Do northerners enjoy their winter cruise more?

[gargoyle999]

Ok...I've been thinking about this for awhile. I live in Minnesota and have a cruise booked on the Miracle for February. Now here in Dec, Jan, and Feb it gets very very cold and we have this crazy white stuff that falls from the sky and makes you have auto accidents and throw your back out trying to move it off the driveway and sidewalk so you don't fall and crack your skull.

 

One of the things I'm really looking forward to is the warmer weather and no snow! Here is what I'm thinking about: I think I'm going to enjoy my cruise more than southerners onboard because warm weather in Feb is no big deal for them. For me it's a huge part of the trip. So while we'll all enjoy all the other aspects of the cruise, I'm getting more for my money because I'm going to appreciate the nicer weather so much!

 

Anyway, I know I have too much free time to think about stupid things like this. But it's just been on my mind and I wanted to share. :)

[M&Mtime]

I am also from Minnesota and would have to agree with you.

 

We have cruised during both the summer and winter months. Who wants to give up the great weather we haver here May-Sept. We have cruised the past 2 times the first week in December and have another one coming up. We will never sail again any other time than the winter.

 

Where are you from in Minnesota.

[Megnolia]

well, I love the winter, and I love my cruise just as much in the summer as the winter, so I think the Southerners would enjoy their cruise just as much. But I understand what you're saying. SO many people want to get out of the cold. I just go when I can get away from work, which happens to be Christmastime.

[mek]

You bet I do. Winter cruises the very last part of February are the best. By then the holiday glow is long gone and winter is at it's worst here in Ohio. I usually can't wait to get out of Dodge!

[DqALEX]

I live in NJ and I can tell you I do. I like a cruise better in the winter than the summer

[Catrin]

The cruises we have taken in November, and February have felt more like "Vacation" than the ones in May and August.

 

Its a cool feeling knowing you are on a beach in St Thomas while there is a foot of snow on the ground!

 

Catrin

[grandmato4]

Knowing we have a cruise booked for February each year makes the thought of winter cold and snow a whole lot easier to take. :) By the time we get home its that much closer to spring!

[keene state mom]

I am from N.H. and I go every year now in February.

[JerseyshoreBruce]

I am too white to cruise in the winter and I will not go to a tanning salon. I love a summer cruise. I also hate to fly in the winter!

[Froufie]

Northerners (and esp Canadians :)) love their winter cruises more than anything else in the world. (I can't even imagine cruising in the summer - like what is the point?)

 

I am the one grinning as soon as I exit the plane and feel the warm Florida sun (on my pale lily white skin!)....seriously I am so HAPPY HAPPY HAPPY just to be walking around with no coat, boots, hat, mittens, scarf - well you get the idea.

 

Then add a cruise on top of that? Are you kidding? Last winter we had a record breaking amount of snow and I was so sick of it - gf and I booked last minute - a week before sailing - and I was happy to leave behind the 7 ft drifts of snow bordering my driveway - and visit some beaches. Spent hours frolicking on Orient Beach, at Jalousie Plantation between Les Pitons (yes it was overcase and rained for a few seconds but who cared? I was in that water while other sat out complaining!!!), and on the beaches of St. Lucia. Came back with some color and less stress - able to battle with the leftover snow for a few more weeks!

 

I am very much looking forward to my November cruise - but esp for my Feb/march cruises as I know by then I will be yearning for some warm weather and hot sand between my toes!

[Azure Moon]

I think we should be able to deduct winter cruises on our taxes as medical expenses :p .

We loved both of our February cruises. I left the Midwest with painful cracked, bleeding, shriveled hands. Came back after a week in the Caribbean with healed, rehydrated hands. :cool:

Then there's all the benefits mentally. Sunshine perking us up, exercise getting the endorphins going. It does lift the spirits so the rest of winter doesn't seem so bad.

Yes, winter cruises are special.

[airlink diva]

I can always tell the northerners (US and Canada) on the ship in December,January and the early months of the year!! They live for that sun during the cruise :D !

I recall on one sailing, there was a guy and his wife from International Falls,Mn who was a beet red after each port. This didn't bother him at all!! I never forget him telling someone when we were in Costa Maya that 89 degress is alot better than 10 with snow :D !

If I lived up north,esp in places that receive large amounts of snow and near below 0 temps, a cruise would be a requirement to make it!

Happy sailing!!

[Krazy Kruizers]

You better believe it!! When we worked we weren't able to cruise during the winter months. Had to battle those bad roads and crazy drivers to get to work.

 

Now we look forward to cruising during the winter. Have 20 days booked for Feb 2009.

[uppitycats]

We're in central Wisconsin. We've never cruised in winter, and likely never will. "Beach weather" to us is a day on Lake Superior in summer, wrapped in a blanket 'cuz the wind blowing off the lake is COLD! :)

 

I certainly understand your mindset, though; hear it all the time. Just not something we can relate to. Never been beach people. Spent 5 years living in hot humid Savannah, Georgia, and were glad to get back home! :)

[paul929207]

I am from South Carolina and I can't wait for our Amazon cruise on the Pacific Princess starting in late February.

[tip]

I am from N.H. and I go every year now in February.

 

We are also from Na Hampsha and by February we are ready for some warmth and sun. Looking foward to February 21, 2009 almost as much as January 20, 2009!

[tonyt]

Always do a cruise in January or February It breaks up the winter season in PA.

It's about half way thru the winter.

tonyt

[Been There, Planning That]

In retirement we've taken winter cruise/holidays.

 

Unfortunately our budget allows only one really grand holiday a year. We've pretty well done the warmer destinations that interest us and realize we're not going to visit some places in the dead of a northern winter and escape the weather at home.

 

We keep hoping that the mainline lines will do more around India -- a place we'd love to visit. We can't afford the high end lines.

 

This winter we'll extend our Med. cruise in Spain, and hopefully it won't be too cold -- we'd settle for anything about 15C.

[franu]

I guess that you are speaking of Caribbean cruises. I live in Toronto and preferred staying in the cold to becoming a walking waterfall with all of the perspiration making me uncomfortable. It is as I age that I find that walking on ice and snow becomes more treacherous and will often cruise to faraway places.

 

I try to sail on a smaller ship to anywhere except for the Caribbean. This being said, I won a free cruise on a large ship to the Caribbean. It is not transferable. I would have given it away but found that I could not so I will take my friend. I am not certain that I will leave the ship at all.

Fran

[Peregrina651]

 

Its a cool feeling knowing you are on a beach in St Thomas while there is a foot of snow on the ground!

 

Calling home to find you have missed yet another storm.

 

E-mailing home about the sun and the sand.

 

All those vacation pictures of you in a bathing suit on the beach you get to show your co-workers and family.

 

Winter cruises! Bring it on!!

[Andee]

We've never cruised in the winter because we reserve that time for ski trips, and every Saturday, we ski at the little bump in the road near us. Cruises are fun, but skiing is better. Maybe when we'e too old to enjoy skiing (we're 58 & 60), we'll consider winter cruises.

[darl]

We've never cruised in the winter because we reserve that time for ski trips, and every Saturday, we ski at the little bump in the road near us. Cruises are fun, but skiing is better. Maybe when we'e too old to enjoy skiing (we're 58 & 60), we'll consider winter cruises.

 

As soon as one or both of you break a hip skiing you will realize it is time to give it up.....book that HAL cruise and retire to a deck chair!!

[darl]

Lived in Chicago and St. Louis for many years (more than 60), and I can tell you what a thrill it was to cruise in the winter and enjoy the beaches of the caribbean.....retired to Florida, and it is no thrill to visit a beach when you live on one all year around. The only good part about living in florida and cruising is the ease with which you can drive to all of the ports!

[eandj]

There's not a better feeling than leaving the Milwaukee airport wearing pants and a sweater and stepping off the plane in 3 hours in warmth!

Of course last Jan. we landed in Miami and it was 42 degrees. :eek: Had to wear our Wis clothes until we got into our stateroom! The ship's captain even canceled the outdoor life boat drill beacuse it was too cold!!

[Putterdude]

We are from the WET Coast but it is so nice here in the summer we hate to go anywhere and in the winter we live in AZ. So we are now trying to schedule our cruising in early January when the weather can be a little off even in AZ.