Help me decide... January vs. April

[sjuncfan]

We have a cruise booked for Spring Break but I just realized that my son has a week in January where he basically has 2.5 days of school (and due to our crazy school system one of those days is a "pseudo holiday" so may not be too productive. (for context, DS is 10 in 5th grade). We had been considering a long weekend in Universal but now I'm wondering if we should take the whole week and look at a cruise instead. Spring Break and January would be 7 days on the Fantasy. As of now, the January itinerary is St. Maarten, Puerto Rico, and Castaway Cay while the April itinerary is Tortola, St. Thomas, and Castaway Cay.

Pros for moving to January:
- It's a Star Wars Day at Sea, which my kid would love
- It's cheaper (which really only means we'll have more on-board credit since we're still using a future cruise credit from a March 2020 cancelled cruise)
- Maybe less people sailing
- In general, cruising sooner is better than cruising later...

Cons for moving to January:
- DS would miss 3 days of school (one is a 2 hour early release)
- I'm guessing things will continue to get more and more "normal" for things like kids club and whatever else is different right now
- i'm worried about another wave which could mean more restrictions in January
- May be chillier on Castaway Cay (though anything will feel better than VA where we'd be coming from).

We will all be fully vaccinated/boosted. Would love to hear peoples thoughts.

 

[Cheburashka]

I would much prefer sailing in January than April. In fact, I do have a cruise booked for this January. We typically cruise in winter and love the mild temperatures. We're from a hot city so are not huge fans of strong sun & sweltering heat on vacation. No worries about walking barefoot on the pool deck in January. I sailed in mid-March once, and the pool deck was mostly too hot to walk on barefoot at all, which can be a challenge when going from slide to pool, etc.

In January, the water at Castaway Cay is chilly, but not freezing or anything. Your body adjusts to it once fully submerged. We've never had a problem swimming & walking around on the Pelican Plunge platform without being cold, because the air is warm. It's also great weather for bicycling at CC. Winter is also the dry season, so less chance of rain.

The Caribbean islands & their waters will be warmer than CC. Puerto Rico & St. Maarten are less common ports for DCL, so I'd also be attracted for that reason. And there will be fewer passengers this coming January than in April, undoubtedly.

 

[Sherrilatte]

Wow, you really have a tricky decision to make. I will add that Castaway Cay is also very warm in January. So that’s another item to move to the “pro” list for January. We’re sailing in January too!

 

[lklgoodman]

We did several cruises in Jan when my dd was in elementary school because they were cheaper and it was no big deal for her to miss some days of school. She is now in junior high and she would have way too much work to make up, so we cruise during her Spring break. We did 3 Star War cruises in Jan. We aren't SW fans, but if you are, they do a lot of fun things. I would go in Jan now if it's no big deal for your son to miss school. We've been to all of those islands and have enjoyed them all. Disney doesn't offer cruises to San Juan and St Marteen all the time like they do to Tortolla and St Thomas.