Transatlantic - Spring or Fall?

[*oceanlvr*]

If you have done a transatlantic cruise, did you go in the spring or the fall? It seems the "fall" is really November for most ships, and I'm wondering if it will be a bit cool. Also, do you think the ocean tends to be more rough and/or unpredictable earlier or later in the year?

 

Also, what was your itinerary? Some have way more port calls than others?

 

I'm loving the idea of all those relaxing days at sea...maybe next year :)

 

Thanks,

Barbara

[Bob the banker]

I have been on a transatlantic crossing in May. Started out in Miami called at three ports in the Caribbean, Funchal Madiera, Barcelona Spain finally Genoa Italy. Loved the days at sea. Also because it was spring, we had nice long sunny days, plenty of daylight. The crossing was very calm and relaxing. Have booked a transatlantic for October this year on P&O Arcadia from Southampton to Barbados. Will never book a cruise where you visit a different port every day. You book a cruise to enjoy the ship and it's facilities and a transatlantic crossing fits this bill. Have also cruised on Queen Elizabeth 11 from Southampton to Cape Town which was also a relaxing voyage.

[*oceanlvr*]

Thanks Bob. What ship were you on in May?

 

Most of our cruises have been port intensive due to our not having the flexibility of longer trips. But those long days at sea really appeal to me, so - one day....

[hajekfam]

We do the fall westbound transatlantic. Two reasons:

1. You get an extra six hours on the ship for time zone changes.

2. You are port intensive at the beginning of the cruise. You can also fly to Europe early to tour and then use the crossing sea days to rest up.

The westbound trans range from early October to late November. We had great weather on both of ours.

[Islandattorney]

I appreciate your advise on this. I have just been wondering about a transatlantic crossing myself, from Barcelona back to Miami via Azores & St Thomas, and thinking that overlaps our late hurricane season. When you say you had good weather for fall crossing, do you include smooth seas? We did one east bound on a southerly route that we loved, but that was in the Spring of course. Comments from experienced ocean crossers would be appreciated.

[Grannycb]

We've taken the Golden Princess from Brooklyn to Venice in April, and the Crown Princess from Ft. Lauderdale to Rome in May. It was smooth sailing on both cruises. The spring is my favorite time as the wildflowers are blooming and the weather is nice. DH wants to try going west for our next transatlantic. I must admit, we are bothered by jetlag flying home from Europe, not so much going.

 

TIP: Try for a Starboard side cabin going to Europe and a Port side coming to the States. The sunshine in your cabin makes the sea days much nicer.

[wrp96]

We loved our transatlantic in September. The 25 hour days every other night were fantastic.:D Ours was a northern route transatlantic so weather was cooler and the waters a little rougher than it typically is further south (we had to detour around an arctic storm so missed one port), but nowhere near as rough as one of my western Caribbean cruises.

[jewopaho]

Our preference is westbound for several reasons. We get that tedious overseas flight done with first. The cruise stops are pretty intense, and many require extended bus rides (as in 2 hours each way to Paris from LeHavre). After all the excitement, six days at sea is a wonderful way to end a magnificent journey. We book our one-way airfare through a travel consolidator, and it's infinitely less expensive eastbound (we paid just over $300/pp Houston to Heathrow ... for some reason, it's about $1200 in the other direction).

 

The downside is the weather ... we found England and France a bit chilly in November (we had our coats with us, so we managed to withstand the Eiffel Tower pretty much unscathed). Once we reached Spain, things calmed down nicely, and the trip across the Atlantic was flawless.

 

For us, it's a hop, skip and jump from Ft. Lauderdale to Houston ... and given that Southwest books one-way legs, it's a no-brainer. This year, we're also considering the Navigator of the Seas from Barcelona, which will homeport in Galveston for the winter. That's just a half-hour from home.

[boewok]

with previous posters. Westbound is terrific. Long days at sea after activity of Europe. At many ports you have to go some distance to see anything other than a commercial, container-laden, port.

 

Weather isn't a problem. There is the whole Atlantic ocean to avoid storms. We skirted around a late hurricane in the northern Atlantic and had marvelous seas.

 

Just be sure to get to Europe a day before you plan to do anything. It takes the body a while to know what time it is. Then go for it--you have several long, relaxing days at sea!

 

enjoy

 

Barb

[KirkNC]

Some interesting replies especially the preference for west bound cruise but some great reason for why you picked them. My fear on the west bounds would be a hurricane that time of year. We are doing our first TA the spring of 12, looking forward to lots of sea days!

 

Kirk

[Nebr.cruiser]

We've done two April Eastbound TA's. On both the weather was good, though the first had cooler days as we went north than the second. Both trips were fairly smooth, with a couple of slightly rocky days, but not bad. Both were out of Florida.

 

I'd love to do a westbound TA but they fall during college football and my husband hates to miss the Huskers! For a great itinerary or price he might be convinced, though. I'd love the extra hour a day, rather than losing an hour a day for several days in a row.

[navybankerteacher]

Some interesting replies especially the preference for west bound cruise but some great reason for why you picked them. My fear on the west bounds would be a hurricane that time of year. We are doing our first TA the spring of 12, looking forward to lots of sea days!

 

Kirk

 

The Atlantic is much warmer in the fall than in the spring - our 10/18-11/3 Noordam crossing gave us 74-78 degree temperatures every day - not likely in April or even May. The 25 hour days (time zone changes) were a plus, as was the fact that jet-lag was gotten over first, rather than at the end of the trip.

 

Hurricane season is close to over by mid-October - even if one does crop up, it can be easily avoided by course modification -- even a two-hundred mile diameter hurricane can be avoided given the thousands of miles in the Atlantic.

 

My only additional comment is that service on HAL ships vastly surpasses that on U S Navy vessels.

[KirkNC]

The Atlantic is much warmer in the fall than in the spring - our 10/18-11/3 Noordam crossing gave us 74-78 degree temperatures every day - not likely in April or even May. The 25 hour days (time zone changes) were a plus, as was the fact that jet-lag was gotten over first, rather than at the end of the trip.

 

Hurricane season is close to over by mid-October - even if one does crop up, it can be easily avoided by course modification -- even a two-hundred mile diameter hurricane can be avoided given the thousands of miles in the Atlantic.

 

My only additional comment is that service on HAL ships vastly surpasses that on U S Navy vessels.

 

Another good point I had not thought of, o'well we will have to tough it out on our spring TA but all these good reasons for going west versus east just means we will have to book another one :D.

 

Kirk

[*oceanlvr*]

Thank you all for such helpful and informative responses. I thought the westerly crossing might be rougher due to the currents but I tend to be very sensitive to the motion so what are calm seas to some might possibly seem not so calm to me. Any other motion sick cruisers out there?

[RoofingPrincess]

We loved our transatlantic in September. The 25 hour days every other night were fantastic.:D Ours was a northern route transatlantic so weather was cooler and the waters a little rougher than it typically is further south (we had to detour around an arctic storm so missed one port), but nowhere near as rough as one of my western Caribbean cruises.

I was Wrona's roomie on this cruise. Another great thing about this particular itinerary was that (as scheduled) we had no more than two sea days in a row. Enough to get some rest without getting bored. Our started out with 3 straight port calls, then 2 days at sea, 2 days of port calls (Iceland), 2 days at sea, a port, a day at sea, a port, a day at sea, then arrival in Boston. As Wrona mentioned, we lost a port call due to weather and ended up with 4 full sea days. However, we fared much better than a Princess ship on a similar itinerary, which missed many more of its ports!

[okgirl]

I guess I'm going to have to research travel consolodators off CC. We are doing our 1st TA in Oct 2011 and the cheapest RT ticket (throwing away the return) Houston to Barcelona is $990.

[navybankerteacher]

I guess I'm going to have to research travel consolodators off CC. We are doing our 1st TA in Oct 2011 and the cheapest RT ticket (throwing away the return) Houston to Barcelona is $990.

 

Check with the cruise line --even if you have already booked the cruise, you can probably get them to add one way air -- I did this with HAL (JFK to Rome) and their one way was cheaper than the round trip. also, check Aer Lingus -- they are pretty good withone waytravel.

[Morgsmom]

I guess I'm going to have to research travel consolodators off CC. We are doing our 1st TA in Oct 2011 and the cheapest RT ticket (throwing away the return) Houston to Barcelona is $990.

 

heck, before I threw away the return flight I'd consider booking a spring TA going Eastbound in April/May and using the other half of the ticket then ;)

[staygulf]

In Spring 2003 we flew to Barbados for a Carribean cruise followed by a TA crossing back to Southampton. We were supposed to stop at the Azores on the way over but the weather was so bad abd the sea so rough that the Captain had to divert south in order to meet their turnaround schedule. We ended up being 8 days at sea wih no sight of land and did get a bit boring in the end. Have since heard that many scheduled stops at the Azores never happen :(

[Abigail 2008]

We did a TA in April last year on Celebrity Solstice from Ft Lauderdale. After the first couple of days it was cool. It got colder the further we went. However, It wasn't bad. I took a sweatshirt like hoodie and a sweater for evening and it was enough. We are going again March 31 for 23 days. I am expecting it to be colder.

[Abigail 2008]

It is cool take a sweater for evening and a jacket for later in the cruise for spring cruise.

[kitty9]

I prefer a fall crossing because it goes from East to West and you gain 5 to 6 hours instead of losing that time. It's much nicer to gain an hour of sleep instead of losing all those hours.

[calliopecruiser]

The Westbound route sounds good since you gain a half day in the journey, but unless you're traveling on Cunard, most of the westbound trips are in the fall. I might be able to try that in the future, but this year the fall wasn't as good an option for me, so I'm doing an eastbound trip in April.