Transatlantic experiences

[mycruz]

I am thinking about doing a transatlantic next year for the big "50" birthday. We would like to go on Princess and would like to hear about others experiences with this cruise.

[Pam in CA]

Which cruise are you thinking of and which ship? We were on the Royal Princess Manaus to Rome cruise last April/May and it was awesome.

[Druke I]

We've done several trans-Atlantics (and trans-Pacifics also), and really like the sea days.

 

Ask away.

[dwelsh]

We did the Venice - FLL last year on the Star. Had a balcony stateroom which was wonderful.

 

We loved the days at sea after 6 days of port visits. It gives you time to relax and enjoy the ocean. It was so wonderful that this year we are treating ourselves to a 6 star ship which is all balcony and only 700 passengers.

 

We would recomend any ocean crossing - the longer the better.

[dlp252]

I'm about to embark on the British Isles Transatlantic...I'll let you know in two weeks. :D

[susancruzs]

Transatlantics are great, I'm sailing on the Sea Princess Sept. 10th England to New York and I can't wait! I've done ones with all sea days, this one stops at Ireland, Iceland, Greenland and Newfoundland before New York so ports break up the sea days. We have sea days but not a stretch of them, its 6 ports and 7 sea days.

 

Princess has choices, Spring ones going over to Europe and coming back in the Fall. You can go from Texas to Rome, FL to England, FL to Denmark, in the Fall, its London to Canada, Denmark to New York, Rome to New Orleans, Barcelona to Galveston, lots of choices, you will have fun deciding which one to do!

 

I think transatlantics are great, exciting, relaxing, not such a frantic pace, like the Caribbean. There you get onboard and for 6 days try to do everything you can so you don't miss anything. On a transatlantic you know you have more time to enjoy the ship, not rush, take your time . . . . ahhhhhh, wonderful!

 

Susie

[Druke I]

One thing about the fall trans-Atlantics - motion on the ocean.

 

Chances of "bouncy water" Sep/Oct higher perhaps than the spring crossing, due to the storms (tropical depressions/hurricanes) spinning out and dying in the Atlantic. Our last trans-Atlantic, Golden Princess, Aug 02, was fairly rough West of the Azores, and we were 6 hrs late into NYC.

 

Our smoothest trans-Atlantic was on Royal Princess, Mar 98, on a voyage from Buenos Aires Argentina to Barcelona Spain. We crossed the south Atlantic from Recife Brazil to Dakar Senegal, and the ocean was like a mill-pond.

 

Gross generalization of course, but we have had smoother water on trans-Pacifics than trans-Atlantics.

[Pam in CA]

Our smoothest trans-Atlantic was on Royal Princess, Mar 98, on a voyage from Buenos Aires Argentina to Barcelona Spain. We crossed the south Atlantic from Recife Brazil to Dakar Senegal, and the ocean was like a mill-pond.

We had the same experience last May, also on the Royal Princess. Another generalization is that the smaller ships, such as the Royal (which has left the fleet for P&O) and the Regal are better in rough seas than the larger, broad-beamed cruise ships. Just because they're bigger doesn't mean they handle waves or rough water better.

 

One suggestion if motion bothers you is to book a cabin on a lower deck mid-ship. The higher you go, the more you'll feel the up/down/sideways, particularly on the Grand-class ships.

[Druke I]

PaminMa is correct - Royal Princess, with a liner-like hull and good length/beam ratio, rides very well in rough water. Regal rides fairly well, also.

 

The Grand class, aside from being beamy and relatively flat bottomed, catch the wind abeam, and don't ride well in 30' and above seas. Fairly blunt prow adds a lot of bow-slap in running seas; we had bow-slap spray raining down on our balcony, Caribe #250, Golden Princess, 8-02.

[susancruzs]

Very true, which is why I go for the Sept. transatlantics! :-) I tend to be one of the "love the motion of the ocean" types and a major weather hound! Probably comes from living in the midwest, my dad taking us down to Lake Michigan as kids having us appreciate what a strong NE wind can do to a lake! I still go down to the lake when there's NE winds, and watch the people silly enough to go out on the pier!

 

I've been in a couple brutal situations and felt very bad for people that get sick, not good at all. One time on the Norway going from New York to France in September, we had 20-30 foot seas, I thought the ship rode really well but boy people were sick and complaining, there was not much they could do in terms of skirting the storm.

 

I am an exception rather than normal, I don't try to cruise when weather might be better.

 

Susie

[kevinsac]

I love sea days, and for an average, certainly have had more seas days than port days in my experiences.....and also think I've had more trans-Atlantic/Pacific cruises than "port intensive" cruises.

 

Weather and ocean motion have already been addressed.

 

For me, the most important consideration would be "How comfortable am I with down time? Do I have to be always on-the-go? Will I get bored without a new port [almost] every day?"

 

Heaven on sea is a couple of days, where I can go find a quiet corner, sit, nap, read, nap, drink, nap, etc. There are things to do on ship....enough to keep one entertained. But I love the "down" days!

[CruisinChris]

Did that August 02 crossing with Druke on the Golden and it's my all-time favorite. Simply awesome. It's definitely on my repeat list!

[starsjohn]

Did any of you do the boat building contest while passing the days at sea? or did your ship sponsor one? We won on the Pacific Prncess for our booze barge model called the Liki Tiki Princess.

 

John

[ERsecurity]

Best advice has been to stay mid ships and on a lower deck. Then you have little worry about motion. I have found the more Southern routes to be calmer water than the Northern (Iceland, Canada) ones.