Give me all the reasons to cruise in January

[acooper]

Thanks to everyone for your replies! It looks like it will be Jan 2011 for our cruise, but at least you all have made me feel much better about going in January! Now that I can be okay with that month, I can start researching everything I can about the cruise. I know nothing! We have a MLK holiday and 2 teacher workdays in the same week in January, so the kids will only miss 2 days of school on a 8-9 day trip! Now to start the countdown! 22 more months!

 

[acooper]

by the way- how do i change my signature? this one is from 2008!

 

[enchanted72]

by the way- how do i change my signature? this one is from 2008!

Click on User CP in the red at the top of the page all the way to the left. Then click on Edit my signature. HTH's

 

[jrabbit]

We have cruised twice in January - both eastern. First one was 3rd week in January (MLK week?) and this January we sailed the first week. The 3rd week was nicer (if memory serves me correctly) than this January. This time sailing down to St. Croix / St. Thomas the temps were in the mid 70's and it sprinkeled a couple of times during the day. Once we hit St. Croix the temps were upper 70's low 80's - just perfect. and the weather followed us back up to the bahamas. The water in St. Croix and St. Thomas was "cool" - but we just jumped in "and got it over with". We were in the water in St. Croix for about 90 minutes and at Trunk Bay for a couple of hours. THe water at CC was noticiblly cooler and it took a while to get in (the walking, shivering method). But once I got in the water I was in it literally 5 - 6 hours - no problem mon!

THe problem with the summer cruises is that the weather is just to darn hot and humid (but the water feels wonderful). Summer cruises I do not go outside much while on the ship.

Bottom Line: January cruises are very, very nice.

You didn't ask about taking your kids out of school. We fussed and fretted about it and only took them out twice. We got their assignments ahead of time. And they did their homework. Upon returning to class - EVERY TIME both kids - they had not even got to that point in the classroom yet. So my advise is to PULL YOUR KIDS OUT OF SCHOOL for a week at a time and travel with them!! If they are average or better students, they will not have any problems. High school is a different story - there is so much going on that they usually don't want to miss (especially if they are in sports) and keeping up on the homework is more difficult.

 

[Butterx3]

we cruised January 18,2006, and the weather was nice, kind of cold in Florida, but thank goodness the pools were heated. On the cruise everything was ideal, and we all swam and snorkeled at CC. It was probably low 80, and not humid at all. We are from MN though, so our tolerance of cool water may be better than other peoples.

Sounds like you have booked already, have a wonderful time!

 

[TheWog]

I have cruised twice in January and it is my month of preference. I am from the Northeast though, so what is considered cool by many is very nice and warm to us. Each day we cruised it was in the 80s and I think high 70s at CC. We swam each day on the ship or in port. CC we could swim there as well, no problem. I say do January and enjoy every second of it.

 

[TheWog]

We've cruised the first eastern in January for the past six years and every time the weather has been very nice. We've never had a problem with the water. We live in Huntington Beach, Ca so we are experienced witht he ocean--although the Caribbean is much warmer than the Pacific. Go for it--every cruise has been wonderful. ALready booked for next year

Does that mean you were on the Jan 10, 2004 Eastern? We were. The trip right before the cast of According to Jim came on and filmed on the departing Western.

 

[bb528]

we cruised this past jan (western) weather was very nice, water in grand cayman was perfect and even in castaway cay my kids swam all day, cc was a bit chilly for me but gettin sun in shorts during january is alwaus a + in my book. Oh I think it was about 3 deg when we left pa that week

We are doing an eastern this june but won't hesitate to book again in january!!

 

[hgon76]

We are doing our first Disney cruise Jan 17, 2010. I am hoping for nice weather. Of course, any weather tends to be better than what we are leaving!

We are locked into winter travel due to Dh's job. We usually go in Feb, but the price was nicer in Jan. Pres. week prices were crazy. We picked our week because it has MLK day in there and that's one less day the boy will have to be absent from school. He will also be 12, btw.

Hey, we're on that cruise too!!! We also picked it for the MLK holiday making a 4 day missed week. And here in New England, who knows, kids could get a couple of snow days that week, which would be nice! DS will be 14, DD will be 7. And we're cruising with another family with twins age 9. We did the same cruise last January and Port Canaveral was COLD! First day at sea, little chilly. Second Day at sea....GORGEOUS!!!! All port days were magnificant as well!! CC was very warm, air temp. Water at CC was way too cold for me, but my kids loved it. I loved cruising in January, it was part of the reason we chose to do the same cruise, same time of year this year! See you on the ship!

 

[clori]

We did Disney World Jan 16-22 followed by a 3 night cruise on the Wonder. We also took advantage of MLK so that dd8 only missed 4 days of school. I don't know if you plan on doing Disney World at all but we loved that time. The parks were a bit busy on the weekend but were dead on Tuesday and Wednesday. We basically walked on anything our hearts desired that Wednesday at Magic Kingdom.

The cruise was great. We are from Massachusetts so my kids had no problems swimming at castaway cay in the morning. After lunch they wanted time to enjoy the water slide so they swam on the ship for a while as well. They were too busy to want to swim the other days.