Need Info On New Year's In Krabi/Phi Phi Area

I can't answer any of your other questions, since I've been yet, but from the research I've done and what I've heard, the time of year you'll be there is that area's peak season and a lot of places will be fully booked. You might want to book ahead just to be safe...

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Phi Phi is one of the most visited places in southern Thailand. You'll be there during the PEAK season. Why on earth would you think that you could just show up and find a room? It is my understanding that during the tsunami year there were a lot of people sleeping on the beaches because they 'just showed up'... not that being in a room would have been any safer.

Phi Phi is honestly a mess. The government has threatened several times in the past to take it back over from the locals mafia families that have built hotels and bungalows on national park land. There is no sewage disposal system (guess where it goes?), no waste management system, much of the coral is gone and it's going to be crowded in December. Don’t take my word for it, just Google ‘Phi Phi environmental damage’ or something like that and you’ll get plenty of info. Here’s a quote from this site:

“Unplanned and rampant development had led to a litany of environmental problems—overcrowded ports and roads, litter-strewn beaches, and turquoise seas awash in carelessly discarded bottles and cans. In fact, tourism officials and local environmentalists had become so concerned that in November 2004, a month before the tsunami leveled hundreds of shops and all but two of the island's dozens of accommodations, the Thai land-use planning agency scheduled its first public hearing to discuss rehabilitating the Phi Phi Islands.”

If you don't mind crowds and being hassled to buy stuff, then Phi Phi is sort of OK. The rock formations are nice and the water is clear, but you can get that in the bay and without the thundering masses all around you. So, if you're after a special vacation and want to stay of the well-worn tourist path, I suggest missing both Krabi and Phi Phi. You can spend more time on Ko Yao Noi or Ko Yao Yai as both of these islands have retained their charm and the locals are doing their best to keep the mass tourism market away.

We've travelled extensively in Thailand over the past few years and altough Phi Phi and Krabi are busy with tourists they still have a charm and we still find ourselves returning each year for a few days on the way to more remote and quieter places. Accommodation will be hard to find if you just turn up.

I do think that it will be hard to find somewhere to stay in both areas at that time. I would be trying towards the top of the hill on the side track at Ton Sai next to Railay, and in Krabi town itself.
Lanta is a much bigger island - I think you will have more chance. Usually a load of touts at the prier and often on the ferry.
Ko Jum is accessed by the same Krabi-Lanta ferry. There are often touts on the boat for places here and you could ask the guys who pull alongside the ferry in their longtails to take off passengers if they have vacancies - if so, bail off, if not, go on to Lanta.
Lanta is a nice island, as is Jum (which is more laid back) but they are not as visually spectacular as Railay and Phi Phi. I have a fair bit of info on all these places in the second link below.

we met some girls going over on the ferry on NYE, they had no accommodation. We had pre-booked. They slept on the beach because the island WAS TOTALLY BOOKED OUT.... there was lots of people sleeping on the beach, although some of them could have passed out on the way home!!