The summer season by and large is the most popular time of year for family holidays, largely because the children are out of school.

Winter cruises provide a way to take a nice, relaxing cruise without so many children on board. They are also a perfect break from the cold, wet, dreary weather of winter.

Taking a winter cruise can break up the monotony of those boring winter days when you are often trapped inside. Wintertime cruises to warm weather climates offer a chance to soak up the sun at a better price than summertime cruises. The off-season for cruise lines is between September and December, particularly for Caribbean cruises. These cruise companies often offer lower prices during this period in order to sail with a full ship.

While September to December is the off-season and can provide you with some good cruise deals, remember that during the weeks around the Christmas holidays the cruise ships will be particularly crowded. The children are off for Christmas break and many families take this opportunity to celebrate the holidays at sea.

Winter cruises travel to just about all of the normal destinations like the Caribbean, the Mediterranean, Europe, the Far East, Hawaii, and Alaska. However, Caribbean cruises tend be one of the most popular during this time of the year. The Virgin Islands are an ideal destination if you are looking for a something low key and relaxing. For more excitement, you might find Mexican cruises offer a lot of variety in their shore excursions beyond swimming, snorkeling, or sunning on the beach. Treks through the jungle and trips to Mayan ruins can keep your days full.

If escaping the winter weather isn’t as important to you as just escaping to somewhere exciting and at a cheaper cost, then a winter cruise with destinations like the Norwegian fjords could be just what you are looking for. Winter is definitely the cheapest time for this type of cruise and a great time to see the Northern Lights and the beautiful fjords. Shore excursions include exciting adventures like dog sledding, ice fishing, or a snowmobile safari.

Popular cruise lines that offer warm weather cruises in the winter include Royal Caribbean, Norwegian, Holland America, Princess, and Disney. Besides the Caribbean they offer cruises to places like South America, Hawaii and the South Pacific, Australia and New Zealand.

There was a time when winter cruises were considered a luxury of the rich. But these days with more ships and more people content to stay at home in the winter, that is certainly not true. There are plenty of bargains on winter cruise holidays to be found by searching the Internet and consulting online cruise agents.