Putman Travel: What is the best time to go to the Caribbean?

Putman Travel: What is the best time to go to the Caribbean?

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.

Awesome Alaska

I really don't like the over-used word "awesome". However, when it comes to Alaska, there's no better word. When you hear other people describe Alaska, adjectives tend to flow more than other destination descriptions, magnificent, glorious, spectacular.......

My family enjoys cruising, it's a great way for our us to travel. There is enough space and activities where we can let our children ages 9 and 11 go their own way. So when the opportunity for us to try out an Alaskan cruise presented itself, we pulled our schedules together in about 10 days prior to departure.

We flew into Anchorage, where we were met by Holland America ground representatives. After collecting our bags we had to wait around for about an hour due to some disorganization on their part. After traveling from GSP through Atlanta through Salt Lake City and 5.5 hours from there to Anchorage, an hour delay seemed like ten. Most of the cruise ships depart from the small town of Seward, which is a 2.5 hours trip from Anchorage. There are several options to get from the Anchorage airport to Seward, the most popular being a train or bus, either of which you can purchase through the cruise lines. They both take the same route, which is more like a tour than a transfer. The route basically has you hugging the coast line most of the way. You cut through forest, mountain ranges with the opportunity to see lot's of unique vistas and possibly wildlife that you may not see elsewhere.

We cruised on Holland America's Statendam for a seven day inside passage cruise heading south. This cruise is great for those who are looking to learn more about this diverse eco-system. Holland actually has a naturalist on board most of their sailings, who provides lectures, as well as wild-life spotting alerts as you sail. It's not unusually that an announcement comes over the P/A system while you are having dinner; "if you will look out the port side of the ship @ 10 o'clock you will see a pod of Orcas meandering". The cruise itself is as much about the views while sailing as it is the ports of call. The ports of call for this sailing are Haines, Juneau, and Ketchikan. There isn't much to do in Haines other than the excursions offered by the cruise lines. We choose to not do an excursion there and spent the day walking around the small downtown and actually heading back to the ship early. Juneau on the other hand has a bustling downtown area, which is right where the ship docks. In Juneau we took two shore excursions, one was a "gold-panning" trip and the other was a mountain biking trip. The gold-panning was authentic in the fact you actually go to a mining site and you do get to pan for gold. However, on the way back they tell you it's not economically feasible to make any money even if you automate the process, as all you get is a few specks per full pan. This was a so-so experience. In the afternoon we took a mountain bike tour to a glacier. I would highly recommend this excursion, it gives you a nice experience in the wild. The tour caps off with a visit to the Alaskan brewery. Ketchikan is where we had the best excursion experience. The ship arranged for us to board a 22-foot open air skiff with a captain, for a few hours of fishing in the bay. First you take a short walk to the docks, where you are fitted with rain-weather gear, regardless of the weather, then you are led out to your vessel. After a 20 minute exhilarating ride, we dropped anchor and began to fish. In a matter of 2.5 hours we caught over 100 pounds of fish. We caught halibut, flounder, shark, from "bottom-fishing". Then trolled and snagged a 5lb King Salmon, and a 15lb Coho Salmon. After catching the fish, we went to a really neat campground and had the fish prepared in a boulibase. A description of the camp and the food wouldn't do justice. It has to be one of the more scenic places I've ever been. This excursion isn't cheap, but it was certainly the best I've been on.

A lot of the beauty recognized in Alaska is of her glaciers. And I doubt there is a better way to see these other than on a cruise. The ships actually go inside of passages that are national and state parks, to get you really up close to nature and these massive glaciers, some of which are six miles wide. Our cruise came to an end in Vancouver, where we stayed a couple of extra days before heading home. In closing, Alaska is well worth the effort getting there, and I if you are only going once, cruising is a great way to see her.
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