When is Best or Worst time to cruise? When will you NEVER cruise?

[EngIceDave]

With Carnival, which seems to have more kids and younger adults....

 

Best time to cruise? Right after holidays? Right before holidays?

Sept-Nov when kids are in skool? 

 

Spring the worst? Holidays the worst?

 

When will you never go?

Edited December 11, 2022 by EngIceDave

[JT1962]

Best time we have found is Jan - Feb (other than holiday weekends, first 2 weeks of May, last 3 weeks of September, first 3 weeks of Nov, first 2 weeks of December. 

Worst time is any holiday, March / most of April (Spring Break), late May - first week of September, Thanksgiving & Christmas. Will never go during Spring Break, Thanksgiving, Christmas or New Year’s.

[1kaper]

I’ll never go during the summer.  That’s because we live in a cold climate so we hate to miss the nice weather here. Nothing to do with the cruise. 
 

I’d probably avoid thanksgiving again. I don’t mind sailing during spring breaks as that is when we usually bring out kid. 
 

I’d do New Years.  Not sure about Christmas.  Maybe when my kid is older and parents aren’t around anymore. 

[mz-s]

I prefer to sail during the traditional school year and away from holidays. My favorite times of year are February-May, and September-November before Thanksgiving.

Edited December 11, 2022 by mz-s

[Jamman54]

Now that we're retired from our real jobs we don't cruise during spring break, June thru August, Thanksgiving,  Christmas, and New Year's. 😎

[Saint Greg]

The absolute best time in my opinion is the last week of February and first week of March. Because you’re in most cases getting spring weather just before the spring break crowds and prices. And if you’re a football fan…it’s after the Super Bowl. 
 

I probably won’t ever cruise thanksgiving or Christmas. That’s more of a family thing. I wouldn’t want to cruise spring break or right in the middle of summer.

[ObstructedView2]

Our favorite time to sail is February.

We never sail June to January.

 

 

 

✌

[sgttami]

My favorite time is November through March,/April excluding holiday weeks. To get away from the cold.

 

I don't cruise in summer since I live at the beach and kids are out of school so cruises are crowded.

[SERK]

I'll never go during Hurricane season which thankfully includes summer when kids are out of school.  I've been on several Thanksgiving cruises and believe it or not, it wasn't that bad with kids.  January and February seem to be the sweet spot though.

[mz-s]

6 minutes ago, SERK said:

I'll never go during Hurricane season which thankfully includes summer when kids are out of school.  I've been on several Thanksgiving cruises and believe it or not, it wasn't that bad with kids.  January and February seem to be the sweet spot though.

 

Thanksgiving is a good time to cruise, I typically don't though because it's expensive. But if you find a good one, don't hesitate in my opinion.

[LatinaInTexas]

Being from hot as hell Texas I don't vacation during summer months period. Last year's late Oct and this years Feb cruises were the worse weather wise. Coming and going had bad rocking and rolling, cold and windy, prob won't book those times again.

Guess my favorite times would be January, March, August, and September.

[pirate4me2]

We like to cruise Sept-Nov, or Fed-April, due to the temps and kids being in school. We do try to avoid holidays, and the big spring break weeks. 
Cruising during the summer we found it to be too hot in the islands for our taste. 

[wesorbeth]

Our first two cruises were over Thanksgiving, we will never do that again.  They are more expensive and crowded. We also won't cruise in the summer, our favorite time is late October.

[crooooze]

We book based on prices.
It’s probably no coincidence that lowest prices are during lowest demand times and when school is in session.  Checks most of the boxes… Less money. Less kids. Less crowds. Less heat.

[mmtska]

I don't like taking off of work, so since I"m a teacher, I usually hit up our spring break or something in the summer. Thanksgiving and Christmas-New Year's I wouldn't go. Too much stuff going on with my family.

[Palmetto Pilot]

57 minutes ago, crooooze said:

We book based on prices.
It’s probably no coincidence that lowest prices are during lowest demand times and when school is in session.  Checks most of the boxes… Less money. Less kids. Less crowds. Less heat.

We do too. Book based on the best deals. We just take the kids out of school.

[TeresaJ]

We live in the northern midwest  so January  or February from now on. Our kids are in college so we are empty nesters and typically we would cruise over spring break but would only do that now on an adult oriented cruise line.

 

Also we cruised in July this year and never again, just too hot. 

[Honolulu Blue]

Best for me is November to March, outside the Thanksgiving/Christmas/New Year's weeks.

 

I haven't, and probably won't ever, cruise during July or August.

[kelkel2]

My favorite time to go is January. But now that we have kids that’s less likely to happen. We will be stuck going during school breaks for the foreseeable future. If you’re trying to avoid diss, I would think march-September would be the worst. 

[luv2kroooz]

Depends where you are sailing....we would never got to Bahamas or Caribbean during the summer months.....too hot, too many kiddos. But we would certainly sail to Bermuda, Alaska or Canada during that time. We love the Caribbean in November or January.

[PhotoMike]

9 hours ago, mmtska said:

I don't like taking off of work, so since I"m a teacher, I usually hit up our spring break or something in the summer. Thanksgiving and Christmas-New Year's I wouldn't go. Too much stuff going on with my family.

My S/O is also a teacher, so it's Spring Break week for us, too. The 4 night Mon-Fri cruises really work out well in that regard, but we are doing a 6 night on the Dream (Sun-Sat) this spring. At least we get that Sunday after to recover before going back to work!

[jjzblla]

Our favorite time to sail is in February.  There are fewer kids (although there does seem to be more and more kids each year), the cruise rates are phenomenal, and often its still cold, rainy and overcast where we live, it's so wonderful to get to be in the sunshine and warmth.  Plus, we book our cruises fairly far in advance so it can seem to be forever before it's finally here.  Time flies by because we are busy with so many other things towards the end of the year that we don't think much about our upcoming cruise, school starting, all the kids activities, Halloween, Thanksgiving, Christmas, then the kids go back to school.  A month later, we're on a ship.

[Joebucks]

April-May is my favorite. Great prices, great weather, and non-peak time. Sept-Oct is good too. As long as you don't hit hurricane season. Then I like Jan-Feb. It's a great time to escape the horrible weather here. However, it's more likely to experience cold weather elsewhere. Jan-Feb is good if you go far enough south.

 

Summer is the absolute worst time to cruise. Way too hot. Too many families. Double the price. I refuse. Besides, there's plenty of fun things to do in the summer where I live. Save cruising for when the weather isn't so hot here. Spring break is the next no-no. Too many kids.

 

Holidays can have their disadvantages, but I think they have more advantages than summer and spring break.

[Drazil65]

Used to be anytime was a good time (yes, we were the parents that took DS out of school if needed  just to vacation) but now that DS is in college we are much more restricted.  We have always gone the week before Christmas (big family gift to each other) so that we are home for Christmas (we drive to port).  So that is a given, and then typically sometime around mid to end of May/very beginning of June.  DS is out of school for the summer early May.  Next year we will be in London for 10 days the last 2 weeks of May so our cruise will be in beginning of August (unless I get a really good offer for spring and move it to spring break timeframe.  

[mmtska]

2 hours ago, PhotoMike said:

My S/O is also a teacher, so it's Spring Break week for us, too. The 4 night Mon-Fri cruises really work out well in that regard, but we are doing a 6 night on the Dream (Sun-Sat) this spring. At least we get that Sunday after to recover before going back to work!

We’ve gone on 2 week long cruises during break. Sat-Sat. That Sunday is a godsend lol