Thoughts on Cruising in February?!?!?!

[lilybug23]

My DH and I purchased a future cruise certificate on our first cruise we took back in July on the Dream. I cannot wait to go again. We would like to go when there are not so many children on the ship. We would like to do an Eastern itenerary. Does anyone have any suggestions on which ship would be best or any insite into cruising in Feb?

[luckycruzer]

check an online TA..you can see the best price s and decide on your time slot. It is one of my cruzin months, also last of January each year

[dst]

We cruise every January (and sometimes in between) and have always enjoyed it. If you go far enough South, you will have wonderful weather.

 

We originally started in January because after the holidays the cruise ships tend to be a quieter and children are back in school.

 

Our upcoming Freedom trip is the latest we have ever gone........

 

Either way, a cruise certainly beats Ohio in the winter :D

[firefly333]

FL has a lot of benefits that time of year as a departure port. Temps are perfect that time in FL, while they are on the cool side from other ports like New Orleans.

 

I would first narrow it down by which ports are the most convenient to get to.

[SkyMaster]

We too, LOVE sailing after the kids are all back in school. (Well, most of 'em anyway.) :p We've done almost all the ships at one time or the other, but I can't really recommend one over the other. It totally depends on what you're looking for, and what port is convenient for you to sail out of. Having said that - ;) - I personally love the "Miracle", or the "Legend". Both are Spirit Class ships, and just a bit smaller than what you've sailed on before, but both are EXCELLENT IMO. At this time, "Legend" sails out of Tampa, and "Miracle" out of Ft. Lauderdale in Jan, or Feb. "Miracle" does an 8 day cruise, to the deep Southern Caribbean.

 

"SKY"

[bumbles]

My DH and I purchased a future cruise certificate on our first cruise we took back in July on the Dream. I cannot wait to go again. We would like to go when there are not so many children on the ship. We would like to do an Eastern itenerary. Does anyone have any suggestions on which ship would be best or any insite into cruising in Feb?

 

Many schools in the Northeast have President's week off or the week following President's week. Also avoid Mardi Gras week if it falls in February - there will be lots of Louisiana kids on board. Won't be as busy as summer time, but there will be a bunch of kids on board.

[stewpapa]

February is cheap and there are less kids and everything else is the same. We like late fall and early spring for those reasons as well.

[Tbay-eh]

My DH and I purchased a future cruise certificate on our first cruise we took back in July on the Dream. I cannot wait to go again. We would like to go when there are not so many children on the ship. We would like to do an Eastern itenerary. Does anyone have any suggestions on which ship would be best or any insite into cruising in Feb?

 

We have always cruised in February - we are from Northern Ontario and want to get away from -30 and 5 feet of snow and Feb is always a blah month for me. We are doing a b2b on the Freedom out of Ft L - Eastern Caribbean Feb 20th and Western Caribben Feb 26th. I have never been on that ship but have done Eastern C in the past and enjoyed it. The Eastern ports for Feb 20th (6 day) are Key West - Grand Cayman - Ocho Rios, The Western ports for Feb 26th (8 day) are San Jaun - St Thomas - Antigua - Tortola - Nassau. Good luck and happy cruising.

[seashinesunshine]

We have cruised twice in Jan, and once in Feb, 136 days til we go again in Feb, :)

I have never noticed any of the other problems people have mentioned with kids, so I can only conclude that there must be way less kids on the ship. I wold broadly guess that about 5% of the people on our cruise are kids, maybe a bit more on the one we did in Feb.

[KCTravel]

We cruise every January (and sometimes in between) and have always enjoyed it. If you go far enough South, you will have wonderful weather.

 

We originally started in January because after the holidays the cruise ships tend to be a quieter and children are back in school.

 

Our upcoming Freedom trip is the latest we have ever gone........

 

Either way, a cruise certainly beats Ohio in the winter :D

 

 

How are the water temperatures in the Caribbean in January?? When we cruise, we usually go to the beach at the ports and spend most of the day in the water. Thanks! :)

Karen

 

 

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[chadci]

check an online TA..you can see the best price s and decide on your time slot. It is one of my cruzin months, also last of January each year

 

OP said he had a future cruise cert. Can you use that when you book with an online TA?

[travel girl23]

We cruised the Eastern itinerary on the Glory (now being sailed by the Dream) over Super Bowl weekend (February) and the weather was perfect going and coming. Very few children. Most of the guests were from the north as that is where it is the coldest at that time of year. We had a wonderful cruise and I would do it again in a heartbeat, especially on the Dream. Our ports of call were Nassau, St. Thomas and St. Martin.

[gtalum]

Avoid the ports farther north in Florida, as it can be cold in Orlando and Tampa in February. If you sail out of Miami or Fort Lauderdale, your chances of experiencing cold weather are more limited. Otherwise I'm sure you'll have a great time on any ship.

[Houstoncruiser2007]

How are the water temperatures in the Caribbean in January?? When we cruise, we usually go to the beach at the ports and spend most of the day in the water. Thanks! :)

Karen

 

 

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We traveled to Progreso and Cozumel last February out of Galveston. We too like the beaches and spend most of the time in the water. It was too cold for us to enjoy it in February though. In Cozumel you could get acclimated to the water if every body part stayed under it but any exposed areas (i.e., holding on to a float, etc). were freezing. It was disappointing and we won't cruise those itineraries again during Jan/Feb. We did go in late March this year and the water was much warmer. :o

[lilybug23]

We too, LOVE sailing after the kids are all back in school. (Well, most of 'em anyway.) :p We've done almost all the ships at one time or the other, but I can't really recommend one over the other. It totally depends on what you're looking for, and what port is convenient for you to sail out of. Having said that - ;) - I personally love the "Miracle", or the "Legend". Both are Spirit Class ships, and just a bit smaller than what you've sailed on before, but both are EXCELLENT IMO. At this time, "Legend" sails out of Tampa, and "Miracle" out of Ft. Lauderdale in Jan, or Feb. "Miracle" does an 8 day cruise, to the deep Southern Caribbean.

 

"SKY"

 

 

My DH and I were looking into the 8 day on the Miracle to the Southern Caribbean. It is priced fairly well and we can get decently priced flights for that time of year.

[lilybug23]

We cruise every January (and sometimes in between) and have always enjoyed it. If you go far enough South, you will have wonderful weather.

 

We originally started in January because after the holidays the cruise ships tend to be a quieter and children are back in school.

 

Our upcoming Freedom trip is the latest we have ever gone........

 

Either way, a cruise certainly beats Ohio in the winter :D

 

I second that, that is why we want to get out of town during that month. I particularly do not like the cold weather. So anywhere but Ohio will do!

[gtalum]

My DH and I were looking into the 8 day on the Miracle to the Southern Caribbean. It is priced fairly well and we can get decently priced flights for that time of year.

 

You probably already know this, but try to fly in at least a day before your cruise and purchase travel insurance. February can be a bad month for air travel!

[Cecethekittencat]

I would suggest the southern Carib route if you want warmer temps & water. We've sailed from San Juan 2x in Feb and it was hot! This year we sailed in April from San Juan and it was way TOO hot! We could barely walk around some of the shopping areas it was so hot.

 

We've had questionable weather and water temps in Feb so it's always a risk. But we are doing it again this Feb from Miami but going deep to Belize and Honduras so I'm hoping it will be good and hot down there.

 

We too have no children and take advantage of the lower prices in early February as it's not a school break for most in the US.

[golfadj]

We have been cruising in Feb for past 5 years or so. Makes the winter 10 days less for us and weather in Caribbean is not as hot as the summer.

 

Also pricing is cheaper than most other times of the year.

[lilybug23]

You probably already know this, but try to fly in at least a day before your cruise and purchase travel insurance. February can be a bad month for air travel!

 

Oh of course! We plan on flying in a day early. I would love to go out of San Juan but its a little port intense for us. We would like to have more sea days on our next cruise!

[navybaby1113]

We've always sailed during spring break because we work at a university, but this cruise we're taking in late February. The prices were about $200 cheaper pp so that's what sold us.

[Kitt Lady]

We were on our first cruise last Jan on the Dream. We live in Pa - when we left Pittsburgh it was 2 degrees and a snow storm. We got to Florida it was 32 degrees. I was terrible about making sure everything went smooth. The only thing I couldn't control - went hay wire. The weather was in the 40's for the first few days and rained off and on. The last day was the warmest at 70 degrees. This was very unusal weather. The locals in Hondras were saying it was the coldest in 30 years. :(. We still had a great time and Carnival REALLY made out on sweat shirt sales on that cruise.

 

This Jan we decided we needed to go more south. San Juan on the Victory this Jan....keeping my fingers crossed about the weather :o

[gtalum]

This past winter was an odd one all over Florida and the Caribbean. Her'es hoping this winter is more normal. :D

[scperk]

How are the water temperatures in the Caribbean in January?? When we cruise, we usually go to the beach at the ports and spend most of the day in the water. Thanks! :)

Karen

 

 

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Water temps and air temps are always the same in the Carribean..WE always try to sail out of Ft. Lauderdale , Miami or San Juan as the northern Carribean ports may be cold as qwwas the case on our Dream cruise last Feb( It was 47 degrees when we sailed and 47 when we got back)..Jan and Feb are great times to cruise althought Valentine week might be a little more go early in Feb as some northern schools have early spring break.. Dennis

[lillian marie]

It's a nice time of yr. The ports are warm usually but not horridly hot. There are always kids on board but not a lot since school is in session in most areas. I'd look for the most convienient port and best price for the itinerary you'd like to visit.