Cruising to Bermuda in December.

[ladyhawk415]

This is our first cruise to Bermuda in December.   I'm just wondering what type of cruising weather to expect.   Anyone have experience with this?  I know it will be cold in New York,  but was wondering if we should expect rough seas on the way out.   Thank you for any insight. 

[sail7seas]

 

 

Cold and possibly rough seas.........  depending upon  storms.  That is not a place to which  I  would opt to sail in December.     Is  this just a one day stop as part of another itinerary?   I might be golf and tennis weather  but then again maybe not.  Expect to find lots of  the tourist places closed or  reduced availability.

 

 

Edited November 11, 2018 by sail7seas

[MCC retired]

Never heard of a cruise itinerary that visits Bermuda in December ?

What ship is doing this . Bermuda is not tropical .

[LHT28]

looks like RCCL  is going  early Dec

 

[cb at sea]

Bermuda is off the SC/NC coast...it's in the Atlantic....the winter is NOT the prime time to go there.  You'll be looking at 60-70 F...not awful, but not tropical by any means!  Could be less than that, as Dec. has LOTS of "far reaching" cold fronts.....they tend to moderate by the end of January.

[AF-1]

I have been there during winter and summer.  Winter can be ok avg temp of 72 for Dec.  

[navybankerteacher]

Sea water temps between NY and Bermuda in early December are likely to be in low 70’s - much of the route will be in the Gulf Stream.  Temps in Bermuda are likely to reach low 70’s.  Not a hardship by any means - sort of nice Spring weather.

[Krazy Kruizers]

DH was in Bermuda one time the week after Thanksgiving.  Chilly -- only in the 60's and windy.

[NantahalaCruiser]

December average temps in Bermuda are high of 70 and low of 63.

 

But plan on lower temps on the trip from Bayonne to Bermuda

[njhorseman]

20 hours ago, navybankerteacher said:

Sea water temps between NY and Bermuda in early December are likely to be in low 70’s - much of the route will be in the Gulf Stream.  Temps in Bermuda are likely to reach low 70’s.  Not a hardship by any means - sort of nice Spring weather.

 

Mean inshore sea water temperature in Bermuda in December is 67.5 . Mean air temperature is 66.7.  http://www.bermuda-online.org/climateweather.htm

 

Spring weather, maybe, but beach weather definitely not.

 

 

 

 

Edited November 12, 2018 by njhorseman

[navybankerteacher]

2 hours ago, njhorseman said:

 

Mean inshore sea water temperature in Bermuda in December is 67.5 . Mean air temperature is 66.7.  http://www.bermuda-online.org/climateweather.htm

 

Spring weather, maybe, but beach weather definitely not.

 

 

 

 

 

That 66.7 mean air temp figure takes in the whole month of December - including midnight conditions on Dec. 30.

 

It seems that OP is on Royal Caribbean - calling at Dockyard from mid-morning to mid-afternoon on December 8.   On Dec. 8, 2017 the daytime low was 72 and the High was 77.

 

Mean figures, while significant, need to be understood for what they are.

[njhorseman]

9 minutes ago, navybankerteacher said:

 

That 66.7 mean air temp figure takes in the whole month of December - including midnight conditions on Dec. 30.

 

It seems that OP is on Royal Caribbean - calling at Dockyard from mid-morning to mid-afternoon on December 8.   On Dec. 8, 2017 the daytime low was 72 and the High was 77.

 

Mean figures, while significant, need to be understood for what they are.

 

Having undergraduate and graduate degrees in mathematics and having worked as an actuary and in related jobs for more than 20 years I think I have a fairly good idea of how the mean is calculated.

 

Citing the temperature on one particular day is meaningless. The numbers I cited represent the cumulative history of climate in Bermuda. 

[donaldsc]

If you are running Windows 10, there is a very good climate ap built into Windows 10.

 

DON

[leaveitallbehind]

Have been there many times.  That would be a very early out of season cruise date for Bermuda as their normal cruise season is late April to late October, with the prime being June into September.  I would not book a cruise there at that time as while it still may be relatively mild once there, getting there would be in the Atlantic winter in terms of sea travel.  And what drives the climate for Bermuda is that it benefits from the Gulf Stream and, as was previously indicated, it is off the coast of South Carolina.  It is not a tropical climate.

Edited November 13, 2018 by leaveitallbehind

[navybankerteacher]

1 hour ago, njhorseman said:

 

Having undergraduate and graduate degrees in mathematics and having worked as an actuary and in related jobs for more than 20 years I think I have a fairly good idea of how the mean is calculated.

 

Citing the temperature on one particular day is meaningless. The numbers I cited represent the cumulative history of climate in Bermuda. 

 

I grant your grasp of how a mean is calculated, but question your  focusing on it;

you seem to overlook the fact that a mean figure for the entire month of December - including each of the 24 hours of each day is virtually certain to be well below the mid-day temperature of an early December day:   which is what I was referring to. 

 

What IS meaningless in estimating what to expect for the middle of an early December day is a mean which includes temperatures experienced in late December nights.  

 

A previous December 8 daytime experience is  a far better indicator of what might be expected for a following December 8 daytime than a mean of all previous whole months of December.

[njhorseman]

2 hours ago, navybankerteacher said:

 

I grant your grasp of how a mean is calculated, but question your  focusing on it;

you seem to overlook the fact that a mean figure for the entire month of December - including each of the 24 hours of each day is virtually certain to be well below the mid-day temperature of an early December day:   which is what I was referring to. 

 

What IS meaningless in estimating what to expect for the middle of an early December day is a mean which includes temperatures experienced in late December nights.  

 

A previous December 8 daytime experience is  a far better indicator of what might be expected for a following December 8 daytime than a mean of all previous whole months of December.

 

In 2011 I went on a cruise that ended just after Halloween, which is of course October 31. That year there was a significant snowstorm, quite rare, on that date.  You might remember the storm as you live in Connecticut, which was significantly impacted by the storm...perhaps you lost power to your home as many in the Northeast did. I had to dig my car out from under the snow at the Manhattan Cruise Terminal and came home to NJ to find even more snow had fallen there. 

 

Using your logic of the experience of a single day being a reliable indicator of typical weather conditions on that date would lead one to conclude based on that one snowy October that significant snow is representative of weather in late October in the Northeast US, which is of course laughable nonsense. 

 

I'm not suggesting that the single December day you cite is as extremely variant as the October snowstorm was, but my point is that a single point in time can never be assumed to be a reliable representation of long term history. You might get lucky and pick one day that coincidentally is a good representation of the long term average, but that one day could just as easily be an outlier, just like the 2011 Halloween snowstorm. 

 

 

 

 

Edited November 13, 2018 by njhorseman

[navybankerteacher]

14 hours ago, njhorseman said:

 

In 2011 I went on a cruise that ended just after Halloween, which is of course October 31. That year there was a significant snowstorm, quite rare, on that date.  You might remember the storm as you live in Connecticut, which was significantly impacted by the storm...perhaps you lost power to your home as many in the Northeast did. I had to dig my car out from under the snow at the Manhattan Cruise Terminal and came home to NJ to find even more snow had fallen there. 

 

Using your logic of the experience of a single day being a reliable indicator of typical weather conditions on that date would lead one to conclude based on that one snowy October that significant snow is representative of weather in late October in the Northeast US, which is of course laughable nonsense. 

 

I'm not suggesting that the single December day you cite is as extremely variant as the October snowstorm was, but my point is that a single point in time can never be assumed to be a reliable representation of long term history. You might get lucky and pick one day that coincidentally is a good representation of the long term average, but that one day could just as easily be an outlier, just like the 2011 Halloween snowstorm. 

 

 

 

 

 

A lot of verbiage to evade the point: a single, clearly comparable day (while not proof certain) IS a better (not strictly reliable but simply a better) indicator than a mean which includes very different days and much colder times of those days.  

[njhorseman]

4 hours ago, navybankerteacher said:

 

A lot of verbiage to evade the point: a single, clearly comparable day (while not proof certain) IS a better (not strictly reliable but simply a better) indicator than a mean which includes very different days and much colder times of those days.  

 

Since you didn't like the verbiage, I'm going to give you some numbers that show how off base a single data point can be.

Per the Bermuda Weather Service www.weather.bm , which maintains detailed climate records , December, 2017 was described as follows: " The month was warmer than average with near two thirds of the daily mean, maximum, and minimum air temperatures above their respective long term values;"

 

 

Further, December 8 happened to be the warmest day of the month, with an official high of 78.8 F.

 

In fact for the previous decade, 2007 - 2016, the average high temperature on December 8 was 71.7 F,  10 degrees colder than 2017, with the warmest December 8 coming in 2011 at 75.9, and the coldest in 2010 at 65.5. Note that  in these two consecutive years there was a difference of over 10 degrees.

 

You'll notice I only cited the daily high temperatures in order to satisfy your objection to my citing the mean for the month. You should also note that the above proves that  2017 was an outlier, with a far higher temperature than measured in the previous 10 years . Again, that's why using a single year is a bad idea.

 

 

Edited November 14, 2018 by njhorseman

[njhorseman]

2 hours ago, njhorseman said:

 

Since you didn't like the verbiage, I'm going to give you some numbers that show how off base a single data point can be.

Per the Bermuda Weather Service www.weather.bm , which maintains detailed climate records , December, 2017 was described as follows: " The month was warmer than average with near two thirds of the daily mean, maximum, and minimum air temperatures above their respective long term values;"

 

 

Further, December 8 happened to be the warmest day of the month, with an official high of 78.8 F.

 

In fact for the previous decade, 2007 - 2016, the average high temperature on December 8 was 71.7 F,  10 degrees colder than 2017, with the warmest December 8 coming in 2011 at 75.9, and the coldest in 2010 at 65.5. Note that  in these two consecutive years there was a difference of over 10 degrees.

 

You'll notice I only cited the daily high temperatures in order to satisfy your objection to my citing the mean for the month. You should also note that the above proves that  2017 was an outlier, with a far higher temperature than measured in the previous 10 years . Again, that's why using a single year is a bad idea.

 

 

My error...I should have written "7 degrees colder than 2017, " not 10 degrees.

[navybankerteacher]

On 11/12/2018 at 5:32 PM, njhorseman said:

 

Mean inshore sea water temperature in Bermuda in December is 67.5 . Mean air temperature is 66.7.  http://www.bermuda-online.org/climateweather.htm

 

Spring weather, maybe, but beach weather definitely not.

 

 

 

 

 

OK - we’ll rely upon your mean air temperature of 66.7 —- ignoring your subsequent acknowledgement that the December 8 daily high temperatures over a period of ten years was 71.7.

 

On the other hand, the fact that we were considering daytime temps to be expected on December 8 and not the average, night and day, for the entire month might be considered.

 

My point is that a mean is only useful in such projections if the constituent addends bear sufficient relevance.

[sail7seas]

t

Edited November 14, 2018 by sail7seas

[cb at sea]

Bermuda is an ATLANTIC island...it's by no means "tropical"....it's going to be cool in Dec....I'd plan on cool to cold.  It's pretty much off the coast of SC/NC....it's not as far south as Florida.  Pack a pair of shorts...but don't be surprised if it's too cool for them.

[gerif]

Spent a week there once in early April. Froze my butt off. Tried to do the beach once and ended up wrapped in big beach towels to keep warm. Not feeling December but you just never know. I’ve been in Boston on Halloween in shorts and tank top. Weather can be strange. 

[navybankerteacher]

5 hours ago, gerif said:

Spent a week there once in early April. Froze my butt off. Tried to do the beach once and ended up wrapped in big beach towels to keep warm. Not feeling December but you just never know. I’ve been in Boston on Halloween in shorts and tank top. Weather can be strange. 

 

Of course, early April is just two weeks after the end of winter, when things are just starting to warm up; while early December is two weeks before the end of fall, when a bit of summer’s warmth is still lingering.  This is why a  late fall trans-Atlantic is likely to be much better than an early spring one.

[pacruise804]

On 11/14/2018 at 6:45 PM, cb at sea said:

Bermuda is an ATLANTIC island...it's by no means "tropical"....it's going to be cool in Dec....I'd plan on cool to cold.  It's pretty much off the coast of SC/NC....it's not as far south as Florida.  Pack a pair of shorts...but don't be surprised if it's too cool for them.

 

I would hope that someone traveling to Bermuda would realize its location and that it is unlikely to be hot beach weather.  It read to me like the OP is asking more for sea conditions than air temperatures (OP, sorry I have no idea of conditions).

 

For temperature, it really varies from person to person.  Someone from the north or midwest might find 60's to 70's very pleasant compared to 20's-40's and be glad for shorts, while someone from the south could find the same temps to be chilly.  Activities will make a difference too - I doubt many are swimming at the Bermuda beaches in December, but hiking and exploring could be comfortably warm.

 

I tend to run cold and break out the sweaters early, while DH is warm and wears shorts whenever possible.  He reluctantly broke out the pants this weekend since there was ice and snow on the ground 😉