Cruising in the winter

[karinad]

We have never cruised in the winter, January or Feb. My question is with winter break, etc., for the school kids. When are we in danger of the ships being crowded with school vacationers? Thanks!

[thinfool]

3 minutes ago, karinad said:

We have never cruised in the winter, January or Feb. My question is with winter break, etc., for the school kids. When are we in danger of the ships being crowded with school vacationers? Thanks!

Take a cruise of 7 days or longer.  Most parents cannot be off work longer than that.

We always cruise in early January, maybe the 2nd week or so, after the college folks go back.

Or you could do a full transit thru the Panama Canal.  The year that we did it there were less than 6 children on board.

The big time for families in the winter is over the holidays.

[karinad]

7 minutes ago, thinfool said:

Take a cruise of 7 days or longer.  Most parents cannot be off work longer than that.

We always cruise in early January, maybe the 2nd week or so, after the college folks go back.

Or you could do a full transit thru the Panama Canal.  The year that we did it there were less than 6 children on board.

The big time for families in the winter is over the holidays.

We would be cruising out of NYC. I'm looking at either the CCL Venezia 10 or 12 days or NCL Getaway 10day. We usually cruise in October and never had a problem. Thank you!!!

[navybankerteacher]

14 minutes ago, karinad said:

We have never cruised in the winter, January or Feb. My question is with winter break, etc., for the school kids. When are we in danger of the ships being crowded with school vacationers? Thanks!

Early January - until the 10th or 12th is likely to be free of too many school kids, but around the 15th (MLK day) it will be busy — as will the period around Presidents’ Day in February,  but the first and last weeks of February should also be good. 

[karinad]

23 minutes ago, navybankerteacher said:

Early January - until the 10th or 12th is likely to be free of too many school kids, but around the 15th (MLK day) it will be busy — as will the period around Presidents’ Day in February,  but the first and last weeks of February should also be good. 

Thank you! That's what I was thinking of MLK Day and Presidents Day. As Thinfool said about the amount of days the cruise is. Hopefully, we won't have a major snow storm here! We've been lucky the past few years!

[bbwex]

The particular cruise line will impact this as well.  You will find more kids on the mass market lines than the upscale lines (Oceania almost discourages children), or even go to the luxury lines.  Of course, there will be less partying if that's what you are looking for, in which case go back to the mass market lines.

[Essiesmom]

MSC Meraviglia and RCI Anthem (Bayonne) will also be sailing from NYC area in that time frame.  EM

[Szt]

I think Virgin is adults only. That’s the safest bet any time of year. 

[leaveitallbehind]

Any itinerary that includes the Christmas and NYE holidays will be crowded in general and by families with children.  The prices will also be the highest then.  The week or two prior and the following few weeks are a good bet.  Also, as mentioned, cruise lines operating in the winter out of the Baltimore to NY ports will be limited and will primarily be headed to the Bahamas / FL on 7-night itineraries and the Eastern / Western Caribbean if longer.  Certain long (10 nights +) will get into the Southern Caribbean.  But you can expect the first and last full days to be colder weather, which would limit the hotter weather days to those in between.

Edited August 24, 2023 by leaveitallbehind

[Mike981]

15 hours ago, karinad said:

Hopefully, we won't have a major snow storm here! We've been lucky the past few years!

 

We have been cruising on Celebrity in January, dates will vary from year to year. We also do ten day cruises, so we rarely see kids.

 

On 'winter weather', I hear you coming from Minnesota. We always fly in a day or two to our destination and we also get a hotel near our home airport the night before in case of a storm making travel hard the day of our flight. There have been a few times over the years that it would been tough to make our flight if we were driving the same day. Plus, I recently got a nice room at the Hilton with parking for 14 days, for not that much more for a park and fly. I believe park and fly was $150-$170 and I got a room with parking for $200, not much of a difference.

 

[Hlitner]

16 hours ago, karinad said:

Thank you! That's what I was thinking of MLK Day and Presidents Day. As Thinfool said about the amount of days the cruise is. Hopefully, we won't have a major snow storm here! We've been lucky the past few years!

Do not leave weather or air issues to chance.  The best protection is to fly

in to your port city a few days in advance.  Otherwise, 1 day early is a compromise that reduces the risk.  Luck works until it doesn’t.

 

Hank

[karinad]

In our case with transportation to the port in NY, we have an hour drive to the bus terminal and the bus would take us right to the port. I imagine that if it was a major storm that the bus would not go if there was a state of emergency. If that was the case I don't imagine most of the passengers would make the ship. I wonder if that ever happened????

 

I hear you about luck! We, for the most part have traveled to the Caribbean in October for the past 30 years on and off. We have never been hit by a hurricane. The day that hurricane Sandy hit NJ we just got off the ship coming from Bermuda. I shouldn't even say this out loud!

[mrgabriel]

Most schools only give kids a couple of days off for a mid-winter break in February so you're unlikely to encounter a lot of kids on a 10 or 12-night cruise.