Transatlantic cruise weather?

[navybankerteacher]

We are taking our first Transatlantic cruise on Celebrity in late October from Spain to Ft. Lauderdale, FL. What weather temperatures should we expect while on the water as we would like to be outside as much as possible? How rough do the seas typically get? Really looking forward to the trip.

 

In October, going from Spain (probably southern-most Spain, embarking in Barcelona) you will find sea water temperatures in the low 70's - warming to near 80 as you near Florida. If you go via the Azores, it will likely be a little cooler, more southerly, say via Madeira - or even the Canaries, it will be warmer.

 

With the exception of (pretty unlikely) hurricane activity - which the ship will easily avoid - the Atlantic weather is probably at its best in October.

[singlegrandma2]

Thinking about booking the Equinox crossing Oct 25 sailing from Barcelona to Ft Lauderdale... I am going with a group of friends, but I have to admit I am a little afraid. I have never gotten sea sick on 20 + cruises but I hear about sudden storms coming up in the Atlantic and that is frightening. I am assuming there is no warning for you to take something so you don't get sick? Do you ever pass other ships or see them in the distance or nothing but water?? I love sea days and relaxing on the ship, but I just can't decide if this will be relaxing or stressful for me. Any advice?

[Shorex]

Thinking about booking the Equinox crossing Oct 25 sailing from Barcelona to Ft Lauderdale... I am going with a group of friends, but I have to admit I am a little afraid. I have never gotten sea sick on 20 + cruises but I hear about sudden storms coming up in the Atlantic and that is frightening. I am assuming there is no warning for you to take something so you don't get sick? Do you ever pass other ships or see them in the distance or nothing but water?? I love sea days and relaxing on the ship, but I just can't decide if this will be relaxing or stressful for me. Any advice?

 

Don't be "afraid." You will fulfill your own "fears." The ship (every ship) has very sophisticated radar and other access to weather and Beaufort wind force scale forecasts. Beaufort scale is an empirical measure of wind speed (wind speed is what causes rough seas.) The captain has options to avoid storms and if rough seas are ahead you will be warned.

 

Get a patch from your doctor, and have some of the ginger outside the main dining room. (At least outside the MDR of ships I have sailed.) Some ships will provide sea sickness remedies at no charge during a rough patch. (Yes, that was a pun.)

 

Don't ruin your cruise for yourself and your companions by anticipating rough seas. If it happens, deal with it. It will soon be over.

 

Your next to last sentence is very telling. Yes, it is within your power to decide whether to relax or stress. I know what my decision would be.

 

Most likely you will see other ships on the horizon and perhaps some islands. We love trans-ocean cruises on the ships that we love. The worst seas we ever encountered on about 70 cruises to 7 continents has been outside the Inside Passage on the way to Alaska when the nearest land to the west was Japan. Whole gale on the Beaufort scale. Just bad luck. It certainly has not stopped us from booking trans-ocean cruises.

[flamomo]

I've done 3 T/As so far ..... all west-bound, and all in October-November. In fact I just got home yesterday from a Barcelona to FLL cruise yesterday.

 

On #1, in 2012, sailing was from Venice, with several ports in the Med, and a stop in Casablanca before starting across. Due to the remnants of a hurricane in the Atlantic, our route was changed from a stop in Ponta Delgada (Azores) to a stop on the island of Madeira, and a more southerly crossing to avoid stormy weather. We crossed all the way to Haiti before turning north to get to FLL, and the weather was hot and mostly sunny all the way, and I do not recall any rough seas.

 

On #2, I had done a B2B, first a 12 day itinerary, Southampton to the Canary Islands, and back to Southampton. Upon arrival there, expecting to sail for FLL that evening, we were notified that there was a storm in the Atlantic that impacted our planned route, Because it was heading toward the British Isles we had to spend 2 1/2 days sitting in port in Southampton. Leaving Southampton, the first couple of days at sea were moderately rough. As a result of the lost days at sea, we missed stops in Vigo and LeHavre, and sailed past Ponta Delgada instead of stopping! The only stops we made were in Lisbon and Bermuda! The crossing was pretty smooth once we got away from Southampton.

 

On #3, This time we made ALL of our ports, the weather was at least warm most days, and there were 3 days close to the end where the afternoon temps made it past 80 degrees. Very little rain. Nice quiet seas most of the way too.

 

In the Spring I'm booked on a 30 day combined itinerary ... east-bound T/A, FLL to Southampton, followed by a British Isles itinerary. It'll be interesting to see how the weather will be on the Atlantic at that time of year!

[Hlitner]

While we understand the fear of rough seas, on all but 2 of our crossings we have had pretty calm seas. As to surprise storms, that has never been our experience in the middle of the Atlantic. While storms do tend to pop up around the UK they do not seem to surprise the ships in the middle of the ocean. Satellite coverage almost always gives Captain's plenty of warning.

 

Hank

[navybankerteacher]

While we understand the fear of rough seas, on all but 2 of our crossings we have had pretty calm seas. As to surprise storms, that has never been our experience in the middle of the Atlantic. While storms do tend to pop up around the UK they do not seem to surprise the ships in the middle of the ocean. Satellite coverage almost always gives Captain's plenty of warning.

 

Hank

 

"Surprise storms" really do not exist - with fairly reliable predictions, weather and sea condition monitoring, etc. ships are aware of and can usually avoid bad weather - except for that located near ports of departure and arrival when the ship has no options. Once in the open sea, the course can be altered to avoid really bad conditions.

[AKman2495]

We got back from one just last month. We sailed from England to Holland, France, Spain, Portugal and the Azores to FLL.

 

the last 6 days were at sea. The weather from France onward was sunny and warm. The last week, it was hot and humid-hot being 75-80 degrees.

 

We only had one day where we saw any rain and it was near Florida when we had a mid day thunderstorm blow through.

 

The sea was relatively calm for the entire trip.

[wassup4565]

We took a North Atlantic crossing in early Sept this year from England to Boston, via Faroe Islands and Iceland. We did our research, and learned that average temps in the Faroes and Iceland could be as low as 12C (low 50s F) with strong winds, often rain. We packed our woolies, rainwear, and good waterproof warm shoes.

 

We wore everything we brought, sometimes a lot of it at the same time in layers. The weather was as predicted in the Faroes and Iceland (and in the sea in between). This was all okay with us, as we really wanted to see these places, and they are what they are - weather included. After Iceland, it was a straight shot to Halifax. Four sea days of cloud, rain, very strong winds, and cold temps. The ship was bucking up and down 20 foot waves.

 

By the time we docked at Halifax, the sun was shining, and we were wearing shirtsleeves and flip flops.

 

Would I do it again, no. Am I glad I did it, yes. And on that bitter crossing from Iceland to Halifax, all I could think of was those Viking explorers and also the crews of the Corvettes in WWII.