January Cruise weather

[Roce48]

What type of weather and sea conditions would someone traveling from Barcelona to London expect? 

[Jim Avery]

16 minutes ago, Roce48 said:

What type of weather and sea conditions would someone traveling from Barcelona to London expect? 

In January?  The Bay of Biscay has a long reputation for nasty seas, or as one Cunard Captain called it "boisterous".  I would expect fairly rough seas and if you are pleasantly surprised, good. 

[Peregrina651]

1 hour ago, Roce48 said:

What type of weather and sea conditions would someone traveling from Barcelona to London expect? 

 

No matter what, you will not see the words "lake effect snows" in the forecast.

 

Barcelona-- expect the mid 50s during the day, colder overnight and in the early morning until it warms up. It will warm up a bit as you head south, but not much.  Malaga will be a lot warmer than it is Granada, which is nestled in the mountains of the Sierra Nevada, expect not much higher than 50.  If you are touring the Alhambra, it will be cold in the buildings and warm boots are a good plan.

 

Note that Spain, which should be in the same time zone as  is on Central European time (GMT+1) and sunrise will be late, close to 8am.

 

Edited December 10, 2018 by Peregrina651

[orchestrapal]

3 hours ago, Roce48 said:

What type of weather and sea conditions would someone traveling from Barcelona to London expect? 

 

We have endured terrible seas in and out of Barcelona in the spring and fall and certainly would not recommend January.

[Peregrina651]

1 hour ago, orchestrapal said:

 

We have endured terrible seas in and out of Barcelona in the spring and fall and certainly would not recommend January.

 

 

It is a crap shoot. We sailed out of Barcelona on the last two NYE cruises and had no weather-related issues; good weather for most of the time and did not miss a single port. In 2017, the cruise after us had an awful time and missed a couple of ports. One never knows. I'd rather sail in January than in the heat and the crowds of summer.

[Heidi13]

17 hours ago, Roce48 said:

What type of weather and sea conditions would someone traveling from Barcelona to London expect? 

Concur with Jim, from experience the Bay of Biscay and the Western Approaches to the channel can be rather lumpy, but they do also get lots of rain to wash off the salt spray. Winds of 35+ kts and steep seas are not uncommon.

 

However, many cruise passengers survive the experience annually, as most UK based world cruises depart in January and cross through the Bay of Biscay.

Edited December 10, 2018 by Heidi13

[Heidi13]

14 hours ago, orchestrapal said:

 

We have endured terrible seas in and out of Barcelona in the spring and fall and certainly would not recommend January.

Spent the entire first 3 months cruising the Meddy 1 year and only hit a couple of storms off Greece and another year did a UK/Haifa shuttle for 4 months (Jan - April) with no storms.

 

Weather varies significantly as do our tolerances to weather. I have cruised the Meddy for all/most of January on 2 separate years with minimal weather issues.

 

However, Bay of Biscay tends to be more predictable with weather issues, especially in winter.