Anyone regularly book the last minute fares for the month of January?

SL6827

DIS Veteran
Joined
Apr 23, 2017
With me looking to getting back to Disney cruising after my youngest daughter finishes high school in another three years I will have the ability to cruise, vacation, ect during the off season. I was thinking that January would offer the lower last minute rates and was wondering just how it was to go the Bahamas, Caribbean during then? Too cold to get in the water at CC? Or is docking in January a 50/50 shot? Give me the good, bad and the ugly of cruising in January. Thanks.
 
We have done 2 cruises in Jan, will go on another in 71 days, and have another booked for 2021. We book them on opening day, so can't comment on discount fares. All of our cruises have been 7nights on the Fantasy, so Eastern and Western Caribbean cruises. The air and water temps in the Caribbean is nice and warm. I find the water at CC a little chilly, but there's always a lot of people in the water at CC. We go in Jan so we can escape the dreary freezing weather of Ohio. We were able to dock at all the ports on our 2 previous cruises. Also a great way to relax after a busy holiday season, I love sitting on deck just watching the waves, so peaceful.
 
We have done three of our sailings around that time, one mid Jan, one late Jan and one early Feb. Prices can be a little hit or miss but generally they tend to be lower and FL resident rates are possible.
- Air Temps- Until the new ships come out Port Canaveral is petty much the furthest north for embarkation. Our Florida temps are usually pretty nice but can be hot (highs 80-90’s) or cold (lows 20’s, rare but has happened) depending on the front. We boarded the late January cruise to low 40 degrees and work up the next day to a low of 70, so expect things to warm up pretty quick as you sail south.
- Water temps - The water temps change less dramatically but they will cool some. CC has always been nice weather. The water was cool but not really horrible and we have been in at least for a while on each of those cruises. In fact on two of them the water was perfectly fine and we spent most of the day at the beach. It was a little too cool to be in the whole time but felt good to be in for a while and then out in the sun for a while.
- Docking - We did have one day out of those cruises that it was tougher for the captain to get into the berth at CC. Not really sure if it had anything to do with that time of year. It was more likely due to the wind and currents of that specific day. We did make it but it took a couple of hours longer and shortened the time on CC by a few hours.

Expect it should be close to what you have normally experience with other cruises should you choose to go in Jan.
 
The good, the bad and the ugly of cruising in January? Hmmm... The good is to escape bad weather at home, if that applies to you. The bad, yes, the water in the Bahamas can be cold. A few times it was too cold for me. Still a wonderful day, but very different from beach day where you swim, snorkel, etc. That said, on a February cruise the water was nice and warm... so not sure if it varies a lot.
The ugly: On one cruise in January, a LOT of people were sick with flu-like illness on board. On that cruise the staff didn't always enforce the sanitary wipes upon entering restaurants, nor did they enforce "no diapers in the pools". We arrived healthy... by the time we got of the ship we were all sick.
 


The good, the bad and the ugly of cruising in January? Hmmm... The good is to escape bad weather at home, if that applies to you. The bad, yes, the water in the Bahamas can be cold. A few times it was too cold for me. Still a wonderful day, but very different from beach day where you swim, snorkel, etc. That said, on a February cruise the water was nice and warm... so not sure if it varies a lot.
The ugly: On one cruise in January, a LOT of people were sick with flu-like illness on board. On that cruise the staff didn't always enforce the sanitary wipes upon entering restaurants, nor did they enforce "no diapers in the pools". We arrived healthy... by the time we got of the ship we were all sick.
I didn't even consider the sickness possibilities.
 
My family has cruised 7 times from Port Canaveral in January and February. We have never been unable to dock at Castaway Cay.
One time it was raining in the morning, causing morning excursions to be cancelled. By noon, the weather was fine.
One other time it was too cold in the morning for swimming, but by around 1 pm my kids were in the water.
Sometimes the weather is chilly (40s-50s Fahrenheit) in Port Canaveral, but it usually warms up by the next day and stay warm through the last day.

The last time we tried to cruise out of Florida at another time (October) our cruise was cancelled due to a hurricane. So, we're sticking to January/February, when fares are relatively low because most kids are in school, and the weather, even when not hot, is warmer than it is back home.
 


I was just looking at the last minute fares and I noticed that early November had fares that were close to some in early January.
 
I was just looking at the last minute fares and I noticed that early November had fares that were close to some in early January.

Probably because November is still hurricane season, although I don't think too many hurricanes usually occur in November.
 
We usually cruise in late January early February as we like to escape the cold for a week in the winter. We have had great weather (high 70's or 80's). We had one cruise several years ago at the end of January that was a little cool but great until our Castaway Cay day. We had rented a Cabana on Serenity Bay and the wind was so cold that day that we could not enjoy the Cabana. We had sweatshirts on., and closed the Cabana up and were still freezing. We returned to the ship early and sat in the sun at the pool in Quiet Cove. I think that was the year the cruise was called "The Freeze Cruise." A lot of families did not make it to the cruise due to the weather in their departing cities. Several families rented cars and drove to Port Canaveral.
 
Ya, I am being to think if there are decent discounts during early November, that might work best for us in the future. Thanks for everyone's honest feedback.
 

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