Western Caribbean cruise - Need some advice

[julie junebug]

Stay on deck 2 if you're worried about motion of the ship. You feel it more the higher you are, and forward is worse than aft. Deck 2 is a nice location!

 

[Garyjames220]

If I went between September to October time. Would that be better that January

All this cold weather is putting me off a bit

We are coming from Scotland and it's a once in a lifetime trip for us and we don't want to miss castaway cay

 

[Garyjames220]

Stay on deck 2 if you're worried about motion of the ship. You feel it more the higher you are, and forward is worse than aft. Deck 2 is a nice location!

Oh really. I thought the higher up the better. Oh well I'll stay put

 

[tink too]

If I went between September to October time. Would that be better that January

All this cold weather is putting me off a bit

We are coming from Scotland and it's a once in a lifetime trip for us and we don't want to miss castaway cay

September & October will definitely be a lot warmer, but can have more rain. Remember, that time of year is still classed as "hurricane season" so you can encounter rough seas/high winds at any time (a bit like home really, but just quite a lot warmer!). You're right about the park hopper ticket costs for WDW, but remember to factor in additional accommodation costs and expenditures for food, etc. We often find ourselves getting funny looks wondering around in shorts & t-shirts in "winter" because locals are usually bundled up with coats, etc but to us it's just like a summer's day.

The consensus on stateroom location seems to be lower decks, mid-ship areas are best for seasickness avoidance. I can't vouch for that myself as we always are on either deck 6 or 7, but motion/travel sickness doesn't affect my family - especially not my DH who spends a fair amount of time out in the North Sea here in Scotland.

 

[Garyjames220]

Ok we are planning in making it the middle to end of September. To do theme parks then the cruise

Who would do this instead of jan

 

[JW9DVC]

We cruised over New Year 2014/15 (just to the Bahamas though) and found both the weather and the seas to be fine. However as with the UK, the weather can be changeable and unpredictable.





If your flight is an international one, I would have to disagree with KashasMom's advice. Get off the ship as soon as you can after breakfast and head directly to the airport. International flights require a check-in of at least 3 hours before your flight, and Orlando airport is approx. 1 hour away. Recently, we've found the check-in and security lines quite long and time consuming. If you hit them on a quieter time and sail through both though there's plenty of shops & places to eat before your departure. As long as you don't hang around the ship too long, the flight time should be OK.

Depends on the airline and location of travel. Most is recommended. Not required for the 3 hours. I fly over 100,000 miles a year, mostly with AA. I am an Executive Platinum member as well. So I'm a little seasoned at this.


Best to check the airlines requirements for international flights. It states right on the website what is needed.

JW

 

[tink too]

Depends on the airline and location of travel. Most is recommended. Not required for the 3 hours. I fly over 100,000 miles a year, mostly with AA. I am an Executive Platinum member as well. So I'm a little seasoned at this.

Best to check the airlines requirements for international flights. It states right on the website what is needed.

I totally agree that the relevant airline's website should be consulted for accurate information regarding each party's travel itinerary, but just wanted to highlight that international travellers check-in rules are different from those for US internal flights. However, if guests use Disney's Magical Express to return from WDW to the airport, they arrange international traveller's pick up times for approx. 4 hours before departure, so generally stick with the "recommended" 3 hours timeline.

I have been visiting the USA from Scotland (where the OP also resides) for 30+ years, so realise that over time various airline requirements have changed considerably. Last year, had we turned up at MCO airport at say 2 hours before our flight, we would have most probably missed our flight due to huge queues at both check-in/bag drop and security areas had we not been using the Executive lines.

 

[Sytrace]

Just got back from the January 30th to February 6th cruise.
The weather this year in Orlando has been a bit cooler than typical, BUT still not up north type of cold. More like 40's at night and 70 is the daytime. Today we had a high of 57 though. Our cold fronts should be long gone by Sunday.
Anyway, back to the trip.
We left Orlando in mid 60 weather and the next day at sea it was high 70's. The next sea day was Monday and it was warmer to about 80 ish. By the time we got to Tortola and St. Thomas we were looking at a balmy 85 with pure sunshine. It was stunning.

A funny thing happened on our way to Castaway Cay... we lost our left propulsion ability and in order to get back to PC (and lots of reserved flights of passengers) on time , we skipped CC. lol It is true, in this case they did give a 200.00 OBC for missing a stop (which they DID NOT have to do) and a discount on a future cruise. The weather wasn't that warm anyway in CC and the temps definitely dropped.

When we crossed the gulf stream it got a bit choppy and we were in a cabin 4 away from the bridge on deck 10. We definitely felt a dip and then a raise in the bow briefly. Definitely not a huge issue.
I know that the cruise the week before us could not stop at CC either, but it was due to really bad weather and high winds.

I think you will be fine, always pack some Bonine though.. at the very least take just one a day starting about an hour before you even board. I don't notice a drowsiness at all. But if it makes you more comfortable, take it in the evening before bed and it won't matter.
Enjoy!

 

[Sytrace]

We have gone in , April, June, September, November, December and January in the past few years. Here is the breakdown of times we have missed Castaway Cay on each cruise and why.
April: None
June: None (Bahamas)
September 2 cruises, None :Mexico, Caymans, Jamaica
November: None (Mexico, Caymans)
December: None Bahamas
January: 1 " Mechanical challenges" Tortola and St. Thomas.

We are booked to go again late September to Tortola, St. Thomas.

Yes, hurricane season is from June 1st to November 30th, but honestly, August, September and early October are the most likely months to have hurricanes.
Thankfully, we have never had a problem, but on our last cruise in September 2015, the cruise that left after us, experienced the tail end of Joaquin and sailed safely around it. Although, there was a delay in getting into port if I recall.

In January, you might get a day or two of cool weather in Orlando and Bahamas, but definitely awesome weather in the islands.


A 2:30 flight should be fine if you get off the ship by 9 and get to the airport by 11:00 (very easy as it is about a 45 minute drive to the airport)

 

[tink too]

Ok we are planning in making it the middle to end of September. To do theme parks then the cruise

Who would do this instead of jan

You'll definitely get hotter & more humid weather during September in both Orlando and in the Caribbean. We've only cruised once at that time of year and had fantastic weather - sunny days and smooth seas - but that was back in 2010.

 

[Garyjames220]

God me and my partner have talked about this for sooo long we just don't no when to go


Is the end of May a good time to go ?

 

[Garyjames220]

?

 

[tink too]

We've only cruised once in May (back in 2008) as it doesn't fit in with school holidays here in Scotland. We were on the west bound Panama Canal repositioning cruise, so only spent limited time in the Bahamas/Caribbean, but we had lovely weather then, too. We've been lucky on all our sailings though and have always managed to dock at all scheduled ports. We've only experienced 1 "rock 'n' roll" evening (when crossing the gulf stream) which was not bad, just noticeable movement when looking at the pool or when walking around the ship some folks sea legs were not quite walking in straight lines!