Transatlantic Crossing

[CAVE MAN]

Please tell me about your Transatlantic Crossings in October. First time for us. Many Thanks !!!

[CAVE MAN]

Please tell me about your Transatlantic Crossings in October. First time for us. Many Thanks !!!

[Essiesmom]

If you want sun on your balcony, make sure it is on port side (sun will be to the south). Conditions will vary depending on whether you are coming from the Med. or northern Europe. More details are needed. EM

[iancal]

We did one in November. Port side balcony cabin. Seas were very calm. Some afternoons we could only sit out for an hour or two because it became too hot.

 

We did not like it. Too many sea days for us. We were ready to jump after three days. The only upside was that the ship, Celebrity Eclipse, was one of them most beautiful ships that we had ever been on. I doubt that we would consider another TA.

[HollDoll]

A lot depends on whether or not you enjoy sea days. If not, don't do it. I happen to love sea days, find them so relaxing. On one TA it was rough and quite chilly, though not all the days. The other was warmer and smoother, but certainly more choppy than a Caribbean cruise. At least for us. But many report hot and smooth sailing. Again, most important consideration is your enjoyment of sea days.

[ger_77]

We'll be doing our 3rd trans-Atlantic in October on the Westerdam. We've had a port side balcony, a starboard side ocean view, and this time we're opting for an inside cabin. With 8 days at sea, all you really sea is ocean and we don't spend much time either looking out the window or on the balcony, so we decided to go inside. We've had insides previously and enjoy them, so we made the decision to spend the extra savings on spa pkgs or even renting a cabana in the Retreat area.

 

Our past 2 crossings were so smooth, you would have thought you were sailing on a lake instead of the Atlantic ocean. Many people on our crossing last year were sunburned, and the shops ran out of aloe gel to deal with the issue. We can't wait for our next crossing, and hope you enjoy yours as much as we have ours.

 

Smooth Sailing! :) :) :)

[mysticsailor]

I have done 5 TA's of which 3 were Oct. Nov. and Dec. The weather will definitely be warm. Fortunately all my crossings have been on very calm waters. You better not be the type that gets bored easily as you will have a minimum of 6 consecutive sea days, which I have no problem with. I always take a supply of books as often the library, although better than many other cruise lines, gets depleted with checkouts well before the cruise is over.

 

There are guest lectures on sea days of which my favorite has been Frank Buzzard, retired chief engineer from NASA; a popular lecturer on many Atlantic crossings. He has fantastic, spellbinding information and also has a star sighting night on top deck towards the end of cruise. I am doing another double TA this fall and have fingers crossed Frank will be on that cruise also.

 

Other person had good advice re sun side of ship if you have a veranda.

 

Enjoy!

[RuthC]

I've done the crossing from the Med to Florida several times, and hope to do a few more. I love the relaxing sea days that seem to go on forever, yet are over too soon. If that's not your style, however, do take note that's how a crossing goes.

The weather, for the most part, has been warm, while cloudy, at sea; it was still hot in the Med. Do be aware that this is hurricane season, so it is possible to be sharing that ocean with a storm, which although even when far away, can influence how rough the seas are. The captain will do everything he can to stay as far away as possible from any storms.

[OlsSalt]

We did one on the Maasdam a few years ago starting in Rome and poking around the Mediterranean first before starting the TA. Weather in the Mediterranean was on the cool side but mainly pleasant, TA passage was smooth at-sea days were filled with engaging enrichment lectures and the speakers held informal seminars for Q&A follow-ups. We enjoyed it immensely and would not hesitate at all to do another TA.

 

We loved the spirit of the crew on the Maasdam - and always love smaller size ships because it felt more like a traveling house-party with the easily growing familiarity that its smaller size fostered.

 

However, the Nieuw Amsterdam was following a few days later across the same ocean and she ran into far more turbulent seas. So anything can happen during the actual TA passage itself is the bottomline - no weather predictions can hold for every trip at this time of the year.

 

So you have to be prepared to handle rough weather should it come up, and decide up front if you like more passive pleasures these cruises offer on the long stretch of at-sea days - reading, people watching, attending lectures, sea gazing. And moving from meal to meal to meal. For 7 days in a row .........personally I loved the routine of those at sea days. Good news if the TA includes a stop at Half Moon Cay, the water temperatures are at their best this time of the year.

[AZNative2000]

If yours is a westbound, you may also enjoy the 25-hour long sea days as you cruise from time zone to time zone and set your clock back an hour each day.:):)

Cheers!

[theduffys]

We love those sea days because we are bridge players and there is a game every afternoon.

[albingirl]

We took the 42 day Atlantic Adventure 2 years ago and loved it. In fact, so much we are going on the 49 day trip in October. Weather then was great but you never know. We really enjoyed a lot of reading on the Promenade deck, as well as all the activities offered. Loved the culinary art center, too. The touring was fabulous and we really felt it was a trip of a lifetime. So much so, we are doing it again.

[Hlitner]

Not sure what there is to say...other then we love TAs and even Trans Pacifics...because we are addicted to sea days. The West bound crossings also give you 5 or 6 twenty-five hour days...which is really nice. The weather and sea conditions on any cruise cannot be predicted far in advance. We have had crossings with glassy seas and nice warm days...and we have had crossings with rough seas, storms, chilly weather, etc. I can tell you that we have done more then 2 dozen crossings and only had awful weather on 3 cruises. But anecdotal comments (which many like to post here on CC) are no prediction of what will happen on your cruise.

 

Hank

[CAVE MAN]

Thank you so much for all of your comments, I realize there is no way to predict the weather, just wondering if you enjoyed just the relaxing days at sea. We did book the Koningsdam for October 3rd leaving from Rome. I think we are excited to just relax and enjoy being pampered. Holland America does it so well. In February we were in Israel for 10 days never stopping, so much to see. So relaxing sounds good this time. Again, thank you for your replies!!!!