Nyc winter cruise

[Hvoletsky]

Considering booking a nye cruise out of cape liberty. Has anyone  done this before? When does the weather turn warm enough to be outside? 

[Ampurp85]

My understanding is that the first day will be cold. But once it makes it way towards Florida, it should be warm, which means sometime during the second day. 

[PPPJJ-GCVAB]

@Ampurp85 I would probably agree…maybe even late the second day depending on how quickly the ship heads down the coast!  Of course, returning to Bayonne means hitting the colder air again later in the cruise too!  So, for a 7 night cruise  I would figure on 4 days of decently warm days and 2 transitional kind of days.  Naturally the first day onboard will totally be “chilly”!! 

[tjcruisers]

I have a buddy who has done this type of cruise a few times. He says it a weird feeling as it's snowing when you leave, but next morning after breakfast you can go in shorts on the deck

[Stephanie]

We did a cruise out of Bayonne for Christmas. It's a little strange having to pack for winter & summer ...  Like the others said, the 1st day / day & a half are cold and you don't want to be outside, but then it warms up. We were in the Bahamas on Christmas Day in shorts & a t-shirt.  Made me wish I could always have a tropical Christmas.

I haven't done a NYE cruise, but I will say Royal knows how to celebrate the holidays. The Christmas cruise was tons of fun, so I can only imagine how fun a NYE sailing would be.

[nferr]

I've done many out of NY in winter, doing another this January. Of course weather varies, but most of the time the very first sea day is warming up in the afternoon. The next day you're in Florida.  Love it. So much better than flying south to catch a cruise. Plenty to do inside the ship if it's cold anyway.

[Pattycruise]

1st day you are off North Carolina….typically Warner than NY!

[JasonOasis]

I've done this cruise in the winter multiple times and it all depends on your definition of COLD. 

Being a Chicagoan born and raise by the time the sun came up on day one of the cruise (at sea) your day time highs at sea will be in the low 60's which for me is warm especially if it was in the teens when I left Chicago.  On day one you can tell all the northerns from those cold, cold states because we all will be in shorts, tee shirts and flip-flops while everyone else still has on jackets and long pants.  However by day 2 nearly everyone is in shorts and tee shirts because by day 2 you are into the low 80s.  

Also don't forget Anthem and Odyssey (not sure when you are planning to cruise) have climate controlled solariums and Anthem if you are planning a cruise before her departure for Singapore also has a second indoor heated pool as well.

If you are thinking of doing a cruise out of NY in the winter I would suggest you do it especially if it's one of those 11 or 12 night cruises Royal typically runs during January and February.

[Xaa]

I think in the true winter months you aren't going to see 60 on day 1.  You don't leave Bayonne until around 4.  You'll definitely see 60 on Day 2 and likely 80 on Day 3.

[JBC]

I did this once on Anthem.  I personally didn't care for it.  Two of your sea days will be cold weather.  Yes, there are things to do inside, but I prefer to be outside on sea days.  The solarium is enclosed, but to me it makes it feel like the indoor pool at a hotel.  I guess I just prefer the tropical outside air.  This cruise I also experienced the worst seas I have ever experienced out of several cruises, barf bags in the hallways in both directions off the coast of the Carolinas.  Flying to Florida sucks because of the cost, but I would rather start right out in the warm weather.  Obviously this is personal opinion.    

[RCIfan1912]

We are doing our first winter cruise late February 2024 on Anthem to Coco Cay. Always wanted to do a winter cruise and leave the cold behind to warm weather. It's just something I personally always wanted to experience. The other reason though is we were at Coco Cay last August and holy crap was it hot. Hoping for a more pleasant experience this time around. 

[Xaa]

You'll like PDCC in late Feb.  We're fans of Anthem and found the weather to be a non-issue that time of year.

[teddy]

We love cruising from Cape Liberty in winter. 
 

Last February, it was single digits when we left our hotel in Newark for the port. It warmed up to the high teens that day.  Waking up the next morning to 60s was awesome.  
 

The best part was the temps back home in Maine were -20s. 

[Va4fam]

We have done this trip several times and have an 11 nighter on Anthem coming up in January.

It can be chilly/cold for the start of the cruise but not too bad.  Fun to be bundled up sailing under the Verrazano bridge and seeing NYC at night as you leave Bayonne.

I enjoy a couple of sea days at the end of a cruise, but the weather coming back has not been very nice (windy/rainy/cold/choppy) in our limited experience.

[Rakaia]

We were on Anthem out of Bayonne for Christmas last year. Embarkation day....cold. It's December in NY. First sea day...not pool weather (hot tub perhaps though!) but nice to be outside. No coats, just shorts/light long sleeve T-shirt. 

[MKSglitz]

Leaving Cape Liberty in January to cruise the Caribbean wasn't fun for me.  Upon boarding the ship, the staff was shoveling snow off of the pool deck in puffer jackets.  Once we got to our balcony room ,we were greeted by icicles hanging from the balcony rail. This did not compute with my idea of a Caribbean cruise. This could be an adventure for some..  I'm from Michigan and I just wanted to get out of the cold.  As some have said, expect 2 days inside going and 2 days inside coming back to Cape Liberty  (sea very rough.  Ship doors to outside decks were locked and no one could go outside).  Not suitable for pool side sitting unless there is a Solarium.  Winter weather in this neck of the woods is iffy.  Just be ready for anything and have fun!

[Hvoletsky]

Thanks all. We booked Anthem on 12/31 for nye. 

[Scarlett625]

I sailed Anthem out of Bayonne in December 2022. It was definitely cold on the first and last day of the cruise. But having the enclosed pool area, the enclosed Solarium, and the enclosed Sports Plex was really nice. We sailed on Liberty of the Seas to Canada and it was hard to be at the pools or the sports court, because it was so cold, so I appreciated those Quantum class features. I want to go out of Bayonne again next December and I'm excited that the Odyssey of the Seas will be sailing at that time. 

[Al Miller]

I love the transition from cold to warm and back. I like it better than stinking hot from day one. A hint of snow on the ground when I embark in NJ and a day and a half later it's shorts and flip flops. Waking up that Tuesday after a Sunday winter embarkation is like a magical reverse White Christmas. But different people have different tolerances for weather.

[VeronicaS1970]

We cruise every February out of Bayonne. We are 2.5 hours north in upstate NY, and so long as I get on that ship I really don't care. Last year it was -14 when we left home and only 11 when we set sail. First sea day we were comfortable in the Solarium, but then it takes a lot to deter us from lounge chairs facing the ocean.

We don't usually get seasick, so the motion of the seas doesn't bother us much.

We love our winter cruise that we don't have to fly to. 

[fireclan]

We, too, have cruised quite a bit out of Bayonne in January and February.  I love leaving the cold weather, sometimes snow, once a "blizzard" (which delayed our departure a day or two) and heading south to warmer climates. And driving to the port (3+ hours) is so much better than flying. We like doing the 11 or 12 days itineraries. 

[nferr]

On 7/26/2023 at 9:21 AM, Xaa said:

I think in the true winter months you aren't going to see 60 on day 1.  You don't leave Bayonne until around 4.  You'll definitely see 60 on Day 2 and likely 80 on Day 3.

Not embarkation day, but the next day (first sea day), you can definitely hit 60 degrees in the afternoon. Day after that you're in Florida.

[RCVoyager]

This has been debated here before, and I have thought about it quite a bit.  If I lived within 3 or 4 hours of NYC and could drive there (as about 30 million Americans can), I would consider a Winter cruise out of the city.  However, if I have to get on a flight, as I do in Indiana, I would much prefer to fly to a warmer climate to embark. 

My vacation time is precious, so spending a couple of days in cold weather on a ship is not ideal for me... and I know for my wife.

[RCIfan1912]

6 hours ago, RCVoyager said:

This has been debated here before, and I have thought about it quite a bit.  If I lived within 3 or 4 hours of NYC and could drive there (as about 30 million Americans can), I would consider a Winter cruise out of the city.  However, if I have to get on a flight, as I do in Indiana, I would much prefer to fly to a warmer climate to embark. 

My vacation time is precious, so spending a couple of days in cold weather on a ship is not ideal for me... and I know for my wife.

I'm 30-40 minutes from Cape Liberty and yup, I agree. That's where it makes most sense.