Best/Worst months to cruise

[feetkeds]

just out of curiosity (sorry if its been asked before)....

what are generally the best times to disney cruise and the worst months to cruise?

(best being smooth seas and availabilty to make castaway cay and the worst being rouch seas and missing it. )

thanks!
Kristin

 

[AnnMorin]

But I always vote for December, the ship is just beautiful, the weather back home is cold and it is my birthday

 

[HooKooDooKu]

We like October to mid November (cheaper fares with kids back in school).

As for weather, it's been a mixed bag. Sometimes smooth seas, sometimes rough waters.

I guess it's just luck (given this is also hurricane season) that we have never missed CC and never taken a "mystery" cruise.

I would say that summers are way too hot. We've tried walking Nassau in September/ early October and it seems like all you are doing is trying to run from one Air Contioned store to the next. Weather was better this last trip (late October), but we were still sweating walking Nassau.

 

[MO Disney cruiser]

There is no bad month to cruise. Anytime spent on a DCL cruise is better than being at home.

It depends on what you like. If you like lower rates go for the value season (ie Sept - Nov) This is hurricane season, but it's hit or miss. We've had great weather 4 of 5 times (Feb-March)

If you don't want to take kids out of school, then there's summer and spring break. That will cost you.

Take your pick. It will be wonderful no matter when.

 

[GenieDana]

Atlantic hurricane season runs from June through November, the peak months are August and September if I recall correctly.

Besides tropical storms, there are continental storms that blow down from the North / Northwest and they peak during late fall and winter.

There are sea state buoys that the National Weather Service has data for in the Caribbean, and you could look at the data for a few years to see if you can spot trends (or they may publish trends).

Here's a good place to look:

http://seaboard.ndbc.noaa.gov/Maps/Florida.shtml

 

[jgalecpa]

I've seen some weather data that makes the first two weeks of May very attrctive. (I believe it was in the passporter).

The temps haven't started to sky rocket, the seas are calm and the crowds and winds are both light.

When the kids are gone, look for me in May!

Jim

 

[aprilgail2]

I LOVE cruising in May but I hate Jan...BRRRRRRR to cold for me even for a cruise!

 

[Jillie]

We have gone the end of April into the first week of May for 2 years now and the weather was perfect both times...once to the eastern and once to the western caribbean.

 

[MarkLem]

Neighbors cruised last March over spring break. Never made a SINGLE port!! And I mean not one on the 7 day Western.

20 foot seas the whole time, many, many seasick.

However, they want to do another...

 

[Iris]

We have cruised in April, June and October. By far the best month was October. Very smooth seas, warm enough but not terribly hot, it was great.

The cruise in April is rough! That first night the ship was really rocking back and forth and everyone looked like they had just a little too much to drink walking around the decks.

June was very nice but it was extremely hot!

 

[alexandrew]

October and mid December for 7-day cruise....mid January (around MLK day) for 3-day cruise

 

[jwann]

We did early May and early Oct. on the Wonder. We enjoyed both. October was cooler than May but seas were rougher. The sea was SMOOTH in May. There were even NO waves on the Atlantis beach - now that's smooth seas!

 

[d'Isigny]

** BUMP ***

sure would love to hear from others...

we've went in January twice and had rough seas / chilly evenings - missed CC both Jan trips.

went the end of April / begining of May - great weather and smooth seas.

 

[mm126]

I looked at weather.com website for March. It shows high temps near 80 and low near 60. March also shows the least amount of rain. As you can tell...we're going on the 3 day Wonder the first week in March and I hope the weather is WARM! Check out that website.

 

[kcashner]

We have cruised January, February (multiple times), March, July, September/October (multiple times) and Dec. I can honestly say that it depends more on the weather that week than on time of year. We've generally had mid 80s in Feb., but had one cool week (boo hiss). In Sept/Oct., you are more likely to have your route changed. If you view this as an adventure, great. If you had your heart set on St. Thomas and didn't get there, you'll see this as a bummer. We had 2 episodes of not being able to get into the Caymans--one in October, the other in January or Feb. both due to high waves.

I didn't like July because it was too hot...it was 106 in Florida the day we left, and it didn't cool down.

IMHO, the best time is any time!!!