First time for a Disney Cruise- a question

[petra]

Hi- my family and I are doing a land/sea vacation January 9th of this year- I have read on the WDW forums that it can be quite cold this time of year in Florida.
My question is, Is it that cold during the cruise as well? DH and I did a cuise one other time during January and I remember it being quite warm during the day and cooler at night. Can anyone who's been on that cruise help me out w/ some temps- I feel like I need to pack a little of everything!
Thanks so much
Petra

 

[Favorite Auntie]

You could run into some chilly weather in Florida. Are you doing the Eastern or Western Cruise? The islands on the Eastern will be nice and warm (at CC the water may be chilly though). Not sure about the Western as I have only done the Eastern. Hope this helps....

 

[lsmac]

Florida can be quite chilly at that time...of course we live in CO so 65 degrees to us is time for shorts and tank tops! LOL
The further into the Caribbean or Bahamas you get, the warmer it will be. I have cruised in January before and definately needed a jacket or sweater in the evenings on board. But then I think you need one anyway in most areas of the ship because they crank the ac way too high!
As for ports, you would probably be fine with shorts/t-shirts, and maybe a rain jacket. I seem to remember brief rainstorms in Grand Caymen in Jan.

HTH
Lisa

 

[krhardy]

the one thing you can be sure of in Florida is that you can never be sure of the weather. I grew up in central Florida, and the weather from November to March is extremely iffy...my family and I cruised in January 2003, and it was comfortable during the day, and at night we were comfortable in long sleeves or short sleeves with a sweater...we were not cold, but it was not hot like in July. Although, even when we've cruised in July I've taken a sweater b/c the inside areas of the ship can get quite chilly! Like a previous poster said, the water at Castaway was quite chilly for my taste, but my children were extremely happy...after all, how many kids can go back to school and say that they went to the beach in January! The water on the boat was quite comfortable. Sooo, as if you probalby don't have enough to pack just pack for any contingency...my advice is to pack some shorts and some pants, with mix-n-match shirts, and a couple of sweaters or light jackets.

 

[QuiltTeddy]

Well we did the Eastern 7 day cruise in January and Western 7 day cruise in beginning of February. Had beautiful weather for both cruises, but Florida was chilly before we left on each one.

 

[tkd lisa]

Since you're doing Land/Sea, I assume you're doing a Wonder cruise. The Bahamas is quite a bit further north than the 7 day itineraries, so it will typically be cooler. On our Jan 2003 cruise, the weather on the cruise ranged from lows in the high 50s (at Port Canaveral on return day) to highs in the mid to high 70s (at Nassau). CC was in the low to mid 70s. That did happen to be a relatively cold snap for the area though.

 

[RKB]

We did the 1-3-04 to 1-10-04 Western this year. We did WDW on 1-2-04 and the weather was very pleasant (light sweatshirts in the evening). The cruise weather was excellent - the water everywhere was a little chilly, but nice sunny temps everywhere. However, when we returned on 1-10-04 it was a cold rainy day in Orlando - so hard to tell what weather conditions you might have in early January. We were pleasantly suprised at how nice it was. Have fun!!