Best Cruises in December: What the Calendar Buys You
Contents
The honest answer to the question of the best cruises in December is that December is not a shortlist of ships. It is a date on the calendar, and the date is what changes. December is the first full month after the official Atlantic hurricane season closes, and NOAA gives that season as June 1 to November 30. It is a published boundary rather than a rule of thumb, and it is what actually separates a December sailing from a September one.
What that date buys is statistical rather than absolute, and it carries a cost no itinerary lists. NOAA says the season was drawn to encompass over 97% of Atlantic tropical cyclone activity — so a remainder falls outside it, and NOAA names December as one of the two months where that remainder lands. Meanwhile the same winter calendar carries you into the months when norovirus outbreaks cluster. That trade, and a federal reporting rule few passengers hear about, is what follows.
Key takeaways
- The official Atlantic hurricane season runs June 1 to November 30, so December sits entirely outside it — as does the eastern Pacific season, which closes the same day.
- NOAA gives the statistical peak as September 10, with 96% of major hurricane days falling from August through October.
- Those dates capture over 97% of Atlantic activity — and NOAA names May and December as the months when out-of-season systems occur.
- Norovirus outbreak incidence tends to occur during winter months, though the NHS notes you can catch it any time of year.
- Under 42 CFR 71.21, the master of a ship carrying 13 or more passengers reports acute gastroenteritis cases — including zero — 24 hours before arrival at a US port.
The two published dates that make December different
The season boundary is fixed and public. NOAA states that the Atlantic hurricane season runs from June 1 to November 30, so a December sailing date involves no judgement call: the month begins the day after the season officially closes. The eastern Pacific season, which governs Mexican Riviera itineraries, runs from May 15 to November 30 and shuts the same day.
The peak is a published date too. NOAA gives September 10 as the Atlantic peak, with most activity between mid-August and mid-October, putting a December departure roughly a quarter of a year past the busiest single date in the record. Its Hurricane Research Division supplies the concentration behind that: a very peaked season from August through October, holding 78% of tropical storm days, 87% of minor hurricane days and 96% of major hurricane days. The most damaging storms cluster hardest, and December sits well past them.
Why the season ends on November 30 at all
The end date is administrative, not natural. NOAA’s Hurricane Research Division records that the season ran June 15 to November 15 from 1935 until 1964, when it was decided to end the season on November 30. What sits underneath that line is ocean temperature: tropical cyclones need ocean waters of 80° Fahrenheit at the surface and warm to a depth of 150 feet, because warm water fuels the heat engine of the storm.
The caveat NOAA prints beside its own dates
NOAA does not claim the season is a hard edge. Its climatology wording notes that tropical cyclone activity sometimes occurs before and after these dates, and NOAA is more specific still: out-of-season tropical cyclones primarily occur in May or December. December is not a corner the agency overlooked. It is one of the two months it names.
So the honest framing is a narrow one. A December sailing is outside the window NOAA drew around more than 97% of Atlantic activity. It is not hurricane-proof. NOAA gives an average season, on the 1991 to 2020 climate period, as 14 named storms, 7 hurricanes and 3 major hurricanes; the 97% figure describes when those tend to fall, not whether exceptions exist.
The published figures, side by side
If you are weighing the best cruises in December against the same itinerary in another month, these are the numbers doing the work.
| Published figure | Source | What it means for a December sailing |
|---|---|---|
| June 1 – November 30 | NOAA | Official Atlantic season; December falls wholly outside it |
| May 15 – November 30 | NOAA | Official eastern Pacific season; closes the same day |
| September 10 | NOAA climatology | Statistical peak, about three months earlier |
| Over 97% | NOAA | Share of Atlantic activity the dates were drawn to cover |
| May or December | NOAA | Months in which out-of-season cyclones primarily occur |
What the same calendar move costs you
December sits inside a seasonal illness pattern. Clinical reference material published on the US National Library of Medicine’s bookshelf states that outbreak incidence of norovirus gastroenteritis tends to occur during winter months, and UK government surveillance material describes norovirus as also known as winter vomiting disease, and highly infectious.
But do not over-read the label. The NHS states that although it is sometimes called the winter vomiting bug, you can get norovirus at any time of year. The winter association is a tendency in outbreak data, not a gate that opens in November. The same reference material lists schools, military barracks, cruise ships and resorts as outbreak settings, and reference material notes that norovirus spreads rapidly in closed environments including cruise ships.
What an outbreak actually costs in days
The arithmetic is short, which is the good news. The average period from exposure to symptoms is 1.2 days, and published health guidance puts onset at 12 to 48 hours. Symptoms usually resolve within one to three days. On a week-long sailing that is a real slice of the trip, but it is days rather than the whole thing — and a passenger can board well and be ill on day two.
The contagious tail runs longer than the illness. Published health guidance states that people are most contagious from the time they first start feeling ill through three days after they feel well again, and Washington State gives three days to two weeks after recovery. NHS guidance is to stay away from work or school until you have not been sick or had diarrhoea for two days.
The gel dispenser at the buffet door is not the answer
This is the part most passengers have backwards. Reference material states that washing hands with soap and running water for at least 20 seconds is the most effective form of hand hygiene for eliminating norovirus, and that studies on the effectiveness of alcohol-based hand rubs are inconclusive. CDC‘s travellers’ health page for cruise ships asks passengers to wash with soap and water before eating and after touching things other people have touched, such as stair railings.
The dose explains the urgency. As few as 10 viral particles are enough to cause infection, and norovirus is believed to cause approximately 60% of acute gastroenteritis cases in the United States. CDC’s cruise page confirms that vomiting and diarrhoea reported on ships are primarily caused by norovirus.
Pro tip
Treat the season dates as climatology and current conditions as news. NOAA’s National Hurricane Center publishes live tropical cyclone information on its own site, and that page — not a summary written months earlier — is what to check before a December departure.
The counting rule nobody reads out at muster
Gastrointestinal illness on a ship bound for a US port is federally counted. Under 42 CFR 71.21, the master of a ship carrying 13 or more passengers must report, 24 hours before arrival, the number of cases of acute gastroenteritis in passengers and crew recorded in the ship’s medical log during that cruise — including a count of zero. Cases occurring after that report must be reported not less than four hours before arrival. It is a mandatory count, not a disclosure triggered only when something has gone wrong.
The regulation also defines what counts. Federal regulation sets the clinical threshold: either diarrhoea, defined as three or more episodes of loose stools in a 24-hour period or what is above normal for the individual, or vomiting accompanied by one or more of loose stools, abdominal cramps, headache, muscle aches or fever. That is the line between a bad night in a cabin and a reportable case. The same regulation requires the master to report immediately any death or ill person among passengers or crew in the 15 days before arrival, to the nearest quarantine station.
Cases reach that log because someone reports them. CDC advises passengers who feel sick during a voyage to report symptoms to the ship’s medical centre, and anyone feeling sick beforehand not to travel, but to ask the cruise line about rescheduling or reimbursement.
Common mistake
Reading “outside hurricane season” as “no tropical storms”. NOAA’s own wording is that tropical cyclone activity sometimes occurs before and after the official dates, and NOAA names May and December as the months when out-of-season systems primarily occur. A December date buys the 97% window, not immunity.
Documents for a closed-loop December sailing
A round trip from a US port has its own rule. Federal regulation provides an exception to the passport requirement for a US citizen travelling entirely within the Western Hemisphere on a cruise ship, boarding at a port or place within the United States and returning on the same ship to the same port. Under that exception, government photo identification with birth documentation may be presented instead of a passport.
Two cautions before leaning on it. Regulation text can be amended, so read the current wording rather than a summary. And what the government requires is a separate question from what an operator requires of its own passengers.
Frequently asked questions
Is December outside the Atlantic hurricane season?
Yes. NOAA gives the official season as June 1 to November 30, so December falls outside it — though NOAA notes that tropical cyclone activity sometimes occurs before and after those dates.
When does the Atlantic hurricane season peak?
September 10, according to NOAA’s climatology, with most activity between mid-August and mid-October. Its Hurricane Research Division records that 96% of major hurricane days fall in that August-to-October window.
Do Pacific itineraries fall outside the season in December as well?
The eastern Pacific season runs from May 15 to November 30 according to NOAA, closing the same day as the Atlantic season, so a December sailing is outside both published windows.
Why is norovirus called the winter vomiting bug?
Because outbreak incidence tends to occur during winter months, and UK government material calls norovirus winter vomiting disease. The NHS adds that you can get norovirus at any time of year.
Does hand sanitiser protect against norovirus on a ship?
Not as a replacement for washing. Reference material states that soap and running water for at least 20 seconds is the most effective form of hand hygiene for eliminating norovirus, and that studies on alcohol-based hand rubs are inconclusive.
Is a passport needed for a December cruise that starts and ends at the same US port?
Federal regulation sets out an exception for US citizens travelling entirely within the Western Hemisphere who board at a US port and return on the same ship to that port, allowing government photo identification with birth documentation instead. Check the current text and the operator’s policy.
