Is cruising in late January worth it?

[Tulip2796]

Contemplating a cruise in late Januray 2018. It would be only a 5-day out of Miami, with a stop in Cozumel and CC. Been to both already. It's a Marvel DAS so that's the real draw this time, since our youngest is really into superheroes and the Avengers.

The only thing that gives me pause is the weather, and the potential for bad beach weather. We live in North FL so pools and the beach are constants for us April - September (sometimes more.) But, I know our kids will want to get in the pools onboard even if only one time and we'd all love to swim and do water excursions on CC and in Cozumel.

Just trying to figure out if the cruise will still be as enjoyable if we end up with miserable, cold and rainy weather. I'm leaning toward Oceanview given the cool temps which makes the price reasonable in my opinion. Thoughts? Things I should consider?

 

[PrincessShmoo]

Contemplating a cruise in late Januray 2018. It would be only a 5-day out of Miami, with a stop in Cozumel and CC. Been to both already. It's a Marvel DAS so that's the real draw this time, since our youngest is really into superheroes and the Avengers.

The only thing that gives me pause is the weather, and the potential for bad beach weather. We live in North FL so pools and the beach are constants for us April - September (sometimes more.) But, I know our kids will want to get in the pools onboard even if only one time and we'd all love to swim and do water excursions on CC and in Cozumel.

Just trying to figure out if the cruise will still be as enjoyable if we end up with miserable, cold and rainy weather. I'm leaning toward Oceanview given the cool temps which makes the price reasonable in my opinion. Thoughts? Things I should consider?

Well, for me, personally, any cruise is worth taking.

 

[lorimay]

All of our Caribbean cruises have been in winter months.
We have always had swimming weather on all of them.
We are from South Florida so sometimes the water at CC is a little bit chilly for me, but my husband and the grandkids usually swim there.
This past January the grandkids were in that water for hours and hours.
The only time we had a rainy days was our first cruise in November of 2002. It rained on boarding day and CC day, the rest of the week was great!
I guess we have been very lucky.

 

[jrabbit]

I've sailed many times in January... because of school schedules and taxes ....

Have had "Perfect" weather every time (Remember: I live in the Pacific North West - and in the winter anything over 50 is awesome!! -- Throw in lots of SUN and we are Happy Campers). Well in January of 2016 we did not get off of the ship at Castaway Cay. It was Rainy, VERY Windy and therefore Cold (at 70 degrees but with wind chill). Most activities on the island ended up getting cancelled. Tortola and St. Thomas were LOVELY!!

In Cozumel this January we decided not to get off of the ship, but it was an Awesome Day. We spent it up by the pool and had lots of sun, and able to move into the shade when needed. The pools we nice to be in as well. Everyone that we talked to that went ashore had a great time.

 

[shoes99]

We just sailed back to back out of Miami, first cruise left January 28, 2017. It rained on sail away day, but other than that we had
lovely weather. First 5 night was Western, Second 5 night was Bahamian with a stop at CC. Nice weather even in the Bahamas.

 

[WeLoveDisneyAlways]

We've only sailed last week of January and we travel to WDW last week of January for quite a few years and yes we've had horrible weather but we've also had really great weather. One of the reasons we always pick this week is it's the cheapest and to me worth the risk because even if you went in middle of July you can't guarantee good weather. Both cruises we sat in our bathing suits on CC and DH swam in the ocean. We did have 1 night of rough seas other then that smooth sailings. I'd be happy on a cruise even if it was pouring rain and cold everyday

 

[dtrain]

We had very rough seas and bad weather for most of our 7 day Caribbean cruise this past January. Cloudy and windy every day, sea sickness, ocean too cold to swim, do not recommend.

 

[cgolf]

We have cruised a lot in January, and have rarely hit rough seas, but realistically it is the luck of the draw. The last 5 or 6 times we haven't swum at CC, because the water felt chilly, but on earlier cruises it felt the same and we went in and acclimated to it quite quickly. It definitely is not bathwater though. Night times on deck can get a touch chilly, so I always pack a hoodie. I do love swimming at night though because the cooler air makes the pool water feel that much warmer, getting out is just a bit rough though.

 

[cruiser21]

Ive cruised in Jan twice. Both times hit a cold spell in Florida. Seas were rough and wind was cold. I'd rather take my chance in hurricane season. It may be rough, but at least your guaranteed warm weather.

 

[bcwife76]

We cruised this past January (middle of the month) on the Eastern Itinerary and had fantastic weather the entire week! I wouldn't hesitate to book another January cruise (though we did find the water at CC a bit chilly).

 

[jiminyC_fan]

We've cruised one time in January and couldn't get in the water at CC and Nassau because it was just too darn cold. In fact, I have a picture of all of us getting off the ship with sweats on. Crazy! We go to to Cozumel every January for 3 weeks. It is almost always great weather unless a Norte comes in which creates huge winds and some rain. We have seen that it varies from year to year so you just can't predict what it will be like unfortunately. The water is a bit cooler in January than when we go in May but it is still enjoyable.

 

[LSUfan4444]

Ive cruised in february over mardi gras quite a few times and never had a trip where we thought the weather was a game changed either way. Especially considering the lower prices.

I can deal with a little colder water for the thousands of dollars Ill save.

 

[P'colaBeachBum]

We cruise in Feb. and CC has been very warm. The water is a bit chilly but even the Gulf is cold in Jan.

 

[IrishEye]

We cruise January and February all the time, rarely have we run into bad weather. Of course temps in the Caribbean and even Bahamas are 80 to 90 degrees warmer than they are here in January. Sure we swim, after all the water is soft, here you drill through 30 inches of ice to find the soft stuff. Last Saturday we took the boat over to the south side of the lake for lunch and ate out on the pier, Sunday evening it snowed.

Our summer weather is so perfect that we try not to plan travel from May through October, any winter travel to warmer weather is always great no matter what the weather there.

 

[surran12]

We have always cruised the last week of January or first week of February and outside of some rainy days on our very first cruise the weather has always been fantastic. We did the same 5 night on the Magic from Miami last year and the weather was amazing.

 

[1Winston]

Contemplating a cruise in late Januray 2018. It would be only a 5-day out of Miami, with a stop in Cozumel and CC. Been to both already. It's a Marvel DAS so that's the real draw this time, since our youngest is really into superheroes and the Avengers.

The only thing that gives me pause is the weather, and the potential for bad beach weather. We live in North FL so pools and the beach are constants for us April - September (sometimes more.) But, I know our kids will want to get in the pools onboard even if only one time and we'd all love to swim and do water excursions on CC and in Cozumel.

Just trying to figure out if the cruise will still be as enjoyable if we end up with miserable, cold and rainy weather. I'm leaning toward Oceanview given the cool temps which makes the price reasonable in my opinion. Thoughts? Things I should consider?

We are Canadian so keep this in mind
We love the Caribbean cruises and take them in Jan because of job schedules. We have had cool sail aways from port canaveral but by that evening it is warm. We've cruised 5 times and although we've had high winds a couple of days on sea days we've been so lucky to have amazing weather in all ports. One year castaway was cool but the kids still swam!
We love cruising in jan to escape our terrible winters but we don't live in Florida.
Even if it's cold and windy it's still amazing.

 

[cyclenut]

We've sailed in January a few times. The weather is certainly something to consider as it can vary. A couple of years ago the sailing the week before us had a miserable time on Castaway Cay but we had excellent weather. This last January we had to deal with cooler water on Castaway Cay and Nassau. I was fine but my wife couldn't tolerate the colder water. The air temperature was nice, but the water was definitely on the cool side. We also have seen rain on at least one day nearly every time and it is often cloudy on sea days, not not always. We have not experienced rough seas or storms though, just sometimes marginal temperatures and cloudy skies.

Whether or not it is "worth it" is really a choice only you can make. The prices tend to be lower because fewer people find January to be an acceptable time for a lot of reasons, some of which is weather. Don't think you are going to have the same experience as you would over the summer.