Transatlantic Crossing for First Timers

Is it too ambitious to go on a repositioning cruise for first timers? I've actually done a 4 night trip Tampa to Cozumel and my husband hasn't done any. It's for April 2019 if we do it, I guess I'm nervous about so many days at sea in case the weather isn't "plain sailing" across the pond. It's for Miami to Spain with Norwegian. Any comments will be appreciated.:)

Personally, while I enjoy the quietness of sea days, I wouldn't do a TA as a first cruise.

You couldn't have paid me $1,000,000 to have taken my DH on a TA for his first cruise! Nope, nada, no way! :D:D:D

Not sure I would take a cruise novice on a TA. One needs to be comfortable on a ship with lots of sea days before tackling this kind of cruise. We love TA and TP (pacific) cruises, but DW and I would be happy with a round the world cruise with no ports :).

Hank

HLITNER- me too!! Cruise to nowhere, all sea days!

If her husb is a reader, he maybe would love it. I read for HOURS on a cruise, seldom pay for excursions.

With the information provided by the OP, it really isn't possible to provide an informed opinion as to whether a TA is an appropriate first cruise.

My first trip to sea (43 years ago) was a combined TA & TP with over 30 days at sea. Our tendency is for longer cruises with lots of sea days, up to and including a 100+ day World Cruise. We have met many first timers, even had at least 2 couples on the WC. From memory, many enjoyed the experience, but we have met some that really didn't enjoy the experience.

For the OP, you specifically made mention of weather related issues, which you can certainly mitigate with cabin selection - look for lowest deck and closest to midships - by selecting lowest deck, we normally pick the lowest deck that has cabins both above and below. In rough weather, during the day avoid the pools and extreme ends of the ship.

Noted the OP mentioned NCL, haven't used them, but as a mega ship mainstream line they should have numerous activities to prevent boredom.

While the majority of first timers probably head to the Caribbean, unless you are terribly seasick or easily bored, I certainly would not discount a TA, for a first cruise.

My Husband and I would have loved a TA if that had been our first cruise. Our first cruise (2017) was 6 days. We got engaged two months later and booked a TA for our honeymoon (this past May) and LOVED it. But we both really love down time. We were also on Carnival's newest ship that has tons of stuff to do on board.

If you really want to try one, find one between January-May when the Atlantic is the least (typically) stormy. Pick a lower deck and towards the back of the ship (according to my friend who was in the Navy; most people will tell you low-and-middle of the ship). But there's just no way to guarantee you wont hit any weather. Bigger ships handle the weather better than small so that's another factor to consider when looking at options.

Here is my blog post about my TA cruise: http://laurenofalltrades.blogspot.com/2018/06/horizon-transatlantic.html

Note: Carnival doesn't normally do TAs. This one was it's one-time repositioning from Europe - where it was built.

I would suggest a shorter cruise in an area more likely to have good weather for a first-timer. Spring T/A’s are likely to be cool - particularly the first few days. That said, if the cruise is a your way of getting to Europe for a land visit - I would suggest it as preferable to flying.

Quite honestly, I wouldn't book a trans-Atlantic for a first cruise. If your DH doesn't like it, he's literally stuck on the ship for 6 to 8 days with no reprieve. That could put a strain on your relationship, to say the least.

We've taken 3 trans-Atlantics, with our 4th coming up in October, and I wasn't sure my DH would like it - after 16 previous cruises. To my delight, he really enjoyed the sea days, as he was able to continue working on a book he's writing, and didn't find the sea days something he had to endure. Yayy for me!

Let us know what you decide.

Smooth Sailing! :) :) :)

It will depend on the line. We've don a TA on Cunard and absolutely loved it - thinking about another in 2019. But our experience with other ships on sea days suggests that other lines may not be as good at offering stimulating entertainment as Cunard. I have no experience with Norwegian.

I would go for it! If your husband can be without regularly scheduled sports for over a week, he will be fine. Also be sure to tack on some post cruise days in Barcelona, a shame to go all that way and then not see anything of that lovely city.

There will be lots of activities scheduled if you happen to enjoy trivia, there is usually a progressive trivia game going for every sea day and you earn points all week long.

My first 'cruise' was a trans-Pacific for over 2 weeks down to Fiji when I was 14 on a container/cargo ship.....4 passenger cabins, and no kids' club! lol

Thank you everyone for taking the time to reply - lots to think about now :)

Is it too ambitious to go on a repositioning cruise for first timers? I've actually done a 4 night trip Tampa to Cozumel and my husband hasn't done any. It's for April 2019 if we do it, I guess I'm nervous about so many days at sea in case the weather isn't "plain sailing" across the pond. It's for Miami to Spain with Norwegian. Any comments will be appreciated.:)

Our very first cruise was a repositioning Panama Canal (15 nights). We found that we prefer the long cruises, so a TA repo cruise wouldn't have been out of the realm of possibility, if it had been available. In fact, our first TA was a B2B with a 10 night Med cruise. The Med cruise was very port intensive (8 ports in 10 days), so following it with the TA (a bunch of sea days) was really most relaxing.

For most, starting with shorter cruises and working up to the longer ones seems to be the norm.

Try something else as a first cruise and get the feel of the ship, the ports, etc. We have done a number of cruises, and the last two were TA. I love to read, but honestly, these cruises were the least enjoyable I have been on. I don't particularly care for trivia, bingo and interactive games with the crew which seemed to be the "entertainment" during the day.

My husband, on the other hand, loves these cruises. He watches movies, the ocean, etc. and would go on them all the time.

There is not enough to do (for me) and I have told him I will not do another TA.

Do something fun for the first cruise and a TA later. If I had done a TA as my first cruise, I never would have cruised again.

On our 4 TA's we have met several 1st timers. Never met any that weren't loving it! I suggest you read reviews of TA's on NCL & if you can find some of your particular ship. Read about how people spend their "sea day" time. For example, I love to go to stuff like Trivia, Bean Bag Toss, live morning shows, dance classes. Hubby loads his Kindle & works out a lot. Many like to play cards, do arts & crafts projects etc. If you decide to go, join your Roll Call they usually plan some stuff too. We love TA's, going again in April 2019, Galveston-Barcelona!

I took a princess ta from Southampton to Fort Lauderdale and didn’t enjoy it. My issue was that it was ending it’s season in Europe and a lot of the cruise staff were headed home. Their focus and excitement was not on the cruise guests. Many staff were late or didn’t show up for activities which are so important when there’s that many sea days. I will probably give it another try but not any time soon.

A few thoughts.

Some TA's are the first cruise of the season with a crew anxious to start their contracts with good passenger reviews and tips which can make the cruise memorable.

Several lines (I don't know about NCL) will schedule maintenance work which reduces the passenger load but can entail blocked off areas and noise levels. (Windstar is famous for doing that.)

In other words, TA's can involve several unexpected characteristics.

If you really want to try one, find one between January-May when the Atlantic is the least (typically) stormy. Pick a lower deck and towards the back of the ship (according to my friend who was in the Navy; most people will tell you low-and-middle of the ship). But there's just no way to guarantee you wont hit any weather. Bigger ships handle the weather better than small so that's another factor to consider when looking at options.

As a mariner with 40+ years at sea and almost 30 years in command of passenger vessels, I have to respectfully disagree with some of your points.

While you may not experience TRS (hurricanes) in Jan to May, the TA eastbound route follows the Gulf Stream and heads into the North Atlantic, with the winter months being the worst months to experience storms. The N/Atlantic in January is not a fun transit, which I know from experience.

The area of the ship experiencing the least movement is closest to the ship's centre of gravity (CoG), then any distance from that point extenuates the motion. This includes vertical and longitudinal distances from the CoG. Being aft you will experience more motion than at the Longitudinal CoG, which is closer to midships. Aft you may not experience the slamming of the bow, but depending on the seas can experience a number of other issues, especially if the wheels partially clear the water.

Bigger ships do not always handle seas better than small ships, as it depends on the construction scantlings, hull design and stability. The knowledge and skill of the Captain in easing the passage also applies.

HEIDI13 - wheels???

Apologies, wheels = props

Is it too ambitious to go on a repositioning cruise for first timers? I've actually done a 4 night trip Tampa to Cozumel and my husband hasn't done any. It's for April 2019 if we do it, I guess I'm nervous about so many days at sea in case the weather isn't "plain sailing" across the pond. It's for Miami to Spain with Norwegian. Any comments will be appreciated.:)

We love the Transatlantic cruises and do them frequently. We take a westbound TA that leave from either Rome or Barcelona because they usually go to either Miami or Fort Lauderdale. The reason being is you have no jet lag returning to the states. I would suggest the southern route because it gets warmer as you had south west. Just our preference. Hope it helps.

My first cruise, a southern TA from Cape Town to Buenos Aires, was almost my last! Of course, it was a small ship with literally no activities if you didn't drink or gamble, I was in the company of three seasick people, and my back was 'out' for literally the whole passage. The albatross that followed the ship and I became the best of friends!

My second cruise, to Hawaii and back, was scarcely better, although there was at least a coffee station and I learned how to tie a sarong in the enhancement sessions. And there were the Islands in the middle (there are NO port stops between Cape Town and Buenos Aires!).

It was only several INTERESTING cruises (Alaska, Panama, South America) later -- well over a decade -- that I agreed to a FL-Europe transatlantic. Both I and the ships had gotten more self-sustaining in those years! Now we are booked on two TAs in the next eight months (one each direction). I knit, DH reads, we do happy hour, and he brings seasick meds.

So no, I wouldn't recommend a TA for a first cruise, unless your DH like mine appreciates being forced to do nothing! Kindle is the best thing ever invented for those types!

A TA has lots of sea days. I find that sea days are a fate worse than death. What are you going to do if it turns out that your DH ends up also hating them. He will never want to get on a ship again.

Make your first cruise one with a good combination of sea days and days in port. He will then find out if he can stand sea days and then you can talk about a TA. And be aware that he may say that no way will he ever take a TA.

DON

I'd recommend a 7-10 day cruise first, one with 2 or 3 consecutive days at sea. If you both enjoy those days at sea, then consider a transatlantic.

Whether sea days are a blessing or a curse depends to a large extent on the line, in my opinion.

We've done many Cunard trips with 3-7 consecutive sea days and there's always a full day of activities, particularly their enrichment lectures and planetarium shows. We've done a couple of Holland America cruises and with HAL it seems that there's always one sea day that's dedicated to schmoozing their Mariners Club members with little to nothing organized for passengers aside from that.