Why would anyone take a cruise out of NE in the winter

I worry about a lot of things...probably too many! But in all honesty, this doesn't even come close to being on my radar.

 

Oh well. To each his own.

As you said to each their own; but I would keep my life vest handy if I was you and you intend to trust your life to something like these:)

As you said to each their own; but I would keep my life vest handy if I was you and you intend to trust your life to something like these:)

Melodramatic much? :)

I having been sailing 45 years and find that a little experience goes a long way:) Mike

For the life of me, why would anyone take a cruise out of the Northeast during the winter.

Along with paying a premium for this cruise. It is raw and cold outside. You lose many days staying indoors keeping warm and really can't fully enjoy all the ship has to offer.

 

Paying a premium for balcony cabins that you can't go out and enjoy on the way down and return, because it's freezing out. Seems like a waste of money in my opinion.

 

But more importantly you are at a much higher risk of volatile waters in the Northeast Atlantic, especially in the winter, with storms riding up the seaboard.

 

Think about it. If you are prone to sea sickness or motion, you are almost guaranteed to be sick on the ship during this time of year.

 

I have been on 75 Cruises and experienced it all in many different areas of the world. The Northeast Atlantic is prone to volatile waters.

 

My 2 Cents

My best friends do it EVERY year. It's the time saving, money saving, and ability to go on the newer ships. That question is like asking someone "why do you sail during Hurricane season"?

Because they can or want to, should be a sufficient answer..

I live in Fl and its cold here. Not NE cold, but not warm.

Very true!

From what I read Anthem was doing a 7 day round trip to the Bahamas with a Florida port stop... not to the Caribbean!

I know for a fact Florida & the Bahamas can get chilly in the winter.

Plus the two days going and the two days returning can be really cold.

LuLu

We will direct our comments directly to the OP :). Like the OP we have also taken many cruises (on 14 cruise lines) and just happen to live in the Northeast (some of the year). One year we decided to take a late November RCI cruise (we now avoid RCI...but for other reasons) out of Bayonne. We happened to find a real good last minute deal, did not have to deal with air or a pre-night hotel in Florida (or elsewhere), and could drive to the Port in about 3 hours. So one late November day, with snow on the ground (but not on the roads) we jumped in our car, drove to Bayonne, parked at the port, walked onto the ship, and let the fun begin. It snowed a little that afternoon and it was the only time we have been on a ship with snow on its decks. For us it was a bargain cruise, no airline hassles, and the convenience made it all worthwhile. And when we returned to Bayonne it was easy to wheel our luggage over to our car, and head home in time for lunch. Again, no airline hassles, no worries about winter weather and the airlines, etc.

Would we do this again? Probably....but preferably on Celebrity or perhaps Princess. Although RCI used to be our favorite cruise line, many changes in their overall philosophy no longer make this line an attractive choice.

Hank

Hank, that's an excellent reason. You're doing it for the cruise... not the ports of call. :)

Our daughter's family often takes Christmas/New Years cruises out of the NE (easy drive for them) ... but they do longer cruises 10 - 12 days so they do go to St. Thomas, St. Maarten, and other ports in the Caribbean where it's very warm ... not to the Bahamas where it's not.

They know they'll have some cold days leaving and returning and are happy to enjoy the ship on those.

LuLu

We will direct our comments directly to the OP :). Like the OP we have also taken many cruises (on 14 cruise lines) and just happen to live in the Northeast (some of the year). One year we decided to take a late November RCI cruise (we now avoid RCI...but for other reasons) out of Bayonne. We happened to find a real good last minute deal, did not have to deal with air or a pre-night hotel in Florida (or elsewhere), and could drive to the Port in about 3 hours. So one late November day, with snow on the ground (but not on the roads) we jumped in our car, drove to Bayonne, parked at the port, walked onto the ship, and let the fun begin. It snowed a little that afternoon and it was the only time we have been on a ship with snow on its decks. For us it was a bargain cruise, no airline hassles, and the convenience made it all worthwhile. And when we returned to Bayonne it was easy to wheel our luggage over to our car, and head home in time for lunch. Again, no airline hassles, no worries about winter weather and the airlines, etc.

 

Would we do this again? Probably....but preferably on Celebrity or perhaps Princess. Although RCI used to be our favorite cruise line, many changes in their overall philosophy no longer make this line an attractive choice.

 

Hank

Hi Hank,

Sorry for the off topic question but I would really be interested to know what changes they made that you were not fond of. If you are willing to share that is.

I've tossed around cruising on Royal and have really been wanting to but I find that they are just a bit more expensive than NCL and Carnival so I haven't yet.

Interested in your opinion of them.

I have lost track of what the thread is about but I do know that the Royal is great as is the whole Princess fleet I find RC to be more expensive and its newest ships much too big and more like going to Disney World than cruising.

I think they may have got their priorities confused. An opinion only...:)

Hi Hank,

 

Sorry for the off topic question but I would really be interested to know what changes they made that you were not fond of. If you are willing to share that is.

 

I've tossed around cruising on Royal and have really been wanting to but I find that they are just a bit more expensive than NCL and Carnival so I haven't yet.

 

Interested in your opinion of them.

Royal has "grown" their ships exponentially, and have lost a lot in the process - which has not been compensated for by the addition of skating rinks, bowling alleys, sight-seeing pods, bumper cars, or whatever. The quality of food and service has declined as they have focused their attention on bells and whistles which do not interest me as much as what they used to provide did.

Yes, they are just a bit more expensive than NCL and Carnival (and probably should be, on a comparative basis). In cruising, as in most other products and services, you may not always get what you are paying for -- but you surely will NOT get anything more than you DO pay for.

It makes perfect sense for all of the people who live in the area. Avoiding the airlines is priceless. For the same reason, I wouldn't do it because I would have to fly there.

Just to add, I believe rccl was negligent in sailing out of Bayonne in the first place.[/quote:mad:

 

That said, you would be personally negligent sailing out of Bayonne in the winter. Behave accordingly. Those of us who are unencumbered by your uninformed beliefs welcome the opportunity. Problem solved.

While the focus is on the last departure of the Anthem from Bayonne and their safe return, let me also remind the posters that the January 15th departure of an 11 night cruise was not without incident and even made National news. The second night out turned into a rough time for many as it encountered a storm coming up the east coast causing the ship to list 4 degrees in 20 foot swells. What most passengers didn't know is that one of the stabilizers would not work properly preventing the reason why they are there for to not work at all.

On our last port of call, St. Kitts we were delayed while awaiting the late arrival of an engineer from Europe to board the ship and try to repair a non operable stabilizer.

PLUS as a result another Super storm "Jonah" developed causing the Captain to alter the course and turning an 11 night cruise into 12 nighter.

I guess I have to get my Psychotics of the North sign too! We're out of Maine and have sailed from Boston (my favorite), NY/NJ and Baltimore from Jan through October. We've done the whole sailing from Florida bit, but now that I'm in my 60's, I've decided that not only do I hate flying, I'm not doing it anymore!

I also don't enjoy the Caribbean since for me it seems miserably hot and I tend to leave sweat trails wherever I go. I cruise there only because my family likes it, and if I do that, they'll humor me with a Canadian cruise now and again :D. I enjoy sitting on the balcony in colder weather, don't mind the seas at all (I've been in storms but don't seem to get seasick), and have a great respect for the sea and her moody ways. There are no guarantees that your seas will be like glass or your sailing will be uneventful - but I'd rather be on a ship in the NE than a plane! ;)

Hi Hank,

 

Sorry for the off topic question but I would really be interested to know what changes they made that you were not fond of. If you are willing to share that is.

 

I've tossed around cruising on Royal and have really been wanting to but I find that they are just a bit more expensive than NCL and Carnival so I haven't yet.

 

Interested in your opinion of them.

Ok, we will go a off topic. Years ago we loved RCCL (now RCI) and go back to the 70s when the small Sun Viking was our favorite ship. We quickly reached the Diamond Level and our DD was Diamond before she was 16. But then RCCL decided to take away some of the Diamond perks such as access to the Concierge Lounge. Meanwhile, they changed to a line dedicated to building huge mega-ships and generally doing shorter cruises (most less than 10 days). The quality of food went downhill, service in the MDR went from sides being served from silver bowls/platters by assistant waiters to fixed plates (similar to most lines these days) etc. Their cruises started to feel more like being at a Carnival (with tons of kids/teens) then on a ship. We did understand the changes and how it made sense from a business/profit point of view. But it is just not our style of cruising. We love to sit near a pool, read our books/kindles, and not be bombarded with hairy leg contests, diving for spoons, etc. We prefer a cruise where the cruise director might only bother us once or twice a day with a short announcement rather then multiple announcements promoting sales, BINGO, etc.

We could go on and on about our issues with RCI, but our intent is to not trash this very successful company (we are stockholders). Instead, we let our dollars do our speaking....and although we now cruise an average of over 70 days a year...RCI gets none of our business. This could change in the future, but for now, they are far down our list of desired cruise lines. Next month we will be going on a small ship (probably around 700 passengers) for 55 days! There will be no pool games, few annoying announcements, nobody trying to push drinks with umbrellas in the glass, etc. Will this be perfect? Nope. But it will sure be preferable to spending 7 days on a floating resort that goes round and round to the same few ports. RCI has a great product that appeals to a certain clientele....but that would no longer include us.

Hank

Why do people still live in the northeast? 😉

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It's a cheaper way to get from NYC to Southampton then two first class plane tickets? I really don't like flying, much rather be on a ship.

Going South to escape the cold?

Bad weather conditions can happen any time of year, not just winter. Heard of hurricane season? It lasts for six months.

We were "trapped" for three extra days (yeah, I know, the horror of it all ;) ) in Cozumel one year due to flooding that closed down Houston airports in May.

Mother Nature throws out all kinds of weather. How about like now, we are in the 70's and have been for most of "winter". Meanwhile the North East have had a really rough winter.

To each his/her own.

Why do people still live in the northeast? 😉

 

 

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Because it feels so good to get out of the northeast this time of year; while during the rest of the year we do not have the oppressive heat and humidity of the south, the tornados of the midwest, the floods of the Mississippi valley, or the wild fires and mud slides of California.

Just to add, I believe rccl was negligent in sailing out of Bayonne in the first place.[/quote:mad:

 

 

 

That said, you would be personally negligent sailing out of Bayonne in the winter. Behave accordingly. Those of us who are unencumbered by your uninformed beliefs welcome the opportunity. Problem solved.

 

 

Lol, take it easy. I meant into the storm last week, not always.

 

Angry much?

For the life of me, why would anyone take a cruise out of the Northeast during the winter.

Anytime is a good time to get out of there but Winter is an especially great time to get away from there.

For the life of me, why would anyone take a cruise out of the Northeast during the winter.

 

 

 

But more importantly you are at a much higher risk of volatile waters in the Northeast Atlantic, especially in the winter, with storms riding up the seaboard.

 

 

 

 

I have been on 75 Cruises and experienced it all in many different areas of the world. The Northeast Atlantic is prone to volatile waters.

 

If you mean sailing out of North East of the United States, New York, New Jersey and I think you do are you not going to generally be cruising in the North WEST Atlantic. You are going to have to sail a fair way across before you could reasonably call it the North EAST Atlantic.

Regards John

why do people still live in the northeast?

 

 

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:d :d :d :d :d :d :d

{cough} troll alert {cough}

Why do people still live in the northeast? 😉

 

 

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Because the money we save by not having to pay CA taxes easily finances our entire winter in Puerto Vallarta ;)

Hank

We usually sail out of Florida. However, it's getting harder to do that now that my mom is getting older. Flying is hard on her, with having to be hand wanded at security due to various metal implants, it's hard for her to walk the distances to the gate, having to deal with dragging bags around (and the weight limits), plus needing 4 tickets and an overnight hotel + food in advance.

We got what I think was a good deal on balcony cabins on Anthem over Christmas week. We got in the car and in 40 minutes were dropping off bags and pulling into the parking garage. Once we went through the check in we were on the ship.

It was definitely cooler the first day and a half, but the kids had wetsuits that I got at a great price online so they were warm for the flowrider, which is our main draw for Royal ships. They did iFly the first day, and we spent a great deal of time either in the solarium or the indoor pool.

On the way back, the last full day at sea was very foggy and cool. Thank goodness for all that wonderful indoor space.

Would we do it again? I think we would. We didn't particularly love the ship (we are Freedom lovers) but the convenience coupled with the cost (the price for Freedom the identical week never dropped and air was very expensive so we made out), added to the fact that mom did okay in the casino, I think they mischarged me for a drink package and the younger boy won an iPad mini in one of the arcade games, and it was a very profitable week.

I think now that my oldest is headed off to college, mom and I might try another ship out of NY/NJ while my younger one is with his father. We've sailed on Carnival Glory out of NY, but we might want to give NCL a spin, or take Celebrity or Princess at some point.

Isn't it a great thing that there are ships and ports all over so that everyone can find something that works for them?