Will it be too cold for a 7 night December cruise?

[tinkandonaldfans]

Trying to convince my husband that 7 night Carribean cruise in December would be a good idea! He thinks it will be too cold to enjoy the sea/pools etc. We went on a 3 night cruise in August which was obviously very hot. It’s a lot of money to be cold and don’t want it used as ammo in all future decisions

 

[holula]

I’ve sailed in December several times… it’s my birthday month and what better way to spend your birthday than with Mickey and the gang, right?

Weather in December can vary. I’ve been at Castaway where the weather was sunny in the morning and the water was nice, and then it became super windy in the afternoon and was pretty cold. I sailed a b2b once where the first week was rainy and cool and the second week was in the 80s. I’d say on balance I’ve had more nice days than not nice days.

It’s definitely not going to be as hot as August, but the hot tub is always a perfect temperature! I’m sailing in December this year again and am looking forward to not burning my feet walking across the pool deck.

 

[OKW Lover]

Most likely it will be a great cruise. We have sailed in December and are currently sailing.

 

[Mommb]

My family has taken Disney cruises from Port Canaveral 8 times in January and February. Only once or twice was it too cold to swim comfortably at Castaway Cay.

Our experience is that weather in Florida and the first/last nights on the ship may be cold, but that the weather warms up as the ship travels south. The weather in the Caribbean ports should be pleasant, cooler than August but still warm.

 

[cvjw]

We have done multiple 7 night cruises in December and January. Most every cruise, it was cold in Orlando and port Canaveral. The Caribbean has been perfect on every cruise. Castaway is iffy. The air temps are usually nice, but the water can be cold. And, we have encountered rough seas on several winter cruises.

 

[CamColt]

My limited experience has been December is not a very warm time to cruise.

We did a 7 night this past Dec. Most days were windy, cloudy and cool. While sail away day was sunny, my (adult) son was actually wearing a winter hat. Our day at LC started out that way but the sun did come out and then I removed the sweatshirt. It got warm. Jamaica was VERY windy but around 80. The last day at CC was sunny and warm, the 1 day I actually laid out and used sunscreen. The only other time I have sailed in December was 2010 and that was a 4 night Bahamian cruise. I never put on a bathing suit once and the only time I made it out on deck I was wearing jeans, a sweatshirt, and sneakers.

 

[Dug720]

Just as a note that use of sunscreen should be a given regardless of the temperatures (or honestly even cloud cover if you're outside for any length of time).

 

[JM_97]

If you're doing Eastern Caribbean, it will be very warm down there. Castaway Cay will be harder to predict.

 

[DWillowBay]

We did a 7-night in January. We did not experience chilly temperatures at all. Even at Castaway, we did the Stingray experience. I'm sure it varies cruise-to-cruise, but we had no trouble at all (...and I am a cold weather wimp! Anything under 70 degrees is winter, in my opinion.)

 

[insureman]

I find in the Winter months most people from the southern area of the of the states complain that it's too cold in the Caribbean whereas most people from the north think it's ok.We normally sail between December and February and think it's fine. From the Northeast.

 

[dad of 3 addicted to DCL]

We've sailed 8 times in December, and 6 times in Jan/Feb. The Bahamas are hit an miss, but getting into the tropics for Western (Cozumel, Grand Cayman & Jamaica) as well as Eastern (US & British Virgin Islands) are very warm. We usually do water based excursions/activities and have never had a problem down there. Castaway...that can be chilly in the water. Water temp today there is 75 degrees.

 

[Cfabar1]

We have done September and November cruises....

September was hot... probably too hot... But it is a good time of year for us to get away, and fares are cheap...

November was just about perfect... And it was the very end of November... So keep that in mind...

 

[MrMagoo]

If you were just wondering about Castaway Cay, the temperatures range from 76 to 79 in December.

You can see the December temperatures here: https://seatemperature.info/december/castaway-cay-water-temperature.html

You don't say when in December you would like to go but you would probably find a little bit warmer temps in the first of the month.

We were there in February one year and I believe the water temperature was 76-77. I got in but the family didn't.
It took a little while to get used to the temperature but after a while it wasn't to bad!

You don't say which Southern Caribbean cruise you were looking at but I am sure you are aware the farther south you go the sea temperatures will be warmer.

But in answer to your question, yes the sea water temperature will be cool.
It will just take a little time to get accustomed to it but you can.

You also have to decide what temperature would be to cold for you.

And as insureman said, a northerner will accept cool temperatures better than a southerner!

 

[HappilyEverAfter80]

We cruise this time every year & usually find Florida on the cooler side (it’s been cold this week and will be next week…) BUT once you sail far enough south it will be very warm. Castaway Cay can be iffy being in the Bahamas but should be mid 70s. If you were only doing a Bahamian cruise and wanted hot, I’d say to avoid the Nov to March time frame but Eastern Caribbean will be very warm overall.

 

[AquaDame]

We cruised the first week of December this year and even for this pacNW girl the ocean was too cold. The air temp was exactly what I needed and I thawed very nicely. We also ended up cancelling all of our snorkeling excursions based on forecast water temps and are glad we did. We were able to enjoy satellite falls and the AquaDuck just fine, FWIW, though some folk looked at us as if we were crazy for being in swimming suits. I assumed they were from warmer states...

 

[tinkandonaldfans]

Thanks for all the replies! We’re from the uk so our warm is probably cooler for most! We’re looking at the 13-20 Dec on the treasure doing the Western cruise. It’s so hard as I would love to do it but at over $7000 just for the cruise (we have flights and hotels to factor in) I just don’t want to get it wrong!

 

[HappilyEverAfter80]

We cruised the first week of December this year and even for this pacNW girl the ocean was too cold. The air temp was exactly what I needed and I thawed very nicely. We also ended up cancelling all of our snorkeling excursions based on forecast water temps and are glad we did. We were able to enjoy satellite falls and the AquaDuck just fine, FWIW, though some folk looked at us as if we were crazy for being in swimming suits. I assumed they were from warmer states...

Uhm… we live in Canada (though for the most part we have mild winters where we live) and we definitely find Florida & sometimes Bahamas cold this time of the year

 

[HappilyEverAfter80]

Thanks for all the replies! We’re from the uk so our warm is probably cooler for most! We’re looking at the 13-20 Dec on the treasure doing the Western cruise. It’s so hard as I would love to do it but at over $7000 just for the cruise (we have flights and hotels to factor in) I just don’t want to get it wrong!

You NEVER know with the weather, it is so unpredictable these days. I’d say your cruise should be very warm overall, but might not the entire time. Still, with the exception of maybe Florida, it should not be cold. It’s hard when you have such a long way to come for sure. For us even though we are in Canada, it’s a 2 hr flight & we drive a lot too (18 hrs non stop lol), so in case the flights are crazy expensive, we have that option.Good luck with the decision! We are also hoping to do the Treasure next winter.

 

[holula]

Thanks for all the replies! We’re from the uk so our warm is probably cooler for most! We’re looking at the 13-20 Dec on the treasure doing the Western cruise. It’s so hard as I would love to do it but at over $7000 just for the cruise (we have flights and hotels to factor in) I just don’t want to get it wrong!

If it helps I’m also from the UK and doing a Bahamas cruise in two weeks - even getting out of our drab grey weather (last week of snow not withstanding) is SO nice at this time of year!

 

[juxtapose]

We are in the same boat, currently booked on the Nov 29th cruise but debating changing to end of October to get warmer weather but then we are in hurricane season. I feel like any cruise, or really any vacation, always has a small chance of the weather "ruining" it by cold/hot/storms, but we can just hope for the best!