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Caribbean in December - Weather? Rough Seas?


SLOTheta
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I tried searching on CC, I couldn’t find anything about the Caribbean weather and turbulence during the holidays. We’ve gone on one cruise and it was really calm in the Mediterranean during the summer. We only had one rough night. When I mentioned thinking about a Caribbean cruise during the holidays, my 2 friends that have sailed in the Caribbean said they had rough seas and were quite motion sick. I’m usually easy to get sick, but I was surprisingly fine on the Eurodam Med Cruise we took.

 

Any thoughts on what to expect weather and motion wise?

 

Has anyone taken this itinerary and can give me some feedback?

 

https://www.hollandamerica.com/en_US/find-a-cruise/C8A07I/E885.html

 

 

 

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Nothing is ever guaranteed, but my holiday cruises in the Northern Caribbean have been relatively smooth. I found rougher seas the further south or further east we went.

 

But also, I don't have an issue with rough seas beyond those caused by inertia, so even the very roughest seas I've ever experienced have been more of an inconvenience to me in terms of moving about the ship than anything else.

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Seas can be rough any time, any place. It is not predictable until the couple days prior.

 

Ever wonder why so many people go to the Caribbean in the winter? Because it is warmer than North America!

 

You could Google search weather for a couple of your ports (or nearby cities)...for example, "December weather Havana".

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We've sailed the Caribbean during hurricane season and had seas as smooth as glass and we've sailed at other rimes with rough seas. Really no way to predict what will happen during your sailing. There are many different types of motion sickness remedies available to you. Patches, pills, ginger and on and on. I would take along something that you know works for you. Hope you have a wonderful cruise!

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We've never cruised over the holidays, but we've done 7 mid-Dec cruises and never had any rough seas in the Caribbean. At the start of one western C cruise, we had a rough patch between Tampa and Key West.

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The majority of our December cruises were calm.

But a full Panama Canal transit we did over Christmas we had rough seas when we left the canal and were heading to Aruba. So bad everyone was ordered back to their cabins at 9 PM, second dinner was cancelled and the elevators were taken as low as possible -- pools were emptied -- a Princess cruise.

Weather is unpredictable.

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My last holiday cruise in the Eastern Caribbean had lots of rough weather. I've also done several December and early January cruises in the Western Caribbean and they are always iffy on sea conditions. The western Caribbean in particular is affected by cold fronts that sweep across the Great Plains and can reach as far south as Central America. They typically arrive with strong wind and some rough seas. Or, as other posters have experienced, it can be calm.

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We seem to be giving the OP the impression that everything will be OK. UH...no one can predict what weather or seas will be like next week never the less in 6 months...its the sea...it moves...sometimes more so than others, its a ship, it moves with the sea...if movement is a problem, then maybe a cruise is something that shouldn't be undertaken.

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We seem to be giving the OP the impression that everything will be OK. UH...no one can predict what weather or seas will be like next week never the less in 6 months...its the sea...it moves...sometimes more so than others, its a ship, it moves with the sea...if movement is a problem, then maybe a cruise is something that shouldn't be undertaken.

 

I agree. People seem to think sailing a ship on the oceans of the world should always be smooth, and regularly come here for reassurance that it WILL be smooth. Well, the ocean moves, and ships move upon it. It might be calm, it might be rough. Likely it will be somewhere in between. Mother Nature always the final say, and frequently not until the last couple of days.

 

It should also be noted the route the OP references is only about 1/3 actually in the Caribbean. The rest is in the Atlantic, and the Atlantic is commonly rougher than the Caribbean.

 

And we have sailed on less than calm (5-7 foot seas) on the Caribbean in December.

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I have done several early to mid Dec cruises in the Caribbean and never had rough seas, but of course a storm can come up at any time and change this. I would not be afraid to book this time frame.

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We seem to be giving the OP the impression that everything will be OK. UH...no one can predict what weather or seas will be like next week never the less in 6 months...its the sea...it moves...sometimes more so than others, its a ship, it moves with the sea...if movement is a problem, then maybe a cruise is something that shouldn't be undertaken.

My guess is the OP is intelligent enough to know that. There is no need to belittle them.

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My guess is the OP is intelligent enough to know that. There is no need to belittle them.

 

Well if they are "intelligent" enough to know that, then why are they presenting the question, especially here, where apparently remarks like mine are misread. The ocean does't take notice of holidays to remain calm, just because you decide to cruise during the holidays

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Thank you for all your opinions and experiences. I do understand that you can’t predict weather, but I wanted to hear from those who have cruised in the Caribbean previously. Since I travel to Europe and Asia often, people often ask me what’s the weather like during x months. I could just say, check the almanac, but since I’ve been about 20 times, I give them a general idea of what to expect and tell them to check a week out. I was surprised by my friend’s response when I told her when we were thinking about a holiday cruise in the Caribbean. They are much more experienced cruisers than my husband and me (3*) and she told me to avoid it. I thought I would throw it out on CC to see what others have experienced.

 

We are still deciding between 3 Caribbean Cruises, I’ll probably throw that out there later to get CC collaborative opinions.

 

 

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