Cruising in early january/late december

[latebuyer]

It seems like there are good prices on caribbean cruises early january. But i know last year was a mess with snow at airport in vancouver. This year you had the bahamas cruise that was diverted to east coast. Am i extrapolating based on recent events or is it a bad time to go?

[navybankerteacher]

2 minutes ago, latebuyer said:

It seems like there are good prices on caribbean cruises early january. But i know last year was a mess with snow at airport in vancouver. This year you had the bahamas cruise that was diverted to east coast. Am i extrapolating based on recent events or is it a bad time to go?

Our September cruise to Bermuda wound up going to Nassau. Stuff occasionally happens, so while the odds are very strong that you will go where intended, you have to accept the possibility that a glitch might arise —- so it is important that you be happy with being on the ship, and not see certain arrival at advertised port(s) as essential to you.

 

We enjoyed the ship - and just stayed aboard in Nassau (which we had seen too many times) where the heat and humidity was unbearable.

[mrgabriel]

When we lived in Florida we went in about a dozen January cruises. In general, the weather was good - certainly warmer than a lot of places. The first and last day were often chilly - like under 10C or 50ish F but after that it was nice. I would definitely cruise to the Caribbean in January. 
 

We did a Mexican Riviera cruise last January out of LA and the weather wasn’t nearly as nice as the Caribbean. But that may have been a one-off with that weather system that whacked the western half of the continent in December. 

[leaveitallbehind]

We have done numerous Caribbean cruises in that timeframe and all have been excellent weather wise.  The Bahamas, which is much further north than the Caribbean, can be less predictable as it is essentially southern FL weather, so what is normal that time of the year there will be similar in the Bahamas.  

 

IMO yes, you are "extrapolating".   Stick to the Caribbean, plan at least a day travel in advance to help mitigate any weather related travel issues from the north, and enjoy your cruise.  

 

BTW the reason some of the fares are lower then has a lot to do with peak vacation travel with Christmas and New Years, when children are out of school, and the weeks before and after when family travel is much more limited.

[shipgeeks]

We have sailed out of Baltimore, to Bahamas or Caribbean, every winter for years.  We board in long pants, sweaters, and coats. Coats go under the bed the second day.  I don't think we've ever had a change of ports on these winter cruises, although we have, occasionally, in other months.

[leaveitallbehind]

1 hour ago, mrgabriel said:

We did a Mexican Riviera cruise last January out of LA and the weather wasn’t nearly as nice as the Caribbean. But that may have been a one-off with that weather system that whacked the western half of the continent in December. 

Not surprising as the Mexican Riviera, while very nice weather wise, is still considerably north of the Caribbean - more in the latitudes of the Gulf of Mexico, which is above the Caribbean. Still a pretty big difference weather wise that time of year.

Edited December 22, 2023 by leaveitallbehind

[Ashland]

2 hours ago, mrgabriel said:

When we lived in Florida we went in about a dozen January cruises. In general, the weather was good - certainly warmer than a lot of places. The first and last day were often chilly - like under 10C or 50ish F but after that it was nice. I would definitely cruise to the Caribbean in January. 
 

We did a Mexican Riviera cruise last January out of LA and the weather wasn’t nearly as nice as the Caribbean. But that may have been a one-off with that weather system that whacked the western half of the continent in December. 

Our January 17, 2022 on Navigator we were lucky and had great weather.

[donaldsc]

You could also  make the same case for traveling in the Bahamas from June 1 to Nov 30 because it is hurricane season.

 

DON

[clackey]

We have had to bug out early twice because of bad weather.  Once we left 2 days early during an ice storm.  Then last year, we left 3 days early because of an impending storm and loafed our way down through Mississippi stopping at Clarksdale for a Blues fix.  Visited the Crossroads and then went to Vicksburg and toured the Civil War Battlefield. A day early in New Orleans let us look around the French Quarter.  It turned out swell.  I can understand the anxiety when one has to time a cruise around a work schedule or flights. Fortunately, we are retired and can go with whatever Mother Nature wants to throw at us.

 

That being said, winter is usually the best time to cruise if you are looking for cheaper cruises.

[Heidi13]

6 hours ago, latebuyer said:

It seems like there are good prices on caribbean cruises early january. But i know last year was a mess with snow at airport in vancouver. This year you had the bahamas cruise that was diverted to east coast. Am i extrapolating based on recent events or is it a bad time to go?

 

Vancouver winter flights are always a potential risk, as although we rarely get snow, a couple of inches can cause gridlock on the streets and flight delays at YVR. Really easy to mitigate this risk - leave at least 1 day early and stay at the port pre-cruise.

 

Our last World Cruise started in San Pedro in early January, so we flew down 2-days early,

 

Weather is unpredictable and what was experienced last year, or even last week is not what you may experience. The Bahamas is also further North than most of the traditional Caribbean islands. One benefit of cruising this region in Dec/Jan is that TRS (Hurricane) season is over. 

[sanger727]

We love traveling during this time period. Caribbean/Bahamas cruises often have nice weather. Whether or not you can fly out of the area you live in January is another story. 

[wolft927]

Have Cruised many times during this time frame and luckily have had great weather. If going out of Port Canaveral, expect high 60's to low 70s, Miami usually mid 70s. We have also Cruised out of New Orleans this time of year and temps in the 60's then by 1st sea day approaching 80. 

 

We drive to the ports so we always head down at least one day earlier, but have left an extra day earlier to beat weather.

[Mum2Mercury]

On 12/22/2023 at 2:46 PM, latebuyer said:

It seems like there are good prices on caribbean cruises early january. But i know last year was a mess with snow at airport in vancouver. This year you had the bahamas cruise that was diverted to east coast. Am i extrapolating based on recent events or is it a bad time to go?

Not exactly what you asked, but I've sailed the first week of December ... sandwiched between holidays, it's often a bargain week.  The weather is typically chilly but not cold; you can count on wearing shorts during the day and (depending upon your personal thermometer) might need a light jacket in the evening.  

Of course, temperature can vary widely.  I remember once we sailed on Thanksgiving, and it was very, very cold ... not typical at all for the Caribbean.  

On 12/22/2023 at 2:53 PM, navybankerteacher said:

Stuff occasionally happens

So true, so true.  Any week of the year, stuff occasionally happens.  I'd be okay signing up for a cruise at this time of year under these conditions: 

- If the price were low, and -- excepting Christmas and New Year's -- they often are at this time of year.  

- If I could drive to the cruise.  Okay, not a total deal-breaker, but you're more "in control" if you can drive to the cruise.  

- I wouldn't want to make this a once-in-a-lifetime cruise.  The weather could mess things up, so I'd want to be sure all members of my party were coming in with a roll-with-the-punches attitude.  

[navybankerteacher]

Bahamas cruises in January (which tend to hit uninteresting ports on short itineraries) in January can give you cool/chilly weather.  
 

The Caribbean is completely different - it is generally tropical and almost certain to be warm, it offers a variety of ports, and generally involves longer itineraries - a week or so - which makes the effort of getting to the port worthwhile.  Lumping the two regions together when discussing January cruises makes very little sense.

[SbbquilterUT]

Love to cruise the first week in December - ship was decorated and prices were great.  January is very nice, particularly Southern Caribbean.  One holiday timeframe cruise made us realize not for us - high prices, loads of children, large family groups that took over public spaces preventing us from enjoying being out around the ship.  

[Hlitner]

Dec-Jan is usually a great time to go to the Caribbean.  This year was a real outlier with a few weeks of awful weather (especially in the Western Caribbean) including rain, 3-4 meter seas, etc.  DW and I have been going to the Caribbean in early December for decades and this was the only year where we had multiple days of awful weather.  Such is life.

 

Hank