Help! How cold is it on a Baja cruise in November?

We have never cruised during winter. What should we pack for a Carnival Inspiration Baja cruise. Do we still need shorts and T's , tanks and swim suits? California winter is tricky and not sure about Ensinada.

It's really hard to say. Start checking the 10 day weather before you leave and pack accordingly. It will be very similar to San Diego weather.

Also, it won't be winter. It will still be fall.

We found boarding in Long Beach just a little on the cool side, jacket weather, and the rest of the cruise was just right. We're from the Midwest so left highs in the 40s, boarded in the high 60s, then mainly saw around 80 after that.

Living here and having done that cruise in November and January (for some reason, we never seem to go at the typical times!), the most I've ever needed was a sweatshirt or a windbreaker. I was born and raised in Michigan, and that's all I take with me for warmer clothes. Yes, I take dress pants or dresses/skirts for dinner, but most of the time, I'm in tshirts and shorts..

Our experience has been cool sailing away warm enough for shorts in Baja and cool sailing back -

Normally I would tell you that could expect highs in the mid 70's mostly sunny skies & smooth sailing. However with the El Nino effect in overdrive this year that may or may not be the case. The last time we had an El Nino even close to this level we had over 1/2 billion dollars in storm damage. 1997 we had over 31" of rain which doesn't sound like a lot to most people but that was 135% increase over our normal rainfall

If the weather holds out nice for you it should be lovely weather & very warm water (for the Pacific). If it was me I would consider going out of one the gulf ports or Fl & not take the chance that you are going to be drenched the entire trip.

Cool in LA but real nice is Ensenada.

In late October 2013 it was too cold for the water slides in Ensenada, it was actually warmer in LA/Catalina than Ensenada that cruise.

It was 102 out here today. We cruised January of 2011 and it was pretty warm during the day, but cooled off a lot at night. It is supposed to be an El Niño year, but he has yet to show up.

It was 102 out here today. We cruised January of 2011 and it was pretty warm during the day, but cooled off a lot at night. It is supposed to be an El Niño year, but he has yet to show up.

You can tell the El Nino is affecting us already if you have been in the ocean lately. Water temps have been in the low to mid 70's as opposed to our usual high 60's it is actually nice to get in the water for a change.

It's really hard to say. Start checking the 10 day weather before you leave and pack accordingly. It will be very similar to San Diego weather.

 

Also, it won't be winter. It will still be fall.

^^This. Even 10 days is too far out. Start checking the weather 5-7 days before and add/take out clothes accordingly. I have noticed accuweather.com is usually a few degrees higher than weather.com, so I just go by the average of the 2.

If it's stormy or has been stormy go to La Bufadora. It really puts on a show when the water is rough.

Thanks to everyone that took the time to reply. We went to the dollar store and purchased ponchos for any rain, and selected our official sweatshirt and last but not least we are taking no chances and stocking up on sea sickness remedies (we have never needed it before but this is a smaller ship than we have sailed on in possible rough seas).

I think I'm covered, but what do you think?

It is really a hit or miss!

Last year we sailed on the Inspiration out of Long Beach for Thanksgiving week and got super lucky! Weather was in the low 80s and just perfect. I do remember that the following week though, the weather got bad and cold and if I remember correctly, it did rain the following week.

So you just never know during that time of year! :)

First of all, realize that it is not really very far at all from Long Beach to Ensenada...You could drive it in about three hours. Both are on the coast...the weather won't really be much different between the two.

Most of the year, and in most years, the weather is fairly predictable...But November is one of the hard times to predict...and this year, because of the El Nino, will also be hard to predict...

November is, traditionally, the start of the "rainy season"--which usually still doesn't mean much rain--just that there MIGHT be some (April-October usually means zero rain, especially in May-September). Between November and March, there will usually be some rain...but it is intermittent...a day here or a day there...sometimes a week of rain then back to warm and sunny for a month or two...Often, we will have blue skies and temperatures in the 90s in December...

Of course, it has been EXCEPTIONALLY dry the past few years, hence the drought...But, this coming season, the predictions call for the return of "El Nino"--which should cause a much higher amount of rainfall--although that does not necessarily mean the typical colder temperatures that come with rainfall here. A lot of the rainfall will come from warmer tropical storms pushed north...

So, basically, the answer is that nobody really knows what weather you (Or I--I'm cruising to Cabo November 20) will see. Watch the advance forecasts on the internet as the cruise approaches...and pack accordingly...

You just really never know. For me, I wouldn't be expecting warm weather and it might possibly cool out on the water. The weather off the coast - e.g., Valle Guadalupe - will be warmer.

Here are the historical averages for November: http://www.wunderground.com/history/airport/MMTJ/2015/11/20/MonthlyCalendar.html?req_city=Ensenada&req_state=&req_statename=Mexico&reqdb.zip=00000&reqdb.magic=1&reqdb.wmo=76050

I am personally expecting wetter and cooler than normal because of the extremely strong El Nino.