Happy 80s Cruise Holidays Mixtape, Pt. 2

December 10, 2025

By Lori Majewski

Can we all agree that our favorite decade gifted the world with some of the best, most festive, longest-lasting Yuletide classics?!

After all, the 80s gave us jingle-bangers “Fairytale of New York” (The Pogues feat. Kirsty MacColl), “Do They Know It’s Christmas?” (Band Aid), “Christmas Wrapping” (The Waitresses), and that old chestnut “Last Christmas” (Wham!), all of which were on the last year’s playlist—which, naturally, I recorded off of the radio on a 60-minute Maxell’s cassette!

Whitney Houston: “Do You Hear What I Hear” (1987)

I was in the car when this came on the other day, and I found myself turning the volume way up like it was “ Livin’ on a Prayer”! What. A. Voice! Originally released with the charity album A Very Special Christmas, to benefit the Special Olympics, Houston recorded this in a single take!

Prince: “ Another Lonely Christmas ” (1984)

For all the peace, love and joy, December can also bring melancholy. Prince captures that seasonal, end-of-year sadness (remember, the 21st of the month is the darkest day of the year: winter solstice) with this beautiful b-side to Purple Rain’s “I Would Die 4 U.” And he only played it live once: December 26, 1984.

Dan Fogelberg: “Same Old Lang Syne” (1981)

“Saw my old lover in a grocery store / The snow was falling Christmas Eve.” Unable to find an open bar, the exes consume a six-pack of beer in her car, drinking “a toast to innocence,” while catching up, reminiscing, perhaps wondering what could’ve been… Based on a true story, Fogelberg wrote this after a chance encounter with an old flame.

Billy Squier: “Christmas is the Time to Say I Love You” (1981)

Squier was already killing it with his blockbuster album, Don’t Stay No, and its smash hit, “The Stroke,” when, in August 1981, a music video channel launched that made him an early face of the network. How to thank the folks at MTV? By giving everyone who worked there a starring role in the video for this seasonal rocker, thus guaranteeing Squier even more airplay!

Erasure: “Silent Night”

While my favorite all-time version is by Sinead O’Connor (see last year’s mixtape), Erasure’s also strikes the perfect, solemn tone, albeit with Vince Clarke’s spare synths and 80s Cruise 2025 alum Andy Bell’s stunning vocal. Once a choir boy, always a choir boy.

Hall & Oates: “Jingle Bell Rock” (Darryl’s Version)
Hall & Oates: “Jingle Bell Rock” (John’s Version)

Once upon a time, Hall didn’t despise Oates (and vice versa). In 1983, when they dynamic duo were at the height of their pop powers, they released their take on a festive favorite: one with Hall singing lead, the other with Oates. In 2006, they recorded an entire LP of holiday tunes, Home for Christmas, which includes a third version of “Jingle Bell Rock.”

Anne Lennox and Al Green: “Put A Little Love in Your Heart” (1988)

Three years after Eurythmics teamed up with the Queen of Soul for “Sisters Are Doin’ It for Themselves,” Annie Lennox joined voices with The Reverend for this Dave Stewart-produced track that was a hit on both sides of the Atlantic. Originally a top five for Jackie DeShannon (also its cowriter), the Annie-Al collab was for the soundtrack of the movie Scrooged!, starring Bill Murray.

Frankie Goes to Hollywood: “The Power of Love” (1984)

Like “Put a Little Love in Your Heart,” this wasn’t written with the holidays in mind. However, it’s become a year-end go-to in the U.K. due to its association with the Nativity: Its Godley-and-Creme-directed music video recreated Joseph and pregnant Mary’s journey to Bethlehem, while the 45” cover showed a reproduction of Titian’s Assumption of the Virgin.

Paul McCartney: “Wonderful Christmastime” (1979)

So, it’s not on the level of Lennon/Ono’s “Merry Christmas (War is Over).” Still, why all the (recent-ish?) hate for this oh-so-80s-sounding track? Okay, the “ding dong dings” are annoying, and the repetitive chorus is cloying. Yet ”Wonderful Christmastime” is jingly and jolly—and its B-side is “Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reggae.” Let Paul be!

Bret Michaels: “Jingle Bells”

No, this track isn’t from the 80s—but Brett Michaels is, and he’s one of the headliners on the 2026 cruise! And, as someone who got to see him and his “Party-gras” gig on board in 2023, I was happy to find that the Poison frontman released his first-ever holiday single in 2017, and he gave a portion of proceeds benefited St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital.

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Other 80s holiday tunes I’m turning up:

Book of Love’s “We Three Kings (1987)
Bruce Springsteen: “Merry Christmas Baby” (1985)
Kate Bush: “December Will Be Magic Again” (1980)
Three Wise Men (aka XTC): “Thanks for Christmas” (1983)
New Kids on the Block: “This One’s for the Children” (1989)