans a taste of Wicked. During each of the two variety show performances, she pulled a fan out of the crowd to perform the duet “For Good” with her!
“We were trying to think of creative ways to involve the audience, and one of my favorite ideas that came from the brainstorm was to have an audience member jump up to sing ‘For Good’ with me!” Ginna Claire said. “That song will forever pull at the heartstrings. Probably one of the sweetest moments of the night! And the two volunteers both did such an excellent job.”
Erin Cahill was joined on the ship by her husband, singer-songwriter Paul Freeman, and he even performed a three-song set during the show. Andrew Walker and Kevin McGarry did backup vocals for him on one song.
Rachel brought a sentimental item to wear during the variety show. She told us, “My mom’s prom dress made it on the cruise! When we started brainstorming on what to wear, I came across my mom’s prom dress from 1968. I put it on and it was perfect! It was so special to have it travel from her prom in Tennessee to our Christmas Cruise in the Atlantic Ocean!”
The variety show also had a somber moment, when Nikki DeLoach informed guests that actors Paul Campbell and Kimberley Sustad had to leave the cruise in the middle of the journey. Paul learned about a family emergency while the boat was docked in Cozumel, so he took the chance to catch a flight home to Canada. The Hallmark team asked Kimberley to accompany him on the journey.
“We don’t let friends do things alone, so we asked that his best friend and writing partner, Kimberley Sustad, go with him,” Nikki told fans before leading a group prayer to send strength to Paul during this difficult time.
More events included Bingo rounds and cocktail tastings hosted by the talent, as well as a “Newlywed Game”-style game show hosted by Nikki to see which actors know their co-stars the best! At a cocktail tasting that we attended, Brendan Penny provided laugh after laugh, including his hilarious whale joke that he was too shy to tell in front of the full cruise on night one.
While the cruise was filled with scheduled events for the talent, there were plenty of impromptu pop-up events as well. On night one, Tyler Hynes met up with his fans, appropriately named “The Hynies,” for a Boot Shot toast to celebrate the beginning of the cruise. Hundreds of fans came together in the ship’s atrium to share a toast using Tyler’s special Boot Shot glass, a gathering organized by fan Steph Reese Zettlemoyer. Tyler even brought her on stage to deliver a speech!
“There are few things in this life more beautiful than people finding new and creative ways to celebrate each other and share a moment. Walking out there with some of my closest friends to find that many people interested in just that, well that’s just a Christmas cruise miracle,” Tyler told us about that magical moment.
Benjamin Ayres joined his fans on day two for a special Romance University meet-up, with fans decked out in apparel from his clothing line. Hundreds of fans showed up, which was more than he expected!
Some lucky people on the ship were also gifted a The Giving Keys necklace from Benjamin, who opened up to fans about the company’s pay-it-forward mission. Necklaces are hand-stamped with inspirational words and people are encouraged to embrace the word before “paying it forward” to someone they feel needs the message more than them.
Christmas Carol-oke was a constant hangout for the stars, with many of them getting up on stage to perform with fans. Ginna Claire ended up in the piano bar on the final night of the cruise and performed a full concert accompanied by pianist Nate Patten. She sang both Broadway hits and holiday songs for the lucky fans who happened to be present for the unannounced show!
The final night of the cruise ended with most of the actors attending Silent Night Disco, where everyone listened to music with headphones instead of the songs blaring on a speaker. Wes Brown, BJ Britt, Sarah Drew, Nikki DeLoach, Andrew Walker, Ashley Williams, Heather Hemmens, Erin Cahill, and more were among the actors who hopped on stage for that final night celebration.
After four days at sea, one thing became clear: the Hallmark Christmas Cruise isn’t just about taking a vacation, it’s about building community. Whether they were singing along to holiday music, trading stocking stuffers with cabin neighbors, sharing emotional stories with their favorite actors, or just soaking up the sun, fans walked away with memories to last a lifetime. As we disembarked on Monday morning, packed elevators were filled with new friends not saying goodbye, but see you next year.
The 2026 Hallmark Christmas Cruise is already on sale and cabins are filling up fast, with plenty of stateroom options already sold out. Hallmark has created more than a themed event – they’ve built a floating holiday tradition where the spirit of Christmas extends far beyond December.
Browse through the photo gallery to see more from the Hallmark Christmas Cruise…
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Reporting by David Niederhoffer
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