How chilly is the water in December?

[monorailrabbit]

Let me start by saying, DH and I are from Nebraska, and we have never had an issue with using pools in WDW in Dec/January. I am wondering about the pools on the cruise as well as water temp in the Bahamas in mid-December. We did some googling and it just sounds very chilly to me! Are we going to enjoy ourselves if we do a dolphin encounter, or will we be too cold? I remember we wanted sweatshirts more often than I expected on our first cruise several years and that was early April. We haven't been on a cruise for 5 years! SO excited to go on one again! Any other tips for a winter-month cruise?

 

[DCL_Wonder]

Let me start by saying, DH and I are from Nebraska, and we have never had an issue with using pools in WDW in Dec/January. I am wondering about the pools on the cruise as well as water temp in the Bahamas in mid-December. We did some googling and it just sounds very chilly to me! Are we going to enjoy ourselves if we do a dolphin encounter, or will we be too cold? I remember we wanted sweatshirts more often than I expected on our first cruise several years and that was early April. We haven't been on a cruise for 5 years! SO excited to go on one again! Any other tips for a winter-month cruise?

Let me take a stab at answering your question, one Cornhusker to another. The pools on the ship are heated, so they should be fine. The Bahamas may be a bit cooler than what you would like, but my experience is once you get used to it, the water is fine. We took a Bahamas cruise out of Galveston last NYE and CC had highs in the low 70's on New Year's Day. I thought the air temps were fine, but others complained about being cold. I think it was 20 below in Omaha that day, so I was extra happy to be on CC. The water felt a bit nippy at first, but as I said, you get used to it. I've been to CC in June and January and I much prefer January.

 

[monorailrabbit]

Let me take a stab at answering your question, one Cornhusker to another. The pools on the ship are heated, so they should be fine. The Bahamas may be a bit cooler than what you would like, but my experience is once you get used to it, the water is fine. We took a Bahamas cruise out of Galveston last NYE and CC had highs in the low 70's on New Year's Day. I thought the air temps were fine, but others complained about being cold. I think it was 20 below in Omaha that day, so I was extra happy to be on CC. The water felt a bit nippy at first, but as I said, you get used to it. I've been to CC in June and January and I much prefer January.

Well hello fellow NE friend! Thank you - this is exactly what I was looking for. I'd forgotten the pools on the cruise were heated - perfect!!

P.S.
Full disclose: I am not a Husker fan . Both DH and I are originally from St. Louis, so the only red we wear is for the Cardinals!

 

[ScooterScott44]

The Caribbean weather and water seem to be fine for our Florida family even during those months. We have done January and February cruises without issue. Water temps inDecember should be even a few degrees warmer.

Go Cards! (Born in St. Louis)

 

[Weedy]

Just like the weather the water temperature may vary year to year.
We went one year in October and it was too cold for me. The next year in December it was cold but I could get in. This is from a wimpy Florida girl.
With that said the news has reported that we will have fewer chances of hurricanes this year because of cooler waters.
Good and bad news.

 

[bobbiwoz]

On a NYE Cruise this year, and I am hoping to get in the water on one of our stops at CC.

 

[dcassetta]

Let me start by saying, DH and I are from Nebraska, and we have never had an issue with using pools in WDW in Dec/January. I am wondering about the pools on the cruise as well as water temp in the Bahamas in mid-December. We did some googling and it just sounds very chilly to me! Are we going to enjoy ourselves if we do a dolphin encounter, or will we be too cold? I remember we wanted sweatshirts more often than I expected on our first cruise several years and that was early April. We haven't been on a cruise for 5 years! SO excited to go on one again! Any other tips for a winter-month cruise?

The nice thing about December is that the water is still just cooling. So the water temperatures may be just fine. However as you get closer to the end of the month the water gets cooler. Once the water temperatures reach 75°, many people find that uncomfortably cool. But it also depends on the air temps. If you're there on a nice sunny day, the water may be fine. If the day is rainy or overcast, the water will feel cooler to you also.

 

[Shanti]

Let me start by saying, DH and I are from Nebraska, and we have never had an issue with using pools in WDW in Dec/January. I am wondering about the pools on the cruise as well as water temp in the Bahamas in mid-December. We did some googling and it just sounds very chilly to me! Are we going to enjoy ourselves if we do a dolphin encounter, or will we be too cold? I remember we wanted sweatshirts more often than I expected on our first cruise several years and that was early April. We haven't been on a cruise for 5 years! SO excited to go on one again! Any other tips for a winter-month cruise?

We've been on 3 late December cruises in the past few years. Each time the air temps were warm. The pool water on the ship is warmed, although it was a bit chilly to get out of the water in the evening. The water on Castaway Cay was chilly, but not too cold to enjoy. It takes a few seconds at first to get used to, then it's fine. Submerging yourself quickly is better than going in very slowly, in terms of quickly getting comfortable.

We're Texans and had no problem comfortably getting in and out of the water at Pelican Plunge. We are used to the cold water springs of central Texas, though. If you always need swimming water to feel like bathwater, you'll find it cold, but otherwise it's not too cold to swim comfortably. We never wanted a wetsuit or anything like that at all, and the air was warm whenever we'd get out of the water on Castaway.

 

[drnp]

We've been on 3 December cruises and the pools on board were always fine. At CC, the air temps were about 78-80 each time and yes the water temp was a bit cool especially at first. One thing that helped tremendously is that we put rash guards on ourselves over the swimsuits for the girls and tops for the boys and it worked great when the temp was too chilly. Also FYI for us, it has rained each time at CC in December for us, but each time the rain was only off and on and we were still able to enjoy the day.

 

[tlprice]

We have been to CC twice in mid December. The first time was quite warm and wonderful. No chill at all in the water. The second time was nice, but not quite as warm. I spent more time dipping just my feet in than floating in my tube.

 

[BruinEd03]

Late December (e.g. around Christmas time) - water is chilly, but swimmable after you get used to it. Pools on the ships are heated, so they are fine to swim in.

 

[Michelle James]

Also, if your dolphin encounter is in Nassau, at Atlantis, they provide you with wetsuits (or at least they did on my early April visit).

 

[monorailrabbit]

Also, if your dolphin encounter is in Nassau, at Atlantis, they provide you with wetsuits (or at least they did on my early April visit).

We are planning on doing Blue Lagoon. We did the full on dolphin swim there on our first and only cruise and loved it! This time we are just planning on doing the encounter, but we didn't get wet suits for the swim so I don't think we will for just the waist deep encounter.

 

[DisneyPiPhi]

The only place we swam in the ocean on our December 2017 cruise was Castaway Cay. The water was a smidge chilly for me - a couple degrees warmer in the water (or in the air, frankly, so that a cool off was really needed) would have made it completely pleasant. But really, it was fine.

We didn't swim much on the ship, but did the water slide quite a bit, and it was warm enough for that. (Pools were closed a LOT due to child accidents. DD5 swam some and went in the splash pad a lot. She was fine with the temperature!)