Disney Wish in July, Nov, or Jan?

[LittleMerman]

I have a 3-night cruise booked on the Wish for July 2022. For the same amount of money, I can get a 4-night cruise and room upgrade if I go in Nov 2022 or Jan 2023. Any recommendations? I've never cruised. It's going to Nassau and Castaway Cay. I would figure that they would be warm enough in January to swim? Thanks for any advice!

 

[EOD K9]

I have a 3-night cruise booked on the Wish for July 2022. For the same amount of money, I can get a 4-night cruise and room upgrade if I go in Nov 2022 or Jan 2023. Any recommendations? I've never cruised. It's going to Nassau and Castaway Cay. I would figure that they would be warm enough in January to swim? Thanks for any advice!

I’ve cruised in January and the water is cold. My wife said it was freezing but if you work enough, you’ll barely feel it. That being said, I’ve been on three and four nighters. Each has its pros and cons. If you don’t like the cruise, three days gets you off the boat quicker. If you love it, just as you are getting into your cruise groove, they kick you off.
However, since you’ll be on the Wish and it’s brand new, that’s also a plus. The down side of three nights is that without an at sea day, if you can’t dock at Castaway Cay due to weather, they can’t switch days as has been done.
This one is kind of difficult to give advice to. This is an either or type of decision. Good luck!

 

[ChuckElias]

I've cruised in January, and the water was too cold for me to swim, but everybody else in my family was fine. It's going to depend on your own feeling of what's "too cold". For me, I would always prefer 4 nights, rather than 3 nights, but if it's your first cruise and you're not sure that you'll love it, maybe 3 nights is a good test run for you. I will say that I would probably rather sail in November than January, as it's usually a little warmer.

 

[DisKid]

First off you do not say what your upgrade is from/to and whether you have any kids and I will not assume anything.

As for a 3 night or 4 night, we have always told people interested to do a 3 night just to see if they like cruising if it is going to be their first time. However, I believe the Wish will probably have a lot more kids in July than November if that would be a concern. It will also probably have more passengers since it will still be new and a lot of Disney die hard cruisers will want to sail as soon as they can.
If you have kids, the pools and aquaduck are going to be packed in July. Just those reasons alone could push me to November. That also could sour you away from cruising again. If you don't like cruising, 4 nights is not that much to deal with. It would give you a chance to see how relaxing a sea day is! As EOD K9 said both the 3 and 4 nighters have their pros and cons. For the same amount of money with a room upgrade plus 4 night, I would go for the upgrade.

As for water temperature at Castaway Kay, we were on the Dream for 3 night cruises in September for a 40th anniversary celebration, November, and we were just on it again for the January 14-16 sail. The water temperature in September was about 84 degrees, November 79-80, and the last time was 77-78 degrees. The cast members apparently don't know what the water temperature is or won't tell you but I found this web site to tell me: https://seatemperature.info/castaway-cay-water-temperature.html
I was one of the few that got in the water both November and January. Was the water cold? YES!! But after you are in for a little bit it doesn't seem to bad! It is doable if you are brave enough!!!!!!
As for the regular weather in November or January, we really didn't notice that much difference.

Good luck trying to choose and let us know your decision!

 

[Maelstrom Troll]

We did a three night cruise as our inaugural cruise and it felt too rushed. I would definitely recommend a 4 nighter so you have more time to relax. The water will be cold but we typically cruise in December and it usually isn’t terrible.

 

[LittleMerman]

We did a three night cruise as our inaugural cruise and it felt too rushed. I would definitely recommend a 4 nighter so you have more time to relax. The water will be cold but we typically cruise in December and it usually isn’t terrible.

Do you swim in Dec?

 

[Master Yoda]

I will parrot what many have said...January is just too cold for enjoyable swimming. You can get used to the cold water, but you don't really want to get back in once you get out.

I would probably go for the 4 nighter in November.

 

[RememberWhen]

We’ve got a 4 nighter at the end of February. I can report back on water temps when we get home.