Various first time DCL questions: Palo, teens, January weather

[Moonlady]

I am preparing for my first DCL cruise. (I have cruised other lines.) There will be 4 people in our group. My mother, who has never been on a cruise, my 16 yr old daughter who was a very young child on her first cruise and her friend who has never been on a cruise.

Our trip will be on the 3 day Disney Wonder on January 8th. I checked the weather forecast and the average temp in January in the Bahamas is 77 degrees. I live in Central Florida so I know how cold it can get here. But what I was wondering is if anyone reading this has had decent weather in January in the Bahamas? What are the chances that early January the sea will be too choppy or the wind too windy to dock? I made reservations for the catamaran snorkel adventure. Will the water in the Bahamas be warm enough?

Also, does anyone have an opinion on if I should keep the catamaran snorkel adventure or switch to the one that is in the water just off Castaway Cay, the all day one?

As for Palo. What day and time is best to dine there? We don't want to miss the other wonderful dining experiences. Especially the one where the colors change.

Does anyone think there will be enough teens in January? My daughter will be missing 2 days of high school. Her holiday break actually ends 2 days before this trip.

Thank you.

 

[ivanova]

Originally posted by Moonlady
As for Palo. What day and time is best to dine there? We don't want to miss the other wonderful dining experiences. Especially the one where the colors change.

We didn't want to miss any nights in the restaurants, so since we had main seating (6pm) we made Palo ressies for 9pm (latest ressie time available), in essence giving us 2 dinners that one night.

 

[kcashner]

Weather in January and Feb is variable, as you know from living in FL. We usually have wonderful weather that time of year, but had one cruise where it was too cool to enjoy the beach.

Can't address Palo on a 3 night cruise--we've always done at least 4.

As to teens on the ship...of course, during school vacations, there are older kids everywhere. On "during school" cruises, there is usually a core group of 15-20 who participate in the programs. There are more on the ship who don't even try out the programming....but you know how they are at that age. Since your DD will have a friend along, they'll have a blast. In my experience, the key to my daughter having a good time is that she makes a friend in the first day or 2. Since you are bringning the friend along, it will be great.

 

[Chattyaholic]

DH and I did the 7-day Eastern on the Magic in January '01. We had beautiful weather, warm, sunny, blue sky, calm seas....an absolutely lovely vacation. Shorts and t-shirts, lots of relaxing by the pool, wonderful time at Castaway Cay.

We then did the 7-day Western in January '03. Beautiful weather again, most of the time, except for the last couple of days. I was on our verandah and could actually see the "weather" coming in about 3:00 that next-to-last afternoon. Very choppy, rough seas and no Castaway Cay the next day. Since we had been there before we weren't too bummed, but I felt sorry for those who'd never been there and were really looking forward to it. We did have a lot of nice weather though, lots of pool/sun time, did the stingray city tour, enjoyed shopping in the ports, etc.

Our 4-night Wonder cruise is next month and I'm hoping for good weather again, as we are taking my parents and this will be their first cruise. But, you can have good and bad weather any month of the year, I think. And January is certainly one of the least expensive times to go too!

 

[Moonlady]

Well it seems the weather could go either way, I knew this but was looking for an indication that we would probably be ok. I have been very lucky on my cruises so far. No missed ports or anything. I guess the best thing to do is prepare my co-cruisers for the possibility of missing the ports. Especially my mother, she has never been on a cruise.