Great Family Cruises for Winter

Most people think of summer as the ideal time to take a vacation thanks to kids’ school schedules and the nice weather. Many vacations, like trips to the beach and mountains, are excellent in the summer, but don’t count winter totally out without considering cruising.

At the core, cruises allow for trips all year. You board the ship in a snow-covered New York City and wind up in the Bahamas a few days later. For this reason, cold weather cruises are only a true concern if you plan on cruising north. A tropical vacation will likely let you escape the brunt of winter’s fury. Bad weather has the opportunity to mess up any vacation plan, but hurricanes are much less likely in the winter, potentially saving your cruise.

Something to consider when booking any vacation is the prospect of crowds. For reasons I already mentioned, summer travel tends to be the busiest. For cruising, this means longer waits for tables, fewer seats by the pool and longer waits at the bar on top of the premium price of going on vacation at the same time as everyone else. Going south on a cruise ship between Thanksgiving and Christmas can have more benefits than just your wallet. One drawback to cruising in the winter is the likelihood there will be fewer kids on board, so if your kids are the type to get along with other children onboard, be wary of this.

If you are looking for a cruise to take that will likely have lots of kids and cruises during the winter, Disney Cruise Line is probably one of your best bets. Keep in mind, though, that, like everything Disney-related, there is likely going to be a premium on the price simply because it is a Disney product.

Carnival Cruise Line put out a blog post with its recommendations. Unsurprisingly, all six destinations on their list are tropical destinations. Carnival’s first and second recommendations are Grand Cayman and Belize in the Caribbean. Moving toward the Bahamas, the line recommends Nassau and Princess Cays. Finally, looking toward Mexico, Cozumel and Cabo San Lucas are the official recommendations.

Although this blog post points out Carnival’s specific recommendations for winter cruise destinations, the truth is any destination with beaches and adventure while providing an escape from the cold for a few days is an excellent winter cruise.