What is the best time to go to the Caribbean?

One of the questions we often get is, "when is the best time to go to the Caribbean?". The answer depends on how the customer defines "best". Some define it as weather, others as price, and others as climate difference as compared with where they live. I wanted to use this post to help answer these questions in each context.

First, I will tackle the "best weather" scenario. The Caribbean is a sub-tropical climate. The temperature variance is slight year round. For example, in Greenville, SC where I live we range from daily highs of low thirties up to +100 as exampled in the above graphic. Granted these are the extremes, and in general we have a wonderful climate, but the point is you could infer that we have around a 70 degree variance based on daily highs through a year. Typically, the Caribbean has much less variance. It could potentially get only up-to a high of 67 during the coldest periods and the high's rarely get above the low 90's. So in terms of temperature, it's pretty darn nice year round. You are never going to get "cold", and the extremities of summer are much milder than what we experience in the south east.

Secondly let's talk about price as it relates to the "best" time to go to the Caribbean. In general there are two seasons. The high season runs from December 16 until April 15th. The rest of the year is the off-season. Generally you can expect discounts of 20-50% during the off-season.

Lastly some customers define the "best" time to go as when is the weather substantially better in the destination than it is at their home. A lot of this depends on where your home is. But often people are looking for a change in temperature. Therefore, the "snow-birds" tend to flood the Caribbean in winter, which in terms increase demand (with the same amount of supply), which allows the hotels to charge a premium for this time. And granted even from this area, it's nice to be able to escape February coldness to be able to slip some shorts, t-shirt, and flip-flops and enjoy the sunshine. But if you refer to the graphic above, you will see the variance between Greenville this week and Montego Bay is 20 degrees, and Jamaica is COOLER. Again this is above normal for Greenville, but this helps me illustrate my point. Sometimes a cooler change in climate is welcomed. And I imagine most who are reading would never consider going to the Caribbean to cool down.

The summer and fall are often overlooked as what I call the prime-time to go to the Caribbean. It's where several "best" elements converge; good temperature, better pricing, and variance from my home temperature. There are valid concerns over hurricanes during this period, but with today's ability to track these days in advance this will allow you to make decisions well before any storm is a threat. Try the Caribbean during this time, take out travel insurance that covers cancellations, and enjoy a great vacation at a great price.