So who cruises the Caribbean in September/October?

[Taishartrueblood]

I was just curious about this as it is a time of the year where most North American kids are in school (Americans being the primary Caribbean cruisers). Is it primarily retired people who can cruise anytime? :)

 

Just a random thought

[Flatbush Flyer]

36 minutes ago, Taishartrueblood said:

I was just curious about this as it is a time of the year where most North American kids are in school (Americans being the primary Caribbean cruisers). Is it primarily retired people who can cruise anytime? 🙂

 

Just a random thought

Time of the year matters little to us. And the only time we'd ever cruise through the Caribbean would be if it was part of the only itinerary on our preferred line that got us to the Amazon or the Canal when we wanted to go.

 

[navybankerteacher]

1 hour ago, Taishartrueblood said:

I was just curious about this as it is a time of the year where most North American kids are in school (Americans being the primary Caribbean cruisers). Is it primarily retired people who can cruise anytime? 🙂

 

Just a random thought

Anyone with vacation time can cruise any time.  Of course, parents of school age children are unlikely to cruise during school session —- but there are millions or people who do not have school age children.  In fact, people without children are much more likely to be able to afford to cruise than those with school age children.

[lenquixote66]

1 hour ago, Taishartrueblood said:

I was just curious about this as it is a time of the year where most North American kids are in school (Americans being the primary Caribbean cruisers). Is it primarily retired people who can cruise anytime? 🙂

 

Just a random thought

We will be doing a 14 night Caribbean cruise beginning in October and ending in November.Normally when cruising to the Caribbean we do so in December,January or February.

[gammite]

i prefer to cruise this time of year specifically because most kids have just started school and are unlikely to have parents take them out of school for another vacation after just finishing summer vacation.

[DirtyDawg]

4 hours ago, Taishartrueblood said:

I was just curious about this as it is a time of the year where most North American kids are in school (Americans being the primary Caribbean cruisers). Is it primarily retired people who can cruise anytime? 🙂

 

Just a random thought

 

Of course there are Grandmas and Grandpas in America who can look after school-aged grandkids for a week while Mommy and Daddy have a well deserved break.

 

Also,  older high school aged kids could look after themselves for a week too. If you don't care if you will have a house left when you get home that is.💥

 

 

[AKJonesy]

We don't cruise during that time due to it being hurricane season...been there, did that already.  I would not think that school age children or college students would be cruising due to need to be in school, unless it was a very short 3-5 day.  We mostly cruise a minimum of 14 days and also longer.  In that regard, it is unlikely that parents are going to keep their kids out of school that long.  No judgement on other people's preferences, but ours as retirees is cruising without kids as much as possible.  

[Tapi]

My wife and I used to sail during those months before we had children, and we would still see tons of kids onboard (definitely not as many as during school breaks, but still a pretty strong presence). Parents do pull kids out of school to take advantage of low season pricing. That’s how family friendly lines like Disney fill their ships up year round. 

 

Speaking of Disney, we have several friends who do pull their kids out of school to sail on Disney because that’s when the prices are most affordable and when they can afford it. Otherwise, a Disney Cruise would be prohibitively expensive for them.

[leaveitallbehind]

We have in both September and October.  Along with November, December, January, March, April, July, and August.  (I guess the only months over the years we haven't would be February, May, and June).  We weren't retired for any of them. (Well I just retired in January, so I was on this past March cruise - but my wife still works). Had our kids on some, not on others.

Edited September 30, 2019 by leaveitallbehind

[TNcruising02]

We have cruised in September six times and two of those times our itineraries were changed due to the weather.  September is my favorite month to cruise.  The weather is nice, there are a lot less children on board, and the overall vibe is relaxing because the crowd is older.  We have not been able to retire yet, but our children are adults.

Edited September 30, 2019 by TNcruising02

[Cruiser_1977]

I just cruised in September. I'm 41, no kids. I picked it because the price and itinerary were "right" and I needed a quick trip to tide me over until January. My cruise had all types. Families with young kids, retired folks, Super Mario, multi-generational groups celebrating events.

[leaveitallbehind]

11 minutes ago, JennyB1977 said:

I just cruised in September....(with) Super Mario.....

 

As a side note, have cruised with him twice - interesting individual.

[lab_love123]

Most of my cruises have been in October/November. I'm in my early 30s, I don't have children, and I can use my vacation time any time of the year (although I don't generally vacation in September for work-load reasons). In my opinion, if you have no reason preventing you from cruising in September or October, it's a great time of year to go. There's an inherent risk to Caribbean itineraries in those months, but that usually results in really good pricing. While I've never been on a cruise with ZERO kids, there are definitely fewer. Other passengers have been really mixed - senior, young adult, middle age, etc. JennyB1977 describes it accurately!

[Warm Breezes]

We have cruised in Sept/Oct 5 times out of our 20 cruises.  All of them have been since 2013 when our now adult kids were in their late teens and could stay at home alone.  We have our next one booked in 3 weeks.  Our anniversary is in October so I imagine we will have many more in that time period in the future.  The one thing I have noticed on these cruises is there are fewer families and many more couples in their 40's-50's-60's.

Edited October 1, 2019 by Warm Breezes

[leaveitallbehind]

51 minutes ago, lab_love123 said:

Most of my cruises have been in October/November. I'm in my early 30s, I don't have children, and I can use my vacation time any time of the year (although I don't generally vacation in September for work-load reasons). In my opinion, if you have no reason preventing you from cruising in September or October, it's a great time of year to go. There's an inherent risk to Caribbean itineraries in those months, but that usually results in really good pricing. While I've never been on a cruise with ZERO kids, there are definitely fewer. Other passengers have been really mixed - senior, young adult, middle age, etc. JennyB1977 describes it accurately!

 

While you are correct that that time of year typically offers lower pricing than other peak cruising times (such Holidays and summers for families with children not in school), if by "inherent risk" you mean hurricane season, that is not the key reason. Lower pricing then is primarily because of lower demand resulting from it being a non-peak period with children in school, and not as a result of the potential weather risk.  That risk runs from June through November, and none of the peak summer months have lowered pricing. 🙂

 

That being said, I agree completely with your sentiments in choosing that time of year if your schedule allows.  There typically are also a number of very favorably priced re-positioning cruises during that time to consider as well.

[Zach1213]

On 9/29/2019 at 12:02 PM, Taishartrueblood said:

I was just curious about this as it is a time of the year where most North American kids are in school (Americans being the primary Caribbean cruisers). Is it primarily retired people who can cruise anytime? 🙂

 

Just a random thought

 

There are plenty of us who are not retired and do not have kids - DINKs, if you will. To my wife and I, it is a priority to vacation at places and times that are likely to have the absolutely minimum of children/families. 

Edited October 1, 2019 by Zach1213

[pacruise804]

On 9/29/2019 at 1:02 PM, Taishartrueblood said:

I was just curious about this as it is a time of the year where most North American kids are in school (Americans being the primary Caribbean cruisers). Is it primarily retired people who can cruise anytime? 🙂

 

Just a random thought

 

Our anniversary is in October, so we have often cruised in September or October to celebrate depending on work and school schedules.  Our children don't cruise with us (except for a graduation cruise), but we have seen children on the cruises.  Some children likely hadn't started school yet while others may have been homeschooled and others still were just being removed from school for a vacation.

 

While hurricane season is June through November, September and October are the peak months (I've seen a lot of August activity too) and there is more risk sailing the Atlantic and Caribbean during these months. 

[camorelli]

I've cruised in September with my husband while the kids stayed home, but we also took the kids with us on an October cruise once.  Getting ready to sail again in November while the kids stay home with Grandma.  :)

[Shmoo here]

On 9/29/2019 at 10:02 AM, Taishartrueblood said:

I was just curious about this as it is a time of the year where most North American kids are in school (Americans being the primary Caribbean cruisers). Is it primarily retired people who can cruise anytime? :)

 

Just a random thought

Of our 25 cruises 6 of them were Sep or Oct in Caribbean.

 

 

[Nic6318]

On 9/29/2019 at 1:02 PM, Taishartrueblood said:

I was just curious about this as it is a time of the year where most North American kids are in school (Americans being the primary Caribbean cruisers). Is it primarily retired people who can cruise anytime? :)

 

Just a random thought

 

Hi

 

I think you could work it out yourself by asking the question in a different way. 

 

For instance... who wouldn't cruise the Caribbean at this (or any time of year)?

 

Some of the answers you already understand. Those families with kids that aren't willing to keep them out of school. Those that are concerned of hurricanes. Those that don't have any vacation time. You read it often on this site how many people can/will only travel during holiday times periods and very specifically when school is out. Those that don't have any money left. It goes on and on.

 

The bottom line is that there are many cruise lines with many more ships that are sailing weekly. Maybe not overly full, as there will not be as many children, but sailing close to capacity. So clearly there are more than enough people that enjoy cruising the Caribbean at this time of the year. Apart from the fact there are fewer children roaming the hallways, the most likely draw for people that want to travel from the end of August to December is that the prices are lower.

 

I for one, love this time of year to travel. Last month I went to an all inclusive for a week and now I am looking forward to a cruise for next month. These would be considered a pre winter break for me. Once the weather gets really nasty at home I have found that I prefer being here, just in case, plus traveling during winter weather can be treacherous. Once the worst of winter is passed, I will start looking again for where I can go. 

 

 

[Kate P.C]

We have traveled the Caribbean only from March to May and we loved it! We enjoy the Caribbean so much and we would love to go anytime of the year, especially this when it's autumn or winter at home, but our working schedules don't allow it. Otherwise we would.

[jdvmd]

Have cruised many times during September, October, November. Great prices and usually great weather. Just be aware that if there is a hurricane, you will be rerouted.

[navybankerteacher]

On 10/29/2019 at 11:27 AM, Kate P.C said:

We have traveled the Caribbean only from March to May and we loved it! We enjoy the Caribbean so much and we would love to go anytime of the year, especially this when it's autumn or winter at home, but our working schedules don't allow it. Otherwise we would.

The Caribbean’s main attraction is the climate - between January and March, when it is cold, rainy, snowy and otherwise dreary in northern areas, it is good to feel the sun, swim in the 80+ degree waters and let someone else do the day to day housekeeping, cleaning, etc.  Beyond that, Catibbean cruising seems kind of pointless — inexpensive, perhaps, but then it should be - because the cruising part of it has been so dumbed down to maintain “attractive” pricing, and for many of us climate/weather conditions where we live are OK (why else would we live there?).

 

 

[Krazy Kruizers]

On 9/29/2019 at 1:02 PM, Taishartrueblood said:

I was just curious about this as it is a time of the year where most North American kids are in school (Americans being the primary Caribbean cruisers). Is it primarily retired people who can cruise anytime? 🙂

 

Just a random thought

 

We have cruised in October.

 

The majority of the children in our area are home schooled or take Cyber classes thus they can cruise any time they want to.

[Heidi13]

We cruise at any time of year, as our preferred cruise line has NO kids. With respect to the Caribbean, none of the itineraries are of interest at any time of year. Only visit it when the ship is transiting the region.