december in the caribbean?

[Loggerhead]

I'm thinking of doing the Eastern caribbean cruise on the Ruby Dec.19 to St. Thomas, St.Marten and Grand Turk. If you've been there near Christmas from Ft. Lauderdale, how was the weather/temperatures?

[Colo Cruiser]

I'm thinking of doing the Eastern caribbean cruise on the Ruby Dec.19 to St. Thomas, St.Marten and Grand Turk. If you've been there near Christmas from Ft. Lauderdale, how was the weather/temperatures?

 

 

Mid 70' to mid 80's.

Always a chance of showers.

[janina]

Most days in the 80's. Lots of rain in November, and it settles off toward December..or at least when we have sailed.

[Toto2Kansas]

You just never know what type of weather you might have. We sailed a 14 day Caribbean Cruise at that time of year a few years ago, and I had never seen it rain that much on one cruise. But the following year, it was probably just a few showers. There is absolutely no predicting what you might find weather wise. Good luck though!

[Loggerhead]

Thanks for the info!

[Tatka]

We sailed three times in November.

 

Twice Bahamas/Western on Thanksgiving

 

Once Southern mid-November

 

Out of these three, we had during the Southern, 1/2 day of heavy rain in PR, 1 a bit rainy day in St Thomas

 

We noticed that weather was a bit cooler especially in FLL and Bahamas.

 

Seas were also not very calm, we couldn't call Jamaica because of high winds, and couldn't tender in Georgetown, had to go to Crown Bay. On two different cruises

[ssbeagle]

We did the western Caribbean at that time of year and we had the best weather. We did get some rain on our sea days but nothing that lasted very long. It wasn't too hot and it was a great time to get that last minute holiday shopping done.

[caribill]

I'm thinking of doing the Eastern caribbean cruise on the Ruby Dec.19 to St. Thomas, St.Marten and Grand Turk. If you've been there near Christmas from Ft. Lauderdale, how was the weather/temperatures?

 

Did that cruise last year.

 

Fort Lauderdale was in the midst of a cold wave and in the 50s.

 

Princess Cays was at a good temperature, not too hot and not too cool.

 

St. Thomas and St. Maarten were very warm.

[kywildcatfanone]

We have been over Thanksgiving week a couple of times, and Christmas once, and each time the weather has been worse than during the spring. Typically a bit cooler, but cloudy and rainy a lot more than we experience at other times. However, you never know what you will get. Last year, we sailed Christmas week, and had relatively poor weather, but my sister in law sailed the same ship/itinerary the week before us, and had perfect weather the entire week.

 

Mike

[PescadoAmarillo]

We also did a 14 night cruise in the Caribbean in December (2000), from Fort Lauderdale to La Guaira, Venezuela, and it poured every day until Aruba on Day 12. But we've also cruised in December in 2003 and 2005, and the weather was fine. I don't mind the brief showers during the late afternoon (great rainbows!), but it's the all day rains that can put a "damper" on a day in port.

[OnVacation11]

We have cruised the Caribbean at Christmas for the last 5 years and had excellent weather in the high 70s to mid 80s (the further south you sail) with an occassional shower. Sure beats the weather in PA in December !

[Infi]

Princess Cays (and anything in the Bahamas) will almost always reflect the weather in FL - if it's cold in FL, expect chillier waters there. We sailed the Ruby for Christmas last year and Princess Cays was our last stop. There was a cold front in South FL, so the waters were pretty chilly in the Cays. The rest of the Eastern Caribbean is further south and should be plenty warm, high 70s and 80s. There's always a chance for rain in the Caribbean, but the showers pass quickly. Bring an umbrella, being prepared for it always seems to ward off the rain. :)

[vagabond lady]

Is there any get together planned? Has anyone sailed to these islands before? St Vincent- St Kitts?

[geoherb]

Over half of our cruises have been during late November or December. The weather in the islands has always been warm. We've hit some cold spells in Florida. On one cruise, we got back to Miami during a record low for the date--31 degrees F.

[lovetocruise1960]

We'll be cruising the week before you so hopefully we'll have a good spell then too. Cruised in 2006 Eastern and weather was hot and wonderful. I did notice the water wasn't quite as warm as in early October though. Have a great time. I know I will:o

[HomelessBear]

We have done xmas / new years cruises the past few years and the caribbean weather at that time of year has been fab! As others have said, the odd rain shower, but it soon cleared up and the majority of the time it was hot (but not too hot for me) and sunny. Just lovely - especially when the UK here is shiverring with ice and snow! Its also a really nice time of year to see the islands in my opinion.

Happy cruising!

[PescadoAmarillo]

Is there any get together planned? Has anyone sailed to these islands before? St Vincent- St Kitts?

I was going to post a link to the roll call for your cruise, but I see you already found it. Have a great cruise!

[Carolyn R]

I see you are from Florida. You can expect the first two and last two days of your cruise to pretty much reflect the weather in Florida at that time of year. Being from Vermont that would be just fine with me, better than snow and freezing. As much as I love the Ruby, I prefer to sail the 7-day Southern Caribbean cruises out of San Juan as you are more likely to have the warmest weather, especially during the months of Dec/Jan/Feb. The 10-day cruises on the Emerald out of FLL go the the southern Caribbean too.

[navychop3]

On a related note, my wife and I were considering that same cruise, and found that the same Ruby cruise, one week earlier, was a good bit less.